Dalyan – 10th & 11th February

It was the last day with Norman on Tuesday 10th February. I’d let him know that Little Daddy and Step Daddy Drew were going to be home before tea time. Norman was taking it all in his little stride as he’d already seen me tidying stuff up and popping the washing machine and dish washer on. He knew the score as he was so used to it now. Next month he would have his 15th birthday while Jamie and Drew were away so I said we could have a small party. Today I knew I had a window of opportunity to be able to do all my chores before it rained. The forecast didn’t look good, I had tea and toast where Norman took advantage of the last breakfast and got 3 corners! And still begged for more, I was going to miss him. I took the day off to clean the house as it did smell and look like a farmyard. When I checked the flight, it was due to land 30 minutes early and I still had all of downstairs to clean and tidy. When I let Norman out for a wee I noticed that the skies looked very dark as I said bye to Norman who was quite content in his bed, patiently waiting for his owners to return home.
I messaged Jamie to say I had just left his place and was heading home, as I reached my parents it started to rain a little bit and by the time I was on the corner of my street, there was thunder.
I’d been indoors about 10 seconds when there was a huge storm so I went to the window in the study to film it. I had a shower, put some lounge wear and a hoody on and was going to have a nap. I ended up doing 2 hours worth of work from about 4.15pm, even though I was really tired after such a busy day. I had sausage casserole for dinner, took more photos of the leaky bathroom window and put towels in all the spots where there was water coming in, before finally getting in to bed around 10pm. My phone was on do not disturb and I was looking forward to a lay in until 8am tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. Getting back home before the storm came
3. Not setting my alarm for so early.

My day was very busy on Wednesday 11th February and unfortunately, I was woken up with the storms, including lightening at 5.30am – so much for a lay in.
I scheduled Facebook content for a couple of hours before I got up and made myself a cup of tea to bring back to bed.
When I got weighed I was pleased to see I had lost 1.6kg (3.5lb) and my measurements were very favourable too; I’d lost 2cm from my bust, 1cm from my waist and 4cm from my hips!
I worked in the morning, including attending an Anex webinar, then Jamie popped round for a cup of tea. I didn’t have time for any lunch as I then went to Fat Club, where Carol’s scales agreed with my home ones. I only spent 60 lira (£1.02) on a pot of tea and this time we all had just the right amount of money. On the way back, I nipped in to the shop and decided to buy a few expensive items while they were at a discounted price. Here’s what I got, with the prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Milk 25.80
Cashew nuts 95.00
2 Quark 111.90
Frozen blackberries 149.95
Mozzarella cheese 168.95
Frozen mixed fruit 189.95
Frozen Blueberries 214.95
Total spent 956.50 lira (£16.21)

Parlak Bakery
Loaf & açma 30 lira (51p)

I was meant to be on a Zoom call with Claire Clarke’s Create Publish Grow group but I ended up missing it as I had to take a call. By 6pm I was playing catch up on a course with Carrie Green, founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association. She was running a free course entitled She Means Business to help women, like me, create more income streams. I did that for about an hour and then I was begging for mercy as I had to do some Resort Experts quotes and hadn’t had any dinner. After a cheese sandwich, I was in bed not long after midnight and I didn’t set an alarm for tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. Losing weight
2. Shopping
3. Being busy.

Dalyan – 3rd February

Amazingly, the sun came out on Tuesday 3rd February so Norman and I were both really pleased about that. I’d been doing well with the Frugal February so far and I had just 1 week left until Jamie & Drew came back. After a few hours of work, tea and toast for breakfast, my pen ran out just as I came to the end of my notepad – which was weird! I decided to go for a walk and call at the shops for new ones. Here’s what I spent, prices in lira, still keeping the budget in mind;

Dalyan Stationers

2 pens 100
2 notebooks 200
Total spent 300 lira (£5.08)

I could have bought just 1 of each but decided I would have spares for next time, even though I could’ve saved spending £2.54.

Migros Supermarket

Wholemeal bread 99.50
2 Quark 111.90
Fabric Softener 116.95
900g chicken breast 193.99
4 tins tomatoes 199.80
Total 722.14 lira (£12.24)

I decided to pop in to the supermarket as I wanted a sliced wholemeal loaf and some chicken. While there, I spotted they had fabric softener on offer for the 1440ml, large size (which I had run out of) and they had restocked the tins of tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes are like rocking horse shit here, in the winter, so I grabbed 4 – again, not an essential but I like to get them when I see them. I dropped the tomatoes and softener off at home and took the rest of the stuff back with me to Jamie’s.
Norman was loving being back outside too but there seemed to be a lot of cats around, which he wasn’t keen on. We had a lovely walk, with no rain too.
I worked until 9.30pm, including some stuff for my next book, and had a chicken, chickpea and spinach curry for dinner.

Gratitude List
1. Shopping for non essentials but still being within my budget
2. A walk in the sun
3. Norman.

