I had less than 2 weeks left in Dalyan on Thursday 8th May, before I would be taking a trip back to the UK to see Captain Caveman, friends and family. I also started to look at flights to Gatwick for Captain Caveman’s birthday in July. They weren’t quite as cheap but between £58 and £85 one way, without hold luggage. By 10.30am I had started work while sat on the balcony after seeing that the pool was almost ready to go in. A neighbour had told me about the loquats on our trees and that you could eat them. They tasted a little bit like a citrus plum and have 3 seeds inside. By midday I was off to Jamie’s for a Resort Experts related catch up and cup of tea. On the way back I noticed our neighbour’s mulberry tree had lots of fruit on and tried one – she had said to help myself. At 1pm I joined a training webinar with Wendy Wu tours, they had some new tours in South East Asia which looked amazing, some included rail or cruise and stay and all were fully guided. Perfect for solo travellers or people who liked a bit more of a personal touch and hand holding, all of the accommodation they use is 4 star so also makes it more affordable. Some of the new tours were inspired by a TV programme called ‘Race Across the World’, which I hadn’t seen as we don’t have English TV but I heard it was incredibly popular back in England. I actually quite fancied doing one of their tours myself, perhaps with a group of friends, and they even sort out all visas which makes it easier. I had a very late lunch of beans on toast with bacon before getting on with more work, finishing at 7pm to go to the shops. Here’s what I bought with the prices in lira;
Milenyum Shop Bin liners 70.00 Hair Conditioner 90.00 Total spent 160.00 lira (£3.10)
Migros Supermarket 1 plastic bag 0.50 2 tomato purée 35.90 Boiled beans 53.95 6 eggs 59.95 Museli 82.50 Mozzarella cheese 89.90 620g chicken breast 110.95 Total spent 433.65 lira (£8.40)
Parlak bakery Fresh bread 15 lira (29p)
I just had cheese and olives for dinner before having an early night as I was tired.
Gratitude List 1. Free fruit from the trees in the garden 2. Wendy Wu training 3. Bacon.
I didn’t even leave the house on Friday 9th May. I was awake at 7am and spent the first couple of hours updating my blog. I always keep it at a month behind but I was almost at 6 weeks behind now as I’d been quite busy. Luckily, using scheduling on my Facebook and WordPress makes it easier. I had muesli and Yorkshire tea for breakfast and cracked on through my to do list. I had a cheese and lettuce sandwich at lunch and didn’t turn my laptop off until gone 9pm. I decided to make a curry for dinner from one of the ready made sauces from Holy Cow which Captain Caveman had brought over on his last visit. It made 4 portions and was absolutely delicious – not particularly Slimming World friendly so I had to use some syns. With it being a Friday, I even had an Efes beer with my curry, which I finally ate about 10.15pm.
Gratitude List 1. Keeping busy 2. Meta Business Suite 3. Holy Cow sauces.
I had a lay in until 8.30am on Tuesday 6th April and it felt quiet without the dogs. I ate my tea and toast on the balcony and then got on with work. At lunch time Julia popped over with a bottle of Angora red wine and a really cute wine stopper from Cappadocia – a thank you gift from the dogs. I spoke to Captain Caveman and then had a cheese and salad wrap before getting back to work. At 2.30pm I went to pay the council tax which was 1,854.60 lira (£36.22) for the year and also cheaper than last year, for some unknown reason. I passed the bus terminus and took a photo of the new bus timetable which was showing buses to the beach every hour from 10am to 5pm. I finished work at 7.30pm and made some bacon spaghetti with a side salad for dinner.
Gratitude List 1. A gift from the dogs 2. More buses available to the beach 3. Bacon.
