Sheffield – 14th to 16th December

We had a nice homely day on Tuesday 14th December and it was clear that, due to the pandemic, there was going to be a likelihood of me not getting to see some people who I had hoped to, particularly those who had messaged to say they, or people they lived with, had tested positive for Corona this week. This was the first time since the height of the pandemic that I knew several people who currently had the virus and it did worry me. My parents had some workmen pop in to service the boiler and a friend/work colleague called in to chat to my Dad. He was still there over lunchtime meaning we were delayed in getting to Tony’s chip shop for our lunch. I had been looking forward to English fish and chips after not having them for years but we only managed to just get there before they closed and had a chip butty each, as there was no fish left. They were lovely but a fish and chips meal was still on the list for another day and Dad made us all a cup of tea as he was the first to finish his lunch. I had a root around in the box of belongings I still had at my parents house and I was happy to see my popcorn maker, an ice bucket and some bits and bobs I had almost forgotten about, including my childhood bear, Patsy Panda. I decided I couldn’t be bothered to go through all the pensions paperwork today and would leave it for another day, before I left.
Mom prepared another delicious dinner, one of our favourites, spaghetti bolognese, and the portion was huge so I saved some leftovers for tomorrow.

On Wednesday 15th December I felt like I was so lucky, I’d slept well, I had a nice cup of tea and toast for breakfast and I had come to the conclusion that England definitely has the best toast – the bread is just so good and it was not making me poorly! I was so pleased to not have a dodgy stomach that I had the leftover spag bol with a slice of cheesy garlic bread for lunch. That evening I was invited to a small soirée at Clare’s house with Sue, over the past 3 years these ladies have been amazing online friends who were supportive during my lockdowns, had some of the best bits of advice and have a similar sense of humour to me, I also know them from working at Aviva. Clare picked me up from Mosborough, as she doesn’t live far away and we drove to her house. We chatted on over a glass of Prosecco with Chambord (because we were being fancy) while Clare prepped what she called scraps. The idea was for us to have leftovers (scraps) as part of our buffet and Clare also got the crisps out while she topped up my Prosecco. Sue arrived after her hair appointment and it had been so long since I’d seen her in person that I hardly recognised her as she had lost a lot of weight and gone short with her hair. Within a few minutes we were talking about random subjects, laughing away and I was impressed by mini cheddars being available in stick form. Clare was absolutely the hostess with the mostest as we troughed through her amazing spread; including chicken tikka bellinis, sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, a full cheeseboard, delicious roast potatoes. The time just went too quickly for a school night and I’m sure we didn’t get through all of the stripper stories!
Sue, was driving, and so had not been able to drink, unlike me – I was a little tipsy and had a lift home with Sue after a wonderful evening where Clare’s scraps were anything but and I even had some blue cheese to take away!

On Thursday 16th December I started the day by checking how much extra it would cost me to add luggage on to my return flight. I’d already bought new boots, bras, knickers and socks that needed to be added to the popcorn maker and ice bucket in my hand luggage and I thought that was a little optimistic. The good news was that it only costs £34 for 22kg and there was an option to add on an annual insurance policy which included Covid for £35 so I did that. I used my card and it worked fine so it was good that my Turkish bank card worked here.
My next job was to do a lateral flow test to check if I had caught Corona because later I was going to a friend’s house and didn’t want to put her at risk, she’d also been doing tests and working from home. I was surprised at the amount of plastic packaging in the 7 day kits but the instructions were pretty simple and I did it then set the 15 minute timer. I didn’t feel unwell but it was a strange feeling, waiting for the result to show up on the plastic cartridge. It was negative, I registered it with the NHS but I don’t have a UK phone so I gave my mom’s and she got a text to confirm the negative test.
I then decided I could pop to town to get a few more bits and would also have a look for a few Christmas presents for the family. Money was tight this year so I couldn’t afford to splash out but I wanted to at least get something small for everyone I would be spending Christmas day with.
After I’d ended up in a rather warm Primark buying myself more knickers (a specific kind that I had before and wanted some more) and some lounge wear/pyjamas I found myself a bit peckish. I was worried about eating somewhere busy (like Greg’s) or going in to a shop due to the Corona risk but I found a very empty precinct on the Moor which had a Nando’s in so I went in there. I was missing having the East Hill chicken in Phong Nha so the next best thing was ordered; a quarter chicken with corn on the cob and chips plus a bottomless coke. The place was quiet, customers spaced out, the staff were really good and they even took cash so I felt a bit more at ease. When I ordered, from behind a plastic counter, the guy serving had a bit of chitchat and I mentioned I’d been out of the UK for a while which was why I was asking if I could pay cash and didn’t have a Nando’s app. He was such a nice guy that he gave me a free drink and seemed genuinely surprised that I was there. The food tasted good, obviously not as good as an East Hill BBQ chicken but it was tasty and filled me up – I didn’t take the piss with the free drink by filling it up with a free refill.
My bus back out of town was busy but everyone wore masks and tried to sit on alternate seating, the only person who I saw not wearing a mask was the old dear at the front who had pulled it down under her chin and was coughing quite a bit in to the air without putting a hand over her mouth – she wasn’t on the bus for longer than 5 stops and all the windows were open.
I arrived at Becca’s at 5pm, when she finished work and was greeted by Max, the dog, but I could hardly see him as I was steamed up and dressed very warmly.
It was great to see Becca again after all this time and was sad that neither of us had made it to Cheese Night this year, a tradition which started 10 years ago and was the night I met Captain Caveman. We laughed until my face hurt, while we had a small tribute to a cheese and wine night instead. When Steve got home we had started a nice bottle of red wine and so we all sat chatting and laughing while playing with Max, who showed off with 5 toys in his mouth at once – surely that must be a record. It was a lovely night and I felt lucky because she was meant to have been wearing her sparkly outfit to her Christmas party. Becca had really been looking forward to going out to celebrate the festivities with her work friends but it had been cancelled. I was quite the night out in Redditch but I was definitely grateful to have been able to take advantage of her availability instead. That night I stayed over in the very comfy spare room, we didn’t drink as much as we would have done in previous years when we both had the next day off because I needed to be up quite early!

