Barnes – 10th & 11th April

When Captain Caveman’s alarm went off early on Thursday 10th April, neither of us had slept for long enough. There was washing to do, breakfast to be had and then lots of work/meetings for both of us. I had another Planner Ideation session with the wonderful Claire Clarke and I was really enjoying getting shit done today – the tiredness was not going to get the better of me. I joined a webinar about the Land of Legends in Antalya, Turkey, which looked amazing for families. It was the type of place you could take kids (or adults) who didn’t want to leave the room as it had an iconic Star Trek suite. There was also Paw Patrol, Dora and Ninja Turtles themed rooms for the younger children. It looked amazing and wasn’t that expensive for their All Inclusive packages which I was finding more and more potential customers preferred.
I liked my desk in Captain Caveman’s old bedroom and the house was lovely and quiet, ideal to work from. The weather had turned cold though and, because all my clothes were in the wash, I had to wear Captain Caveman’s jacket.
At 12.30pm, Captain Caveman took himself off to the shops for a breath of fresh air and to get some provisions. I had a meeting booked in. Here’s what he got, prices in pounds;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket
3 bananas 0.81
Milk 0.85
Sausages 1.79
250g Butter 1.99
Bacon 2.50
Total spent £7.94

It was also the Resort Experts team meeting today and it was great. News of more tech to help us and we had a bit of a mission on social media posts. Captain Caveman and I were so busy that I don’t think we ate lunch, but for dinner Captain Caveman made us a chicken pasta which was very good. We had cheese and crackers for afters but no wine as we were tired and begging for mercy.

Gratitude List
1. Coping with little sleep after getting back from Sheffield very late
2. Getting through all of the important appointments in my diary today
3. Cheese.

On Friday 11th April I started to wonder about booking my flight back to Turkey.
Jamie was flying back on the 23rd so we might end up on the same flight, but I got a call for work and we got distracted. I didn’t eat breakfast until 11am as I got busy but then I had to have muesli as we were out of bread.
We went for a walk to the shop at lunchtime and I had a bonus £50 in my account from the Nationwide. Captain Caveman and I called at Sainsbury’s to get some ingredients for a Friday night in. Here’s what we bought and the prices in pounds;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket

3 onions 0.60
Wholemeal loaf 1.39
Toothpaste 1.75
6 apples 1.80
Tomatoes 1.95
Butter 1.99
Potatoes 2.00
Coffee 3.65
2 bottles of red wine 14.50
Total spent £29.63

At first I told Captain Caveman to put the small pack of tomatoes back, for 2 quid as I was so shocked, they are so cheap in Dalyan. The wine was the £2 cheaper than last week so we got 2 bottles, it was also cheaper for a whole bottle than a glass down the pub. We both went back to work after a quick sandwich and at 5pm Captain Caveman said we should finish work. I wasn’t used to these ‘early finishes’ but it was nice to have a wander to the Brown Dog and then to the Coach & Horses. We tried to brave sitting in the beer garden, which was rammed but I was too cold, even with a coat on and we had to retreat inside.
We had left over chicken with pasta again for dinner and a drop of red wine before bed. Tomorrow I was meant to have been up in Sheffield for a birthday celebration but it clashed with one of the most important events of the year.

Gratitude List
1. My new trainers being super comfy
2. Going to the Brown Dog
3. Captain Caveman planning a great London weekend.

Sheffield to London – 9th April

Captain Caveman had to move out of his temporary house-share on Wednesday 9th April – his 3 months in Sheffield had come to an end. He had planned to ‘move house’ after work and before travelling back down to London. Luckily, neither of us have many belongings so it wouldn’t take too much effort for him. The downside was that the next place he was meant to be moving to, wasn’t ready yet. I did some work in bed before getting up and having bacon sandwiches with Matt and Vanessa. I took my measurements but wouldn’t get weighed until tonight. I had lost 1cm from my bust, stayed the same on my waist and put 1cm on my hips. I needed to do more exercise so I left off work to have a wander round the local area with Vanessa. It was surprisingly green and had some lovely walking routes and paths nearby. It had been nice spending time in Sheffield and I still had 2 more friends to meet up with today.
Kerrie, Jack and her new dog came to pick me up and we headed in to town. I needed new knickers and socks so we headed to Primark where I spent just £14.50, details below;

Primark
5 pairs of black socks £2.50
6 pairs of black seam free knickers £12.00

I was disappointed not to find anything else I liked in a Primark but the selection was not to my taste. After a go on the outside xylophone selection (a first for me), a quick look round some shops, a treasure hunt and a go on a fairground ride for Jack, we decided to call in to Sheffield Plate, in Orchard Square, for lunch.

I ordered a pint of cider and some gyoza, Kerrie had BBQ chicken wings with wedges and Jack got a free kids meal which was big enough for us to help him out on! It came to just £13.70 for 2 pints and a soft drink, we got free water and treats for the dog too. The gyoza were £10 for 10 and were so good.
The next stop was to burn off a few calories at the skate park, while I nipped to Waterstones for a bit of market research, but then it got cold. Kerrie asked me to sign her copy of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ and then we said our farewells.

I popped to the Forum for a cheeky drink, a wee and to check some work emails before my next meet up. Half a cider was £3.25 and I helped myself to free tap water then walked just a few doors down to meet Louisa.
I’d not been to Pieminister before so I was looking forward to trying a pie there – day 9 of being in the UK and I’d still not had a pie! Louisa arrived straight from work and we ordered. I went for the steak and ale pie with fries and a pint of tap water, she ordered the same pie but with mash, Yorkshire puddings and a soft drink. They obviously had Henderson’s relish which we added to our dinners. Here’s the prices in pounds for some lovely pies with sides;

2 Moo pies 17.40
Fries 4.70
Mash 3.70
Yorkshire pudding stick 2.20
2 gravy Included
Total for the food £28.00

The food was really nice but I was a little worried that I would have a bad stomach for my journey back to London tonight. We went to the Forum where I just wanted tap water but Louisa insisted I have a drink that wasn’t free, which I thought was funny. I genuinely miss being able to enjoy tap water so much when I’m away – Sheffield folk are so lucky! I had a diet coke but it was harder to drink as I’m not used to the taste or the fizz.
Meanwhile, Captain Caveman had finished day 3 of his work event, gone home, ‘moved out’, then gone to play Bridge at Nether Edge. Louisa kindly dropped me off to meet him so that we could get back down to London. After such a lovely day I was concerned I would fall asleep but it was my job to keep Captain Caveman entertained.
I was lucky to only need the toilet once on the whole journey and we arrived back in Barnes in the early hours! I was knackered but we had been eating jellies to keep lively. I got on the scales and was surprised to see I was the same as last week!

Gratitude List
1. Fun with Kerrie, Jack & Willow the dog
2. Finally seeing Louisa again after 7 months
3. Staying the same weight as last week.