At 7am on Wednesday 7th May it was 16°C and looking to get warmer. It was weigh day so I got on the scales at home to find I was the same as last week. I took my measurements, I had put 1cm on to my waist but the other measurements were the same or less. Since I’d been carrying my heavy rucksack about, I had noticed that a cyst I had on my shoulder had reappeared and it was sore but still small. I drank tea on the balcony and noticed that the Pool and Garden team had started to fill our communal swimming pool up. I had some good feedback on my book from people who had also been in South East Asia and liked my chapters. I read a chapter of Charlie Day’s book ‘Sales is Easy’ and then got on with some social media posts for my Resort Experts business page. At 10am I went over to a friend’s to see Lady C and another pooch, Darcy. I played with both dogs for a bit, until it was time for my first appointment of the day. At 11.30am I went to my Turkish class at Lukka and spent 150 lira (£2.91) on the lesson and 60 lira (£1.17) on a small water. I called at the pharmacy to buy blister plasters for 70 lira (£1.36) so that I could put it over my cyst to stop my bra strap from irritating it further. I had a quick lunch of a Dubai Magnum while walking through town. At 3pm I went to get weighed at Fat Club, spotting the stork was in its nest, on the way there. I was disappointed to find I had put on 0.15kg (0.3lb) on Carol’s scales, but it could’ve been worse. Vanessa decided to join me as we had prior arrangements to meet up and she brought wine and we bought soda water at the shop. After a glass each at our friend’s, we borrowed a bottle stopper for the rest of our wine and walked back through town looking like a pair of soaks! We decided to see if Simple would let us eat at a table and drink our own, half opened bottle of wine. Onur, the owner, agreed and we ordered my favourite noodles. We paid 760 lira (£14.79) for 2 lots of noodles, 1 beef and 1 chicken, which were really tasty and fresh. We had a lovely night and then walked home a bit tipsy where I had a video call with Captain Caveman then ate frozen yoghurt bars for my dessert.
Gratitude List 1. Cute dogs 2. Seeing Vanessa 3. Delicious food at Simple.
On Saturday 3rd May the sun was back so there was lots of outside activity. I walked the dogs a couple of times, I washed and hung out wet towels and throws, I moved the sunbeds cushions to dry those off and also worked quite a bit. I didn’t have time to go to the weekly market today. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was working this bank holiday weekend on site and seemed to be enjoying it. I had leftovers for my meals and decided to try again to go shopping in the evening. It rained again and I only got as far as the corner shop!
Gratitude List 1. Dog walks 2. Having meetings with the dogs 3. Knowing Captain Caveman was doing well in the UK.
Sunday 4th May was the last full day of my doggy day care for Norman, Edna, Coco and Bebe and the sun was shining. They were so pleased to be able to go in and out as they pleased, they had 2 walks and Norman slept in all the available beds but his own. I did some work which included promoting a 10 night twin centre holiday to Bali in November. We hadn’t arranged a Sunday walk this week with me being in charge of the dogs but I did walk 6km by myself plus another walk to the shops and back. Here’s what I bought on my first trip with prices in lira;
I’d arranged to meet Nanny Kay for lunch and I prepared us a very simple chicken salad which was very nice. Nanny Kay brought chocolate digestives which was a real treat, especially when they had melted stuck so we had to eat them as a triple biscuit! The dogs loved seeing Nanny Kay too and they all got some fuss. We had an unexpected phone call from Vanessa on her husband’s phone. I answered it because I knew they were meant to be in İzmir today, however, they had arrived in to Dalyan early and didn’t have their keys. I had a set at Fire Opal but we were at the other side of town. Luckily, Nanny Kay saved the day by driving us over to mine, where Vanessa could pick up her keys and on the way back we called in to Nanny Kay’s house. It had been a lovely day and when I got back I took the dogs out again then went to the shop. I needed something to go with a mystery meal I’d got out so I bought bulgar wheat and Haribo jellies at the little Migros for 66.90 lira (£1.31). I had a glass of red wine on the terrace, enjoying the sun. My curry with bulgar wheat and chickpeas turned out to be a winner. I finished the evening off with 4 happy, snoring dogs on the sofa while we watched something on Netflix – a perfect Sunday.
Gratitude List 1. Sunshine 2. Lunch with Nanny Kay 3. Dog snuggles.
Monday 5th May consisted of working, book related stuff, free training courses, cleaning and laundry. I popped to Migros and bought more bulgur wheat and some chocolate brownies for 98.90 lira (£1.93). Coco called another meeting and wanted me to know she still hadn’t had the required number of cuddles. I said goodbye to Norman, Edna, Coco and Bebe after feeding them their dinner. Back home that night, I had a quiet one and finished off some work until late.