Dalyan – 30th & 31st January

Friday 30th January was a busy day but I took a couple of hours off in the afternoon and I decided to take Sunday off this week. Pay day weekends, which mainly fall at the end of the month are usually my busiest times, so I was working tonight and all day tomorrow. It was still a bit damp out there and I was on day 11 of my 22 days of dog sitting Norman – half way through. Jamie and Drew were having a lovely time on their cruise and we got some photos and updates from Jamie in the WhatsApp group, making us all jealous of the amazing weather he was enjoying.
I continued to work as hard as I could at building my travel business and promoting my books. I even got an update from Facebook on my author’s page to say ‘Congrats! You’ve completed our ads academy’. This was more impressive in that I didn’t know I was trying to complete it. I still found it hard to grow an audience and, with how Facebook works with followers, it was frustrating. I had invited people to follow, which means they can see my posts on preview without actually clicking the follow button but then people just stay in the limbo position and I can’t count them as a follower (because they aren’t) to get the extra benefits from Facebook for having more followers. Meanwhile, I also can’t remove and re invite them either.
At 2.30pm I downed tools and headed over to speak to a friend of a friend, who needed a cat sitter. A mutual friend had suggested me and we’d arranged for me to visit them today. The cats were sweet and quite playful, the owners I knew from seeing them about town. I was there an hour and a half but then had to get back to walk Norman, I called at the shop on the way back and here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Migros
Plastic bag 1.00
Mints 23.45
Popcorn 34.95
Grapefruit drink 38.90
Olives 46.12
Dark chocolate 69.95
Feta cheese 149.90
Tofu 162.95
Total spent 527.22 lira (£9.25)

Unfortunately, there was no chicken left and I’d planned to cook a teriyaki chicken for dinner – I bought tofu as a replacement but wasn’t confident about that.
Norman was reluctant to set off for a walk but I made him, it was not raining when we left. When we returned home we were both absolutely soaked and had got caught in the downpour. Norman actually fell out with me and wouldn’t participate in a video to Little Daddy and Step Daddy Drew. He then demanded he should get a treat for enduring such a wet walk!
By 7pm he was on the sofa snoring away as I shelved the idea of tofu for tea and had a make do dinner of cheese and biscuits with olives so I could carry on working.

Gratitude List
1. Working hard
2. Norman
3. Cheese.

I was a bit out of sync on Saturday 31st January, so much so that I completely forgot it was market day. It rained all day and I had lots of stuff to get on with so I was busy at my laptop and I made a soup in the slow cooker.
At 11.30am, Norman started begging for a snack and he’d already had breakfast, 2 corners of toast and 1 gravy bone snack. He was not snoozy in the slightest and it was pouring with rain outside so he couldn’t go for a walk.
I had a couple of calls booked in with friends and one of them was to discuss more travel arrangements for the end of the year. I didn’t have my lunch, of halloumi pasta, until gone 3pm and after work, at 7.30pm, I decided to tot up my January income v expenditure and how the monthly budget had gone.
For the first time in a while, I’d managed to survive without too much hassle, but I had been looked after by Captain Caveman for the first 16 days of the month in Morocco and the UK. I added the holiday and Sheffield trip up separately to Türkiye which showed I’d spent a total of £668 (£600 of which had been paid for by Captain Caveman giving me the money).
Once back in Turkey I’d spent another £178 in total (including bills) and had a whopping £91 to carry over in to February.
I was pleased with that but I was starting Frugal February tomorrow in an attempt to build up an emergency fund. I wanted to get to the stage where I had spare money so, although I was going to have some treats, I had decided I needed to prioritise.
Captain Caveman was due to visit me on the 21st of next month so I set myself a goal to see if I could get by on not spending more than that £91, carried over from January, in the next 3 weeks. If I could, it would mean I’d effectively managed a no spend 3 weeks! It was going to be tough and I actually thought it might not be achievable but I was going to do my absolute best. What do you think, could I do it? Could you live off £30 per week in Türkiye for 3 weeks, if you tried to?

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. Holiday planning
3. Surviving and having an impressively good January.

Dalyan – 25th January

My first task on Sunday 25th January was to encourage Norman, who was very snoozy, to go outside. He was quite sleepy most of the day but he did have a corner or 2 of toast before napping. I got on with work and it was going to be a long day as I’d signed up for a free course which started late tonight. I had a lunch break at 3.30pm and decided to go to the shops to stock up for the rest of the week. Here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

BIM Supermarket
Pasta 14.00
Bread 15.00
Satsumas 18.73
Rice crackers 23.50
Sweetcorn 32.50
Bananas 41.83
2 Dido chocolate bars 43.50
Mushrooms 48.00
Wholemeal bread 52.00
Wraps 63.50
600g chicken breasts 145.19
Frozen chicken pieces 170.00
700g chicken thighs 179.53
Total spent 847 lira (£14.86)

I made a chicken and leek pasta bake for dinner which was amazing and had a few portions left for fridge/freezer. Norman put in another complaint when he thought his dinner was late as we had been back from a walk for over 30 minutes.
In the evening we watched some TV and I fell asleep on the sofa until my alarm went off for a Facebook Live session I’d agreed to join. Tomorrow was the start of a challenge called the Race to Recurring Revenue with business strategist Lisa Johnson, so I joined an 11pm welcome party on my laptop.

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. Food shopping
3. A tasty dinner.

Dalyan – 22nd & 23rd January

There was an almighty bang at 4am on Thursday 22nd January, following a blustery night’s storm. I got out of bed, put my clothes on over the top of my pyjamas and grabbed my house keys and phone. My first thought was that there was someone breaking in to the house and I had to get to little Norman to make sure he was safe. I put the upstairs stair light on and spread my keys between my fingers, making a fist! I got downstairs to the main door which was still locked and I could see no issue there. Norman was snoring away, undisturbed, I checked each door and all was still secure so I didn’t know what it was. I turned back to check if there was anyone/anything upstairs which could have made such a noise and that’s when I stood on the culprit!
A picture had fallen from above the door and was on the hall floor, surprisingly still in one piece. I picked it up, it was made of heavy wood and had been stuck to the wall with what looked like a flimsy bit of velcro. I was almost annoyed there hadn’t been an intruder as I shoved it in a drawer and went back to bed.
When I got back up, just 3 hours later, the day was all about Norman. It was very windy and grey outdoors but Norman had an official complaint not related to weather. He usually has a corner of my toast and he’d not had any this morning so he was huffing about it. We did a video for Jamie so that the complaint was logged and I decided to walk to the shop. Norman wouldn’t even venture outside so I decided the nearest shop would do. Here’s what I bought, with prices in lira;

