Dalyan – 22nd & 23rd February

I had updated my CV and spent the morning applying for jobs on Thursday 22nd February. I needed to earn the equivalent of around £700 per month to keep my Turkish residency and so I was looking for part time work that I could do from any of the countries I was likely to be in.
I had bread, 2 bananas and a cup of Yorkshire tea for my breakfast before popping over to our apartment to take back a few things and grab some more stuff. I was meant to be on a mission to eat healthy and I did drink a rose tea, a green tea and some cucumber water before lunch. When I returned to Jamie’s, Edna had taken my slipper on to the sofa again and Norman was in his bed, snoring away. I had a Slimming World friendly chicken dish with rice for my lunch and I was really enjoying having a surprise freezer meal when I couldn’t work out what was in my batch cooking. As Nanny Kay had missed out on her fruit scone yesterday, I couldn’t help snaffle it today – this time with jam instead of strawberries! I washed it down with 2 litres of water and chilled out in the sun on the patio with the pooches. I snacked on chickpea biscuits and tried to make similar using grated, and squeezed, courgette. It didn’t turn out well and I ended up with a courgette omelette and decided I could chop it up to put in rice. On the dog walk, Edna got a seed stuck in her paw and I had to get it out, she tried to get a sympathy pub visit for Skippy to kiss it better but I wasn’t swayed. Back home, I roasted a load of vegetables and had them with some Turkish pasta for dinner. My treats were an apple and just 1 glass of wine that evening.

A friend had recommended Lisa Johnson’s Race to Recurring Revenue, which started next week. On Friday 23rd February I signed up for the free challenge and was looking forward to getting involved in seeing how it might help me run my own business or make passive/semi-passive income. I knew I needed to do something while ever I wanted to remain being abroad and ideally I wanted to do something I was passionate about, so this would be ideal. I’d started to do it a year ago but, because I started the job I’d been doing for the last year, I never followed it through.
Nanny Kay popped round at 12pm and we sat in the garden with the dogs. We were both so proud of how well Norman was doing. He wanted to play fetch or football with Nanny Kay and he was even pushing Edna out of the way as I drank my green tea. For lunch I ate more of the Slimming World friendly ‘surprise’ chicken dish with rice and then had a fruit salad with yoghurt for afters.
At about 4.30pm Edna persuaded me to do the dog walk to the Waterfall pub and we all forgot that Skippy doesn’t go there on a Friday. I just had the 1 red wine, while the dogs got a couple of sausages from Mehmet and made friends with everyone in the bar. Edna got over her Skippy disappointment by trying to get in with a bloke playing darts.
Back home, we all got fed but I didn’t wolf my dinner down nearly as fast as Norman. I made a Slimming World friendly pizza from a wrap, which was really nice, and finished off the chickpea biscuits.

Dalyan – 19th December

It was all go on Tuesday 19th December and we were both excited for Josh and his girlfriend to arrive in Dalyan that afternoon. Today was also Daisy’s 25th birthday with a party booked at Tapa from 2pm.
The cleaner was not at our apartment at 8.30am, as agreed, so we waited to see if she turned up. She was late as the office wasn’t open for her to collect the keys any earlier but no harm done. Captain Caveman and I decided we would go to a cafe or somewhere for a hot beverage, maybe some breakfast, before he went to Bridge Club. After walking round Dalyan to find nowhere open yet we bought 2 chocolate croissants for 37.90 lira (£1.02) from Migros and walked round the streets eating them.

When Captain Caveman left, I waited for Kaunos tea gardens to open and had a tea. I messaged Jamie to see if he fancied meeting up and I had a second breakfast with him, at Ela’s Kitchen. As tomorrow was weigh day, I tried to make as sensible a choice as I could. The beans on toast that I ordered was a very generous size and I was pleased id managed to resist Sev’s sausage.
By 11.30am I was on my way to my parents’ place as arranged so that I could go to Jiks with Dad, while Mom went for her hair cut. Captain Caveman would meet us at Jiks for lunch. Ma finished early and we all ate together; Dad a burger and the rest of us had pizza which was great – my diet was well and truly blown! While there, Jamie messaged to ask if I would be able to take 2 bed side lamps to Tapa for Janet. He was selling them for a friend, Janet, who was going to be at Daisy’s birthday party, where we were going to go for one, before Josh and Martha arrived. Of course I agreed and we carried them over to Tapa where the Dalyan gossip started that Jamie must have sold his house because he was getting rid of some lamps!