Photo credit – some photos by Kerrie Smedley

Sheffield & Worksop – 8th April

Tuesday 8th April was the day that the Slimming World plan went well and truly out of the window!!!
I did a couple of hours work before I got out of bed, then had tea and toast with Vanessa and Matt. They were off out tonight so I had the place to myself and Vanessa had saved me some soup if I wanted it later. Vanessa was off to meet family at lunchtime so she offered to run me to my sisters or Crystal Peaks on her way. There was enough time so we decided that we’d do a bit of shopping. I bought a lovely green patterned dress to wear for a birthday celebration I’d been invited to. It was from New Look and cost just £25 in the sale. In Peacocks I bought 2 pairs of sensible footwear for £9 and £5, respectively.

Gayle and my niece, Morgan, came to pick me up from Crystal Peaks as we were off to meet my aunties, Jill & Rita. We had arranged to go for lunch at the Mill House in Worksop as they allowed dogs. We had a nice table reserved in the corner only steps away from a pork scratching machine!!! I had already decided I wanted some of those to take home and a tub was only £1.95.
We perused the menu and had a catch up so kept having to tell the waitress to come back as none of us could decide what to have.
I decided that, as I had been in the UK for a week now without having any fish and chips, that I would order that, but without peas. When the food came my fish and chips were a good sized portion for £16 but it was hard to eat all the chips, which were massive. It was nice to have vinegar and I did take some of the batter off in the end as I knew it would affect my stomach. I even had a try of Morgan’s pizza too which was very good – she had to take some of it home.
I was very full but Gayle was keen to have a pudding. She had a lovely gluten free sticky date pudding and I had a chocolate brownie which was probably the best I’d had in a good few years. The others had cheesecake which also looked good. Needless to say that the pork scratchings I had wanted were not purchased as I thought I couldn’t eat another thing for days! I don’t think tomorrow’s weigh day was looking promising for me. I didn’t have any alcohol, though, and drank several pints of Worksop tap water as I just love the fresh tap water up north.

We said our farewells and drove back towards Sheffield. On the way, I got a text from my Mom to ask where we were. We had invited her and Dad to lunch in Worksop but they already had plans so this was a bit unexpected. I said we were on our way back towards Mosborough and it turned out they were in their local pub after their plans had changed. They wanted us to join them and we were all so full that we just wanted a lay down, plus we had to get back for Sumo, the dog. Ma & Pa were in the Alma beer garden and Pa tried to insist on getting us a beer but I went and got ours as they had full glasses. I stuck to tap water, Gayle had a diet coke and Morgan a J2O juice.
It was unlucky that we didn’t know earlier that we were meeting our parents as we definitely wouldn’t have had so much to eat in Worksop. I had to get back because Gayle was kindly dropping me off at Vanessa’s. Although they live close by to each other it is quite tricky to get between the 2 areas without a car. We said goodbye after one drink and left my parents in The Alma with a promise I would come back up to Sheffield on our way to Harrogate at Easter.
Back at Vanessa’s I lolled about a bit and caught up with some work while it was quiet. I got a message from my friend Kerrie, who I was meeting tomorrow, her copy of You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ had arrived. Tomorrow would be my last day in Sheffield as I was heading back down to London with Captain Caveman so I was in bed before Vanessa and Matt got back home.

Gratitude List
1. Shopping with Vanessa
2. Lunch with Gayle, Morgan, Jill & Rita
3. Unexpectedly getting to see my parents for the first time since November last year.

Sheffield – 7th April

Captain Caveman was attending a 3 day work event in Sheffield on Monday 7th April so we were up very early. I was pleased to have finally got some sleep after the bad stomach and Captain Caveman’s snoring, but I was still quite tired. The bed at the Hampton by Hilton was very comfy, the shower was very good with toiletries supplied. Breakfast was buffet style and, we were probably the first in. A massive selection of fruit, pastries, cereal and full English was on offer and, of course, I had to have some of everything. I always judge a hotel breakfast on the quality of their sausage and I would say these were excellent – I ate 2 of them. Captain Caveman rushed off leaving me still eating and drinking my second cup of Yorkshire tea. My plan for the day was to crack on with work until it was time to check out. By 10am I was looking at a holiday to Palma for a friend.
I checked out and asked at reception if I was able to sit in their reception area to attend an online event. They were more than happy to let me do that and suggested a lovely quiet table in the seating area to the side of the lobby. I joined Claire Clarke once again for more of the Planner Ideation course and the work I’d done on it already was starting to make sense. I was hoping to have a published travel planner out before the end of this year. I finished the session and then had to rush, up a big hill for my next appointment.
I’d arranged to meet my sister, Gayle, at Marmaduke’s Cafe but when we got there the coffee machine wasn’t working and they didn’t have much gluten free food left. We decided to try elsewhere and I even had to take my coat off as it was getting a tad warm in sunny Sheffield.
It was great to see my sister and as today was pay day I was keen to buy her lunch. We decided on Browns as it was already 3pm and the choices were limited. We took ages to decide what to have and I was obviously on the free tap water for my drink as it’s just the best water in the world!!! We also tried to order sensibly as we are both trying to be healthy. Here’s what we had with the prices in pounds;

Browns restaurant
2 diet cokes 7.70
Gluten Free chicken salad 16.95
Gluten Free prawn penne 17.95
Service charge 4.26
Total spent £46.86

The food was extremely good and I have to say probably a better gluten free menu than the ordinary one. Gayle is coeliac so needs to order Gluten Free whereas mine was just because I preferred that meal. The staff were good and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice Browns was.
Next, we decided to call in to the Forum for a toilet stop and a hot drink (we are of that age now). I went mad and ordered a hot chocolate which looked more like a dessert. My sister had a coffee which wasn’t very hot. We walked to Gayle’s car, parked next to the Forum, and she gave me a lift to where I was staying for the next 2 nights.
Unfortunately, my visit had clashed with my parents being unavailable so I couldn’t stay with them. Vanessa and Matt had kindly offered me their spare room and I was looking forward to catching up with them. Gayle and Vanessa had not met yet so I introduced them and then said bye with arrangements to meet again tomorrow.
That evening, Vanessa made us a lovely leek and potato soup with crusty bread and I loved it. We had a good laugh and Matt introduced me to Lucifer on Netflix which was very funny.