Şevikoğlu Supermarket
Onions 4.08
Bread 15.00
1 simit 15.00
1 açma 15.00
Peppers 32.96
Total spent 82.04 lira (£1.44)

I did some work and started to think about a trip to somewhere else in Türkiye for a girls trip. Anex Tour UK offer me discount on my own bookings and are also really good for client bookings too. I mulled ideas over while I ate a simit with Red Leicester cheese. Norman came up on the sofa next to me and had afternoon snoozes as it started to rain heavily.
At 2pm I dialled in to the Resort Experts team meeting and, although Jamie couldn’t attend, he did send a photo to the group WhatsApp to give his reasons – he was sipping champagne on a business class flight.
Norman snored throughout the meeting as a storm came in, then I got a couple of messages from Captain Caveman. He had booked me 2 flights and was sending the confirmation; one to go back to the UK at the beginning of July, the other for a return trip to Madrid a few days later. We were off to the Mad Cool Festival for a few days – I’d never been to Madrid before so I was excited. Captain Caveman had already got us Metallica tickets in London, just before that too.
When it came to dog walking time, Norman took one look outside and knew he had to go in the garden as the rain was very heavy. He was quick but came back soaked and had to get dried off with a towel. It was gone 8.30pm when I ate my dinner of chicken with some mystery defrosted food.
I watched a bit of TV and almost fell asleep on the sofa.

Gratitude List
1. Not having an intruder in the house
2. Norman
3. Not getting soaked in the rain.

I woke up at 7am on Friday 23rd January and let Norman out, it was still rainy and he wasn’t keen. After his breakfast, I cheered him up with a corner or 2 of toast and he went back to bed while I cracked on with my morning. I had decided to throw caution to the wind and join a weekend trip to the Costa Del Sol in the summer with a group of friends. It had been quite a while since I’d been on a girl’s weekend so I jumped at the chance and I got us a good deal on the accomodation.
At 5.30pm it stopped raining so I whisked Norman out for a walk. I also checked around for any rain or storm damage as our main bathroom had quite a bit of water come in the sky light and the wall had gone damp. I put the AC on dehumidifier mode and went to the bank to get cash for the market tomorrow and to the shop to buy provisions. Here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Pasta 15.25
Haribo jellies 29.95
1 tin of tomatoes 49.95
Chickpeas 69.95
Halloumi 96.50
3 Quark 149.85
Total spent 411.45 lira (£7.22)

I had sofa snuggles with Norman and then spoke to Captain Caveman as he was driving to/from work. It was gone 9.30pm when I started cooking a meal, I decided to have spaghetti carbonara as it would be quick and I was hungry. It turned out well and I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow I had allowed time off for a market trip if the weather stayed fine.

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. More holiday plans
3. Carbonara.

Dalyan – 19th to 21st January

Monday 19th January was a busy day for me, not only unpacking, doing laundry and working but also getting ready for my next lot of shenanigans. I had flown back when I had, so that I could look after Norman, the dog, for 22 days starting tomorrow.
I managed to have a quick morning walk to the bank to get out some cash as the sun was shining. I also paid the internet for 2 months at Captainnet – they wouldn’t let me pay for longer as more price increases were due. On my way back, I called at the shop to stock up on a few essentials, here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket

Milk 10.90
1 Quark 49.95
Pesto sauce 144.95
4 tins tomatoes 199.80
Frozen berries 229.95
Total spent 635.55 lira (£11.15)

I took time out of my busy schedule for helping a Facebook friend on a budget who was in Vietnam and needed somewhere to stay at Tet holiday. I put Chung, one of my best friend’s in Phong Nha, in touch and she offered their home at a bargain price and included the new year dinner because it was a friend of mine – how lovely of her.
Next, I started looking at flights to Spain, from Turkey, which weren’t ideal so I thought about my next trip back to to the UK. I’d probably tie in a week with Captain Caveman and then join a friend’s trip to Spain. It was all very exciting and it felt good to know I’d be having a few trips in 2026. I didn’t finish work until 9.30pm by which time it was too late for a proper dinner so I just had cheese and biscuits.

Gratitude List
1. A walk around sunny Dalyan
2. Helping a visitor to Phong Nha out
3. Planning trips for myself and friends.

Tuesday 20th January turned out to be a bit unusual. I worked from home in the morning at mine and Jamie picked me up just after lunch. When I got to his place, Norman and I had been left in charge of a painter who was just there for the rest of the day. This was going to be the longest I’d looked after Norman and he was almost 15 years old so when Jamie said bye to Norman, he told him he had to live until he got back. I also hoped he would survive and all looked promising as he could still walk quite well and had a great appetite.
The painter and I did our best to make sure Norman didn’t end up with a dark green mustache and it was so cold in Jamie’s with all the doors and windows open – I struggled to type! Norman was not impressed either as it looked like the weather forecast was showing rain over the next week or two. After doing a dog walk as far as my house, Norman decided he’d had enough and didn’t want to walk by the river. In the evening, I went to meet Penny and Phil at Corner Bar. It had now become the popular bar for Dalyan Dwellers so they were in there with Lady C, the dog. I ended up having 3 wines which were 170 lira (£3) each so prices, although cheaper than the UK, had gone up a little. The wine was Harman which is ok but not as good as the UK stuff I’d got used to. I ended up paying cash of 600 lira (£10.53) as the change didn’t come back as expected. For dinner, I had a warmed up, previously batch cooked freezer meal then had a video call with Captain Caveman. I ended up sleeping on the sofa, to keep my eye on Norman who was already snoring away!