Daisy’s 25th birthday party at Tapa was busy with lots of friends. My parents had a cold but had managed to muddle through and I had a bit of a sore throat coming. We’d already said we weren’t staying long as we needed to get back to greet Josh and Martha who were on the plane. Captain Caveman left first with instructions to ring me when he knew that Josh was in the taxi. He forgot, so when I got back home our guests were already there!
It was great to see Josh again after a year and it was impressive to see he’d really done well for himself. Captain Caveman and I liked Martha straight away as she was really lovely – it takes a special kind of person to agree to a week in Dalyan with us lot (as I’m sure you can imagine). I just hoped we wouldn’t be spoiling her Christmas holiday and that she could get through the Dalyan shenanigans. We decided to ease Martha in gently with a trip to the Waterfall so we could have a drink together and get to know each other a bit better. She had a good sense of humour and it was obvious we were going to have a great week. Jamie popped in for one with Norman and Edna and he wasn’t too pleased that Dalyan Dwellers thought those lamps were his – surely they knew he had better taste in décor! We asked my parents, who had also left Tapa when I did, if they wanted to join us to meet Martha and welcome Josh back. Dad had already got bored at home waiting, so they had gone back to Tapa. The four of us decided to go to join them where we introduced Josh and Martha to everyone, some people Josh had already met. We had a couple of drinks and decided we were going to go for a meal as we were all peckish and I’d already booked Simple for the 6 of us. Daisy didn’t want us to leave and Josh, the not so devout vegan, managed to eat a slice of chocolate birthday cake as we were departing.

Simple was lovely, just the 6 of us indoors, with Onur the chef making us very fresh and tasty food. Josh and I had the vegan pumpkin soup, the others had the chicken soup – all were delicious. Martha and I had the pulled beef burger (with chips), Captain Caveman had a chicken quesadilla and the rest had the Asian noodles (meat for my parents, veggie for Josh). All the food was excellent although the noodles were on the spicy side.
Simple is not licenced for alcohol but we were able to get beer and wine from next door. The prices were reasonable to say it felt like a private dining experience. Unfortunately, my 2 breakfasts, a pizza lunch, a few wines and a loaded burger meant that I had completely gone over the top on the syns this week. We went back to Tapa to rejoin the birthday shenanigans which were now getting even more lively. It had been a great day and we had more excitement planned for tomorrow. Fat Club was going to be a bit more like a confessional for me tomorrow, having had 548 syns.

Dalyan – 8th March

Weigh-in day and Fat Club seems to come round rather fast. Wednesday 8th March had me on the home scales as soon as I woke up and I was 0.4kg lighter than last week. I had been awake most of the night, had a dodgy stomach and my eczema had flared up again. Of course, Carol’s scales are slightly different and I still had to get to 3pm. I took my measurements to find that my bust had remained the same but my waist and hips were 1cm less. I just had strawberries for breakfast with a cup of Yorkshire tea. It was John’s birthday today and Andrea had organised a surprise trip to Fethiye to go bowling. I’d said I was going and we were getting the bus at 10.30am, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go as my stomach was still a bit iffy. Coincidentally, I got a message from Leanne at King Emlak who needed the Aussie’s keys from me and was popping over. I’d already had lunch by the time she arrived, later than planned. I’d added mushrooms to the vegan bolognese which I had with pasta. I found out 2 bras that were now too big for me to give to someone who had said they needed them. I wrapped them up and popped them in a gift bag, then dropped them at Tez bar, so they could be picked up later.
At Fat Club I had actually lost another 0.4kg (0.8lb) and although it’s not very much, it was still another loss. This meant I’d now lost a total of 4.8kg (almost 11lb). I was pleased with that but I really needed to do better if I was going to be skinny in time for boat trips this season! It was also less than 10 weeks until I was due back in Vietnam and I wanted to be the same weight I was when I left there.
On the way home, I popped to the shops. Here’s what I bought which took me over today’s budget;