Sheffield – 13th December

When I woke up at 6.30am on Monday 13th December I checked to see if I had my PCR results back yet and I had. The email had been sent at 11.55pm last night, after I had fallen asleep, and was negative so I could now go out. I googled the bus time table and saved screen shots as I wouldn’t have access to a phone, or be able to Google anything, once I left my parents’ internet and I went for the 8.35am bus in to town. As I hurried for the bus I heard my name called and turned around to see Amanda and her daughter off to walk her dog, what a lovely surprise. I was dressed warmly but I did feel the cold on my feet in my Volleys and thin socks as I waited for the bus, which came roughly on time and wasn’t too busy. A single bus journey to town (Sheffield) is £2.10 but a return is £3.60 so I went for that and the bus was occupied with only 50% mask wearers, the windows were open, no heating on and the driver didn’t wear a mask, which I was surprised about as there was a sign to say masks were compulsory. It didn’t take long to get to town and not much had changed along the route during the 3 years and 4 months I had been away. When I got off the bus in Fitzalan Square I did notice they had smartened up the area next to the bingo which lead to Arundel Gate and it looked much safer. I was at the bank by 9.05am but I wasn’t the first in the queue and had to wait a short while to sort out my expired/lost bank cards predicament. By 9.30am I was in a rather empty Marks & Spencer’s looking at winter boots to keep my feet warm and dry. I tried a pair on which fit perfectly and would be ideal in the rain so I bought them along with socks, knickers and bras. A lovely lady who worked there let me put my purchases to one side to pick up later and also I was able to use the free WiFi. My Mom sent me a message to say she was leaving home to go to the optician and, because I didn’t have a key or know if Dad would be in, I looked for an alternative to going straight back to Mosborough. I almost went to meet Gayle, my sister, at Meadowhall shopping centre but I’m not a fan of that place and a friend who worked there had just been commenting on Facebook how she was sick of people there not wearing masks in shops. Instead I decided to find a place for a spot of breakfast and saw that one of my old favourites was still around.

I decided to go to Marmaduke’s for my breakfast, it wasn’t too busy and the place had screens up between each table. I ordered a bacon sandwich with a cup of Yorkshire tea and it was served pretty promptly. The breakfast was excellent, there was free WiFi and I got a message from my Mom that she was back and Dad had been at home anyway. I decided to pay and go to get the next bus home, but I’d not accounted for the fact that, due to Corona, some places don’t accept cash and I had just cancelled all my English cards to get new ones reissued. All I had was my Turkish one which when presenting it to the waiter was told it was useless as it had no chip on it and I was meant to wave it at a tray like device he was holding. I had no idea what he was talking about and he now had to request help from his supervisor because I wasn’t allowed to pay cash. As I was explaining that my card is from a Turkish bank, he said the transaction had already gone through, without the need for a PIN or a signature, and I was shocked. Apparently I have a contactless card which I didn’t realise and so now I was able to get the bus back to Mosborough via Boots where I picked up some imodium, senocalm medication and a new ankle support (at a cost of £23) as my ankle was still playing up from walking on hills. The bus station in Pond Street was very cold and completely empty, the bus had just 2 other people on. My sister had finished having her nails done and came over to my parents’ house bringing cakes and we all had a cup of tea while I tucked in to a massive piece of Yule log, Dad also had a piece but my Mom had fruit cake and Gayle had gluten free fruit cake. I had an idea that we should go out for a festive drink to the micropub on the Mosborough high street and I booked us a table online for 4.30pm. I’m not saying my Dad was keen to go but by 4.15pm he was at the door waiting to go to the pub. I’d not seen my sister in over 3 years so we decided to give the ball a bit of a kick, I had a gluten free IPA, my parents had a pint of stout each and Gayle had a mulled wine. I’d managed 2 pints of the IPA, 2 Brockman’s gin and ginger ales and possibly a Bailey’s.
It was great to catch up over a few drinks, the small pub was really good but, of course, we overdid it and by the time we’d had 6 rounds it was time to get a takeaway. Gayle ordered curry from Khushboo and the rest of us ordered pizza but when we went back to get mom she was worse for wear and we had to send for reinforcements. My brother-in-law, Neil, came with the car and took us all the very short distance home and we had an impromptu party, where my niece must have thought we were all mental. This day has now been named Mad Monday by our family and we all burst out laughing every time we talk about it!

Sheffield – 12th December

I was awake at 8am on Sunday 12th December but I didn’t really want to get up after only 5.5 hours sleep. It was 13°C today so not actually that cold but still the coldest I’d been in a couple of years. My Mom excelled herself by making us all a cooked breakfast and I got a lovely bacon and mushroom sandwich while Dad got his bacon and eggs with no tomatoes, which he had requested but Ma forgot.
In the news there was a suggestion that there could be potential daily tests if in contact with a positive Omicron person, here is the article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59628609
Meanwhile Turkey reported their first Omicron cases:
https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/turkey-registers-first-omicron-variant-cases-52547/amp
I was still in my mom’s pyjamas (I didn’t have room to bring my own) when there was a knock at the door so my dad went out while I got my mask on and put my big coat on. I hadn’t realised the time and it was my first visit from a friend since arriving back home. As I had to isolate we had to meet on the back garden, keeping our distance, and it was absolutely fantastic to see Amanda and Chris again. I had been looking forward to seeing them after so long and we got chatting about anything and everything. The time flew by and we said once I had my negative result we could arrange to have a proper meet up again.
My lunch consisted of a Morrison’s mince pie which was so good and I forgot how much my parents love a cup of tea.
I’d hoped when it got to 6.30pm, 24 hours after my PCR test, that I would have the result but I didn’t and I had been warned it could be up to 48 hours as a maximum.
My Mom managed to pull all the stops out once again when she made us a proper Sunday dinner with pork and Yorkshire puddings, she even gave me the crispiest bit of the crackling and there was apple sauce. A nice bottle of red wine was opened and I made the assumption that the diet had absolutely gone out of the window until 2022!
At 8pm the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced all adults in the UK were to have a Corona booster vaccine to help protect against this new Omicron variant and that the NHS would possibly cancel non-essential hospital operations again to deal with Corona. We hoped this didn’t mean my mom’s operation would get cancelled. Before bed my Mom got me some of the stuff out I had left here which included my popcorn maker – I was so desperate to get that back to Turkey. By 10pm I was in the rather comfy double bed in the downstairs bedroom, with my phone on do not disturb, hoping that when I woke up I would have my negative result and could go to the bank.