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. Getting rid of the painter so we could shut the doors again
3. Drinks with Penny & Phil.

I was awake very early on Wednesday 21st January after an uncomfortable night on the sofa. I made a cup of tea and realised I’d not got enough bread for toast so had to make do. I worked all morning, including helping a colleague know what information to get from a new client looking for holiday quotes – my new book, The Handy Travel Planner, came in handy and I sent her a photo of the pages I use to collate this type of information. I did a video of Norman for Jamie & Drew as an update for them to see how he was doing. My phone was still playing up but was doing videos while deleting any photos I took – I was saving up for a new one.
Today was weigh day, my measurements showed that I’d put on centimetres on my bust and hips but lost on my waist. I’d not been to Fat Club since before Christmas so it wasn’t going to be a good result. I had put on 2.7kg (6lb) in 5 weeks!!! That was going to take some shifting but I would try my best to lose it in the 5 weeks I had until Captain Caveman arrived. I now needed to lose almost 8kg (1st 3lb) to get back down to my target weight. We have the Fat Club group meeting at Caria Luxury hotel, which is very nice but there was a bit of a to-do when a cup of Turkish tea had increased to 80 lira (£1.40), which I also thought was steep! The group decided we might look for another venue for future weeks.
After a dog walk and feeding, I just had pasta for dinner as I had a couple of holiday enquiries I was working on until 10pm. Tonight, I was looking forward to a better night’s sleep.

Gratitude List
1. Norman
2. Seeing the ladies at Fat Club again
3. Being warmer today.

Pontecarlo to Sheffield – 13th January

I was at Pontefract Tanshelf train station in the dark on the morning of Tuesday 13th January, waiting for my train back to Sheffield. A return ticket was £12.30 which I had to collect at the station using a code for the machine on the opposite platform. Captain Caveman was driving up to Scotland for work and an interview tomorrow. I’d decided to spend my birthday money and arranged to meet Vanessa for a spot of shopping in Marks & Sparks, before going back to my parents for the evening.
I met Vanessa at 9.30am and we went straight to the M&S cafe for Yorkshire tea and bacon rolls. Vanessa treated me for a late birthday gift, which was lovely and we caught up on everything. She’d arrived limping and in need of paracetamol as she had a broken toe. I was surprised she had still turned up as she was in pain despite it being strapped up. I bought a really nice jumper for £20, using some of my birthday money and I picked up part of a present for my sister. I had decided that we would buy her Hotel Chocolat products but, after a chat with the shop assistant who said they couldn’t guarantee any of the chocolate was safe for coeliacs, we left empty handed. Next, we walked down to Primark where I picked up 2 thermal tops for £11 (using my birthday money). We popped in to Superdrug and Holland & Barrett where I stocked up on 4 boxes of Gin Gins for a bargain £10.20.
We decided to have a quick look in the Korean shop and then we both needed the toilet so we nipped in to see what was on at the cinema and go there. I was tempted by the pick n mix stalk but resisted. Our next stop was to get tea and cake at Massarella cafe on the ground floor of Atkinson’s. It was full of pensioners and I could see why, their jam and cream scones were excellent and the pots of tea ideal for at least 2 cups each. Oddly, each item was priced £3.50 whether it be a pot of tea or a sweet treat. This gave Vanessa time to rest before catching her bus and I went back to M&S to pick up some bits for tonight’s dinner. I’d offered to cook but Mom had said we could have burgers and chips if I didn’t want to spend money unnecessarily. I did fancy something a bit healthier for dinner but the M&S food section had looked like it had been hit by a plague of locusts. There was not much left and what they did have didn’t appeal so I just bought some breaded mushrooms and onion rings to go with the burgers, plus some ibuprofen and a plastic bag, spending a total of £9.20. I managed to get the 3.30pm bus, costing £2.60 for the 20 minute journey to Mosborough.
When I got to my parents’ it was getting late but I managed to log on and deal with some emails before food. The dinner was a bit too much and Dad couldn’t eat his, I soldiered on and Mom did ok but we had to leave room for birthday cake. It did make me laugh that Dad, who was complaining he couldn’t eat a burger, managed more than one small piece of chocolate cake – but it was amazing. By 9.30pm crisps were out and the salt and vinegar ones from Aldi were so good! Tomorrow was weigh day and I knew I had put on lots of weight because all my clothes were tight, especially around the waist!

Gratitude List

Meeting up with Vanessa for more birthday celebrations
So much food
Birthday cake with my parents.

Pontecarlo – 12th January

It was our first day back ‘in the office’ on Monday 12th January and I had lots to catch up on. Resort Experts had a new system being launched which would make our jobs easier and included automation and task, enquiry and holiday management. It looked very good and I was keen to have a go at using it.
Today was also the day I got to open my actual real copies of ‘The Handy Travel Planner’, both hardback and paperback. They looked and felt great, even if I do say so myself, and I was pleased with them. Now I just needed to sell them. My aim was to sell at least 1 per day, which doesn’t sound a lot but it was a target to start off. Ideally to be able to make a minimum wage type of income, I needed to sell in excessive of 10 per day – which I think is a bit of a stretch. What I should’ve done is ask people to buy a copy for themselves or someone else as a birthday gift to me – but I was too busy being hungover!

If you are reading this and haven’t bought a copy yet, I’d really appreciate it if you would – the paperback is just under £15 and the reviews and feedback so far have been extremely positive. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0G7S5VX47/
You can see it as buying me my belated birthday drink but with so many more benefits for you too. Thank you! 🤪
It’s also available in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia. If you’re in Turkey, it’s better to ask me to bring you a copy back from the UK next time I go.