Gratitude List 1. All the dogs being happy 2. Having a productive day 3. Getting all my jobs done before bed.
Captain Caveman arrived at the Kerman hotel on Saturday 26th April almost 5 hours after he had landed in Izmir. Both Sezgin and I spotted him at the same time as he walked in to the entrance and was absolutely fine. Unfortunately, on arrival at the airport there had been an issue with picking up the hire car. The company had gone bust just a day before and so there was a delay in the provider finding an alternative. Captain Caveman had no working phone so was unable to call me to let me know he would be late. Once he got on the road he could see no reason to stop to call us and didn’t think we would worry. In the morning, all 6 of us met for breakfast at the Kerman hotel, which was really lovely. Of course, I have to be careful with Turkish breakfasts when travelling so I just had a bit of cheese, some olives and a piece of bread. Today we would drive back towards İzmir and check out some small towns. Sezgin, Nur, Debbie and Mike would now be in the first car and I would join Captain Caveman in the hire car. There was no itinerary given to Captain Caveman, other than for him to follow Sezgin’s white car and try to keep up. Sezgin had the plan and was about to take us on quite a tour of the area. Our first stop was just a few metres up the hill from the hotel so that we could admire the beautiful view of Çeşme. On our morning’s adventure we stopped to admire and have a short walk in Ilacı and Ildır. We met a fat street dog on the way, in a park, and it was hotting up so I took it on a little walk to the shady area. It was artichoke season so the others bought 2 lots of it but I wasn’t skilled enough in the kitchen to cook it and wasn’t overly keen on it. Captain Caveman and I stopped for petrol and I paid the man 461.30 lira (£9).
We had a lovely sightseeing morning before driving to Balıklıova for lunch. Sezgin and Nur had decided to take us to their favourite fish restaurant to enjoy fresh fish. Ozal’ın Yeri Lokantası was set right on the water’s edge and the owner was very pleased to see our Turkish friends. It was a beautiful setting and we had got there before anyone else. Debbie and Captain Caveman were in their element as they love fish, Mike and I don’t eat fish so we ordered a pide, haydari, fava bean paste and olives. The others really enjoyed their fish and I could see how proud Sezgin and Nur were of this local restaurant. The pide, mezes and salad were very good and I enjoyed my lunch, although I worried for my onward travel as we needed to keep up in the car convoy and I may need a loo. When the bill came, Sezgin did his usual trick of asking for discount and quite a bit of bartering went on. Us Brits weren’t used to that and it was a bit uncomfortable but the Turks seemed to be fine with it and we ended up with a discount which I was glad about. I paid our share of the bill which came to 1,900 lira (£37.11) which wan’t bad considering the fresh fish and the location.
In the afternoon, still keeping up with being a 2 car convoy, we visited the amazing market in Alaçatı. The market there was pretty big and very cheap, but we were all conscious of the boot space in the car. Captain Caveman bought a pair of crocs for 100 lira (£1.95). I was tempted to get some but they didn’t have my size in the colour I wanted. As we got to the food market stalls, my stomach started to react to my lunch and I needed the loo quite desperately. I hastily found a cafe/bar and Captain Caveman sat down to order a drink while I found the toilet. In my panic I had not realised that Mahalle Alaçatı was on the pricey side, but by then the others had joined us and ordered drinks without seeing the menu. Here’s what we paid for our soft drinks, prices in lira;
Mahalle Alaçatı 1 small water 70 1 Coca Cola 125 3 Soda Waters 330 Total spent 525 lira (£10.25)
In the place’s defense, it was very nice and the food coming out to customers looked really good. We had a really lovely walk around the town of Alaçatı which looked like a wonderful place to live if you had money. There were some lovely buildings and it felt very European. Captain Caveman was messing with his ears which I had kept saying he needed to see a doctor about but he wouldn’t listen (no pun intended). He had made them sore from scratching so we popped off to get some Aloe Vera cream from the Watson’s pharmacy. We paid just 35.95 lira (70p) and he insisted on putting it on in the street. By this time, we had lost the others so Captain Caveman got me to stand next to a mussel cart while he went off to look for them. I was feeling queasy just looking at the mussels, when Sezgin appeared from the opposite direction. We all gathered back together and walked back to the cars, having had quite enough excitement for the day – or had we!?
