My weekend did not start out as I’d expected or hoped for, at all! On Friday 22nd October I had been in Turkey 1 whole month and had been able to indulge in all the food I wanted to, so of course the weight and centimetres were going to follow – I was 1 kg heavier than when I arrived in Turkey which isn’t bad at all. I was also going to get retested for allergies but I had to eat everything for at least 6 weeks in order to get an accurate result.
I didn’t have any breakfast because I had a very important appointment in Muğla with Sonuç for my residency application. The workmen next door were already working early as I waited for Sonuç outside, he was on time and it felt cold. We had all our paperwork in order and after a long drive we arrived and I went in to the building. I had to show my HES code at the security on the door and give my name, Sonuç wasn’t allowed in and was on the end of a phonecall for if there were any questions as I sat in the waiting room. I never went in to the meeting room and the immigration man came out to me, looked over the paperwork, asked some questions about it and then went away. When he came back he said that they couldn’t agree to give me residency without more paperwork from the owner of the property. We got Sonuç on the phone and they spoke at length and I left with all my paperwork and tears in my eyes. There was already another girl blubbing away and I’d given her my tissues, while her mother consoled her.

Sonuç was waiting for me outside the Muğla immigration building as I left my residency appointment feeling upset and worried. Without the residency permit I am only allowed to stay in Turkey for 90 days (which would take me to 21st December) and then I’m not allowed to return for a further 90 days. This meant that when I leave Turkey for England in December I would not be allowed in to Turkey again until March. All sorts of concerns were going through my head about where I would be able to live as I can not afford to move back to the UK, my money is in a Turkish bank and the lira is so high at the moment that when I convert any of it to English it loses about half the value it was when I put it in the bank. It just wasn’t an option and neither was returning to Vietnam, as the country is still closed to tourists.
Sonuç was calm and was looking at a piece of paper which the immigration officer had put in to my document wallet. He explained to me that we could come back and they would accept me if we could provide officially stamped copies of the extra documents they asked for. Sonuç said it was the only way and it had to be done now or the application would be denied and that would be it!
After a couple of phonecalls and adding more stress to a friend who agreed to help me we were on for getting the extra paperwork and I was so overwhelmed I didn’t know what to say. We waited at a cafe where we got some breakfast and a hot beverage and before an hour had passed my friend had done everything we had asked, she had emailed the required documents at the stationers to Sonuç and we were driving to find a shop with a printer. When I went back in to the immigration office I had to wait a little while as it was fairly busy and I was so nervous, the official who I saw previously was there but my file was given to another man. After what was the longest 30 minutes of my life he came back and asked if I was requesting 1 or 2 years and took all of the papers away with him. Another 10 minutes later, if that, he came out with my official paper to say I had been accepted and that my residency card would arrive in 4 weeks, he kept all the documents and that was it. I was still sat there in shock and he had to tell me we were finished. Outside, Sonuç was waiting and we took a selfie, he even posted on Facebook that Dalyan was now stuck with me for 2 years!!! We were so happy and the drive back towards Dalyan was chirpy!

Our next stop was in Ortaca, back to the Devlet hospital to see the doctor about my cyst. By the time we got there the temperature had gone from 12°C to 32°C and I was hot. We couldn’t see the doctor because he was in surgery and the nurse wasn’t confident she would be able to give me the right advice so recommended we come back. We drove back to Dalyan and straight to Lukka bar where Sonuç had a tea and I ordered a celebratory red wine. I didn’t drink it yet as I now needed to go to the post office to get a password for an app on my phone called e-Devlet which is used for residents to book doctors appointments and access other apps for adding proof of vaccines in. I paid 2 lira and got a password then tootled back to Lukka where Ann had now joined us to help me celebrate. Once Sonuç had sorted the app out it crashed and we had to leave it in favour of celebrations that our stressful mornings were behind us. Sonuç had to go and I said thank you and farewell, I’m definitely glad I used him to do the residency or I would not have managed to have got accepted and he’s much calmer than me in a crisis. We ordered a Lukka bar lunch, Ann’s prawn spaghetti looked great and I had a gorgeous chicken and mushroom pasta dish.