Gratitude List
1. Meeting up with my sister
2. Seeing Vanessa & Matt
3. Having 3 amazing meals

Barnes to Sheffield – 6th April

Sunday 6th April would turn out to be quite an expensive day. The Flixbus I had booked for £35 was leaving London Victoria at 1.30pm. Captain Caveman had worked out when we needed to get the bus from Barnes to get there on time. I suggested that, because I walk slower and had my wheelie case with me, we could go earlier ‘just in case’. Captain Caveman wasn’t bothered about getting there too early and we stuck to his original plan. The bus came but we didn’t go the whole distance on it due to a traffic jam and us being stuck not moving for about 20 minutes. We were likely to miss the bus if we didn’t get off and walk but, of course, bus drivers these days will only let you get off at an actual bus stop. When we did eventually get off we had to run through Putney and over the bridge, full of tourists. It was hard work and we made it to a train station just as a football match was starting so it was busy. On the tube we went slightly wrong and had to backtrack but eventually got to Victoria station and ran to the bus station. It was a good job I was a stone or two lighter than I used to be as I would never have managed the run otherwise but I was quite pleased to even keep up. We had a feeling we were going to have missed the bus but still ran in to the Victoria Bus Station where I shouted that I was ‘coming through’ as I ran to the departure lane. There was no Flixbus to be seen so we assumed we had missed it, as we were 5 minutes after the departure time. I went for a pee while Captain Caveman went online to buy new tickets for the next bus. He couldn’t get it to work so he walked off to the ticket office when I returned. I checked my phone and had a text from Flixbus saying it was delayed by 15 minutes so it hadn’t arrived yet!!!
I called, text and messaged Captain Caveman but he didn’t answer and came back with 2 National Express tickets for £54, leaving from the opposite end of the station at 2pm. I was a bit peeved we had wasted more money on this but we didn’t see the Flixbus and might have been stuck in London until the evening if we didn’t get the 2pm bus, which we decided to do. The journey went well and we got off in the Sheffield bus station to then have to walk to the Hampton by Hilton at West Bar. It was £59.85 for the 2 of us including breakfast and was very comfortable.
Captain Caveman had already set his mind on going to a restaurant in Kelham Island which sold burgers. I’m not a burger fan really so asked if they did anything else. I also pointed out that it might be a bit of a waste of a hotel bed for me to eat a burger as, if I did, there was probably little chance of any romance – for me, burgers are the worst thing to eat on a date night! Captain Caveman was still adamant that he wanted the burger and said I could have cheesy chips, instead. On the way Captain Caveman bought us a pint each and some pork scratchings (back in Yorkshire!) in The Shakespeare. Next, we went to Saw Grinders Union and ordered a pint each and the bacon cheeseburger with fries. I had high hopes for it at £15.50 each, after all we were no longer in London. When it came it looked like a better version of a Big Mac and it tasted pretty good. I don’t understand the need to cover fries in red powdery dust, though. Captain Caveman had another pint and our whole meal came to a whopping £48.50. My stomach issues started before we even left the building and I made full use of the bathroom facilities back at the hotel. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten it – it was a bit of a waste of money too.

Gratitude List
1. Still getting to Sheffield from Barnes
2. The Hampton by Hilton Hotel being very nice
3. Still smiling despite today being a bit of a to-do, costing us £200 and ending on a belly ache!

Barnes – 4th & 5th April

Both Captain Caveman and I continued to have a busy working day on Friday 4th April. The difference being that I’d got used to working the evenings and weekends so I wasn’t used to logging off at 5pm on a Friday night. Captain Caveman had plans for us and we had also toyed with the idea of catching up with friends in London. I had 2 friends cancel so we decided we would have a night in Barnes rather than heading in to the Big Smoke. My friend and Resort Experts colleague in Majorca, Dagne, had finished my book and sent me a review which I was really pleased with. While Captain Caveman was in his morning meeting, I had my breakfast of beans on wholemeal toast, which I loved! At lunch we both ate at the table together and had sandwiches; mine was cheese and rocket (pickled onions on the side!), his was peanut butter and marmite. We both had meetings or training sessions in the afternoon and I was making progress on my Planner Ideation course.

After work, we walked along the river again and I got a text from one of my old school friends, Joanne, who had bought my book and I was so happy to hear from her. She sent me a fab selfie with the book and it made my day.
Captain Caveman took us for a drink in a pub which could have been the White Hart, where he had beer and I had cider for £15.
Our next pub was a visit to the really lovely Brown Dog. It was easily my favourite on account of it having several dogs in. I also ended up having a pint of rather strong rhubarb flavoured beer and being a bit tipsy on the walk home. It was £16.50 for 2 pints in there and a bag of crisps were £1.50!!
We walked home and, while Captain Caveman made us a chicken pasta dinner, I went back out to the shop to buy bread and wine. It all got a bit complicated at the self scanner when the assistant had to put in a code for me buying alcohol and then didn’t give me the wine back. He had taken the anti-stealing device off but left the wine by the door. I had to check with the Sainsbury’s security guard if it was my wine, he didn’t know, but said to take it. I paid £1.39 for a loaf and £9.50 for the wine.
Our dinner was really tasty and we tried to watch Celebrity Big Brother. Unfortunately, even after googling the contestants we only knew a couple of them and thought it was a bit boring.

Gratitude List
1. More great feedback for my book
2. English food
3. Going down the pub on a Friday night.

We had ideas on Saturday 5th April to either go to see a friend presenting at the Ideal Home Exhibition, do a trip to MI5, or spend some time at Richmond park. It was cold and I ended up doing some work, eating beans on toast again and then we didn’t go to any of our ideas. Instead, we decided to visit Marc Bolan’s memorial at the tree where he died in Putney. We decided to have a walk around the area and the sun did come out so it got warmer. We stopped at a cafe in a park for a hot beverage. Loo Loo’s cafe in Putney had homemade sausage rolls which we shared one of, with mint tea for me and a double espresso for Captain Caveman. It came to £10.50 and we sat outside the cafe looking at all the dogs that came in. So many more people in the UK seemed to have dogs than I remembered.

After the park, we walked towards Fulham football ground and, of course, my stomach had started to react badly to the sausage roll. We had to motor on until we found a pub so I could go to the toilet. The Crabtree in Fulham was the busiest pub I’d seen in a long time and there were 3 deep at the bar and queuing in the toilets. I almost shit myself outside a disabled toilet but I managed to make it to the normal toilet. When I got back, Captain Caveman was only just being served and when we found somewhere to sit we realised why it was so busy.

We watched the Grand National where Nick Rocket won and no horses died. We also did some banking while waiting to see if my sausage roll situation was over. It was, so we continued walking along the river and nearly got involved in learning how to argue better. I had a laugh at the Learn to Row poster which I’d pronounced as in arguement, as we didn’t need any help in that area. We saw Hammersmith bridge and then had another drink in the George & Devonshire in Chiswick. Compared to the last pub, it was so quiet but was a lovely pub with comfy seating.
We decided to splash out for dinner tonight and get the Indian Dine in deal from Marks & Spencer where we got the following;

M&S Food
Starter – Baji, pakora and samosa
Chicken Tikka Masala
Lamb Rogan Josh
Pilau Rice
£15 for the Indian meal deal
Carton of mixed Crackers £2.90
Brie £2.10
Total spent £20.00

It was a bargain and tasted amazing. I’d not had Indian food for quite a while and I guessed it wouldn’t be my first while in the UK. Captain Caveman drank Guinness with his and I just had tap water. Tonight was our last night in Barnes as we were heading north tomorrow for just a few days.