It was getting on by the time we got back from an epic day out, calling at another view point and a quick trip to another Dalyan on the way back. It was great hearing Sezgin’s stories of where they had lived and we saw far more than we would’ve if we’d gone alone. The roadtrip had been a good excuse for a wine and cheese trip but I’d yet to have or see either, so maybe tomorrow as we would be moving to another destination. We parked back up at the Kerman hotel and there was talk of a book shop or seeing some history. I was quite happy with a book shop and taking it easy but before I realised what was going on, Sezgin and Nur sent the rest of us off to see Çeşme Castle/Museum. It was priced at just 6 Euros each, I paid in Turkish so cost 522.72 lira (£10.10) for the 2 of us and I thought it was worth it. We spent an hour exploring and I found it really interesting, the views were fantastic, especially at sunset. If you aren’t good with steps or particularly mobile then I wouldn’t recommend it as it is a bit steep in parts.
By 8pm we were back at our new favourite Çeşme restaurant, Friendly Corner. I decided to order a red wine and when it came it was a massive glass of Rituel for 100 lira (£1.93) – an absolute bargain! We had lots of laughs as we shared experiences from both cars at how well Sezgin and Captain Caveman kept up with each other. I could see even more why they made such great Bridge partners now, as there was a hint of telepathy going on, I’m sure. For dinner, I decided to order boldly, having had the large wine and ordered another. I chose a casserole which I hoped wouldn’t be too greasy for my stomach. It came with chips and rice and was absolutely delicious. I was quite merry by the time we got the bill and, of course, Sezgin once again flexed his haggling skills with the owner, our new best friend. I paid just 1300 lira (£25.15) for the 2 of us and that included quite a bit of wine. The day had been fantastic and made even better by getting to spend more time with Captain Caveman. He was very tired from the driving so we went back to the hotel, intending to get some rest, ready for a rather full-on day again tomorrow. We decided to have a night cap, this time in Debbie and Mike’s room, they even went to the shop to get some more wine!
Gratitude List 1. Great places to see, especially Alaçatı market and town 2. Çeşme Castle and museum 3. Another wonderful evening with friends at Friendly Corner.
Photo credit – some photos by Captain Caveman, Debbie, Mike, Sezgin and Nur
Wednesday 23rd April would ordinarily have been weigh day back in Dalyan so I still did my measurements. I had lost 1cm from my bust, waist and hips, making all my measurements on or below target. I estimated that I had put on about 2lb or 1kg in weight, though. I worked in the morning and was comparing some holiday destinations between 2025 and 2026 with Gold Medal holidays. Captain Caveman was on a work conference call by the time it was time to leave so I let myself out. It would be only a very short time until we were reunited in Turkey. My train was at 10.48am from Blackburn to Bolton and I was a bit early. There is nothing to do at Blackburn station so I could have left later, but I had a wander and found the cinema and a Nandos. One of the things on my list to do in the UK was to go to the cinema but we hadn’t, so it was on my list for next time, along with a visit to Chatsworth, chip shop fish & chips and an afternoon tea. My train was on time but then it got held up so I had to rush to get my next train in Bolton. The 11.18am train from Bolton to Manchester airport was also delayed so I treated myself to a takeaway cup of tea for £2.45. I arrived at Manchester airport in good time and had a wander through the Duty Free without spending any money. The cost of Dairy Milk chocolates was rather pricey! My flight was at 14.40 and no gate was displayed so I thought I had time to get a meal and a drink at the pub that wasn’t a Wetherspoon’s. It turned out that I didn’t really have time but had already bought it and then had to get it to takeaway as the flight gate got announced and then was boarding straight away. Here’s what I got with prices in pounds; Chicken sandwich and chips 18.00 1 glass of white wine 9.00 Total spent £27.00.
