Dalyan – 22nd April

I was up early and off to the weekly market on Saturday 22nd April to get a small amount of fruit and vegetables. I had just 2 weeks left in Dalyan so I didn’t want to be buying unnecessary items, if I could help it. On the way, I walked past my parents’ place and the pool was being filled up ready for the summer season, ours was still not done.
It was a nice sunny day, no need for a coat, and the walk to the market was very pleasant. I bought apples, carrots, strawberries, onions and spring onions but I didn’t take a note of how much I spent this week. I’d arranged to go to Mark and Kate’s and, because the bridge was down, I got a taxi with Fikri. It was now 70 lira (£2.90) for the 10 minute journey, which wasn’t bad and saved me walking or cycling on the busy beach road on a holiday weekend. Once there, Kate and I had a short spot of sunbathing before having a beer, Mark went to Rehab bar to meet the pool gang. Later, some friends popped over for a soft drink and it was nice to chat with them.
Kate made a delicious and fairly healthy pasta and chickpea lunch, with her home made pesto, sun-dried tomato and feta cheese. It was so good that we both had seconds and another beer. As the weather was warming up it meant that Kate could be wearing the birthday dress we had got her. It was a Vietnamese one with a complicated tie on way of wearing it so I helped Kate get the knack of how to get it on. Most of the cats were out and about but I did get to see one of the babies having a snooze in her bed.
Kate and I got a taxi in to town to meet the pool gang at Rehab bar for what should have been a civilised afternoon. This blog really does write itself sometimes as we were in for quite a night!

By 5.30pm on Saturday 22nd April, I was on my second pint of draft Efes at Rehab bar, the diet was going well! I’d been chatting to Janice, who’s hand was swollen, and her husband Steve which made a nice change as I don’t see them out much. John, Andrea and Kate had gone to chase the sunshine over at the White House while Mark finished playing pool. Someone came up with the bright idea of calling in to Rodrigo’s bar ‘for one’, on our way for dinner at River House, and it seemed like an ok idea at the time. Mark, accidentally on purpose, ordered a beer for himself and a bottle of white wine for Kate so I said I’d share with Kate. Penny cycled past and saw us, called Phil back, and they came to join us for one. By the time I’d caught up with Penny and Phil, and they had invited me to their’s for dinner on Friday, it was getting kind of messy. Needless to say there was no dinner at River House and I just caught the last of some pizza and other takeaway food being snaffled to my right, as Penny and Phil said bye to my left! It looked like it was an ‘eating is cheating’ kind of night for me! By 8pm Kate, Mark and Andrea were trying their hand at pole dancing and I had that sensible voice telling me not to – I couldn’t risk an injury this close to seeing Captain Caveman for the first time this year! Before 9.30pm, I was outside helping a rather sozzled Kate, who’d nodded off in Rodrigo’s, in to a taxi.
My resistance to join in the pole dancing was short-lived when Jackie turned up to meet friends and I opted for the low level pole engagement. The flower man and his girlfriend gave the pole dancing a good crack but Ozzy, the bar man, showed us all how it should be done. By 11pm I’d met up with Sharon, Bex and Abi and we were drinking more wine, dancing and taking photos. When John and Andrea called it a night, Mark, me, Julie and David went for one in Mustang bar then Mark and I finished the night off with a shared bottle of red wine in Sofra bar.
I just about remembered getting the rest of my wine put in to a paper coffee cup as we were getting thrown out, being the last 2 in there in the early hours – it was completely game over! I had drank 4 beers, a bottle of white wine and almost half a bottle of red wine, with no dinner and I felt a bit sickly!

Kate on the pole

Andrea on the pole

Mark on the pole

Ozzy on the pole

Dalyan – 19th April

The home scales were favourable on Wednesday 19th April, when I got weighed first thing. My measurements were a bit disappointing as I’d lost 2cm from my bust, increased 1cm on my waist and 2cm on my hips! I still had to wait until 3pm for Carol’s scales at Fat Club so I had a banana for breakfast and checked my emails. My boss, had booked my flight from Rhodes to Athens for the 13th May, I was off to meet Captain Caveman in Saigon. The gaffer has also asked if I would mind bringing him some coffee and some lube over when I arrived by ferry on the 7th May! It’s one of the more unusual requests I’ve had from a boss but I had to clarify what kind of coffee it might be; Nescafe Gold and strawberry lube! Of course, I immediately messaged Jamie to find out where was the best place to get lube from in Dalyan and they sell it in Migros, apparently. I could just imagine the wagging tongues eager to gossip from anyone who glimpsed my shopping basket on that trip! Incidentally, strawberry lube is syn free, in case anyone wondered!
There was more waiting on the complex residents to agree the light and filter situation as I went off to Fat Club. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find I had put 0.2kg on this week on Carol’s scales. One of the ladies was going back to the UK for a few weeks and had brought her surplus vegetables in, which she very kindly gave to me. There was news that local rock band, The Bengisu Boys, had a gig lined up for the 4th May at Jazz Bistro and I hoped I’d get to go with my parents.
In the afternoon, I made some chickpea biscuits using drained chickpeas, mustard powder, seasoning, egg and parmesan. They turned out really well and were syn free so I decided I would take them with me to the cheese and wine evening at Jamie’s. He and Drew had invited me, Ann, Nanny Kay and Katrina over for a soirée and I was taking Jacob’s Cream Crackers, red wine and the freshly baked chickpea biscuits.
Drew had brought some fantastic cheeses over from England and the spread was an absolute delight. Even my chickpea biscuits went down well and, of course, so did the wine. The chat started sensible but I was shocked to find out there is a sex shop in Ortaca and loose plans for a visit were made. I didn’t get in until 1.30am, a little merry and stuffed full of cheese!