Both Captain Caveman and I worked all day with barely a break, except for a quick sandwich at lunch. By 7pm we had gone for a rather chilly walk to Asda but got sidetracked and ended up in the Robin Hood pub because it was so cold out. I ordered a pint of tap water and a cherry beer, Captain Caveman had a toffee stout which nearly tipped me over the edge, after drinking stout on the birthday night out. We just had the one drink then went shopping, here’s what we bought with prices in pounds;

Asda Supermarket

1 bag for life 0.40*
6 packs of crisps 1.00*
Coriander 1 05*
Paprika 1.05*
2 Tomato Puree 1.36*
Spinach 1.60
2 Chinese sauces 1.66*
Lazy Ginger 2.00*
2 Moroccan Seasoning 2.20*
4 Slow Cooker sachets 2.50*
Curry Meal kit 3.00*
2 packs cheese slices 5.08
Options hot chocolate 5.64*
3 packs of Cheese 7.95*
Total spent £39.49

*were items for me to take back to Turkey.

During the shopping, I needed the loo and discovered that Asda didn’t have a toilet so I had to call back in to the pub, but didn’t get another drink. It was really cold so we hurried home to have a pasta bolognese, cooked by Captain Caveman. We opened the Christmas Belgian beer to drink in mugs and I only managed a little bit – it was very nice but the alcohol was not going down well with me.
It had been a decent day but we were still both tired after the wild weekend, with a very early start due tomorrow.

Gratitude List
1. The Handy Travel Planner – all my hard work had paid off
2. Getting caught up with work stuff
3. A lovely evening with Captain Caveman.

Sheffield – 10th January

Ma cooked us a full English breakfast on the morning of Saturday 10th January and it was so good – I do miss a good sausage! It was pretty cold in Sheffield. The snow that had come down recently was just icy now and all the roads were fine in Mosborough. I caught up on some Resort Experts admin in the morning and saw a post from Claire Clarke, the business book publisher. She had posted on Facebook a photo of her with a pile of books which included mine – which was nice.
In the afternoon Captain Caveman and I decided to chance an icy walk to the Co-op for some essentials. Here’s what we bought, prices in pounds;

Co-op Supermarket
Garlic 0.80
Onions 1.10
Potatoes 1.35
Stilton 1.40
Peppers 1.95
Feta Cheese 2.45
1 bottle Pinto Grigio 5.80
1 bottle Rioja 7.75
Total spent £22.60

I got a dodgy stomach while we were in the shop, so I headed to the Alma pub for a loo stop and a pint of water, while Captain Caveman did the shopping. He then met up with me at the pub and we had a couple of pints. A friend came to join us and we had a really good catch up, drinking probably a little too much cider for me. This meant we were running a little late to get ready for tonight’s celebrations.

All 8 of us (Ma, Pa, Gayle, Neil, Morgan, April, Captain Caveman and me) were booked in for a joint birthday celebration at the Angel in Spinkhill. Because the weather was unpredictable, Neil drove in 2 trips and we would get taxis back. The place was very nice and had quite a cosy dining area, next to the bar – which was very handy. I overdosed on cheese for my meal choices; Captain Caveman and I shared baked camembert for starter, we both had the duck for main and we shared a cheese board for afters! The food was very good and I managed at least a couple of glasses of red wine too. My sister had the gluten free choices, as she’s coeliac, and it was excellent – all served on back plates so that they weren’t mixed up with the white plates, containing gluten. I was impressed with what I had and our share of the bill was paid by Captain Caveman with it being for my birthday. Our waitress happened to be the daughter of an old school friend of Gayle’s and a neighbour from when we lived in Frecheville – she was so like her mother and had a lot of patience with our group.

There was a bit of a rush to get the taxis back as the restaurant closed at 9.30pm but we took our wine with us and decided we would call for a last drink at the Craftworks in Mosborough. It was hilarious and the drinks were flowing – it was certainly not a good idea for me to drink a pint of stout as my final drink, or get a selfie with the barman who had lovely hair! It was great to spend time with the family and our combined birthday celebrations were a winner, without snow ruining it. Back at Ma & Pa’s we ended up drinking more wine! I had a feeling my actual birthday, tomorrow, was not going to be hangover free and we had to get the train back to Pontecarlo!!

Gratitude List
1. An English breakfast cooked by Mom
2. Cheeky afternoon drinks in the pub with a friend who needed a beer
3. A fantastic family meal to celebrate our birthdays in bad weather.

Barnes to Sheffield – 28th & 29th December

Captain Caveman was fit for nothing on Sunday 28th December as he was tired. I’d thought he might’ve been cooking a breakfast for everyone but he stayed laying on the bed until gone 11am. His parents were already up and about long before that and I’d logged on to my laptop to do a bit of work. Today was going to be another family day as Captain Caveman’s brother, sister-in-law and 3 nephews were coming to stay for a few days. Originally we had planned to go to Sheffield on this day but had decided to stay to see The Sprouts (called that because they live in Brussels).
It was just before noon when Captain Caveman got in the kitchen to cook us a brunch. Mine was sausages, bacon and mushrooms on a pancake (using the self raising flour batter mixture from yesterday). It was very nice and tasty and of course not Slimming World friendly at all!!!
I worked for the rest of the afternoon, then at 4.30pm I encouraged Captain Caveman to come to the shop with me. We spent about £10 on some chocolates and a gift for a friend. It was so cold out and I was assuming the North tomorrow would be colder.
When we got back in the house I noticed that the table was set much like a Christmas Day – there were crackers! To my surprise, I was actually joining in a belated Christmas celebration as well as us all celebrating Anna’s birthday.
The Sprouts arrived and it was great to see them again, wine was poured and there was even gift exchanges. The hats, earmuffs and Turkish Delight were well received, Captain Caveman was pleased with his boozy gifts and I loved my fancy lip balms (much needed in this winter weather too)!
The dinner was delicious and I felt so grateful to be enjoying it with the family. The ‘icing on the cake’, though, was the home made (by Captain Caveman’s Ma) Christmas cake – the best thing I had all Christmas!!!