Dalyan to Mosborough – 11th December

Saturday 11th December was a day of travelling and a little bit of a shock to my system. I’d been in Dalyan for 79 days when my alarm went off at 7am, I had my last probiotic drink to try to prevent any stomach issues on my journey and the taxi arrived early, while it was still slightly dark, but I was ready! I’d decided only to take hand luggage because I didn’t want the added risk of taking luggage and changing in Istanbul so my rucksack was jammed full and exactly 8kg, probably from the weight of the Turkish delight. When I arrived at Dalaman airport I was early but the Turkish Airlines check-in was open, helpful and they managed to book me through from Dalaman to London, so I could have brought luggage, after all. I requested aisle seats on both flights and got given both boarding cards, my flight from Dalaman to Istanbul would be on time despite the storms and heavy rain, which was good to know. Near the gate I bought water and a simit at an empty cafe, which gave free WiFi (no WiFi is available in the main departure area, only at the cafe’s near the gate).

On the first flight, which was quite busy but not full, we were given a picnic lunch and we were all told not to open them all at the same time due to Corona (everyone did though) and masks being mandatory. I put mine in my bag as I didn’t want to remove my mask on the plane and was trying not to catch Corona for Christmas. I had 3 hours until the next flight in Istanbul airport and it appeared to be quite empty when I landed. Where the gates are, there were hardly any seats so I managed to get my G-Shock watch amended at the place where I bought it, as it hadn’t been accurate since I’d had the battery replaced in Fethiye. There was also a machine to get free WiFi but it only lasted for 1 hour. I found a quiet spot, away from any scheduled flights, to sit and eat my picnic. I noticed that at some gates they were doing random PCR tests and extra security checks which included double checking the vaccine proof documents. At the gate for my Istanbul to London Heathrow flight, the staff asked to check my vaccine certificate and the people behind and in front of me had to have their bags searched. On the half empty plane I sat next to a man from Torquay who had been to Istanbul for hair transplants but after take off we were allowed to move in to the spare seats. This meant I could drink the red wine and beef köfte and rice which they brought for our lunch without someone nearby. I watched a film called The Prestige which seemed ok but we were landing before the end of it and so I may never know what happens.

The flight from Istanbul to London Heathrow was due to land at 4.05pm. I had to get myself on the tube to London St Pancras train station to my pre-booked PCR test near to the Champagne bar. Luckily the flight landed a little bit early and I was on the very busy tube by 4.15pm, still masked up and trying my best not to touch anything. The queues at Collinson test centre were long despite everyone in the queue having an appointment and it being a bit chaotic. The staff were nice, most of the customers queued patiently with masks on but there were a few cantankerous old so-and-sos who weren’t behaving themselves and putting pressure on the staff to try to jump the queue. I had to wait longer than expected but, as the staff explained, the sudden changes in rules had lead to lots of demand and they were doing their best to cope. They were doing a fantastic job and I managed to get done before I had to get my train to Sheffield at 6.30pm, which I got sat on by 6.25pm so I was very lucky to have made it. The train was busy, hadn’t been cleaned and only a handful of people were wearing masks despite the constant announcement that it was mandatory. I’d unfortunately picked a busy time to be travelling, the Champagne bar at St Pancras had been heaving as I passed, the Leeds V Chelsea football match was on and there were numerous piss heads on a pre-Christmas celebration or work do. A nice Spanish family sat opposite me on the train and got a bit of a shock when Santa (aka shit-faced Alan) boarded the train at Derby with his inebriated elf mates. The profanities let me know he wasn’t the real Santa straight away and at first it was amusing that the children near me hadn’t sussed it. When Santa and his helpers burped, farted, sang and swore their way to a joke about Jimmy Saville I signalled to the mom that she might want to move her kids away – they got off at Chesterfield!
There was WiFi on the train so I managed to let my parents and sister know I had made it and would be in Sheffield by 9.45pm and would get a taxi to Mosborough, where I would have to continue to isolate until my PCR test result came back negative.

When I alighted the train at Sheffield I wasn’t quite ready for it, I felt like I had gone back a few years and landed in to the middle of a debauched Christmas do, not unlike the ones I used to frequent. I didn’t see many sober people, nor anyone with masks (but I found out later you don’t have to wear them in a taxi queue) and a great deal of people were absolutely hammered!
I decided to use the cash machine to draw out some extra Christmas cash but my card wouldn’t work, I was desperate for a wee, drink and a snack but decided Sheffield station would not be the best place for any of those and it would be better just to get to my parents house.
The taxi cost just £12.50, I kept my mask on but the driver didn’t wear one and was on the phone the whole journey. When I arrived at my parents I was so desperate for the loo that I bypassed both of them and went to the bathroom, where I also took all of my hat, scarf, gloves, coat and mask off beforehand. After a good wash and putting my outer garments in a plastic bag for washing I gave Ma & Pa a big hug. I’d been feeling so tired on the train but now at 10.30pm (1.30am Turkish time) I had a glass of water and some crisps, while Dad opened a bottle of fizz! It wouldn’t be a proper family celebration if we didn’t give the ball a right old kick and so we managed to stay up until 2.30am (5.30am Turkish time) meaning I had done 22.5 hours from leaving my Dalyan bed to getting in my Mosborough one! We were so glad to see each other again and none of us cared that we were up drinking so late, it’s not like we had anything much to do tomorrow, with me isolating!