Dalyan – 15th April

I didn’t bother with any breakfast on Saturday 15th April as I had to get to the weekly market. This is what I bought there:

2 garlic 5.00
6 Oranges 7.00
Strawberries 50.00
2 apples, 2 cucumbers and 11 tomatoes 20.00
Total spent 82.00 lira (£3.39)

It was 1 month until I would be back in Vietnam, I was conscious of planning my meals and batch cooking so that I didn’t end up with too much food left when I had to turn the electric off on leaving the apartment. Lunch consisted of reheated Minestrone soup and tasted better than it looked. I went to the supermarket, as I sometimes do on Saturday afternoons, and here’s what I bought;

Migros Supermarket
Cheese triangles 17.50
Milk 18.50
Turkey slices 19.25
1 box of Linden tea 23.00
400g chickpeas 23.75
1 jar gherkins 34.50
1kg Rice 35.90
1 pack GF Wraps 48.50
1kg Chicken 48.88
Total spent 269.78 lira (£11.13). Kitler, the cat, was sat between 2 of the ground floor apartments hoping as if posing for a photo.

It was good to see that if you spent more than 200 lira in Migros there was quite a bargain to be had on chicken. I reported back to my mates at Fat Club and to Jamie so they could also take advantage of the offer. I realised I was out of cheese so I went to buy cheddar at Şarküteri and it was 90 lira (£3.72) for a small piece, which is pricey, but I’d already asked my mom to bring some more when she came to Dalyan.

I decided to go back to the supermarket around 5.30pm and bought the following;

3 Tomato puree 32.70
Bananas 40.17
3 Quark 44.85
1.1kg chicken 49.23
2 tins of tomatoes 49.80
Beef bacon 55.90
Total paid 352.45 lira (£14.55)

Obviously, because I spent more than 200 lira again, I bought more chicken at a bargain price. When I messaged Jamie to let him know he had also gone back and got more. The beef bacon also had a big discount.

I made chicken with green peppers, spring onion, mushrooms and paprika for dinner and had it with steamed rice. It was super tasty and I really enjoyed my healthy dinner before putting my PJs on for an early night.
As it happened, my night would not end there!

I was definitely settling down for the evening, with no plans to go out on a Saturday night, when I got a text. Jamie had already invited me out earlier and I’d been in 2 minds but had said no. Mark messaged me from Sofra bar to say my presence was requested, as our friend, Gareth, was in town for one night only. I also got the tip off that Cath and Keith were out on the tiles and that everyone was having a good time so I agreed to come out ‘for one’. I got back changed in to clothes and called at the bank for some cash, arriving at Sofra bar after 9pm.
When I arrived, I made a joke about some keys on the table and whether a fruit bowl would be a good idea. Everyone was pretty merry apart from Gareth who was also only having a couple of beers. I ordered a draft beer which were still only 65 lira (£2.68) for a pint. I noticed later that the small beers had gone up to 50 lira (£2.06) and shots of whiskey were 60 lira (£2.48) now. By 10.30pm, Ged had joined us and someone had convinced him to sing an Ian Drury and The Blockheads number on the karaoke. It wasn’t long before one of us really wished we had a rhythm stick to hit him with! Mark and Cath started the dancing with a bit of Club Tropicana, both of them hoping the drinks were free. In the end there was lots of dancing and I even managed to drag a few other customers up to boogie with us. Jamie was sat outside with his goddaughter, friends and the dogs and he was having an easy night too. We had a great night, that is until it got to 1am. Most people had (sensibly) gone home, I’d had 2 pints of draught Efes and there were just Cath, Keith, Mark and I left. Keith insisted on buying another round of drinks and I helped Cath get ‘her’ jacket on, thinking we were going. When she got the bill she tried to pay but couldn’t get the card to work so I took a photo of the bill. Keith then had a little mishap and he fell on to the table of drinks, cutting his hand quite badly. We got them in a taxi after some struggling and Mark dropped me off at mine before heading home on the mobility wagon via the beach road. The small bridge was still down so he had to go the long way round, using the main roads. At 1.40am Cath called me to say she couldn’t find her keys and they couldn’t get in the house. I spent the next 20 minutes on the phone trying to help her empty her bag and jacket pockets to try to find the house keys, but she was too drunk to make any sense with. I didn’t know where she lived so I couldn’t even go to help and I gave up in the end.
At just before 2am, Mark called to say he’d had to turn back because there were police checks on the main road and could he stay at mine. He’d called Kate and she’d told him to go to mine so that he didn’t get in to any trouble. While I had one last attempt to help Cath, Mark sipped the red wine I had opened. We only had the one glass before calling it a night as Mark was already falling asleep on the sofa. I’d had a good night but could’ve done without all the drama towards the end. I was definitely going to resist any more alcohol now until after Fat Club on Wednesday.