Gratitude List
1. Having a day off with Captain Caveman
2. Going for a walk around the area
3. Curry for dinner.

If you would like to read my handy travel tips book, you can do so here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Cant-Shit-Yourself-Bicycle/dp/B0DWWTBVCL

Barnes – 2nd & 3rd April

Wednesday 2nd April would usually have been weigh day but I was away from Dalyan, and in Barnes. I got weighed on Captain Caveman’s parents’ scales, I weighed 0.7kg (1.5lb) under target and was 1kg (2.2lb) less than last week. I actually didn’t think it would be accurate that I’d lost weight this week but it was good to check. My measurements showed that I had put 1cm on my bust and hips but I had lost 1cm from my waist (all were still under target).

It was a normal working day for both of us, so Captain Caveman went to his parents’ office upstairs and I set up at the desk in Captain Caveman’s old bedroom. We met up for breakfast at 10.30am and had my warmed up pizza from last night. Captain Caveman had lots of meetings while I cracked on with attracting new customers. We had a late lunch where Captain Caveman cooked us a brunch style meal. I had beans on toast with proper butter and 2 pork sausages – it was so good!!! He had egg and tomatoes with his. We both worked the rest of the day, me until 6.30pm. Captain Caveman suggested a walk with a trip to the pub and the supermarket and I was up for that. It was great to see and smell the freshness of Barnes, it was chilly but not raining. There were lots of fancy charity shops, dock leaves in the park and the cinema was finished. I had it on my list to go but at £20 a ticket I decided to leave it. I got a bit of a shock in the Red Lion when I paid for our round of 1 red wine and 1 pint of beer at £18.15. Our next drinks were in the Sun Inn and the same round came to ‘just’ £15.20. On the way home we popped to the shop again to get something for dinner. Here’s what we bought and the prices in pounds;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket
500g Carrots 0.49
3 onions 0.60
6 Crumpets 0.79
3 Peppers 1.95
500g 5% fat beef mince 3.99
Cheese 4.30
Red wine 9.50
Total spent £21.62

I was surprised to see that fag shelters had got fancier but the shops didn’t trust us not to steal mince! Captain Caveman knocked up a superb pasta bolognese and we shared a bottle of Primitivo red wine. I fell asleep on the sofa before I’d finished my wine as I was still a bit tired.

Gratitude List
1. A nice desk to work from with views of the garden
2. Going for an after work drink with Captain Caveman.
3. Great food, cooked by Captain Caveman.

Thursday 3rd April was another busy day in our world, we both had a lot on at work so we had arranged to squeeze in a 1 hour lunch date at noon. Cote restaurant was an Ask pizza place the last time I had been in Barnes so it was nice to try out this new place which had a lunch special on. Captain Caveman had a Crab Croque Madame and I had a steak baguette with fries, we both drank tap water and I really enjoyed it. It was quite fancy for a Thursday lunch and we had to rush as we both had meetings and calls from 1pm. The total bill, because of the offer, was only £18.65 for the 2 of us. We discussed plans for the weekend and decided we would travel up to Sheffield, my home town, on Sunday. My afternoon job was to book the bus tickets and find us a hotel to stay in on Sunday night as well as a hotel at Manchester airport for when Captain Caveman flew over to İzmir. I had a bit of time back as my Team Meeting had been postponed. Working for Resort Experts means that we get great prices on hotels so I booked both, including breakfasts, for less than £60 per night. The Flixbus for the 2 of us from Victoria to Meadowhall was a total of £34.98. At 6pm, as agreed, Captain Caveman and I finished work and decided to have a long walk along the River Thames, calling at the Ship Inn. He had a pint of IPA and I had a pint of Aspall’s cider for a total of £13. I was keen to find Pork Scratchings but I had a feeling that Barnes was a bit posh for that kind of snack, and never did. The next pub was the cheapest in the area I’d been in so far. The Hare & Hounds in East Sheen was just £13 for a pint of ale and a large red win.
On our way home we called in to Waitrose (it was a sign we were both working now!) and bought provisions;

Waitrose Supermarket
Baby potatoes 0.61
1 orange pepper 0.65
Penne pasta 0.75
1 Garlic Baguette 1.25
Wild Rocket 1.49
Pack of pears 2.00
Chicken fillets 3.49
Total spent £10.24

I also bought a folder from a newsagents and it cost a whopping £2.99 but I needed it for the next part of my Planner Ideation course. For dinner, Captain Caveman made a lovely chicken pasta with salad and we finished off the wine from yesterday with it.

Gratitude List
1. A fab lunch date with Captain Caveman
2. An after work walk and a drink along the Thames
3. Great food for dinner.

Dalyan to Barnes – 1st April

Where was the time going!? I was finding it hard to believe that it was already Tuesday 1st April and I had so much to do. All with a hangover, too!!!!
I still needed to calculate my budget v actual spending at the end of March, I was behind on my blog posts and I hadn’t even checked how many books I had sold in my first full month of trading! All this and we were off to the prison restaurant for a hello/farewell lunch with Jamie and then to the airport for our 2.30pm flight to Gatwick! I’d had a wonderful message from my friend and colleague, Dagne, yesterday but had not had chance to post it on social media. She had finally got her copy of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ and was on the beach in Majorca, reading my book. The photo was perfect! I wondered if the British humour would still translate well enough. I needn’t have worried as she was already enjoying it and said she felt like she was getting friendly travel advice from a friend over a glass of wine! Amazing, and that is all I could have wished for! Dagne was also the first person to send me a photo where it was the new version of the book! It was also the first one to be bought in Spain! I think this was the 5th country to have someone reading my book in, and that felt good!
When I checked how many books I had sold it wasn’t as many as I had hoped for but it averaged at over 1 per day. Apparently, that is good for a self published one with zero marketing budget/adverts. Still, it meant I had earned less than £150 for the month, which I would not get until the end of May. I needed to sell more and I needed a smarter way to do that. I was grateful for everyone who had bought it already and I needed a way to get it out to more people, particularly who would benefit from the travel advice. I think using Amazon puts some people off, and I’m not a massive fan of it either, but it’s the biggest seller of books in the world. If I couldn’t cut it using Amazon as a free platform, then it wasn’t wise to pay for a different platform. I was also surprised at how few ebook/kindle versions I had sold as I thought that was a popular way to read books these days. I would persevere and hope more people would buy it in the coming weeks and months. I’d already started a list of chapter titles for the next one.
My next task was to check the money situation; unsurprisingly I had gone over my £300 budget. In March I had spent a grand total of £370 including bills (but not rent or council tax). I was a bit disappointed at going over by 23% but I had splashed out on my hair this month plus some extra treats.
April was going to be tough to set a budget for as I was off to the UK for at least a week and we had a holiday in the İzmir area planned. Captain Caveman was also planning to move out of Sheffield as his 3 months renting in a shared place was up and he had decided to rent a house to himself in a more convenient location for work.
I didn’t eat any breakfast on account of feeling sickly from too much booze last night. I’d had a whole bottle of red wine and one whisky and I really felt it!!! I was doing all I could to not be sick by the time Jamie picked us up. Unfortunately, the storm last night had blown the adjacent new build’s roof off, some of it was on our balcony and some in the garden. We drove to the prison and we ordered food, I just copied what Captain Caveman had, köfte, hoping he’d eat some of mine anyway. As Jamie was kind enough to drive us to the airport I bought the lunch which only came to 985 lira (£20) for 3 meals and 3 soft drinks – impressive.