Gratitude List
1. An extra day in Barnes with Captain Caveman and his family
2. Laughing
3. Cake.

Monday 29th December was a working day for Captain Caveman and I, so we got up at stupid o’clock to get to Chesterfield before Captain Caveman’s first meeting at 9am. We had a McDonald’s breakfast – my first in years and, for the price, I won’t be in a rush to have another. My sausage (no egg) muffin tasted very salty and the hash brown oozed grease. My cup of tea was decent though. Captain Caveman left me editing some content while he went off to his meeting.
We reconvened, then drove to call in on a friend, who was in recovery from a major operation. I had got my flu jab in Turkey, had brought masks and was trying to minimise passing on any germs by prioritising seeing her before I did the rounds up North!
I was very surprised to see how well my friend and her hubby were doing considering their situation and I almost cried when I saw them. It was just so good to be able to visit and hear all about the very slow and tricky recovery period.
Since I’d last seen them, a new addition to the family had arrived in the form of the cutest little dog. Unfortunately, she was on high alert and in protective mode so we didn’t get any cuddles – maybe next time. She still managed to snaffle some treats from Captain Caveman though, she’s not daft!
We didn’t stay long on account of my friend needing rest and us having to get back to work once we reached our next ‘home’.
My parents had kindly offered to put us up for a couple of days. We both managed the work schedules very laissez-faire in the afternoon and decided to finish at 5pm. I got a photo from my sister who had been bought my new planner for Christmas and she was over the moon with it. She was in Scotland with the dog and was about to start filling it in.
Captain Caveman and I nipped to the shop as we hadn’t had chance to get any wine for dinner. Here’s what we bought with prices in pounds;

Co-op Supermarket
Radox shower gel 1.05
Pasta bolognese ready meal 3.80
2 curry paste packs 4.00
1 bottle of Pinot Grigio 7.65
1 bottle of Prosecco 9.00
Total spent £25.50

Captain Caveman, my parents and I decided a walk to the local pub, The Alma, a good idea for pints of beer or cider before dinner.
We just had a couple with it being a school night and then Mom cooked us a lovely dinner, which we had wine with! It was cold but didn’t seem any colder than London.

Gratitude List
1. Visiting friends in Chesterfield
2. A post Christmas catch up with Ma & Pa
3. More lovely food and drink in Mosborough.

Barnes – 26th & 27th December

One good thing about not celebrating a traditional Christmas Day was that Boxing Day, Friday 26th December, was not spent recovering from it.
We didn’t have the hotel breakfast in Barking as Captain Caveman wasn’t bothered and we thought we would get back to Barnes.
Instead, he took me to the pub hoping for a pub lunch. The Brown Dog was closed so we ended up in the Red Lion. Captain Caveman spent £45 on our lunch which consisted of 2 pints of beer, a beef and horseradish sandwich for Captain Caveman and a pint of tap water, a glass of white wine and a prawn and crayfish sandwich for me. It was lovely despite the very annoying family of 5 sat round a 2 person table next to us. We ended up moving to an adult only table across from the bar, which was a good move.
Back home we watched TV; Undercover Boss, Gordon’s Kitchen Nightmares and Grand Designs – I’d missed UK TV.
For dinner Captain Caveman prepared some sourdough, bought from Gail’s earlier for a small fortune, with a baked camembert and we finished off the port. It was a very nice, relaxing day and a chance for Captain Caveman to rest after his 12 hour shift yesterday.

Gratitude List
1. Pub grub
2. A relaxing boxing day
3. More cheese.

Captain Caveman’s parents were due back from Spain on Saturday 27th December so Captain Caveman had offered my culinary services to make a welcome back dinner that evening. I was pleased as it had been 5 days since I’d eaten anything I’d cooked myself – most unusual! We popped to the shops and I decided to have a look in the Sue Ryder charity shop. Even though I had new clothes for Christmas I still didn’t have more than 1 top and had been wearing Captain Caveman’s t-shirt yesterday. I also didn’t have anything that wasn’t casual (not that I was due to be going anywhere fancy). The charity shop always has some amazing items in there, mainly good brands which I can never afford. Today, Captain Caveman was there to treat me again and I found a lovely tunic dress for £12 – it was only a size 12 and I didn’t try it on in the shop but it did fit when I got back home.
Next, we popped to one of my favourite shops to get the food for later, here’s what we got with the prices in pounds;

Marks & Spencers
Chicken 7.15
Raspberries 3.90
Blueberries 3.63
Sage & onion stuffing 2.50
Orange Juice 2.50
Peppers 1.50
Carrots 1.25
Green beans 0.80
Parsnips 0.50
Total spent £23.71

We called at the Farmer’s Market on the way back but there were limited stalls out, with it being between Christmas and New Year. We did manage to pick up some sausages and black pudding for Captain Caveman to cook us a breakfast tomorrow. I made some Yorkshire pudding mixture but there was only self raising flour and it didn’t really work.
In the afternoon, we decided to take a walk to see if the Brown Dog was open today and it was. We sat by the Christmas tree with a pint each (mine was cider) for a total of £13.60.
Back home, Captain Caveman’s parents were back and it was lovely to see them. I cracked on with making the dinner and we had a drop of wine to go with the meal.
Afterwards we went upstairs to watch TV and chill out – I even got in to watching Traitors.