A short video of some karaoke

Video of a bit of dancing

Dalyan – 5th April

The Aussies were leaving for their road trip early on Wednesday 5th April so I’d been invited to have breakfast with them before they set off. The Turkish people here, tend not to get up early for breakfast and I thought we might struggle to find somewhere open.
I went downstairs, as planned, at 8am, it had rained in the night and there were checks being done on the woodwork outside, which looked great. I also had to have a look at the improvements they had been working on last night. Greg drove us to Ekin around 8.30am where we were met by a rather large slobbering black dog, called Negro, who was super friendly. The owner asked us if we could wait for half an hour while he got set up and so we walked about a bit, taking some photos of the beautiful lake.
I wasn’t going to eat the Turkish breakfast for 2 reasons; 1, it often gives me a bad stomach and 2, I had Fat Club weigh-in at 3pm. I realised it would be considered rude to just watch Amanda and Greg eat so I decided to go for it. It was my first Turkish breakfast this year! Just as it was served, it started to rain and we had to move inside. The scenic views were now no longer picture perfect and we were lucky to have seen the lake views we did, before the rain came.
The breakfast was amazing and I really enjoyed it but I knew it would mean a gain on the scales. I ate cheese, jam, honey, bread, cheese rolls, olives, chips and 2 types of savoury gözleme (Turkish pancakes), washed down with Turkish tea and a fresh pomegranate juice. We couldn’t finish it all so Amanda packed 2 small Tupperware boxes up (that’s why I love her) and gave me one with the cheese in. The total bill came to 585 lira (£24) which, considering how much food is provided, was a bargain. Of course, before we even got back in the car, I had stomach issues. Back home we packed the car up with luggage, in the rain, then said our goodbyes. Even Kitler, the abandoned cat, came to say farewell.
I almost didn’t go to Fat Club because I knew it would be disappointing but I forced myself to find out how much damage a Turkish breakfast on weigh day could do.

At Fat club, the inevitable happened; I had gained weight! It was only 1.1kg (2.4lb) but that was enough to undo the previous losses and I only had myself to blame! A more sensible person might have then decided to rectify the bad result by being really good. However, as some of you could have predicted, that was not what happened and I got a lift up to Rehab bar with Carol. I ended up ordering a bottle of wine, as it works out a bit cheaper than having several glasses. I didn’t finish it all as I had to leave to meet Jamie and Ann at Aşkın’s bar. Tay wrote my name on it and said he’d save it for me.
When I arrived at Aşkın’s, Jamie and Ann were already there and had been joined by Mark and Pamela. I ordered a red wine and we all had a nice drink, it’s one of my favourite bars to sit and people watch usually. After a drink there we moved on to Sofra bar for a bit more refreshment.
By 10.30pm, I was leaving Sofra bar with Jamie to go to Umit’s birthday drinks at Sunset bar. Our friend Annie had invited us along and Pamela was already there, as was Yusuf the pharmacist and the flower girl. I had a glass of red wine, Jamie had a glass of white. We thought we were only there for 30 minutes, saying hello to Annie and her friends. Jamie and I do not remember dancing there, having more drinks or leaving but it turns out we were there 90 minutes and had 3 drinks.

We were back in Sofra by midnight, Mark had rejoined us too, and it turned in to quite a night – not that Jamie or I could remember much of it. The photos were a big help to work out the rest of the evening but it was a little concerning.

Photo credit – Greg Le Couteur

Dalyan – 1st April

Last month had been a tough one but I’d managed to get by and I was glad to see April. This would be my last full month in Dalyan as I was planning to go back to Vietnam to see Captain Caveman next month. On Saturday 1st April, Mark rang me to see if I wanted to meet him at Tez bar at noon. I agreed and went round the corner a few minutes before. I ordered a cheese toasty and a cup of tea for my brunch which was 80 lira (£3.37). It came with chips so that was rather naughty of me – so much for being good this month! When Tez brought my tea he put a carnation on the table for me, which was nice. Mark arrived and ordered a coffee before going to meet the pool group at Rehab bar. I finished off my food and drink before getting a lift with Tez to the weekly market. It was busier than usual, lots more tourists were here now and there were more stalls open.

Here’s what I bought at the market this week, I didn’t get the individual prices just the total. Prices were going up but it was still fairly affordable compared to the UK.

6 bananas
1 punnet of strawberries
1 bunch fresh mint
4 big potatoes
8 small potatoes
3 sweet potatoes
3 leeks
1 bunch spring onions
3 onions
1 lettuce
6 carrots
5 green peppers
2 bulbs of garlic
1 bag of pumpkin
Mushrooms

Total cost 273 lira (£11.50)

I even got a free snail on my bunch of spring onions and had to take him downstairs in to the garden. I chopped some of the veggies and the strawberries, putting them in to glass jars to keep fresher for longer.
I met Jamie for a dog walk and quick soft drink in Waterfall around 5.30pm. On my way back from Waterfall I happened to see Kaan on his building site and he showed me the villa he is building. It’s very nice and I had the full tour.
My next stop was at the supermarket and here’s what I bought;

Migros Supermarket
Soup 12.50
1 Bounty 13.95
Noodles 15.90
Turkey slices 19.25
Lentils 25.90
Chickpeas 34.90
Mozzarella Cheese balls 49.90
Wholemeal wraps 57.50
Fish fingers 61.90
Total spent 291.70 lira (£12.28)

For dinner I made a veggie pizza on a wholemeal wrap and it tasted very nice. I resisted the urge to go out to meet Mark, who had gone from Rehab bar to Rodrigo’s then to Mustang. Instead, I had a no alcohol and a no meat day, for the second time this week. I organised a cheese and wine boat trip for when my parents were here and then I had an early night because it was Amanda and Greg’s last day in Dalyan and we had a big day planned tomorrow.