More wines flowed in the afternoon and then my parents were passing and came to join us. After 1 more drink with them at Lukka we decided to go for dinner at Geçit restaurant, a firm favourite from previous years and one that our friend, Arif, had introduced us to. We had the complimentary lavaş with garlic butter, some olives to nibble on and a bottle of wine. Dad ordered soup, Mom had cheese rolls and I had garlic mushrooms for our starters, which were all lovely. For mains my parents both chose the lamb shank (Dad’s with mash, Mom’s with chips) which looked fantastic and they enjoyed it. I had an excellent pepper steak and I was so full that I could hardly finish the wine, also really good.

To finish off the celebrating of me becoming a Dalyan resident we went back to Lukka bar for the music bingo night where we sat at an indoor table next to the pool table and had a right old laugh and more booze. Mom won the 2nd round prize which was a liquid hand soap from Maizie Moo which was very lucky as she had needed to buy more soap! We finished off the night with Dad and I playing pool – I must have been drunk!

I woke up far too early on Saturday 16th October, I felt really rough and my cyst wound was painful and leaky. I’d agreed to visit the local Saturday market with ma & pa so I forced some cornflakes down me and took my day 5 medication. As I left the apartment I decided to take some photos of the pergola, the storm last night had made more horizontal beams come loose and a plastic bag that had been hanging on one of the high branches had caught the rain in it, right above the gate. I knew that King Emlak were sending someone round today to make it safe so I went over to my parents’ place and we headed off to the market.

Dalyan market sells lots of fruit and veg, spices, cheese, olives, Turkish delight, nuts, and even clothes, handbags and watches. I didn’t get too much as I wouldn’t be able to carry it and we would probably be eating out quite a bit, while my parents are here. I spent just 50 lira (£4.23) for some fruit, vegetables and olives. When I got home the spare ground next to Fire Opal was completely cleared and some bricks put on the ground at the edge of the area to denote ‘no parking’ so I took some photos. I felt really ill and thought I’d have a nannan nap but the men from King Emlak arrived to sort out the pergola.

The man in charge was reluctant to do anything as he said we would need permission from all 10 apartment owners before anything could be done and I was annoyed because anyone could see it would only take another rain storm for more pieces to fall off. The plants definitely needed cutting back so that we could take down the falling beams so I gave the go ahead without waiting for everyone’s permission. I did post on the WhatsApp group for the owners, to let them know that King Emlak workmen were going to start tackling it today. About 2.30pm I went downstairs to check on the progress and took some photos to post on the WhatsApp group, King Emlak also posted some progress pictures and it wasn’t looking promising for the pergola staying up. With hindsight both pergolas should have been replaced when Block A had needed it, but without any of the owners being here at that time it hadn’t been essential.

When I came back down at 4.30pm the communal B Block entrance looked shockingly stark and the workmen were gone, the sky was grey and more rain looked likely.  I was surprised to see it cut back so much and that there were only 3 actual plants which had produced all of that foliage on top, one of which directly in front of the door to the electric meter cupboard – it clearly should have been trimmed a lot sooner.

That night my parents came over and they were also surprised at the bare entrance to B Block but we all thought I still did the right thing and those Bougainvillea grow fast so I was sure it would grow back again. I really could have done with a glass of wine but, of course, I didn’t because of the antibiotics I was taking and we went to Amy’s bar for a coke for me and beers for my parents. We chatted to Yusuf who is a really lovely bloke and the bar was so quiet compared to how it used to be.
That night we ate at a new place on our list which ma & pa fancied trying; Kebapçı Yusuf, it used to be Adılan’s, another one of our favourites when we were last here. The tables were outside but we were togged up in warm clothes and the rain had stopped, I ordered chicken shish, mom chose lamb shish and dad went for meatballs. The waitress spoke English and my parents said the wine they had was nice, I had an orange juice. We were brought a nice pomegranate salad, and bread to share and we ordered a portion of chips which were really good. For the price we all agreed the food was excellent and we said we would definitely go again.