Gratitude List
1. A new dress
2. A pint in the Brown Dog
3. A lovely family meal.

Dalyan to London – 23rd December

Tuesday 23rd December was jam-packed as I was about to leave Dalyan for 26 days!!!! I was really looking forward to going back and we had so many different things planned! My flight was at 4.10pm to Gatwick so I had time to cram in just 4kg of my own stuff in to the 15kg hold luggage. This wasn’t an issue, though, as I had all my work stuff in my underseat bag and when I got to the UK, a bag of my stuff would be waiting for me. Captain Caveman had promised to bring my bag which had a few sets of clothes, pyjamas and a pair of boots!
With plenty of time before I left, I popped round to Jamie & Drew’s to say bye to Norman, with me being away for so long! He seemed in fine spirits and I promised him I’d be back to look after him in January.
Next, I went to Ela’s Kitchen for a breakfast with Karen and Andy who were on the same flight as me and were very kindly giving me a lift to the airport. We all had an English breakfast, which was a bit ironic, given where we were off to. It was delicious as always. Karen also ordered sandwiches to take with them but I decided I’d be ok without, after eating a breakfast. I spent 960 lira (£17.14) for my breakfast, a Yorkshire tea and my lift’s takeaway sandwich. Karen and I popped to the shop next door for some travel sweets and snacks – I got them as it was only 114.25 lira (£2.04) and they were giving me the lift which saved me the taxi fare.

At the airport it was a bit of a farce as I had to go back through security check twice when my boarding pass wouldn’t scan. This also meant I had to faff about with taking my laptop out on both occasions as well as shoes off! It was badly organised and no seating or repacking area. It would not have been ideal for anyone who struggled with this process.
Once at the gate, I bumped in to Dave, one of the regular boat trip blokes from Dalaman. We had a chat and a good laugh as he’s got a really good sense of humour. We took a photo to send to our mutual friends.
The plane left on time, I did a little blogging and watched some Netflix on my phone. When the drinks trolley came round I decided to have some water, a red wine and a cheese and crackers snack box for a total of 822.45 lira (£14.69). I was due to land at 5.40pm and had nodded off before that.

Once landed at Gatwick around 5.40pm, I retrieved my 15kg suitcase and said bye to Karen & Andy. I wrapped up in my hat, scarf and winter coat and headed to the train station. It wasn’t as cold as I expected but it was definitely chilly in England. I got the train to Barnes via Clapham Junction and Captain Caveman was there to meet me from the train. We then hurried to his parents’ house to drop off my luggage and then go back out.
I’d arranged to meet Stacey and Tracey, from Anex Tour Uk, in Hammersmith. Captain Caveman and I got the bus and arrived at The Swan pub first. Captain Caveman ordered himself a pint of ale and I had a pint of cider – he paid on card so no receipt but I don’t think there was much change from £20!
Stacey and Tracey arrived shortly after and we had a really good night, they are such a good laugh and Captain Caveman got on well with them too. After a few drinks we decided to order some food and I wolfed down the fantastic baked camembert with truffle fries like it was my death row meal – it was so good! I must’ve been quite tiddly when we said our farewells in Hammersmith train station as the group photo didn’t come out as I’d hoped at just before 11pm!!

Captain Caveman and I got back to Barnes by 11.35pm and I was knackered as my head thought it was Turkish time, 3 hours ahead. As I got in to bed, I saw a picture from a friend who had received her copy of The Handy Travel Planner and I was so pleased! She loves a holiday as much as I do so I knew it would be perfect for her to plan all of her adventures.

Gratitude List
1. A nice last morning in Dalyan
2. Seeing Captain Caveman again
3. Meeting up with 2 of the Anex ladies for pre Christmas celebrations.

Dalyan – 20th December

My weekend continued to be eventful and Saturday 20th December was another busy one. I had quotes to do for work, last minute Christmas markets were looking popular this year and luckily, even though I don’t particularly celebrate Christmas, I had been to a few of the European Christmas markets in the past.
It was cold, grey and wintery with rain forecast over the next couple of days in Dalyan. Nanny Kay had kindly given me a couple of black tops, one of which was a jumper and would come in handy for my trip to England. She had also been throwing out her plate collection so I had inherited lots of spare plates. I had to put the weekly market on hold a while because I had been invited for a tea and mince pie with Debbie & Mike. Debbie had also invited Ghislaine and had very kindly baked for us. I had 3 cups of tea while we chatted and caught up on what had been happening. I still needed to go to the market so Ghislaine offered to drop me on her way home.
I didn’t end up buying anything at the market as I started to feel unwell. I called in to the Şevikoğlu Supermarket and bought more Turkish Delight for Captain Caveman’s mom and my mom as they are both partial to it. They serve it fresh at the counter and I just spent the equivalent of a few pounds on 2 different flavours, to complement what I’d already bought yesterday in the fancy shop. On the way home, I walked past the white dogs and said hello to them, they were very pleased to see me and one got belly rubs.
My next friend meet up was with Penny & Phil (I had to pop home to pick up the Forerro Rocher first) and I was still feeling a little unwell. When I got to Ren Garden it was busy with other friends as well and we decided hot drinks and cake would be a good idea. I had a delicious brownie and a hot chocolate for 400 lira (£7.14) and we chatted to the waitress who is very nice.
I had to leave after that to go meet another friend at the Kaunos tea gardens where I had 2 large Turkish teas for 30 lira (54p). I spent most of our 2 hours there going back and forth to the toilet. It just shows that when I decide to break the Slimming World plan, my stomach does not react well to it. Back home I got messages from family and friends who had been on my mailing list to get ‘The Handy Travel Planner’ first. Their copies had arrived and they were delighted. I’d obviously not seen the actual book yet so I was really happy to get photos – they looked good! My first actual sales has started and I really hoped it would do well as I’d put a lot of thought in to how to help people have better holidays by planning.
I just had soup for dinner and went to bed early as I had another busy day coming up tomorrow!