Dalyan – 14th March

The one thing about being apart from your partner on Tuesday 14th March is that you don’t have to partake in Steak & Blow Job day – Google it, it’s a thing now! Lucky for me, because I’m rubbish at cooking steak! By the time I’d woke up Captain Caveman had gone back in to the cave but had messaged me at 4.30am (while my phone was on silent) to ask for me to sort out the payment to our new Pool and Garden maintenance company. Finally the other people on the complex had agreed to let Mehmet Kör at Elite take on the task. It was going to cost 50,000 lira (£2,128) for the year plus there was still the matter of getting the communal electric put back on.
On another note, my ‘missing’ parents, who had failed to fly home from their holiday had managed to get in touch. They were in a hotel the other side of the world, somewhere, but the suitcases which were elsewhere had Mom’s phone charger in. Luckily it wasn’t much to worry about but it hadn’t stopped my sister and I having a slight panic on! We didn’t even know which hotel they were at, or even which country for definite. Luckily Ma & Pa managed to reassure me a little, while they sipped on the All Inclusive rum punch, that they would be coming home tomorrow.
My food choices started out sensible and, as planned, with wholemeal toast, a cheese triangle and a cup of Yorkshire tea for breakfast.
I did a 30 minute walk then popped in to Migros where I bought;

Potatoes 11.21
Satsumas 19.17
Curry powder 19.90
Total spent 50.28 lira (£2.14)

Lunch was the remaining chicken casserole and jacket potato (no butter), then some quark with satsumas. I had a red apple with cheese as a snack and, as I had plans for later, I warmed up a piece of nan bread to prepare me.
I had to miss Singing Group in the afternoon but I did pop along to meet Mark and Kate at Tez bar where I decided I would pace myself with just a soda water for 20 lira (85p). I dropped off some old clothes and some cushions for Kaye, who was having a sale for the Earthquake charity this weekend.
Daisy’s friend, Phoebe, had arrived and, after Daisy had finished work, we were all going to meet her for a night out. With it being winter, there were still only a few bars open but we decided to meet at Mustang bar. Mark and Kate agreed to come for one but then were going home as Mark was fancying a bit of scampi for dinner. The owner, Salih, let me try the wine, as I’d not been a fan of it last time but it was good tonight. Well, it must have been pretty good as I managed to have 5 red wines, a tequila, some of Daisy’s chips and the free popcorn! There was a cute resident cat who liked to get some attention. Mark and Kate ended up staying for a couple and left around 9.30pm, I got a lift with Mark on the mobility wagon to the bank so we could get more cash out. We had a right old laugh, but once Daisy had split her pants dancing, and Phoebe had started doing some sort of sexy dance, it was time for me to go home! I was home around midnight which wasn’t bad for someone who’s meant to be on a diet! Tomorrow’s weigh-in at Fat Club could be interesting; I’d had more alcohol this week but overall less total syns and a 5th of the sweet stuff compared to the previous week. I’d had exercise on all 7 days and 3 no meat days but would it be enough to still get a loss on Carol’s scales!?

Dalyan – 21st February

I had a banana, Kate’s fruit salad, with added strawberries, pineapple, and quark for breakfast on Tuesday 21st February. I also tried some Linden tea which Jamie had brought me to sooth a bad stomach. It seemed to work and I wasn’t affected by the banana, like before. For lunch I had some healthy bits and pieces in an effort to get a good weigh-in result tomorrow at Fat Club. Kate was off to the UK this afternoon so had asked me and a couple of other friends to ‘look after’ Mark while she was away.
Even though it was Pancake Day today, I decided I would have mine tomorrow, after Fat Club. In the afternoon I met up with Jamie, Norman and Edna and we had a dog walk along the river then Edna insisted we call in to the Waterfall bar. She had forgotten that it was a Tuesday and Skippy doesn’t go in on a Tuesday. I had a diet coke and 2 wines, we were joined by John, Andrea and Mark on their way home from Tez bar.
Captain Caveman had been at his briefing for his next Son Doong trip but had managed to get a quick call in, which I took outside. We had a rough plan that I would be visiting Phong Nha, as well as having some holidays in both Vietnam and Singapore. I would only stay for 6 weeks which meant I had no visa issues and would be leaving Phong Nha when the weather was unbearable in July and August.
Jamie went home to feed the dogs and have his own dinner, John and Andrea said bye too, then Mark and I bought some wine and milk at the shop, got Fikri’s taxi to mine where I picked up a bag. We drove to Mark’s and he fed the cats then reheated us up some leftover Chinese for dinner and opened the wine. The cats that stayed in were super cute and were happy to settle in to their beds for the night. We decided to watch a film, drink wine and later have cheese, chorizo and Ritz crackers. The diet had fallen short again and I’m sure it would mean a bad result tomorrow at Fat Club. It also meant that I had missed day 2 of the Decluttering Bootcamp, luckily I could catch up tomorrow on replay. It was after midnight when Mark went to bed and left me asleep on the recliner sofa, I’d obviously nodded off during the film.

Dalyan – 5th February

It was very cold when I got up at 7.30am on Sunday 5th February. Norman and Edna were still snoozy and Little Ted had slept longer than yesterday. Teddy was a bit overexcited to see me and accidentally caught my lip with his mouth when he was trying to give me kisses. It hurt but it didn’t draw blood so I thought I’d be ok.
While I had my cup of tea, all 3 dogs wanted cuddles and they had to share me, begrudgingly. Norman, Little Ted and I were all squeezed in to the arm chair where the dogs had a nice little nap. I didn’t have chance for any breakfast! Every time Norman snored, Little Ted raised his head in a disapproving manner which was funny.

I decided to try walking all 3 of the dogs together but when I went to get my shoes I’d made a massive error. I’d left them out and at some point, Teddy had chewed them. Luckily I had brought another pair of shoes with me as I had an important lunch date that I didn’t want to miss. The walk with 3 dogs was hilarious and I looked like I was going to get tangled up at one point. I’m sure I heard Edna say to Norman ‘Come back, Charlie’. Little Ted was just happy to be out with his new pals and wanted to jump up a lot. I got back, hoping for a shower but the water was off and I looked a state – I didn’t even have any wet wipes. I used the filter water to clean my teeth and wash my face but that would have to do. The rain was torrential just at the time that I needed to leave, and the water came back on as I was going.