Friday 15th October started with heavy rain and colder weather than we’d had in Dalyan recently, the mountains that I could usually see from all of the windows seemed to have disappeared because of the overcast skies. It was weigh-in day so I got on the scales to find I had put 0.5kg on, hardly surprising given the recent indulgences. My measurements were more surprising though; everything measured the same except for my right thigh which was 0.5cm bigger – wonderful results! The cyst was still an issue and I was on day 4 of the medication, so over half way through the course. I had a double breakfast of cornflakes then left over afternoon tea cakes, before getting ma & pa’s leftovers out of the fridge and popping in to some tuppaware and a tin.
It stopped raining and I was on my way to my parents’ place when Ann messaged me to say that Jamie had arrived back in Dalyan, he was here on a surprise visit and they were at Lukka bar having a late breakfast. We were already destined for a Jiks lunch, it’s always been a firm favourite of my parents’ and the prices are very good value for money. The lady in the kitchen is the happiest member of staff there and she said her usual hellos as we ordered food. I had chicken shish which comes with rice, veg and chips, ma & pa both had a tuna sandwich. The food was good and I struggled to finish it all, dad had a white wine and I really fancied one but resisted. We agreed to meet back up before dinner, at mine and off we went home, my mom had decided not to bother getting a Turkish SIM card for the short time they are here, Dad had turned his phone off and they didn’t have internet at their place, so they could only check when they had WiFi in a bar or at mine.

When I got back I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it but I thought that the pergola had moved and was leaning just ever so slightly more towards the main building of Block B. I also noticed a crack in the wall which I wasn’t sure if it had got worse or not and thought I’d let Leanne at King Emlak know, so she could send someone round to make it safe – it didn’t look like it would withstand harsh winter weather, at all. On the spare piece of land between our complex and the riverside shops there was a workman and truck which looked like they were chopping down trees and scraping the ground, being a builder’s daughter I deduced that it was being prepared for building work to start. I also noticed that some children had posted a couple of homemade posters on our wall next to B gate with drawings of cats on, presumably they had lost their pet cats.
In the late afternoon the rains started again and I wondered if my parents would still want to go out, a lot of the restaurants are mainly outdoors so we would have to go somewhere suitable.

It was around 6pm when the doorbell rang, my mom came in and my dad was still at the bottom of the stairs. Having come through the gate he was inspecting the broken pergola, moving one of the beams that had fell on the floor and was blocking the path. They weren’t very impressed and said if they had come a bit earlier it might have hit them on the head. When I went to look, most of the rest of the pergola was holding up by the overgrown bougainvillea plants and it looked messy and dangerous, the piece on the floor was rotten and it should have been replaced ages ago but without any of the B Block residents being here to look at it, it had just been left to get worse. I didn’t know if it might even have been me who was the last person to have been in B Block at the beginning of January 2020. I wasn’t very happy and I know my mom was worried because it could have hit either of them so I felt responsible for not getting it looked at sooner, the rain had obviously made the planting heavier which had forced the wooden pergola to break under the weight of it. We left using the gate at the entrance to Block A and my parents had chosen a nice restaurant for dinner – we’d kind of started taking it in turns and I’d written a list of all the places we might want to visit while they are here.

After mom and I got some money out at the ATM it was a short walk back to Yener’s Place which overlooks the river where my mom chose a nice table outside for us to have a drink first, I just had diet coke but they both had a nice cold glass of Efes as we all browsed the extensive menu. Yener’s Place used to be on the main street but now it has moved locations and is nearer to where I’m staying which is handy. As the sun went in the wind picked up, it got a bit colder so we went inside, the walls are made of tents so it was still a bit windy where the door was and it blew bottles over and the table cloth almost off. Luckily we all had a jumper/top to put on and we chatted to Yener and some fellow customers. I didn’t go for a starter because I’d had a big lunch but Dad had garlic bread and mom chose the stuffed mushrooms. For mains Dad and I both had chicken casserole, mom lamb chops and all the meals were lovely.

As it was Friday, that was not the end of our evening, we headed to Lukka Bar for the weekly music bingo night which had proved to be popular and highly entertaining – although I was unsure how fun it would be completely sober. Mehmet and Katrina had reserved us a nice table for 3 inside, so that we were away from the tables with smokers on and I could stop moaning about the amount of cigarettes, for once! Ma & Pa had more Efes beers and I went wild with a mocktail (I know how to enjoy a weekend)! My Dad was not too excited about bingo but it turned out to be a good laugh, the first round was ballads, followed by 50s, 60s and 70s music for the second round. Dad was busy guessing all the songs while mom and I marked them off and he knew nearly all of them. The usual Friday night fun squad were sat at a table outside and we said hello to them, Jamie came over and shared a bit of banter with us too. Despite being completely alcohol free I managed to have a great time and even stayed later than the time to take my tablets. As we were leaving Lukka bar and saying bye to my friends the rain started and it was about to get quite stormy – it was amusing to see those of us who decided to get home before the rain got too bad and the expected few who decided another drink and a chance lock in would do! In bed the rain was so loud on the roof and it lasted for quite some time, I didn’t get much sleep at all.