Dalyan – 10th December

My hangover on Friday 10th December wasn’t as bad as it probably should have been but there was no time for breakfast as I had stuff to do. I was flying to England tomorrow so my To Do list was a bit hefty and it was weigh-in day. I had put on 0.5kg so I was now back to the same weight I was when I left Turkey in January 2020, my starting weight for my 20 months in Vietnam. My measurements weren’t so thrilling either, I still didn’t seem to be able to shift that 1cm difference in my leg measurements and my bad leg still needed to increase – maybe the Sheffield hills would do the trick!
I went to the bank to transfer some Turkish lira in to my current account for my 18 day holiday and the bank also gave me a new card, which they said was my credit card. It was a bit annoying that when I had put the money into the Turkish bank it was worth 3 times as much as it was today, but I had no money in my English bank and no access to use it anyway. Still, I was cheered up by the cat allowed to sleep on the table in the bank without having to show their HES code and social distance!
I got a message from Sarah, who was working from home in Sofra bar, to see if I was coming to join her. I went there, I narrowly avoided falling in to the drainage holes by slipping on some gravel in the road works, then ordered orange juice and a bacon sandwich, they do the best ones in town! I had a bad stomach, no surprise there, and so I went back home to pack. In the afternoon I went to meet Maddie (it was her birthday), Vanessa and Matt at Tez bar and also get my PCR results, in order for me to fly tomorrow.
My test was negative, I had a coke, Maddie had a couple of rosé wines with sprite then Vanessa and Matt arrived for their PCR tests as they were flying from Antalya on Sunday. I still hadn’t been able to complete my PLF required to check-in at Dalaman and entry to UK because I was waiting for my day 2 PCR reference number from Collinson, so that was stressful. When it eventually came through, after numerous emails and my mom trying to call them, it was dark but I was packed. I completed it, went round to Vanessa’s and Matt printed it me off, along with my Turkish vaccine proof. On my way back I called at Heybe’s to say bye to Maddie and the gang, who were all there to celebrate with a chateaubriand which looked beautiful. Even Sarah’s dog, Yaps, was hopefully sniffing at the door and walked home with me – I thought Sarah may have been in Lukka but she wasn’t there and I didn’t get to say bye to the Lukka lot.
I booked my train from London St Pancras to Sheffield when I got home and gave myself 1 hour from the PCR test at the station, then I decided to go to bed. Unfortunately there was a huge storm which kept me awake, then a powercut followed by a few leaks and drips! I set my alarm for 7am and hoped 5 hours sleep would be enough before the journey home I had tomorrow!

Dalyan – 8th & 9th December

On Wednesday 8th December the Turkish lira was at 18.5 to £1 and it looked to get even worse. Reports in the Turkish news showed that things are pretty desperate, see below:
https://www.duvarenglish.com/in-the-face-of-economic-crisis-people-resort-to-selling-their-clothes-in-turkey-news-59783
It was quite a busy day and as I walked to my 4th Turkish class I noticed there was more building work happening on the swimming pool in the villa next door. The Turkish class was good, if not a bit more difficult, as we had to learn more vowel harmonies which is quite tricky to understand at first. It was also our last class until January as Sioned was off back to the UK and would be coming back to Dalyan on the 29th December with me, Jamie and Nanny Kay. After Turkish class I went next door to Maizie Moo to buy some face scrub to take back to England with me while Vanessa waited for our friends, Julie and Janet, to join us. We had decided to have a pre-Christmas farewell lunch and drinks at Lukka and, while the other ladies had paninis, I went for a cheese and bacon burger. We shared 2 bottles of white wine between us and all had a laugh during our lovely lunchtime treat.
I had confirmation of my PCR test in London being booked but couldn’t open the link with the reference I needed for my PLF but I still had 2 days for that to come. It had already gone dark when I decided to go to Şok supermarket for some bread and I also got more biscuits and a measuring jug, for a cost of 18.20 lira which was just less than a pound!
I had a cheese sandwich for dinner with olives, pickled onions, gherkins and crisps, then later on some roasted chestnuts.

With only a couple of days left until my trip to the UK it was, of course, inevitable that my last proper night out in Dalyan would turn out to be rather eventful!
On Thursday 9th December I just had bread and olives for breakfast as I was off to get pampered in the afternoon. I had booked in with Emrah Killis at 2.30pm for hair, eyebrows and a pedicure and I was really looking forward to it. It was so indulgent and relaxing that I almost fell asleep and spent an amazing 2 hours there being titivated. While I was in the hairdresser’s I noticed that the UK had published a Plan B which made for interesting reading and I was still not 100% convinced that going back to England was the right thing to do, but I’d paid for most of it now and I was looking forward to seeing family and friends.
My next appointment was at Tez bar for my PCR test at 4.30pm, it was so easy, not painful at all and so quick – the best PCR test I’ve experienced so far (and I’ve had a few). It cost just 300 lira (£16 approx at the time) and the results would come through within 24 hours (or less). Tez had organised the whole thing and had a glass of red wine on the bar for after I had finished, Ann was also on her way to join me for a drink. We sat at the bar as it was a little bit chilly, we prefer to sit away from the smokers and the place was fairly busy. I’d not seen Ann since her dog had been poorly as she had been nursing her back to health, so we had several wines of catching up on before we realised we should probably go for food. Sarah arrived and had decided for December she will be dressing as an elf for every day of the month and, after much she posed for a few elf photos she joined us for wine too. I saw Nick on his way out with Onur and Özcan so I went to see them outside and invite them to join us but they were having a lads night out down town.
Ann and I had already decided on Heybe’s for dinner as it is always consistently good and we fancied a nice quiet meal, Sarah also fancied a bite to eat and she came along too. Her dog, Yaps, joined us, and was super confident showing off her new look hair cut. For some strange reason I decided to have a chicken dish which had dates and figs in, Ann had a chicken casserole and Sarah the chicken schnitzel. All were lovely however Ann decided she wanted a chocolate pancake and I had one with lemon and sugar – Donny made these from scratch and they were delicious. Onur and Özcan came to join us, I later found out from Nick that they only popped in because Onur needed a pee on the way home and so they also ended up having a rather bizarre end to their night too. After Sarah and Yaps went home, the rest of us, including a friend of Ann’s who had joined us, got right on it with more booze at Heybe’s and then Ann invited us back to her place for a party. Donny, the owner of Heybe’s, gave me, Ann, Onur and Özcan a lift to Ann’s, who had bought more wine and some beer from the shop next door to Heybe’s. At Ann’s, joined by her friend and dog-walker, Cheryl, we sang, danced, drank and laughed until the early hours of the morning.
Cheryl stayed at Ann’s but I walked home with Onur and Özcan through a completely empty town – what a last proper night out in Dalyan!