Video of Teddy being a bit friendly with his toy

Lukka bar had reopened this weekend and was doing Sunday lunch today. I’d already asked some friends if they fancied it and I’d remembered that Vanessa’s son, Brad, loved a Sunday dinner as she had mentioned they often go out together for one in the UK. We had all pre ordered our meals and agreed to meet at 2pm at Lukka bar. The Beef Sunday dinner was 255 lira (£11.10), the chicken dinner is only 185 lira (£8.05). The portion size is massive so I took Tupperware for any leftovers (I hate wasting food and money). On arrival, Linda and I decided to splash out on a bottle of red wine between us, Nanny Kay was driving so had a soft drink. Brad arrived extremely apologetic having not been able to find where Vanessa had hidden the house keys, making him a tad late. He ordered a beer and I introduced him to Linda and Nanny Kay. Linda and I had lots of cat talk as she was looking after Kate’s 6 cats for the first time in ages and had taken over from Vinnie. When the food came it looked fantastic, there was no cheese sauce on the cauliflower, as advertised, and I had my gravy on the side so I could do damage limitations on my Slimming World diet. Nanny Kay was short on carrots and the Brussel sprouts could do with a few minutes more cooking as they were too hard, so I let the waiter know for future diners. The Yorkshire puddings are phenomenal and the biggest I’ve ever had, this is a good recommendation to a Turkish chef from a Yorkshire lass, who hasn’t been to England for 13 months. I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and the company, we had a break before dessert where I filled my Tupperware with half of my dinner, plus the others’ spare sprouts and Nanny Kay’s left over Yorkshire pud. I had a smaller Tupperware which I intended the apple crumble to go in, however, when it came I couldn’t resist it. We’d all had a jolly good time but the rain was threatening again so we said our farewells. Nanny Kay drove home, Linda cycled to Mark and Kate’s and, as you may have guessed, Brad and I decided we could probably have another drink!

Brad kindly agreed to a dog walk, to walk off a bit of our Sunday dinner and get some exercise for his recovering knee. I had to call in to Captain Caveman’s apartment briefly on the way. As I pointed out to duck under the rose thorns, Brad snapped the stems with his bare hands and tucked them in to the plant – that was that problem solved!
We went to Jamie’s and collected all 3 dogs who were obviously pleased to be getting out after being left for 3 hours, Little Ted in his crate. When I told them we would have a walk to the Waterfall, Edna was beside herself with excitement at the chance to see Skippy. Little Ted didn’t remember what Waterfall meant but was enthusiastic regardless. After a walk around the block and round by Poo corner we arrived at the Waterfall. All the dogs were made welcome and a fuss made of them but Skippy wasn’t there to see that I’d not shrunk Norman. Brad and I got chatting, the dogs were quite happy and we ended up having a couple more drinks in the Waterfall where it was toasty warm. We were reassuring ourselves that we were quite fortunate not to be on the all inclusive-big-bender weekend for Alp’s birthday. We knew that without our partners there we’d probably have had alcohol poisoning by now, as well as putting on loads of weight from the all you can eat food! We had a good laugh and when it got to the dog’s dinner time we decided to grab more drinks and go back to Jamie’s.

I never thought to offer Brad the WiFi password at Jamie’s villa and we were just so busy chatting that we didn’t check our phones. After more red wine for me and beer for Brad I decided to do us a curry for dinner. I was a bit drunk and had to do the rice in a pan for the first time in years, the curry was a vegetarian Dahl type so I chucked in some leftover cooked chicken from Jamie’s fridge. It was pretty good and we ate it all, as if we’d not already had a big lunch! We didn’t realise the time until Vanessa messaged to check Brad was ok! As no one had heard from him, and he’d only gone out for Sunday lunch with the ‘oldies’ at 2pm, there were concerns from his girlfriend and parents. It was after midnight when Brad left and I told him to message me once he got home. I got in bed and fell asleep before seeing that message.

Dalyan – 2nd February

I was up and about at Mark and Kate’s by 8am, on Thursday 2nd February. Kate made me a cup of tea and then went back to bed while I sat on their lovely new sofa. JC came to see if there was anything we could watch on TV and looked at me while I sipped my tea. I got a lift back in to town on the mobility scooter with Mark and Kate and went to the bank. Kate had recommended a few things in the supermarket that I wanted to try, including the nan bread from last night, so I decided to walk with Kate, who was off for her hair doing, to go to Bim. Here’s what I bought:

1st Bim Supermarket
Carrier bag 0.25
Fresh loaf 5.00
Brown sliced loaf 11.50
4 nan breads 15.95
Total spent 32.70 lira (£1.43)

2nd Bim Supermarket
120g Turkish Maltesers 14.50
400g Minced beef 69.50
400g diced beef 78.00
Total spent 162.00 lira (£7.10)

I’d had to go to both Bims because the offers they had on meat had lead to a shortage.
At home I had a cheese sandwich for my breakfast before quickly getting ready for my Turkish class at Ela’s Kitchen. I was super thirsty when I got there so I completely forgot my new Frugal February rule, to have a large water, and automatically ordered a cup of tea and an orange juice. These came to 55 lira (£2.42) and the Turkish class itself was only 50 lira (£2.19)!
Back home I had a bowl of soup with noodles in for lunch and had a chat to Captain Caveman. For dinner I ate more bread, some gorgonzola cheese, which needed eating up, and some olives. I also started to pack my bags as I was off on another dogsitting stint tomorrow!