We drove to the airport and said our farewells to Jamie, it felt weird that I was going back to the UK after almost 9 months and I wasn’t sure when I would be back exactly. At the airport they let us go through to the lounge with our water and Captain Caveman went off to do a reccy in the Duty Free. It works out cheaper to get the small wines or spirit miniatures at the Duty Free shop, than buying in the bar but I had no plans on drinking or eating anything. On the easyJet plane, I had a whole row to myself, Captain Caveman was sat in front of me with just 2 of them in a row of 3. We took off on time and then Captain Caveman came and sat in my row, taking the window seat and I had the aisle. Luckily, I had brought chocolate Dido bars for a snack but we didn’t bother buying any food or drink on the entire journey. We were due to land about 5pm and Captain Caveman managed to get quite a bit of sleep.

We landed in to Gatwick airport on time on and got the train to Barnes. Captain Caveman and I were staying at his parents while they were away. We were walking in to the house just before 6pm, having cost £15.60 using my Wise card to get from Gatwick. I was really excited as I had a package, it was 3 copies of my book. It was the first time I’d touched or seen a copy of it and I was actually quite happy with it. It was small enough to fit in to a handbag which was a good selling point. I took a couple of photos and then we unpacked.

Captain Caveman suggested we have a walk around Barnes, get some dinner and do some shoping ready for us both being back to work tomorrow. Barnes was really beautiful and it wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be. Captain Caveman treated us to dinner at Base Face Pizza which was just amazing. I wasn’t going to be drinking but I ended up with a red wine and a pizza with ham and pineapple on. Captain Caveman had beer and a spicy pizza. He paid the bill so I wasn’t sure of the exact total but it came to about £50 for the 2 of us, including a drink each. Tap water was free and I just couldn’t get enough of it – it’s one of the things I miss when I’m not in England. Our food was so delicious, the waitress was really good and I took half of my pizza home as I was trying to be good. We saw the sunset over the river Thames and it was so nice to be in London together.
Our next stop off was at Sainsbury’s where I was gobsmacked at how much chocolate they had. Cadbury’s Cream Eggs were in abundance at 85p each or 5 for £3 but I resisted the urge to buy any chocolate. Here’s what was in our shopping basket (prices in pounds) and doing the self scan, which Captain Caveman was really good at;

Sainsbury’s Supermarket
2 tins Baked Beans 0.80
1 wholemeal loaf 1.39
6 eggs 1.75
Pork sausages 1.79
Fresh tomatoes 2.00
Total spent £7.73

I was shocked at the price of tomatoes and bread but pleased with the baked beans and sausages. We didn’t even watch any TV as we were both tired so we had an early night.

Gratitude List
1. Jamie taking us to the airport
2. Being able to go back to the UK with Captain Caveman
3. A night out with pizza in Barnes.

Dalyan – 31st March

Captain Caveman arrived at his Dalyan apartment at about 1.30am on Monday 31st March. His flight had been delayed by 4.5hours and they had to change on to a different plane. There was a quick welcome kiss but we had more pressing things to attend to. Captain Caveman emptied the case of the frozen and chilled products which had been wrapped in the Metro newspaper. We needed to get the bacon and sausage in the freezer, the cheese and chorizo in the fridge. The rest of the stuff could wait until morning! He had brought so much stuff and the only things he couldn’t get from my list was bouillon and a particular coconut powder. After the coldest wares had been attended to, we ate cheese pasties and finished off the wine before finally going to bed at stupid o’clock! Miraculously, we slept in until about 8.30am!!! Captain Caveman had taken the day off work, as well as tomorrow, but had decided to check if he could log in to do work while in Turkey. Unfortunately, he couldn’t join the morning team meeting but he did have access to files so he would need to get that fixed if he wanted to be able to do work while visiting me. By 10.20am, Captain Caveman had unpacked the rest of the goodies and we had a full kitchen table of them. My old stick blender had broken so I was so excited to get a new one, plus a silicon liner for the air fryer.
Captain Caveman had also brought out my freebie copy of a book, from Charlie Day of The Sales Agency. I’d been following her and had helped with some lead generation work. It was about making sales without being aggressively salesy and was right up my street. I couldn’t wait to read it but I wasn’t about to take it back to London with me. Captain Caveman was meant to have brought a couple of copies of my book out for Sezgin and Debbie but he couldn’t get them in time so I had ordered them to come to London.
Captain Caveman made himself some breakfast with eggs and I had overnight oats with a cup of tea. It was raining and the wind was getting up a bit so Captain Caveman had resigned himself to the fact that we were going nowhere. For lunch we had homemade soup with cheese pasties and bread. We also marked the occasion with a beer each, mine a gluten free one as normal Efes no longer sits right with me. While Captain Caveman opened boxes from storage and rearranged all his belongings, I attended the next session of Claire Clarke’s Planner Ideation course. This is where I decided I needed a white board, some marker pens and highlighters adding to my office. I had another project on the go and was excited to see where that would lead. Captain Caveman also managed to squeeze in a trip to the barbers.
It was my Dad’s birthday and they were enjoying their last day away so we had a video call and said Happy Birthday. Dad seemed to be enjoying himself and was impressed by the dessert selection on offer.