Donny, making pancakes at Heybe’s

Dalyan – 6th & 7th December

After spending the night mulling over whether to continue my plan to go back to the UK or not, I woke up early on Monday 6th December. I had leftover pizza for breakfast and decided that I would still continue with my travel arrangements. I booked the flight from Dalaman to Istanbul for only £25 with luggage, started looking at train fares from London and then booked a PCR test at London St Pancras for £69 with Collinson.
I was a bit too busy getting everything sorted to bother with lunch but I did manage to eat the left over curry that I’d made last week, and added loads of spinach to it, for dinner. I spoke to my parents and confirmed I was coming for Christmas, they were very happy about that and my Mom confirmed she only had to isolate from the 27th December – so the plans for my 18 day holiday could continue! Later I got peckish and ate some chocolate and some roasted chestnuts, which I love.

After a breakfast of cheese on toast on Tuesday 7th December I saw that the UK had reported their highest number of Corona cases since mid-July and I hoped I’d not made a poor decision to visit. In Vietnam the news was about schools having students return to the classroom this week.
The weather in Dalyan was very windy and the rain was heavy so I stayed at home and did some writing. In the evening I had lasagne with red cabbage and dates for afters, later on I had more roasted chestnuts. A nice quiet day was had where it was too wet to venture anywhere and I stayed cosy at home.

Dalyan – 5th December

I ate a buttered crumpet (from the Mulberry Tree restaurant in Fethiye) for breakfast on Sunday 5th December and, whilst it was delicious, I did get some stomach pains and was a bit bloated.
In the news, questions were raised about if Corona vaccines will be made mandatory in some countries, here’s the link:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59506339
I had some messenger chat with Captain Caveman who was doing well but we discussed that going to England for Christmas might be a bad idea. The number of cases was rising, I had no insurance, my return flight could get cancelled and most of all I might contract Corona between having my Turkish PCR test and getting to my parents. My mom was due to have an operation at the end of December so I was reluctant to put her further at risk than was necessary and, apart from going back to visit people, I needed to sort out my banking situation. Having said that, I wondered if moving my trip to January might be better.
I arranged a video call with my parents to discuss and I aired my concerns about coming back and potentially not being able to go out, if restrictions increased or things got worse with the virus. I’d already changed plans of staying in London or travelling down south to catch up with people as soon as I arrived. My parents said it was up to me but they were happy to take the risk of me still coming to visit and my mom said she would check the rules of when she had to isolate and test negative before her operation. We left the call with me deciding to sleep on it because I had another important meeting to get to. Vanessa was at mine ready for our trip to Tez bar, just round the corner – we were going to confirm the times of our PCR tests, do our Turkish homework and have a glass of wine. I ended up having 3 glasses of red wine and Tez helped us practice our Turkish by introducing us to his daughter who works in Ortaca. Tez also managed to flog us some prawns at 70 lira (£3.79) a portion, they were lovely but we had to order some extra chips to go with them and the sauces were a bit random. That night I was going to stay in but as I went to the shop and then needed the toilet, I had to call in to Jiks, where I had pizza and another glass of wine. Here’s my shopping, from Migros supermarket, prices in lira;
1 pack of biscuits 2.75
1 pack of turkey ham 3.15
1 caramac type chocolate 6.50
2 packs of crisps 8.00
1 pack of wraps 11.25
1 pack of spinach 11.90
1 pack of chicken breast 20.03
Chestnuts 24.95
6 mini magnums 27.50

Total spent 124.03 lira (£6.70)

Fethiye – 4th December

Vanessa and I finally got our day trip on Saturday 4th December when we decided to get the bus to Fethiye. We got the bus around 9.30am from Dalyan bus station and it took about 20 minutes for us to arrive at the bus station in Ortaca. There, we waited under shelter as it was very rainy, for our next bus to Fethiye. We had masks on and were wrapped up well so when the driver whacked up the heating we were both feeling a tad too warm and it seemed to take longer than we expected to get there. The bus was fairly busy and we stopped quite a bit to pick up and drop off but we were in Fethiye before 11.30am where it was still raining. We were just glad to get off the hot steamy bus and we decided we would walk in to town, about 2.5km away. It was a good walk and we really enjoyed the fresh air and looking in a couple of shops along the way. Vanessa had been to a place before where they sold pickled onions and chutneys so we decided to have a look for it and we were both also keen to buy some Turkish delight to take back to the UK. Fethiye was busier than our last visit but still not too bustling and we managed to get a few bits and bobs, including a Christmas jumper, before we got slightly lost. When we finally found the Mulberry Tree restaurant, I recalled having been before with Captain Caveman a few years ago. The owner was lovely and welcoming and he and the rest of the staff were working hard in readiness for the Winter Fayre in Çalış tomorrow. We decided to have lunch there and took a seat inside, near the window. Vanessa ordered meatballs, I chose a chicken shish and we got a complimentary lavaş bread starter. The food was excellent and we both bought extra provisions there; pickled onions, mince pies, crumpets and plum jam. We had bought so much stuff that a walk back would have been a bit of a struggle so we got a taxi over to the Erasta shopping centre. We tried to get a wine, I bought a couple of bits and had a new battery put in my watch. Unfortunately we did not find any wine in Fethiye but we did get to practice our Turkish questions of asking establishments if they had wine. We gave up and got the bus back, it had stopped raining but the bus got very busy and went the quick way back to Ortaca. When we arrived it was dark but we decided to go for a drink at a cafe near the bus station. They also didn’t serve alcohol and so we had a lovely hot chocolate and admired the pastries and cakes on offer. In the end we got a taxi back to Dalyan and practised our Turkish directions as the driver didn’t speak English.
I was tired when I got home so I reheated a lasagne for dinner and had it with beetroot and some Turkish delight for afters. Tomorrow I needed to get on with sorting out my trip to England but I was starting to wonder if I would go or not. Even in the Vietnamese news there were reports of potential travel bans and I wondered if the UK would be affected:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20211201/who-warns-against-blanket-travel-bans-over-omicron-coronavirus-variant/64471.html