Dalyan – 1st February

Wednesday 1st February marked the day where I aimed to make a few changes. I wanted to be more frugal, find a more suitable part-time job, get paid what I was already owed and lose some weight. I never make new year resolutions for January as I know I will fail, especially as it’s my birthday month. February was a shorter month and would be easier to put some goals in place. The first thing I did when I got up was to get weighed on the home scales and take my measurements. The home scales read heavier than Carol’s at Fat Club but, if they were correct, I had lost a little bit more – I would find out this afternoon at Fat Club.
All of my measurements had either decreased of remained the same so it was looking like a promising start.
I had cornflakes with skimmed milk and a cup of Yorkshire tea for breakfast then went to the bank and supermarkets, here’s what I bought:

Migros Supermarket
Bag of garlic 9.34
835g onions 10.77
M&Ms 10.90
140g plain Quark 14.95
1.7kg potatoes 15.26
Bin bags 18.50
2 pot noodles 19.80
400g Mushrooms 29.90
450g Spinach 34.90
Cream cheese 49.90
Total spent 189.32 lira (£8.30)

Şok Supermarket
Wine gums 6.95
2 packet of plain crisps 23.50
Rice 27.50
Total spent 57.95 lira (£2.54)

Mark and Kate were having a curry night at their’s later and Kate had invited me. I said I’d bring a Saag Aloo dish with me too. I hurried along to Fat Club, eager to find out my results. Remarkably, I had lost 0.9kg (almost 2lb) and had now exceeded a total loss of 3.6kg (7.9lb, over half a stone) which was a great start to the month. Spurred on by a good result, I decided not to have a cup of tea which is served with a biscuit and decided to order a large bottle of water. Back at home I set about making my dish for tonight and wolfed down a late lunch of chicken, sweetcorn and egg fried rice using the left over chicken shish from Kordon’s on my birthday, which I’d got out of the freezer earlier.
Once I’d made my potato and spinach dish I got a taxi over to Mark and Kate’s as I was running late and the pan was too big to carry. Fikri’s prices had increased by 20% to 60 lira (£2.63) for the 3.3km drive.
When I arrived, there was just Kate at home so I wasn’t actually late. Mark and the other guests were all still at Rehab bar after pool had finished. Kate had made a delightful meal of onion bhajis, chicken curry, rice, nan breads, and various salad, chutneys and dips. It was lovely and I really enjoyed it with my bottle of Tılsım red wine I’d allowed myself, using my syns. It was good to see that Mark and Kate now had a cat room where they all had an individual bed and a litter tray, this would make it so much easier to look after them in the winter.
I ended up staying over in the upstairs bedroom instead of getting a taxi back as I’d drank a whole bottle of wine to myself.

Dalyan – 28th & 29th January

On Saturday 28th January the day had come for me to say bye to Charlie. After 60 days with him we’d become very close and I was going to be sad to hand him over to Gill. Gill had finally managed to get to Turkey after a very turbulent flight via Greece and was going to be in at 4pm for me to drop Charlie at her place. Captain Caveman had gone back in to Son Doong and was due back on Tuesday but he’d managed to see Charlie in a video call. We both loved Charlie and I knew I would miss him as much as Captain Caveman already did.
I had extra snuggles with Charlie that morning, the weather was still awful but we did manage another jog round the block. This was my 4th consecutive day of actual jogging but today I made the mistake of forgetting to put my bra on. Unfortunately, the Turkish neighbour across from me saw me set off jogging and was spurring me on so I couldn’t turn back. I looked and felt like I was going to collapse when I got back and we’d only been to Poo Corner and around the block. I spent most of the day packing stuff and wondering how I’d managed to have so much stuff, there was even some clothes left of Captain Caveman’s and it was going to take me lots of trips – not ideal in the rain.
Around lunchtime I got a message from Jamie to say he and Drew would come over at 4pm to help me move all my stuff by car and they were happy to come with me to drop Charlie off at Gill’s too. I was so grateful and accepted the kind offer straight away. I’d already packed everything in easy to carry batches thinking I’d be taking it over manually so now I got on with stripping the bedding and washing the sheets and towels. By 1pm the sun was back out and Charlie was sunbathing in a chair on the roof terrace for the last time. Although it was market day, I didn’t bother, due to the fact it would be more to carry between houses and I had enough to do with cleaning Helen and Abi’s place.

At 4pm prompt, Jamie and Drew arrived and we decided to take Charlie with us and drop him off before going to mine. Jamie and Drew did most of the lifting and were super helpful. When we got to Gill’s, Charlie was excited to see Missy, Gill’s dog, and was off running around the garden like a mad thing. There was no time for tears as I gave Gill some of Charlie’s things, explained I needed to pop back tomorrow to put the rest of the washing out at Helen and Abi’s, then I would drop her the keys and Charlie’s toys which were being washed.
Charlie didn’t even come to say bye, he didn’t look at me and I felt like a mom dropping her kid off at school! We drove to mine and brought all of my stuff up in one go between the 3 of us.
I was just mentioning we should go for a beverage but, as they had the car we said we’d do it another time. I popped to Captainnet, the internet provider, to get my internet renewed as that was due to expire tomorrow but they don’t open on Sundays. It was now 200 lira (£8.82) per month for the package I was on and had increased by 14% this year. I called in to Bim supermarket on the way home to check for Dairy Milk chocolate but there was still none.
Back home, I took photos of the entrance to the apartments. The thorny rose bushes from B1 were now right across the path at head height and we had needed to duck under them. This was certainly a hazard in the dark and I don’t know why the people living in B4 had not cut or moved them, especially as they are bigger than me. I realised I’d not eaten much today and felt a bit peckish so I popped some chestnuts in the oven. I had a nice cup of Yorkshire tea while I waited for them to cook then took my cooked chestnuts in a bowl covered in foil over to Jamie’s. The dogs were on the sofa and were pleased to see me, as usual.
Drew dropped me back home around 10.30pm, after a chilled evening with the pooches, and I made a pizza from a wrap and snaffled it down.