On the flight I was lucky enough to be sat in the aisle seat of row one and had two rather lovely ladies next to me. Sam and Michelle were travelling with their family, a few rows behind us, and were all from Wigan. I was in good company as I snaffled my now cold chips and chicken sandwich down me and I noticed the girls had those massive water containers. They had made the genius move of popping alcohol in them for the flight! So they looked healthy drinking so much water/juice but were actually getting right on it! Meanwhile, I spent £13.10 on drinks and a snack but we had a really good flight. It was after 9pm when we landed and I just had time to go to the loo, buy a bottle of water for 2 Euros and say farewell to Sam, Michelle and family. Jamie and Drew arrived not long after from their Gatwick flight and we shared a taxi back to Dalyan, it cost £30 in total so only £10 each. We were all a bit knackered and I couldn’t wait to get in to bed.
Gratitude List 1. Losing centimetres despite eating too many syns this week 2. First row flight buddies, Sam and Michelle, to make the journey more interesting and fun 3. Sharing the taxi journey back with Jamie and Drew.
I was up and about by 7.30am on Thursday 24th April and ready for a full day of work. My to do list was fairly lengthy so I worked methodically down it. I attended a Webinar with Jet2 which was really useful and then I had to nip to the bank and the shops. Here’s what I bought, with prices back in to lira;
The exchange rate had been just under 50 lira to the pound when I left Dalyan, 3 weeks ago, but it was at 51.2 lira today. I had cheese on toast for lunch before getting back in to work. I didn’t finish work until 7pm so I decided to have a takeaway for dinner. I ordered the chicken noodles which are one of my favourite dishes at Simple and cost just 365.00 lira (£7.13). While I waited for it to be prepared I nipped to the shop to get some sweets for tomorrow’s car journey as I was off on a weekend away with friends. Here’s what I bought, prices in lira;
I’m not a good traveller so I knew I needed to take something to stop me getting car sick. While I ate my fantastic dinner, Captain Caveman was still back in the UK but not for long. He was in the excellent Tribe hotel at Manchester where he would be working from tomorrow. I’d booked it through Resort Experts to try it as a new hotel and it definitely impressed us and is within walking distance of the airport. Captain Caveman had arranged to get a flight to meet me and our friends, not too far from Izmir, late on Friday night!
Gratitude List 1. Being back home 2. Shopping 3. Simple takeaway.
I did a bit of work on Easter Monday 21st April before we left Harrogate to go to our next town. We said our goodbyes to Cas and Mama Cas and headed over to Blackburn, where Captain Caveman was going to be working the next day. He’d booked us in to an Airbnb which we could check in to in the afternoon so we popped to the shop to stock up on a few bits. Here’s what we bought, with prices in pounds.
Captain Caveman ate his meal deal and I had a sausage roll in the car park of a retail park, before we went to have a look in Boundary Mill. I had a bit of a funny turn and needed the toilet as the suspended flooring made me feel a bit wobbly. I left Captain Caveman by the saucepans and told him to wait for me but he didn’t, obviously. We then spent much longer than necessary of me going in, out and round the shopping area looking for Captain Caveman and him not answering his phone.
The Airbnb was rather nice and had a washing machine for us to get some much needed laundry on. Unfortunately, it was going to be a challenge getting my stuff dry in readiness for me to pack for Turkey. We had a lovely picnic for our dinner, after finishing work late. We had a wander around the town which I expected to be a bit rough, but it was fairly pleasant. The cathedral looked pretty in the evening light and we picked up some Morrisons own baked beans to have for our breakfast tomorrow. At 7pm I attended an online course and then fell asleep as I was tired. The bed wasn’t too sturdy and I ended up going through the slats when I tried to move.
Gratitude List 1. Being busy with work 2. Captain Caveman finding a nice Airbnb in the town centre of Blackburn 3. A picnic style dinner.
While Captain Caveman was at Blackburn Rovers for work, on Tuesday 22nd April, I spent all day working from the Airbnb in Blackburn. The internet was good and the place was quiet, I was also left in charge of rotating the laundry through the washer/dryer in an attempt to get my clothes dry before my flight tomorrow. I had beans on toast for breakfast, leftover picnic food and Easter egg for lunch then did more work. After work, I checked in for my flight and found that I had been allocated seat 1C for free, which was nice. Once Captain Caveman was back, we decided to go for a walk on our last night in England together. Our first stop was at the very close train station to get my train tickets for tomorrow’s train to Manchester airport. I paid £9.90 for a train via Bolton which wasn’t bad and meant I needed to be up fairly early tomorrow. Next, I did a bit of research in Waterstones on travel books and planners, we went through the shopping centre and then decided to have a drink in the Drummer’s Arms. This city centre pub, which closes at 7pm, was fantastic. We had 2 pints of beer and 2 bags of Scampi Fries for less than a tenner – definitely a contender for the cheapest round on my trip. The staff and customers in the pub were friendly, it had great music and I really enjoyed it in there.