Dalyan – 1st to 3rd December

Wednesday 1st December turned out to be a rather wonderful day; first of all I had the cleaning lady booked in to give the apartment a spruce up while I had planned to pop over to Vanessa’s before Turkish class. When I got there the door was locked so I turned around to go back home, only to be shouted by Debbie (Darling) to nip in to her’s. I had a PG tips tea with rather too much milk but it was nice and hot and we had a chat about them just having said goodbye to a family member so had been up very early. Next I went to Vanessa’s where we had a bit of a chat before walking to Lukka bar for our Turkish class, with Sioned. The lesson got a bit more involved this week including learning about nationalities, yes-no questions, vowel harmony, negatives and plurals – it was good and I really enjoyed it. After the class I had arranged to go for lunch with Lily Fish and Vanessa so we decided we would go to Wonky’s. The ladies had burgers while I went for their all day English breakfast (without egg or tomatoes) and we had a glass of wine. The food was really good, there were a few of the other Dalyan dwellers about, some of who joined our table and some of who were playing pool and it was a rather nice afternoon. I remained sensible as I didn’t want to drink too much after being poorly so I decided I would go home, leaving some of the others staying out out! Back home the building site seemed to have acquired a very strangely positioned swimming pool and the cleaner had done an amazing job of the apartment.
That evening Vanessa had arranged for us to go to see Maddie, seeing as though she had missed the party on Saturday. She arrived at mine, desperate for a wee and hadn’t been home yet so we set off to Maddie’s place but once on our way I had to pop in to Jiks because I had a dodgy stomach (again and probably from the sausages as they always seem to affect me). We eventually got to Maddie’s where I hardly drank anything and we had a good old chat and a takeaway from Pizza 48. On the way home Vanessa and I ended up lost, then having a nightcap in Jiks where it was very cosy with the fire on as it was quite chilly out now, and Vanessa didn’t even have her coat because she’d been out since Turkish class. When I got in I decided to marinate some chicken in a tandoori paste in readiness for tomorrow’s shenanigans.

Another fab day was had on Thursday 2nd December; I was up early so that I could have my breakfast and put the curry in the slow cooker. I’d arranged to cook for us and take it over to Ann’s, where I would stay over. For lunch I had wedges with baked beans and then I packed a bag to take, including the bottle of prosecco from Bistro Blue that I’d been saving. I got there about 4.15pm and we had some hummus and carrots, which I took to nibble on, while we had the prosecco, which tasted fine but wasn’t too fizzy. Ann already had her PJs on and so I put mine on and we had Christmas songs on. The curry was really nice and I’m glad I had saved 3 quarters of the naan bread from Spice Garden as I’d defrosted it and taken it with me too. Ann had another bottle of fizz from the shop and I think I preferred that one, it certainly went down well.
It was a lovely night just spent chatting, cuddling the dogs and having food and drink. As I climbed in to the the extremely comfy spare bed I wondered if it might be a bit late to slim down for my UK visit!

I had another busy day on Friday 3rd December; When I got up Ann was already up and about seeing to the dogs as Smokey Jo was poorly and needed the vet calling out. I left Ann’s, after the vet had finished, and walked back home because I was meeting a friend for lunch. When I got home I unpacked my stuff and, because it was weigh-in day, I did the scales and tape measure thing. I had put on 0.5kg and my measurements were as follows;
Bust & Waist no change,
Hips -1cm,
Thighs no change,
Right calf -1cm,
Left calf -0.5cm.
It started to rain heavily as I set off to meet Leanne at Jiks for lunch but I had my wellies and raincoat on. I ordered a Happy pizza and Leanne had a chicken curry but no alcohol as she was working and I needed to cut it down a bit. It was a nice lunch and our first since I’d been back so we had a good chinwag. My next stop was to Sofra bar where Sarah was working from so I joined in by sorting out some emails and doing a bit of writing on my laptop. When I wandered home I noticed more work had been done on the swimming pool next door and I decided a night in would be good. For dinner I had a lovely bowl of pasta with pesto, my stomach was fine and I was looking forward to my day out tomorrow with Vanessa.

Dalyan – 28th – 30th November

Crikey, I was poorly on Sunday 28th November!!! I’d been up a few times in the night with a bad stomach and I woke up so dehydrated and hungover that I had to go back to bed. I had to cancel meeting up with Vanessa and Janet to go to the Christmas fayre and I really did think I had just got a bad hangover but it seemed to get worse as the day went on, no matter what I did I could not recover. Vanessa hadn’t been able to come to Maddie and Onur’s housewarming on account of her being ill so I did wonder if I may have got something similar as there was a bug going around. By the afternoon my shoulders and chest muscles were aching and I felt like death. While the people of Dalyan went out and about, the sun came out and I spent all my day between sofa, toilet and bed – I’d only had a litre of wine over 7.5 hours last night so surely it wasn’t just a hangover!
In the Vietnamese news there was a few reports that the international tourism trial was not working and there were a few problems with that. I did have some good news that day though, friends who I had met in Phong Nha had sent me a wedding invitation for 2022. Bryan and Kendra, who will be visiting Dalyan for New year are getting married in Georgia and so I got a save the date, which is great news – I’ve never been to Georgia so it would be a good excuse!