On the morning of Sunday 29th January I was up early, having been so used to getting up to let at least one dog out. It was a bit sad not having Charlie with me but I was happy he was living in a big house with a gorgeous garden and a playmate. I was also looking forward to not having to worry about looking after a dog and getting back to earning some cash and doing some more work, hopefully very soon.
I went over to Helen and Abi’s to hang out the rest of the washing and collect Charlie’s stuff that I’d not yet brought to Gill’s house. After dropping bags back off at mine, I was in a rush to meet Nanny Kay who was picking me up outside Lukka bar at 1pm for a quick drive to Ortaca.
Nanny Kay dropped me back in Dalyan, somewhere in Gülpınar but I didn’t recognise where I was in relation to my next appointment. So I ended up walking past my parents’ and back round to Vanessa’s. Her kettle was broken so we had no option but to have a wine and soda (or 2) and we prattled on while Matt was trying to fix a printer and Brad, their son, was resting up from a knee op and playing video games. To give Matt and Brad’s ears a rest, Vanessa came with me when I went to take Charlie’s stuff to Gill’s, calling at mine on the way to pick it up. Gill invited us in and we had a nice cup of tea while Charlie came for some fuss. He looked well and I could tell he seemed happy to be at Gill’s with Missy. I handed the keys over and asked if Gill would mind bringing in the bedding once it had dried. She was also going to go over there and turn off the electric and empty the fridge freezer as there was still a fair bit of food in there that I’d not managed to eat.
The sun had been shining but, as Vanessa and I walked back in to town, planning on calling for a drink somewhere, it was getting quite chilly. Instead, we went to mine where we had half a bottle of white wine in the fridge and a soda water. It was gone 7pm when Vanessa left to go home but we’d had a good catch up. That evening I made another one of the pizzas on a wrap and had an early night. The smell of cat pee in the stair well was very strong so I was very glad of my reed diffuser gift from Ghislaine which was scented with Jasmine. It was nice to be back home, though.

Dalyan – 9th January

It was the start of my birthday week on Monday 9th January and the plans were coming along nicely. After breakfast I took the dogs out as usual but this time Charlie wanted to check on Milo, the dumped dog, who we had now found out was called Cookie. Apparently the owner of the off-licence, Yaman Bufet, had said he would take it if we could take it to the shop. I was struggling enough to handle the 3 dogs I did have on the lead so I sent the location to people who could help.

While Captain Caveman was on his way back from Son Doong, I was on my way for my first treat of the week. Kate was meeting me at Egehan restaurant, where her birthday gift to me was lunch and drinks. We had a lovely table outside by the pool in glorious sunshine and we were the only lunchtime guests. We had beers and a couple of beef dishes which were absolutely stunning. My meatballs were so tasty and Kate enjoyed her meal too. I was wearing winter clothes and was too hot, even the pool wasn’t that cold.

Next we went to Tez bar where we were later joined by Mark and we were discussing plans for my birthday.
On my way back to Jamie’s villa, around 5.30pm, I called at the shop for some essentials, a little bit tipsy. Louisa was arriving tomorrow so I’d asked her what she might want so I could get it in, and I also took some vodka from home as she doesn’t like wine or beer. Here’s what I bought;

Migros Supermarket
1 Twix 13.95
Skimmed milk 15.50
Carrots 16.25
Toastie loaf 17.50
Crisps 18.45
Apple juice 22.00
1 tin of tomatoes 24.90

Total spent 128.55 lira (£5.66)

After shopping and walking Norman and Edna, it was time to take Charlie for his walk. This time we went a different route and ended up in Waterfall where I met up again with Mark and Kate. After a couple of drinks I went back home and sent the Bistro Blue menus out to the potential birthday party attendees so they could preorder. On the whole, prices had an average increase of 20%, which was normal but I expected some cancellations because of it. As my diet was on hold until after the celebrations I treated myself to a couple of pieces of the white Terry’s Chocolate Orange which Josh had brought me over from England.

Dalyan – 13th December

It was my last cat feeding session on Tuesday 13th December at Mark and Kate’s as, hopefully, they would be on the flight back from Gatwick this morning. I wasn’t sure if there definitely would be a flight due to the adverse weather conditions in England so I kept the house key when I left that morning. It was rainy and muddy on my way back. Both Captain Caveman and Charlie were still asleep and the house was quite messy. It was clear that Captain Caveman had forgotten I was due ‘home’ or he wasn’t excited to have me back. I had a shower and put some washing in while Captain Caveman got ready to go to Bridge and walked Charlie. At 11.10am, Turkish time, Mark and Kate’s flight had gone ahead and I was pleased they were coming back. I tidied and cleaned a bit then I walked Charlie before going to singing group. He had been restless, pleased to have me back but kept trying to keep me from typing.
I managed to not be called fat or pregnant at Singing group this week (always a bonus) and we sang a few Christmas carols, which was good and took me back to school assembly. There was a new couple there, which was nice, and the chap had ordered a beer, I’d not realised they had beer so I also ordered one. Kate and Vanessa had not made it but my mom had and we knew most of the Christmas songs between us.
Back at Charlie’s, Captain Caveman and I had beef stew for dinner with the jacket potatoes I’d done in the oven but the spuds didn’t turn out too good. It was nice to be back ‘home’ but it was clear that Captain Caveman wasn’t as pleased that I was. Thankfully, Charlie seemed very happy to see me so at least I was made welcome by one of them.

Dalyan – 11th & 12th December

At 5.25am on Sunday 11th December it was only 17°C and I was wide awake and a bit nippy. I decided, as today was likely to be a bit of a right-off, weather-wise, I would start my tasks early. The cats were fed at 7am and the rain was on its way so we were going nowhere. I had a cup of Yorkshire tea and one of Michele’s gorgeously sweet pink grapefruits for breakfast. By 9.30am it was throwing it down. I spent most of the day on my laptop until Casha finally came in for a cuddle. Later on it became quite stormy and the internet went off but the electric was still on. I even got a text from Captain Net to say that there had been an outage and they were trying to fix it. Captain Caveman gave me a call to check on me, as the power was out at Charlie’s with the storm getting worse around bed time. The storm was loud and pretty relentless and I hoped all was ok at our own home.