At 5.30pm, despite the grey skies and threatening rain, I suggested to Captain Caveman that we go for a walk. I knew we needed to be at Sezgin and Nur’s house for 6.30pm for the surprise dinner and drinks. Somehow I needed to get the chocolate, rakı and wine round there too so I said I needed to drop something off along the way. I tried to be a bit vague as I shoved it all in a rucksack while Captain Caveman wasn’t looking. Once on the walk, which Captain Caveman decided we were going by the river for but we needed to be heading to Gülpınar, he wanted to carry the bag! I think he could tell something was up as he suggested we go to Heybe for a drink and to say hi to Donny. I knew we were going to be late but I had to make it look casual, so we stopped off. We noticed that Retro bar was close to being reopened for the start of the season and now had a massive statue – it was certainly going to stand out and be a bit different to how it looked before. We carried on walking as I pretended we were just passing near where Debbie & Mike lived and I said we could perhaps stop by and say hello, knowing they were already at Sezgin’s for the surprise party. We ended up getting a bit lost (on purpose) and were late so I had to say we would just say hello to Sezgin and Nur, as we just happened to be passing! Everyone was so glad to see Captain Caveman and I think he realised what was going on but didn’t say anything. Nur had cooked an amazing meal with börek, salad and Baba ghanoush for starters. Then for main we had liver with rice which was delicious – Captain Caveman ate two lots. For dessert we had creme caramel which was delicious too. There was lots of wine for me, I’d taken red, white for Nur, plus the big bottle of rakı for Captain Caveman to share. We had a great night with lots of laughter and music. I think it was about 1am when we finally went home, having danced and drank whisky. Why do I do this on the night before a flight!?
It was the last day of the month and I’d been too busy today to see how I’d done against my monthly budget of £300 – I suspected I had gone over, though!

Gratitude List
1. Captain Caveman finally making it to Dalyan for 34 hours!
2. Being brought lots of goodies from the UK
3. A great ‘surprise’ party for Captain Caveman at Sezgin and Nur’s place.

Dalyan – 30th March

Sunday 30th March was the day that Captain Caveman would be flying from Gatwick to Dalaman just to see me for a couple of days. When we initially booked the flight for £27, we had booked it without hold luggage. Since then, Captain Caveman had added on a case so that he could bring me some items that were cheaper or only available in the UK. He’d started buying the items before we decided that I would also fly back with him on Tuesday. I was up and about early as I was excited for his arrival, even though his flight didn’t leave London until 13:40 UK time. He was due to arrive in to Dalaman at 19:50 and our friend, Debbie, had volunteered to pick him up, taking me with her! The weather wasn’t fit for a Sunday stroll as it was raining and the skies were grey.

I’d arranged to meet my friends at Kefal tea garden at 10.30am as we wanted to discuss arrangements with Sezgin about our surprise BBQ (no longer a BBQ) tomorrow and our trip to İzmir at the end of next month. We were looking to do a cheese and wine trip for a couple of nights and Captain Caveman would fly directly to İzmir to join us. Tomorrow we had decided that Nur would cook a Turkish meal at their home and I just had to get Captain Caveman there as a surprise. Debbie and I agreed I would be at her house for 7.15pm tonight to go to the airport. No one had any breakfast at the tea gardens so I stuck to my 2 hot beverages. It’s still so cheap at the tea gardens, tea is often half the price of a tea elsewhere in Dalyan.

Kefal tea gardens
2 Turkish teas 40.00 lira (81p)

Back home, I ate overnight oats with berries for a late breakfast and decided to ask the AI tool, Chat GPT, about my book. It was hilariously inaccurate and read like it had made it up just from the title. I decided to reply to let ChatGPT know it had got ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ wrong but I didn’t expect an apology. I was impressed with that and decided to use it for marketing purposes in the future.

After doing a bit of work and making cheese pasties for lunch, I popped to the shops. I needed to buy booze to take tomorrow, as well as get some beer for Captain Caveman’s arrival tonight. I already had treats at the ready. Here’s what I bought with the prices in lira;

Yaman Büfe 2
2 Salt & Vinegar crisps 120.00
1 bottle of white wine 229.00
1 bottle of Rakı 1095.00
Total spent 1444.00 lira (£29.41)

Migros Supermarket
Mints 18.45
2 Quark 70.00
2 Efes Malt 134.00
1 Gluten Free Efes 105.00
Total spent 327.45 lira (£6.67)

Parlak bakery
Bread 15.00 lira (31p)

About an hour after returning home, Captain Caveman messaged to say they hadn’t took off yet. They should have left at 3.40pm (Turkish time) and I was tracking the flight. It said it had taken off at 3.53pm (Turkish time) but would land earlier than scheduled so all was still good, according to the internet. Unfortunately, Captain Caveman reported back that an engineer was coming to fix something and it looked like it could be delayed an hour or 2. Interestingly, the flight tracker showed it had departed on time and was flying over Serbia as Captain Caveman told me they were all getting off the plane and on to a new one. We cancelled the lift to and from the airport as we didn’t know what time Captain Caveman would depart, if at all, and he was still not on a new plane by the time 3 hours had passed. This meant he would now get compensation but wouldn’t land until after midnight. I was more concerned about all the goodies that might be getting a bit warm in that suitcase! I thought about asking someone else or a taxi to pick him up but as it was Bayram that proved tricky. Captain Caveman said he would just get a taxi at the airport. They finally took off on the new plane just before 8pm, Turkish time, I decided to make more cheese pasties so that he had something to eat when he arrived.
At 10pm I sat down with a glass of wine and watched something on Netflix while I waited for Captain Caveman to arrive, which would be around 1am!

Gratitude List
1. Having a Plan B for tomorrow’s cancelled BBQ
2. Slimming World style Cheese pasties
3. Knowing Captain Caveman was finally on his way but could claim £350 compensation for his flight delay.

Dalyan – 29th March

I watched the sunrise on Saturday 29th March and got a text from a friend from the Berlin 10. Her delivery of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ had come yesterday and she had sent me a selfie with it. I was really chuffed and hoped Drexy would enjoy reading it. I also got a review from my mate Jamie, in Dalyan, who had only read the first chapter and thought it was hilarious! Unfortunately, Amazon only lets you review purchases once you have spent £40 so anyone who only used it to buy my book was not able to review it. This was a shame as it meant I only had 5 reviews so far.
I decided not to go to the market today and cracked on with work, seeing as Captain Caveman would be here on Monday and I was taking Tuesday off.
I had overnight oats with berries for breakfast and checked my money situation. I was pleased to find I was doing OK for March, despite having splashed out a bit more this month. I had a break for a sage tea and couldn’t resist a Dido from the fridge, since I had quite a stock of them now.
At lunch I had more of the soup with bread and then I popped to the bank and shops, here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

BIM Süpermarket
500g pasta 11.50
1kg lentils 36.75
1kg Basmati rice 62.50
4 Dido chocolate bars 78.00
Total spent 188.75 lira (£3.84)

A101 Supermarket
2 packets taco wraps 33.00
Marshmallows 37.00
Wholemeal bread 47.50
Washing Powder 134.75
Total spent 252.25 lira (£5.14)

In the afternoon I continued to work as the skies turned very dark with rain forecast. Another couple of friends shared my book posts on Facebook and a friend of Jamie’s sent me her book selfie as she had also started reading it. I was really pleased and sales were starting to take off but it was a hard slog doing it self published, just getting people to know about it.
That evening I warmed up a veggie curry with a naan bread and drank red wine, counting down to seeing Captain Caveman, tomorrow night.
Tonight the clocks would go forward in the UK, but not in Turkey, making me only 2 hours ahead.