Gratitude List
1. New tops and plates from Nanny Kay
2. Catching up with friends before I flew to England.
3. The first book sales of my new planner.

Dalyan – 18th December

I had to have a bit of a word with myself on Thursday 18th December. I was not getting enough rest, I wasn’t making and eating healthy meals and I wasn’t making time to see friends. So, I agreed to meet a friend at Ren Garden at 4.30pm so that no matter how my day went, I had to put down my laptop and go out. I had a friend in the UK who was having surgery today and I was thinking about how that would go, feeling sorry I wouldn’t be nearby to see them.
On going to open the fixed curtains it turned out one of them wasn’t fixed. I let the fixer know and I got told how to move the string to sort it out myself. It stil cost 1500 (£27), which I thought was amusing but what I was told to do, did work and they looked good.
I spent most of the day really trying to get my head around Canva and produce enough promo content for the next few days, ready for my new book launch day on Monday. It was hard, I didn’t like it, I wanted to quit but I kept going.
I made myself do a walk round the block and call at the bank for the curtain cash, before lunch. I was missing walking Norman and needed to stretch a bit. I called at the shop and bought the following, prices in lira:

BIM Supermarket
Wholemeal loaf 31.50
6 eggs 65.00
125g blueberries 85.00
Total spent 181.50 lira (£3.24)

I had a cheese sandwich for lunch and carried on with the promo designs. My eyes were tired and I was getting a bit tetchy with it, so at 3pm I went to the bank to buy my travel insurance for the UK and Morocco. It cost 1,001.67 lira (£17.89) for my 3 week trip, in 3 separate policies, which wasn’t bad. On the way back home I popped to the off licence and bought a couple of bottles of fizz for something I had arranged for tomorrow. It was 565 lira (£10) per bottle and was one I’d had before. Prosecco is really hard to get decent stuff in Dalyan.
At 4.15pm, as promised, I hurried over to Ren Garden with some of the chocolate for my friend. She had chosen the Forerro Rocher and I obliged, after all I was meant to be on a diet! When I arrived, she wasn’t there so I messaged her to see if she was on her way and I ordered a hot chocolate. They had no idea we had arranged to meet and apologised. I didn’t mind as it meant that I could get back to my Canva and I ended up eating some of the chocolate I was going to give her. It was almost midnight when I finished but it meant I was up to date with my marketing schedule and I could take some time off this weekend.

Gratitude List
1. Getting out and running errands
2. Being on track with my marketing schedule
3. Mastering Canva enough to get some marketing material done.

Link to my new planner here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0G7S5VX47/

Dalyan – 17th December

Just as I was starting to get a bit stressed on Wednesday 17th December, things started to take a turn for the better. I had less than a week before I flew back to the UK and I just had so much to do. I was still concerned about having less money than I had hoped for, so when friends and family were inviting me to do things in the UK with them, I knew I didn’t have the budget. I got my 2026 diary out and started to plan a bit better. I got weighed at home and took my measurements and of course it wasn’t going well. Being back at anywhere near my target weight by Christmas was not going to happen. I had put on 0.35kg (0.8lb) this week and still had to face Carol’s scales this afternoon.
My measurements were;
Bust +1cm
Waist +7cm
Hips +1cm
Yes, 7 centimetres on my waist – unusual and I think I’d eaten something that didn’t agree with me.
I also had the curtain man turn up to fix our curtains and he was the same guy who had fitted them years ago, before we lived there. I had a call from Jamie who had a Resort Experts related query that we worked on together so I didn’t check the curtain man’s work before he left.
I didn’t have time to eat any breakfast or lunch, because I then got a message from Amazon to say they had approved my updated internal pages for ‘The Handy Travel Planner’ and I was ecstatic!!!
This meant I could now start my marketing plan and all the self promoting that I needed to do on social media to get my book sold. Amazon do take quite a cut and, ideally, I needed to sell 3 per day but I wanted to aim for 1 copy per day for now. I’d planned badly and most people had probably done their Christmas shopping by now, which could have had an advantage for me. It also wasn’t just about me making loads of money on book sales (although that would be amazing), I knew the planner could really help people have better holidays. It was also designed to provide opportunities for me to book holidays for more people in 2026 and beyond. I used Canva and some templates from the course I had done with Claire Clarke to produce some promo posts. I’m not good with Canva and it took me a long time, in between holiday related queries and nipping to Fat Club. Carol’s scales were saying similar so I hadn’t been lucky there.
My next Zoom meeting was with Claire Clarke and the Create Publish Grow group – I was excited to report that my planner was finally ready.
At 6.15pm I nipped to the shop, here’s what I bought with prices in lira;

Migros Supermarket
Popcorn 13.50
Mentos 22.50
Peanuts 29.75
Crisps 47.90
Pizza toasties 109.80
Pizza 209.00
432.45 lira (£7.72)

I cooked a ready made pizza for dinner, which was probably not a good idea, really, given how massive my stomach had been. I then finished my first promo poster on Canva and it was almost midnight – I thought it looked good, but I would see how my followers (and you) viewed it.
I had a link at the ready for people to buy it once it went live (it is now): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0G7S5VX47/

Gratitude List
1. My new planner ‘The Handy Travel Planner’ was ready and I could start to let people know it was coming soon.
2. Getting the Canva promo stuff done without giving up or crying
3. Managing to go outside and to the shop.