By Monday 29th November I was still not much better but I forced down some cornflakes, I still had a bad stomach, muscle aches, a headache and was a bit clammy so I didn’t do much.
In the news there was an official update of the requirements to enter England, effective from 4am on 30th November and to be reviewed in 3 weeks, these would be the rules that would apply to me on my forthcoming visit:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19
By 3.30pm I decided a bit of fresh air and a trip to the shop might be in order. I could hardly concentrate and felt terrible as I bought the following:

Migros Supermarket

1 plastic bag 0.25
1 pack of polos 2.50
1 Bounty 4.95
Crisps 7.00
1 gold chocolate 7.00
1 litre of cherry juice 7.50
4 Probiotic drinks 12.26
1 pack of chicken breasts 20.85

Total spent 62.04 lira (£3.60)

On the way back from the shop Sara (from River Terrace) brought my order from the Christmas fayre that I missed. When I got in the apartment, I ate the Bounty and some crisps washed down with cherry juice and went back to bed. When I woke up I felt a lot better and decided to make a proper meal for my late dinner. I had beef köfte and homemade chips with BBQ sauce and all seemed fine. Later I had a mince pie and a chocolate orange truffle (from Sara) and my stomach was kind of ok. Unfortunately I had cancelled having a curry at Ann’s tonight as I didn’t know if I still had a hangover or if I had a bug. I hoped I was better for tomorrow as Vanessa and I had a very important trip planned.

I had hardly any sleep and felt like I couldn’t do a bus journey on Tuesday 30th November so I had to cancel Vanessa again – it’s a good job she’s understanding. Instead, I forced buttered toast down and went back to bed, I had cups of tea and lots of water but didn’t really start to recover until almost dinner time. It was a cold day and I had lots of layers on so I decided to have meat and potato pie with carrots, mushrooms and gravy to make me feel better. It was not only delicious but I was almost back to normal by bed time and the pastry didn’t give me a bad stomach.

Dalyan – 27th November

By Saturday 27th November there were more worrying news articles about Corona and there was an uneasy feeling of whether the new variant would be the next one to cause an increase in restrictions, I was concerned that it may prevent or limit my forthcoming trip to the UK.
In Vietnam 4 children suffered anaphylaxis from their vaccines in Bac Mai, here’s the article (it’s not near the cave where Captain Caveman works is):
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211127/four-children-suffer-anaphylaxis-after-covid19-vaccination-in-northern-vietnam/64407.html
In other news there were some positive cases, on 2 planes, from South Africa which landed at Amsterdam airport, meaning the new variant was already in Europe, more here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59442149
I just had bread and butter for breakfast as I was having a big lunch of saag aloo, chicken tikka and rice. I was invited to a party later so I needed some sustenance in readiness for a bit of a booze up.
Because of the bad weather, the Christmas fayre, which should have been today, had been moved to tomorrow but Maddie and Onur were still having their housewarming party from 5pm. It was also Maddie’s 3 year anniversary of moving to Turkey so she was up for giving the ball a right old kick. I took a nice bottle of red wine and a gift of rosé wine for Maddie, when I arrived I was so impressed with their new place as it was big for a 2 bedroom apartment and had lovely views from every window, despite it being so near to the town centre. We had a right laugh and the night involved me becoming a human kerplunk game as each person had to slip forks in to my hair without them falling out. It was more fun than you’d think and the amount of innuendos was shameful. Maddie had made sausage rolls and I had 3, they were bloody gorgeous and the rest of the food was good too. I had a really great time, Ann even made Nick a ponytail so he could fit in with Onur, Özcan and Mark! Kate took loads of photos of different people by the Christmas tree and I met some really lovely people. Ann and I shared a taxi home and of course I had a dodgy stomach when I got in!

Dalyan – 26th November

When I woke up on Friday 26th November the news was packed full of articles about Corona; a new variant had been discovered in South Africa, more here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127
I saw a Facebook post to say that the UK were banning flights from South Africa. France had announced that a 3rd vaccine booster would be required for vaccine passes to be valid.
In the Vietnamese news there was reports that a total of 3 people had died after their vaccination in Vietnam, the investigation was ongoing, check it out here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211126/following-two-deaths-one-more-dies-after-covid19-vaccination-in-vietnam/64368.html
Then later it was reported that there was a 4th death from the same batch of vaccines in Vietnam, see below:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211126/vietnam-seals-vero-cell-covid19-vaccine-batch-following-4th-postvaccination-death/64382.html
My arm was aching today, 2 days after my vaccine and I felt incredibly tired so I decided that I was going to have a day of chilling out and I was going to have a night in tonight.
My delivery of meat pies and sausage rolls from Emma was delivered by her husband, Yusuf, and I put some in the freezer before I was tempted to eat them all – I did have 2 sausage rolls for my breakfast though!
For lunch I made a bit of a strange concoction of köfte, rice and mushrooms which tasted really good.
I went to meet a friend at the tea gardens in the afternoon and when I got there it was a mess because of the improvements the council were attempting to make. The cafe was now next to the toilets, on the grass, so no longer overlooking the river and the rock tombs. After several Turkish teas and a chat I walked back home, just as the sun was setting and I called in to the stationers to buy a notebook, I spotted they had some good 2022 diaries there too so I purchased a nice one.
That night I ordered a takeaway from Spice Garden and got enough for tonight and tomorrow’s lunch. I had poppadoms, chicken tikka masala with chips and nan, I even had a couple of glasses of red wine to wash it down and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to bed really tired but I couldn’t get to sleep.

Dalyan – 25th November

I didn’t wake up until the alarm went off at 8am on Thursday 25th November. I’d gone to bed feeling quite cold, my heartbeat was quite a bit faster than normal too but when I woke up I was dripping in sweat, my quicker heart rate, and all other effects from yesterday’s vaccine, were gone. I had to be over at my parents’ apartment by 9am to let in the workmen who were going to be replacing some bathroom shower screens. I put on 3 layers and my rain jacket plus bagged up some boxes I was taking round to Debbie’s. When I arrived at my parents’ I let the guys in and they said to come back in 2 hours, I tried to see if Debbie (Darling) was up yet so I could help wrap the Christmas boxes for the Christmas fayre. There was no answer so I popped back home and had bread butter and cherry jam for breakfast. When I went back the workmen were about 30 minutes off finishing so I took some photos and sent them to Dad so he could check them before I paid up. They did a good job, it looked much better and they even did a thorough hoovering. As I left I saw they had discarded the old screens and all the new packaging on the floor outside, yet there is a bin less than 50 metres away and there was now a random man smashing out the glass of the old screens, on the road outside my parents’ place so he could take the frames. I shouted at him and told him he was leaving a mess on the road but he didn’t care. I went to Debbie’s but there was no answer and she hadn’t seen my messages so I left the boxes on her doorstep and set off back home. The shower screen smasher had gone so I moved most of the glass off the road and went back to turn off the electric, to this day the rubbish didn’t get cleaned up! I notice a lot that in Turkey people aren’t always so bothered about how they dispose of rubbish too much, or the environment. It may have been the after effects of the jab yesterday, or that the sun had come back out, but I was so hot all of a sudden and fancied a shower and a nap.
When I woke up again it was dark, I had been asleep for almost 5 hours and still felt a bit tired! For dinner I had more lasagne and red cabbage which was delicious but because I had slept through lunch I was still peckish. I decided I would have some chestnuts while watching more Selling Sunset on Netflix.