Gratitude List
1. Getting to the end of the month and still having money left
2. Support from friends with my handy travel tips book
3. Looking forward to only being 2 hours ahead of the UK.

The link to buy my book:

Dalyan – 28th March

I had strawberries with quark and a little bit of honey for breakfast on Friday 28th March and checked my bank while I sipped my tea. Ordinarily, today would be the date of me checking I had the required money in my Turkish account for residency. I didn’t need to as it had already been done and that was lucky as it was a Bayram (holiday). It felt good but I also felt like I needed to put in the amount for April, as I still needed to get my new card. It felt like I could somehow not receive it and need to have put in the amount to show proof still, which was probably silly. Back in the UK, Captain Caveman had been paid and sent me some money to take care of a few bills for the apartment, plus a bit extra so that I wasn’t having to be frugal with the housekeeping. It was a habit now, though, and I couldn’t help be thrifty – I hoped this mentality meant I could start to save for future holidays and trips with Captain Caveman now.
I was busy working in the morning and had a break for a sage tea and a Dido chocolate bar, I had loads in the fridge as I’d bought them when on offer! In the news there had been an earthquake in Myanmar which had also been felt in neighbouring countries such as Thailand. With there being a war in Myanmar, it was difficult to know what rescue work was actually happening, which was sad.
Debbie popped round and brought me a couple of pairs of size 12 jeans, I think she was sick of seeing me hoisting mine up on the Sunday walks, complaining my trousers were falling down! A lot of my clothes were too big for me and I was starting to look like a bit of a tramp. I was looking forward to getting some new clothes in England. I had cheese on wholemeal toast for lunch and then got back on with work as I had a long awaited event happening at 4pm.
I finished work and left home for my hair appointment with the fantastic Emrah Kilis. I’d only been waiting to get my hair cut and coloured since last year. I had meant to use my birthday money to go sooner but I’d not really had any reason to bother. Now that I had Captain Caveman coming over, I’d been advised by one of my friends that it would be a good time to sort my hair out in readiness. I was peckish on the way so I nipped to the shop for a treat and wanted something that wasn’t chocolate. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out and I ended up getting chocolate anyway.

Şevikoğlu Supermarket
1 X 4 Finger Dido 29.90 lira (61p)

I ate my KitKat-like treat after having my dye put on and the assistant brought me a cup of tea. I sent a photo to Captain Caveman asking him to guess where I was. He didn’t answer straight away but when he did, he responded ‘Dentist’.

Emrah and I had a laugh about that and then he got on and did wonders with my hair. It felt so good as I’d not had it done since June. It cost me 1900 lira (£38.70) which I thought was reasonable. In the past I would associate getting my hair done with going out but I’d already decided I wouldn’t be. I wasn’t paying almost £40 to have my hair done for it to then stink of smoke from going to a bar! In the winter time most of the bar owners are much more slack at allowing smokers inside so I had decided I would rather stay at home, eat nice food and drink my own wine. I called at the shops on the way home and here’s what I bought, prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Turkish Delight 90.00 lira
6 Dido Chocolate bars 99.00
2 Milka Chocolate Bars 139.80
Total spent 328.80 lira (£6.70)

On the way out I noticed something on offer and went back in for it;

Migros Supermarket
Washing up liquid 59.95 lira (£1.22)

It was a sign I had more disposable income this month as I stocked up on treats for when (if) I got invited round to friend’s houses.

I had a lovely drop of Levissi Gamay red wine, spoke to a couple of friends in other countries and then danced to my favourite songs on YouTube – a lovely drama and smoke free Friday night! I was so excited to get a photo and message from an old Phong Nha friend who had bought my book. Jamie was a friend who we met when I first went to Phong Nha and was even present in at least one of the chapters. Her young daughter had opened the package and been shocked at the curse word so Mommy had to put a 💩 emoji over it – genius! Maybe I needed to adapt my front cover like that for more sensitive audiences!

Gratitude List
1. Having a hairdresser’s appointment with Emrah
2. Knowing my American friend, who had lived in Phong Nha, had bought my book
3. Enjoying my Friday night doing what I wanted.

If you want to buy my handy travel tips book, here is the link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Cant-Shit-Yourself-Bicycle/dp/B0DWWTBVCL

Dalyan – 26th & 27th March

My day started with overnight oats and a cup of Yorkshire tea on Wednesday 26th March. It was Weigh Day so I got on the scales at home and I was a bit less than when I got weighed last week. Carol’s scales at Fat Club, as always, would be the real weight to go by but I suspected I may still be over target slightly. My measurements weren’t bad; no change on my bust which was now 2cm under target, 1cm on my waist which was still on target and 2cm off my hips making it 1cm under target. I was doing ok, even if the scales didn’t say that later.
I worked in the morning, then toddled off to Turkish Class at Lukka where I had a good Turkish tea.
For lunch I warmed up some of the left over pasta bake and then drank lots of water, before getting on with some work. I had 3 enquiries on the go at once today which I was grateful for. It was also good to see people had been recommending my Travel Advisor services. I’d not been doing the job 6 months yet, but I knew this was what I wanted to do – it was the perfect job for me. Although my book was doing ok, I didn’t think I could rely on the income from it too much so Travel was my next favourite thing. On the book front, I decided to write to various email addresses from the internet to see if I could get any of the big chains interested in stocking my book.
At Fat Club, I could only stay long enough for a cheeky weigh-in as I had an appointment! I was still 0.3kg (0.7lb) over my target weight but I had lost 0.9kg (2lb) this week. I was pleased with that result as I had not tracked my syns at all.
After the weigh-in, I rushed over to Jamie & Drew’s as it had been Norman’s 14th birthday yesterday. Jamie had saved me a piece of carrot cake to celebrate so we had that with a cuppa and a chat.
Back home, I was doing some work when Captain Caveman video called me. It was unusual for him to call me on a weekday lunch time, even more so while eating fish and chips from the chippy. He was outside my parents’ place and thought, as he’d not seen them since November, he would call in. He’d planned to see if he could buy them a fish and chip lunch as he was on his way home. He’d found the gate padlocked and couldn’t get in to knock at the door so had called me to see if I knew where they were, as he’d now got fish & chips from Tony’s and was really enjoying them. I explained they were away and Captain Caveman carried on shovelling in the food while I got jealous. It would be about 9 months since I’d had fish and chips – I said I’d add it to the list to do when I was back.
For my dinner, I then decided to have fish fingers and the rest of some chicken strippers from the freezer. I had a frozen yoghurt bar and I also finished off the pink grapefruit drink in the fridge. None of this was particularly Slimming World friendly.