Migros Supermarket
Plastic bag 0.25
Pasta (macaroni) 7.90
Pasta (rigatoni) 10.90
Cotton buds 11.00
Pineapple Quark 14.95
Blackcurrant Quark 14.95
Paprika 16.73
Skimmed milk 17.50
Linden Tea 19.50
3 Plain Quark 44.85
1.1kg chicken 105.26
Total spent 263.79 lira (£11.23)

I had a snack of beans on toast when I got in because I was peckish and didn’t want to eat anything naughty.
Andrea had messaged to say they would be in Waterfall after getting back from Fethiye but I still wasn’t feeling like going out. I was doing so well on the diet, not too bad on the budget and I knew I’d regret it if I blew both. I decided to stay in and have more vegan bolognese, with cheese. I treated myself to 15 syns worth of birthday red wine and had more cheese with pickled onions and some lemon drizzle cake. My stomach was back to normal now but I still felt really tired and lethargic.

Dalyan – 21st February

I had a banana, Kate’s fruit salad, with added strawberries, pineapple, and quark for breakfast on Tuesday 21st February. I also tried some Linden tea which Jamie had brought me to sooth a bad stomach. It seemed to work and I wasn’t affected by the banana, like before. For lunch I had some healthy bits and pieces in an effort to get a good weigh-in result tomorrow at Fat Club. Kate was off to the UK this afternoon so had asked me and a couple of other friends to ‘look after’ Mark while she was away.
Even though it was Pancake Day today, I decided I would have mine tomorrow, after Fat Club. In the afternoon I met up with Jamie, Norman and Edna and we had a dog walk along the river then Edna insisted we call in to the Waterfall bar. She had forgotten that it was a Tuesday and Skippy doesn’t go in on a Tuesday. I had a diet coke and 2 wines, we were joined by John, Andrea and Mark on their way home from Tez bar.
Captain Caveman had been at his briefing for his next Son Doong trip but had managed to get a quick call in, which I took outside. We had a rough plan that I would be visiting Phong Nha, as well as having some holidays in both Vietnam and Singapore. I would only stay for 6 weeks which meant I had no visa issues and would be leaving Phong Nha when the weather was unbearable in July and August.
Jamie went home to feed the dogs and have his own dinner, John and Andrea said bye too, then Mark and I bought some wine and milk at the shop, got Fikri’s taxi to mine where I picked up a bag. We drove to Mark’s and he fed the cats then reheated us up some leftover Chinese for dinner and opened the wine. The cats that stayed in were super cute and were happy to settle in to their beds for the night. We decided to watch a film, drink wine and later have cheese, chorizo and Ritz crackers. The diet had fallen short again and I’m sure it would mean a bad result tomorrow at Fat Club. It also meant that I had missed day 2 of the Decluttering Bootcamp, luckily I could catch up tomorrow on replay. It was after midnight when Mark went to bed and left me asleep on the recliner sofa, I’d obviously nodded off during the film.

Dalyan – 5th February

It was very cold when I got up at 7.30am on Sunday 5th February. Norman and Edna were still snoozy and Little Ted had slept longer than yesterday. Teddy was a bit overexcited to see me and accidentally caught my lip with his mouth when he was trying to give me kisses. It hurt but it didn’t draw blood so I thought I’d be ok.
While I had my cup of tea, all 3 dogs wanted cuddles and they had to share me, begrudgingly. Norman, Little Ted and I were all squeezed in to the arm chair where the dogs had a nice little nap. I didn’t have chance for any breakfast! Every time Norman snored, Little Ted raised his head in a disapproving manner which was funny.

I decided to try walking all 3 of the dogs together but when I went to get my shoes I’d made a massive error. I’d left them out and at some point, Teddy had chewed them. Luckily I had brought another pair of shoes with me as I had an important lunch date that I didn’t want to miss. The walk with 3 dogs was hilarious and I looked like I was going to get tangled up at one point. I’m sure I heard Edna say to Norman ‘Come back, Charlie’. Little Ted was just happy to be out with his new pals and wanted to jump up a lot. I got back, hoping for a shower but the water was off and I looked a state – I didn’t even have any wet wipes. I used the filter water to clean my teeth and wash my face but that would have to do. The rain was torrential just at the time that I needed to leave, and the water came back on as I was going.