When I woke up on Thursday 14th October I felt very sick! The dinosaur egg of a cyst had decided it was going to hatch and I was willing myself not to faint as I took off the blister plaster and dealt with the mess while vomitting in to the toilet. It was disgusting, painful and completely nauseating and I felt so ill that I thought I’d not be able to eat or attend the special surprise I’d booked for my parents’ anniversary. So that I could take my 3rd day’s medication, I forced down bread and butter for breakfast in between puking up and did my best to make myself feel better. I met up with a friend, Diane, at 11.30am and we went to a new coffee shop in the square next to Migros, called Dal. I had a herbal tea which was a bit weird and Diane had some sort of coffee, she was off back to the UK tomorrow so she was looking forward to getting back to England. While we were there we saw a few people Diane usually goes to Zumba with, including Maria the instructor, and they said hello. Even though the weather forecast had said it would continue to rain, the weather was lovely and I went home in readiness for an afternoon with my parents, who were celebrating 49 years of marriage.
We were booked in at River Terrace for an afternoon tea with prosecco and even though I was feeling rather unwell I soldiered on knowing it would be a great afternoon and that I’d finally get to have a jam and cream scone after more than 3 years! I was obviously disappointed that I couldn’t drink the bottle of fizz but the lemon water and the tea were still very good. There were sandwiches, quiche, hummus, bread sticks, cucumber, coleslaw, pasties, cheese scones, normal scones, jam, clotted cream, shortbread, cheesecake and brownies – and it was delightful. Sara and her friend Sarah do these events around once a fortnight and do an amazing job. We could not eat it all and ended up taking some home, in my new Tupperware boxes!
Afterwards I was desperately needing a long lay down but, as it was a special occasion, we decided to have a walk through town and for a drink at Dalyano. I’m not sure if my Dad’s dodgy knee was hurting him or that he was sad to have stopped eating cake but his mood had changed as they ordered a gin and tonic, me an iced peach tea, and he seemed a bit grumpy. Because I had eaten too much gluten/dairy/egg which I’m sensitive too I started to get bloated and had a stomach ache. A year ago I would have had a far worse reaction so I had definitely got better, but I decided it would be best to go home and we walked slowly back. I’d eaten the most calories I’d had in a week, in a long time, so I knew tomorrow’s weigh-in was going to be horrendous – I also felt like my stomach was huge. We said our goodbyes and agreed I would go over to ma & pa’s apartment tomorrow around lunchtime. Before bed I had to wash and redress my cyst which made me feel ill and it was so sore. If there was no improvement tomorrow I would go back to the hospital.

On Saturday 9th October I decided to have an easy day at home, for a change. My parents were arriving next week so I knew we would be going out quite a bit and I also needed to get the apartment as I wanted it. In the morning I noticed the shoulder cyst was definitely getting worse, I could no longer wear a bra or strap over it without it hurting and I thought I might need to see a doctor. In the morning I made Baba Ganoush in the slow cooker which is so much easier than in a normal oven and I added tahini to my shopping list. For brunch I decided to have an old favourite from when I was last in Dalyan, potato wedges with baked beans – I loved it!! I did some writing and I finished Line of Duty on Netflix, which I thought was good. I made bolognese in the slow cooker and in the afternoon I spoke to Captain Caveman. He was doing fine, he had not started back at work yet (maybe next month) and he said he is missing me a bit now (all while he chased a fly round the bedroom with the electric tennis racket)! I set about looking for a job for 2022 and started to draft up my winter budget, at the top of my to do list was to decide whether to self publish or get an agent for my book(s). I bought some beers, from Selçuk market, for the fridge, had one before dinner, then had 2 lovely portions of pasta bolognese with the tiniest bit of parmesan for my evening meal.
I discovered a comedian I liked on Netflix, called Daniel Sloss and watched him while eating biscuits, quark and honey (the healthy eating diet was going well)! By evening my shoulder was in pain and I was using a hot towel compress to try to ease it, I was also taking paracetamol and ibuprofen to try to reduce the pain a bit. That night I had trouble getting to sleep because of how uncomfortable it was making me.