Gratitude List
1. Being busy
2. Turkish Class
3. Losing weight.

Thursday 27th March seemed more chaotic than it probably should have been but I think it’s because I was a bit out of sorts. The weather forecast was getting worse for Captain Caveman’s arrival in 3 day’s time and, as he was only here for 2 nights I was a bit cheesed off. It meant that the surprise BBQ was off and we couldn’t do a boat trip either. It was also the Sugar Bayram which meant lots of places would be rammed full of Turkish tourists so if we went anywhere we might need to book.
In the morning I was busy with several holiday enquiries from around the globe and I had started to get requests for quotes for 2026, as well as late deals. For breakfast I had chicken, sweetcorn and egg fried rice with my Yorkshire tea. I attended a team meeting and there were so many updates. Our Quote system was having more improvements and I nearly couldn’t write down quick enough all the offers on at the moment; Solmar Villas had 50% off certain villas, easyJet and TUI were giving us £200 off the public price, Jet2 had £100 off for spring bookings, Classic Collection had £60 off and so many more!
I nipped to the bakery for a loaf and a simit, having the simit with cheese, olives and an apple for lunch. I’d put the slow cooker on to make soup but it wasn’t quite ready.
At 4pm I attended the 2nd Planner Ideation session which was a really useful Q&A. Here I learned more about what I was already doing in my business but how I needed to support my longer term goals and link to strategy. I was getting serious and passionate about helping people have more fulfilling holiday and travel experiences. I needed to think more about how my potential customers would relate to me, and what solutions I could provide for them.
I was meant to have a video call with Vanessa but I was frazzled and still working on stuff so we postponed it. I snaffled some strawberries while going down my To Do list with a highlighter to prioritise the ‘must do this week’ tasks. I enjoyed my veggie soup with bread which I didn’t end up eating until 9.15pm!

Gratitude List
1. More Resort Experts enquiries coming through
2. Great updates in the Resort Experts team meeting
3. Nice food.

Dalyan – 24th & 25th March

I was busy working all day on Monday 24th March. Many of the suppliers had sales that were ending at the end of the month so I was focusing on some Jet2 and easyJet deals.
By lunch time I was having warmed up courgette fritter and cheese roll from yesterday’s Sunday dinner. Captain Caveman requested a Friday and Monday off for the end of next month to meet me in Turkey again. It was less than a week until he arrived in Dalyan for the first time this year! I finished work at 4pm as I had enrolled on a course. I had joined Claire Clarke on a Planner Ideation course and was straight on to that from 4pm to 5pm. The course was very informative and was going to help me produce something I thought would help people as well as promote my business. After the course, Claire, who is a publisher, was super helpful and offered free help to get my book edited to look more professional. We had a zoom call where she talked me through how to do it and shared her screen. She was an absolute whizz at sizing, margins and layout for the cover! It was done in no time and I wished I had the money to have paid to have it done properly. But I didn’t, I was so grateful for the help that I could’ve cried, especially when I took in to account how long it had taken me to do it less than perfect in the first place.
I managed to get a video call in to my parents who were celebrating their birthdays away and seemed to be having a great time.
I also messaged Captain Caveman, who was busy working but pleased to know that I was going to be travelling back with him to the UK next month.
I had left over Sunday dinner but no wine and then had an early night as I was very tired.

Gratitude List
1. Starting the Planner Ideation Course
2. Speaking to Ma & Pa who were enjoying a holiday
3. Being booked on the flight to the UK and I had selected the seat behind Captain Caveman.

It had been nice weather recently but, when I woke up on Tuesday 25th March, I noticed the good weather was not set to continue. Sezgin and Nur had offered to host a surprise BBQ for Captain Caveman and some friends on Monday, but the weather might not be suitable. A Plan B might be on the cards!
I got my passport out as I was excited to be going back to the UK but I was only planning on a quick visit due to having commitments in Dalyan already. I hadn’t booked the return flight yet, though. I made a pancake for breakfast with my Yorkshire tea and added items to my list of things to get from the UK. Captain Caveman had already planned to bring me lots of stuff as he had booked hold luggage.
I worked until 3.30pm, when it looked like it might rain so I nipped to the shops. Here’s what I bought, with prices in lira;

Pharmacy
2 packs of Cerazette 658.36 lira (£13.44)

Stationers
2 Notebooks 100.00
2 Pens 50.00
Total spent 150.00 lira (£3.06)

Migros Supermarket
2 Dido chocolate bars 33.00
2 Quark 70.00
Toilet rolls 99.95
Total spent 202.95 lira (£4.14)

When I got home, I got a really lovely surprise from one of my friends; Louisa had sent me a selfie to say her copy of ‘You Can’t Shit Yourself on a Bicycle’ had arrived and she was looking forward to reading about our adventures. Louisa was mentioned in the book, so once again, I was looking forward to her reading it and her review.
For dinner, I made a chicken and vegetable pasta bake with left over chicken and it was very tasty. I ended up working until gone 10pm as I wanted to get some posts on social media scheduled in. Tomorrow I would have another busy day.

Gratitude List
1. Managing to get my book available in Spain.
2. Cute notebooks which I used for a social media post
3. Dido chocolate bars being on offer.

Dalyan – 23rd March

I took the morning off on Sunday 23rd March. A few of us had decided to go to the beach as it was looking to be a nice day.
We walked along the beach, I had to take my jeans off and have a paddle in the sea. It was cold but not freezing and braver people than me would certainly enjoy a swim in it. We walked back and had a cup of tea where we came up with a plan to have a bit of a trip to İzmir. I said I would invite Captain Caveman and he could perhaps fly in to meet us for the weekend.
I walked back home from my friends’ house, passing Jamie and Drew’s villa. Edna was outside and was barking to say hello but I didn’t go in. I had my jeans in my hand still and needed to get back to shower off the sand.

I also needed to get ready for the Sunday dinner that I had invited people to. I’d meant to have made the Yorkshire puddings in advance yesterday, so I was already a stage behind. I only just had enough chairs and the table was a bit of a squeeze, having moved the sofas forward.
Along with plenty of Yorkshire puddings, I made roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, and stuffing. Then I opened a bottle of Levissi Gamay red wine which was still going strong, while I waited for my guests to arrive. Everyone brought something that they had made and we had so much food on the table. We had mücver and börek from my turkish friends, veggies and strawberries plus a trifle from my other friends. I almost forgot to make the gravy so one guest got drafted in to help stir. As soon as I sat on the stool (my only spare chair) it cracked and I nearly went through it. I then had to use the folding step stool which I use to reach the top cupboards. The food was well received and everyone was kind about my cooking. I’m not one for catering for large numbers usually but it turned out fine. We had wine and a good laugh – I really enjoyed it

Gratitude List
1. Going to Iztuzu Beach
2. Yorkshire puddings being a success
3. Sunday dinner with friends