Video of Teddy being a bit friendly with his toy

Lukka bar had reopened this weekend and was doing Sunday lunch today. I’d already asked some friends if they fancied it and I’d remembered that Vanessa’s son, Brad, loved a Sunday dinner as she had mentioned they often go out together for one in the UK. We had all pre ordered our meals and agreed to meet at 2pm at Lukka bar. The Beef Sunday dinner was 255 lira (£11.10), the chicken dinner is only 185 lira (£8.05). The portion size is massive so I took Tupperware for any leftovers (I hate wasting food and money). On arrival, Linda and I decided to splash out on a bottle of red wine between us, Nanny Kay was driving so had a soft drink. Brad arrived extremely apologetic having not been able to find where Vanessa had hidden the house keys, making him a tad late. He ordered a beer and I introduced him to Linda and Nanny Kay. Linda and I had lots of cat talk as she was looking after Kate’s 6 cats for the first time in ages and had taken over from Vinnie. When the food came it looked fantastic, there was no cheese sauce on the cauliflower, as advertised, and I had my gravy on the side so I could do damage limitations on my Slimming World diet. Nanny Kay was short on carrots and the Brussel sprouts could do with a few minutes more cooking as they were too hard, so I let the waiter know for future diners. The Yorkshire puddings are phenomenal and the biggest I’ve ever had, this is a good recommendation to a Turkish chef from a Yorkshire lass, who hasn’t been to England for 13 months. I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and the company, we had a break before dessert where I filled my Tupperware with half of my dinner, plus the others’ spare sprouts and Nanny Kay’s left over Yorkshire pud. I had a smaller Tupperware which I intended the apple crumble to go in, however, when it came I couldn’t resist it. We’d all had a jolly good time but the rain was threatening again so we said our farewells. Nanny Kay drove home, Linda cycled to Mark and Kate’s and, as you may have guessed, Brad and I decided we could probably have another drink!

Brad kindly agreed to a dog walk, to walk off a bit of our Sunday dinner and get some exercise for his recovering knee. I had to call in to Captain Caveman’s apartment briefly on the way. As I pointed out to duck under the rose thorns, Brad snapped the stems with his bare hands and tucked them in to the plant – that was that problem solved!
We went to Jamie’s and collected all 3 dogs who were obviously pleased to be getting out after being left for 3 hours, Little Ted in his crate. When I told them we would have a walk to the Waterfall, Edna was beside herself with excitement at the chance to see Skippy. Little Ted didn’t remember what Waterfall meant but was enthusiastic regardless. After a walk around the block and round by Poo corner we arrived at the Waterfall. All the dogs were made welcome and a fuss made of them but Skippy wasn’t there to see that I’d not shrunk Norman. Brad and I got chatting, the dogs were quite happy and we ended up having a couple more drinks in the Waterfall where it was toasty warm. We were reassuring ourselves that we were quite fortunate not to be on the all inclusive-big-bender weekend for Alp’s birthday. We knew that without our partners there we’d probably have had alcohol poisoning by now, as well as putting on loads of weight from the all you can eat food! We had a good laugh and when it got to the dog’s dinner time we decided to grab more drinks and go back to Jamie’s.

I never thought to offer Brad the WiFi password at Jamie’s villa and we were just so busy chatting that we didn’t check our phones. After more red wine for me and beer for Brad I decided to do us a curry for dinner. I was a bit drunk and had to do the rice in a pan for the first time in years, the curry was a vegetarian Dahl type so I chucked in some leftover cooked chicken from Jamie’s fridge. It was pretty good and we ate it all, as if we’d not already had a big lunch! We didn’t realise the time until Vanessa messaged to check Brad was ok! As no one had heard from him, and he’d only gone out for Sunday lunch with the ‘oldies’ at 2pm, there were concerns from his girlfriend and parents. It was after midnight when Brad left and I told him to message me once he got home. I got in bed and fell asleep before seeing that message.

Dalyan – 4th February

On Saturday 4th February I’d set my alarm for 8am. All the dogs were meant to be able to sleep in until this time, however, that didn’t happen. I was woken up at 6.20am by Little Ted whining and scratching to get out of his crate. I let all the dogs out on to the back garden for ablutions and Teddy did a wee, he also did 2 more in the kitchen when he came back in. I gave him some cuddles hoping he might go back to sleep but he just wanted attention and to play or be fussed. Norman and Edna went back to bed on my bed upstairs and didn’t resurface for ages, they were still not impressed with their new buddy. I was just glad to see they were no longer hiding behind the cushions in Safety Corner.