Our next stop was to get some food so we decided to go for a curry at Akbar’s. Captain Caveman was unlucky as both his starter and main choices were unavailable and he was disappointed. The waiter recommended alternatives, we shared onion bhajis, garlic naan bread and pilau rice. I ordered a butter chicken and Captain Caveman enjoyed the lamb dish which had been recommended. Ahmed, the manager, personally apologised for not having Captain Caveman’s first choices and even said he could come back tomorrow for them, on the house. We got a free dessert and chocolates to finish off our lovely meal and we were both impressed. There were some leftovers for Captain Caveman to have tomorrow, too.
Gratitude List 1. Research in Waterstones 2. Drinks at the Drummer’s Arms 3. Dinner at Akbar’s
I was not enamoured with the alarm going off at 4.30am on Thursday 17th April! Captain Caveman was working all day in the Tunstall office, near Stoke on Trent, so we left Barnes at 5am. I was hungover and tired but we had travel sweets and plenty of water. While Captain Caveman went to work, I was the first in to the Asda cafe. I bought a cup of a Yorkshire tea for £1.30 and found myself a table so that I could do some work. The tables were a bit grubby and the clientele rather dubious but it would do for my office for the day. I had a 45 minute Webinar in the morning after which I decided to treat myself to breakfast. The hangover was getting worse as I ordered another cup of tea and a couple of slices of toast with butter. A bargain £2.60 in total and came with the bare hands of the server who couldn’t find a plate and had my unbuttered toast in the palms of his hands. I was bound to be ill!! Next was our team meeting and an amazing training session with Gold Medal travel. I learned so much and was looking forward to quoting and booking some amazing holidays. They do a Pure Luxury range which is fabulous and I really fancied some of those for myself. In the afternoon, I finished off more work before having a walk to the Tunstall cafe for a much needed bacon & mushroom sandwich with more tea at a cost of £5.70 and they only take cash. I tried to find somewhere else to work but it was the school holidays and everywhere was rammed with screaming kids. I walked back to the Asda carpark, planning on getting some shopping in but I felt rather queasy. Captain Caveman arrived earlier than expected and we drove directly to Chesterfield without stopping at the shops. We arrived empty handed and with me feeling like death at the lovely Becca & Steve’s house. It was like checking in to a hotel and we were really grateful to be staying in their new house for a couple of nights. Becca was like the hostess with mostest and had made us a lasagne. Steve was up and down to make sure we were all happy and had a glass of something, plus the right nibbles! It was so thoughtful of them and we absolutely loved the meal and our evening together. I wasn’t going to ever drink again, red wine was definitely off the cards after last night, but I had a couple of white wines to be sociable. We ended up having a right laugh and watching game shows which Captain Caveman fell asleep during.
Gratitude List 1. Asda being my temporary office 2. Chesterfield check-in 3. Spending time with Becca and Steve.
It was back to work after a rare weekend off together on Monday 14th April. I had muesli for breakfast after a cup of tea in bed from Captain Caveman. He had his morning meeting while I cracked on with Resort Experts work. At lunch time, Captain Caveman and I had a quick walk to the shop where we bought sourdough bread for sandwiches. Then it was back to work for the afternoon. I had my day brightened up so much when 2 of my best mates both sent me (separately) selfies of them with my book. I was looking forward to seeing Caz and Becca at the Easter weekend so I promised to sign their books. For dinner we had more ham hock with potatoes and vegetables and a quiet night in.
Gratitude List 1. Sourdough bread 2. Book selfies from 2 friends 3. More Ham Hock!