Dalyan – 22nd & 23rd November

I had a busy day at the start of the week on Monday 22nd November. The lira was at 15 to the English pound so my money was now at half the value of when I put it in the bank, which was disconcerting. I was too busy checking all the up to date rules for my forthcoming trip to England that I completely forgot to have any breakfast. I found that I was going to need all of the addresses of where I would be going in the first 10 days of my stay so that I could put them on the PLF, I also needed to decide on at least 1 address to stay at, for the first 2 days – this was going to be tricky as I didn’t really have a plan as yet, but I needed one before I left Turkey. I decided to have a bit of a clear out so that I could donate any bric-a-brac to the white elephant stall at the Christmas fayre this year and I came across a lamp without a working bulb. I had a walk to the Millennium shop to buy a replacement to see if it worked and the weather outside looked like it might rain at any time. The forecast had said to expect a lot of rain this week and so I decided to go to the new A101 supermarket on the high street and Migros to stock up on essentials.
Here’s what I purchased, I will let you decide what was actually essential:

A101 Supermarket
1 packet of chicken noodles 2.20
2 bottles of soda water 2.70
1 pack of sigara böreği 6.90
2 packs of crisps 10.40

Total spent 22.20 lira (£1.48)

Migros Supermarket
1 plastic bag 0.25
1 pack of biscuits 2.50
2 simit 4.50
1 Bounty 4.95
1 packet of bechamel sauce mix 6.45
1 toastie loaf 9.95
1 jar of tomato paste 9.95
1 pack mushrooms 11.49
3 probiotic drinks 12.75
1 pack lasagne sheets 13.95
1 can baked beans 17.95
1 jar of pesto 22.95
1 pack of beetroot 24.90
1 bag of chestnuts 24.95

Total spent 167.49 lira (£11.17)

While I was packing my shopping I saw Maria from Askins estate agents and we had a little chat, then I paid and left to go home.

The lamp bulb was replaced, it worked so I decided to keep it and, after dropping off the shopping and eating a simit for a quick lunch, I decided to go for a walk to the doctor’s. I got a message from Maria to say I had left my Migros card at the supermarket but she had it at work and I could stop by to collect it, which I did – it was really kind of her to do that. My app said I could go for my 2nd Pfizer jab now so I thought I’d make sure that I was still booked in, especially as I needed to have 14 days clear before I landed in England. It was a nice walk along the river but the streets where the road was being taken up was a mess. The doctor confirmed I should come at 9.45am on Wednesday for my next Corona vaccine so that was good as it gave me 2 days spare. On my walk around town I bumped in to Viv who had just been to Alp’s Balıkcim for sausages, which made me want some. Alp has a section of English stuff so I made a few purchases as a treat:

Alp’s shop
1 bottle of HP brown sauce
1 can of baked beans
1 jar of tandoori paste
6 pork sausages
1 Cumberland sausage wheel

This came to a total of 150 lira (£10) but the beans were on offer at 12.50 lira so I couldn’t resist buying another for 5 lira cheaper than in the supermarket.

While I was out, Ann had messaged to ask if I fancied meeting at Heybe’s for an early dinner so I did. She had wine, I had tea and when she ordered her usual chicken schnitzel I decided to go with the potato skin starter. When it came it had a jacket potato with it and was gorgeous but I couldn’t eat it all so I took the jacket potato part home to have with my leftover Sunday dinner tomorrow.
By the time I got home it was dark, had gone quite a bit colder and I saw that the Vietnamese Corona cases were on the rise again.

It was probably the coldest day so far on Tuesday 23rd November and I was wearing a fleece indoors as I ate my simit, cheese and olives for breakfast. I decided I still needed provisions for the massive week of rain that was forecast so I togged up and ventured out to the shops again;

Şok Supermarket
3 red onions 3.22
1 packet of roast chicken bags 4.15
4 carrots 7.16
4 probiotic drinks 19.80

Total spent 34.33 lira (£2.29)

Migros Supermarket
Bread 2.00
Flour 6.35
Quark 6.90
2 cans of grapefruit drink 7.90
Milk 8.75
Eggs 9.95
Chicken pieces 12.95
Cornflakes 12.95
Cheese slices 16.70
2 Glass containers 19.74
Red cheddar 37.95

Total spent 142.14 lira (£9.48)

Selçuk Market
Washing powder 21.50
4 Efes beers 56.00

Total spent 77.50 lira (£5.17)

I also picked up a bottle of wine from Tolga’s wine shop for 45 lira (£3), never mind the rain I was ready for a blizzard!

I had a late lunch which consisted of my leftover Sunday dinner and yesterday’s leftover jacket potato (both from Heybe’s) which was absolutely gorgeous. My next mission was to make a lasagne from the bolognese that I had bubbling away in the slow cooker and could use my new glass containers for batch freezing some of it. I got peckish while it was cooking and ate a Bounty and then some chicken pieces with BBQ sauce. When the lasagne was ready I had to taste some so I cut off the ends and ate those, it was really good and I would look forward to more of it in the next couple of days. I’d been watching a series on Netflix called Cuckoo, with comedian Greg Davies in, and was finding it quite entertaining so I watched more before bed and set the alarm so that I didn’t overlay for my important appointment tomorrow.