On Monday 12th December all the cats were fed and accounted for by 7.50am but it looked like JC had some swelling on her face. She wouldn’t let me look or touch it and I thought it might have been a bee or wasp sting. I let Kate know in case a vet visit might be needed and we decided to see how she was throughout the day. Casha was fed up of being bothered by Bebek and decided she would sleep in the box of crisps. It was raining so all the cats stayed indoors all morning, except for Kylie. When the sun came out later that morning I decided all the cats but Casha, who was now sleeping on Kate’s handbag, could go out as I had an important appointment at noon. I had to walk to Charlie’s as I had no money on me, Captain Caveman had gone on a long walk with Cath and Keith but not taken Charlie on this one as it might be too difficult for him. He had remembered to leave me some cash which I needed as I’d arranged to meet author, Rosie O’Hara, at the Kaunos tea gardens to purchase her new book and have a quick catch up before she went to cookery class.

Captain Caveman sent me photos of his walk around Dalyan with his new walking buddies.

My wellies were falling apart but were necessary to get through all the puddles and mud from Mark and Kate’s place. I ordered a tea and Rosie gave me a yarn bag for Kate, a marvellous invention of which I’d never seen or heard of before. Rosie has written more than one book and, as I was buying her latest work, she very kindly gave me her previous book and even wrote a dedication and signed both books for me. I was also gifted some cards to experiment with and I was looking forward to seeing what effect they may have. Now I just needed to make some time to read them, I still hadn’t finished Mike Tyson’s autobiography which is really good. Rosie also recommended I get some Centaurium drops to help with my allergies/stomach reactions which now seemed to have transferred from stomach issues in to face and neck eczema. We had a short catch up before I walked back to Charlie’s in my broken wellies. If I had not lost weight at Fat Club this week I would be disappointed as I was walking for about an hour per day, minimum.

As Captain Caveman was out, I took Charlie for a walk then I took more Bolognese and some clean clothes from that house back to Mark and Kate’s around sunset. Kate had messaged to say that flights from the UK today had been cancelled due to snow and that their flight tomorrow might also get cancelled – I might need to stay longer. JC definitely had a poorly cheek and, although she still wouldn’t let me touch it, she did let me give her a cuddle.
I got most of my stuff together and did a few tasks in the evening so that I wouldn’t have to do as much tomorrow. Captain Caveman and my parents were both leaving in 2 weeks and I’d not really been out with them much. I was very tired, it’s surprising how the relaxing week at Mark and Kate’s had not really ended up as that and I was starting to miss being in my own home with all my own things.

Dalyan – 10th December

My plan on Saturday 10th December had been to get up early, feed the cats, do a couple of hours work and then walk to Charlie’s or the market to meet Captain Caveman. We’d been looking after Charlie for 10 days now and he really was such a lovely dog. The problem with being in 2 separate houses but trying to maintain a budget is that the food needs to be cooked together then split between the homes. I messaged Captain Caveman but he didn’t answer so I assumed he’d been on his Bridge app until late and was having a lay in. I’d fed all the cats on time and finished the tasks I had for the morning. On the way from Mark and Kate’s place I saw that the nearby building work included putting pipes in to the canals and ditches, it looked a mess and would be awful to walk through in the rain. The 30 minute walk did me good as I didn’t feel as tired once I got there. Captain Caveman was in bed playing Bridge on his phone, Charlie was also snoozing, so there was no trip to the market. I took Charlie out for a short walk round the block to Poo corner then came back for a shower. I could barely get any chat out of Captain Caveman apart from that he was in agreement that we would go to Altın Tava restaurant with my parents for lunch. We’d arranged to meet them at 1.30pm but we were late as Captain Caveman was getting obsessed with playing Bridge on his phone.
When we got near to the restaurant my Mom was stood in the street and Dad was walking about a bit further up. Alton Towers, as they call it, was closed despite my mom having checked with them yesterday. My parents didn’t look too pleased as we had been wanting to go to this place for a while but hadn’t managed it. Instead we made the decision that we would go to Bistro Blue for lunch and we headed off there. We sat inside, as we had left Charlie in the apartment, and we were the only ones there. This was only the second day of them being open for winter and there was no menu yet so Ömer, the waiter, took my Mom and Captain Caveman to the chiller to tell them what they had available to eat. My Dad is not a fan of not having a written menu so he didn’t go over and I had already decided I would try to be healthy. My parents ordered steaks, Captain Caveman chose a burger and I stuck with a chicken shish. The food was very good and I would definitely have the chicken shish again. All the food was nice and my parents said their steaks were delicious. We had drinks but I was conscious I wasn’t going to go too mad as I had more work to start tomorrow and I had to walk back to Mark and Kate’s later.

It started raining so I decided to get my wellies from Charlie’s and pick up some Bolognese before going to feed the cats. I noticed Captain Caveman had decided to open one of our Datça Vineyard wines to put in a slow cooker Bolognese and I was a bit disappointed because I’d hoped we would drink that on a special occasion, or at least together. We did have other red wine in when I left but he’d drank it. I took some food with me to tide me over so that I didn’t have to keep coming all this way to get some meals. The rain was about to come, the forecast wasn’t looking good for tomorrow so it was likely we wouldn’t leave our respective house sitting properties.
I got back to Mark and Kate’s just as the rain was about to lash it down, I had a glass of wine and then later warmed up my Bolognese for dinner.