It was a busy working day on Tuesday 15th April as I rattled through my To Do list. I also had 2 online meetings in the morning. At lunch time, Captain Caveman was too busy to take a walk so I went by myself to the shops. It was a bit odd as there didn’t seem to be an awful lot of choice and they had run out of some of the items on my list. I had to call Captain Caveman to ask what I should get instead of chicken as there was none! Here’s what I ended up buying, prices in pounds;
Tesco Supermarket Jammie Dodgers 0.95 Fruit Pastilles 1.65 2 Stone baked pizzas 7.50 Total spent £10.10
Morrison’s Express Lucozade, Wine Gums and Sports Mix Total spent £6.05
Barnes Pantry Hummus £1.99
I’d bought the sweet stuff for the journey back up to the North this coming weekend. We had sandwiches for lunch, I had a banana and an apple too as I was conscious I was not sticking to the Slimming World plan. I’d not even written down my food or syns this week and was likely to have put weight on. Back in Sheffield my Dad was having a knee op so I was waiting to hear how that went. All went fine and hopefully he would be going home tomorrow. After work, Captain Caveman suggested a walk to the Brown Dog where we had a pint. I had the Gelato beer which is very nice and then we walked back home. It was really cold after the sun went in so we were both shivering by the time we got ‘home’. The last of the ham was had for dinner and I worked on my laptop in the evening while Captain Caveman watched TV.
Gratitude List 1. Dad finally getting his surgery 2. The Brown Dog 3. More Ham hock!
It was my first time at the Oxford and Cambridge boat race on Sunday 13th April. As Captain Caveman had grown up in Barnes, he had often been a keen observer so I was looking forward to the experience. We even had free tickets to the Bull’s Head where live band, The Brockalites, were playing later on. But first we had a breakfast of champions; beans on toast with bacon and potatoes for me, a full on fry up with uncle Paul’s eggs and some extra black pudding for Captain Caveman. I was glad of it and the 2 cups of tea, as I was a bit woolly headed from the drinks yesterday! Captain Caveman was annoyingly sprightly and even booked my flight back to Turkey for in 10 days time. This meant I was staying longer than I thought I would be but it was going so fast and I still had plenty to keep me occupied in the UK. After being apart for 3 months it was good to spend time together even if it was just for 3 weeks and we were both working.
After making sure all my quotes and social media posts were done we headed out to the River Thames to watch the race. It was quite exciting and I should have put money on Cambridge winning as it was a clean sweep in all the races. We got chatting with some other spectators, had a beer (£6 each) from the Bull’s Head, which I couldn’t finish and gave it to Captain Caveman.
…………
Captain Caveman’s video
Captain Caveman’s video
After the race it started to rain, the first time it had rained in my 13 days of being in England so we walked quickly to the next nearest pub. At the Sun Inn we met up with an old friend and Aviva colleague, Jacky, who I’d not seen in ages. Jacky was still exactly the same funny guy and he introduced us to his partner, Michael, who was great fun too. We had a fantastic and hilarious afternoon, sheltering from the rain in the pub. I spent £68.70 on a couple of rounds of drinks, Jacky and Michael also got a few rounds in so it was an expensive and fairly merry Sunday but I absolutely loved it. We met a funny local guy and his Australian lady. We nicknamed him Pissy Steve on account of the amount of toilet visits he had. He accused me of being too funny and that I was making him laugh too much – I came to the conclusion he either had a bladder the size of a peanut or a recreational drug habbit. At the bar I bumped in to a young man we had seen at the boat race and he was from Manchester so we got chatting – us northerners always find each other in a London pub! He was only the new brand manager from a well known biscuit company and we discussed the product in-depth! The day was a really lovely one full of more laughter – something I had missed a lot recently. At just after 7pm, as the rain stopped, we all said our goodbyes and we headed to Sainsbury’s for some vegetables. We bought 500g of carrots for a bargain of 60p and splashed out on 120g of green beans for £1.10. I saw that they had Jammy Dodgers on the shelves and sent a photo to Hugo as proof they were available in Barnes. While Captain Caveman rustled us up some potatoes with the ham hock and veg, for dinner, I tried not to eat too many Mini Cheddars (which I had no idea where they had come from)! We were in bed so early as we both had a busy week ahead.
Gratitude List 1. Breakfast of champions 2. The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race 3. Having such a laugh with the fellas in the Sun Inn.
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.
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.
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.
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;
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.
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;
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.
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.
joloyolo 