We had a couple of walks, Teddy first, and then some more play time. Jamie had left me some vegetable soup which I had for lunch, it was Slimming World friendly and very tasty and filling. In the afternoon I got all 3 dogs outside playing on the back garden and tried to get Norman to teach Little Ted football. I think I had more fun than the dogs but I did make some cute videos for Jamie and Katrina on our group chat.

Video of Teddy asking to be Norman and Edna’s friend

Video of Norman and Edna playing ball

Video of me playing football with the dogs

I’d had a welcome invitation from Debbie (Darling) to meet her for a drink later but I felt like I didn’t really want to leave all 3 dogs at home to go to Sofra bar. Dogs aren’t allowed in Sofra, and it tends to be the usual late afternoon/early evening busy drinking spot on a Saturday. I said I’d be able to make it for a wine or two at Waterfall bar instead, because then I would be able to bring the dogs. Debbie (Darling) said she’d also asked Ann and would see me there – perfect.

On my first visit to Waterfall I took Little Ted, he was enthusiastic but I had to pick him up and hold him while at the bar. Skippy arrived and was most upset that I had shrunk Norman and was quite perturbed that ‘Norman’ didn’t seem to recognise him. Debbie (Darling) kindly got me some kitchen roll when she called at the shop for crisps while Little Ted decided he liked chewing the bar. When Debbie (Darling) said she felt a bit under the weather, we were concerned that it may mean their drinking session would be cut short. After 1 red wine I left the 2 ladies finishing their drinks while I took Little Ted home to exchange him for Norman and Edna.

When I returned, at 5pm, with Jamie’s 2 dogs, Skippy was even more confused that Norman was now back to full size. I was also surprised to see that Debbie (Darling) had phoned a taxi and was off, as she was feeling no better. I didn’t want to leave the dogs, especially with it being my first time with a puppy, so after my 2nd glass of wine I was going ‘home’ to give all the dogs their dinner. As Ann’s Saturday night out had come to an end, I invited her back to Jamie’s with me.

Ann bought white wine and some snacks from the shop next door, then we stopped at the baklava van where we spent 70 lira (£3.07) on a bit of sweet pastry that I really shouldn’t be having on my diet.
Luckily, I had some beef bourguignon left so I got that in a pan then made some Yorkshire puddings to go with it. I’d now gone way over on my weekly syn allowance and would probably regret it on Wednesday at Fat Club but I can’t resist a Yorkshire pud. I had 2 more glasses of wine to join Ann but, alas, she also had to head home to sort out her own dogs.
It was hard work having 3 dogs, a dinner guest and some Yorkshire puddings to attend to but I managed it, just about, and was absolutely shattered. I’d got left over Yorkshires so once they had cooled they went in the freezer for another time. It had been a very unexpected and lovely afternoon spent with friends and doggies.

Dalyan – 6th January

All 3 dogs came back to bed with me on the morning of Friday 6th January. Even while I waited for the kettle to boil, Norman and Edna were halfway up the stairs and it was still too early for breakfast. They got on the bed together and there was some repositioning as Edna and Charlie both wanted to be nearest to me. In bed, while some of the dogs snored, I made some arrangements for my 50th birthday celebrations next week. It was likely to be bad weather and so I envisaged I might need to have a Plan B, just in case. I’d decided I fancied going for a nice meal and some drinks at Bistro Blue and was having conversations with the owners to arrange. I had to wait for them to reprice the menu as the prices were increasing for 2023, the new menus would be with me on Monday. I was really looking forward to having Louisa come over to celebrate my birthday with me but I did hope she wouldn’t be too bored – Dalyan can be very quiet in the winter time.
I’d brought my tape measure with me to Jamie’s so I did my weekly figures;
Bust & Hips remained the same,
Waist +1cm,
Both thighs and Right calf +0.5cm,
Left calf still the same.
I popped to the shop to get some provisions for a soirée I was hosting that evening. Here’s what I bought at Migros Supermarket:
880g chicken 67.00
400g tin of chopped tomatoes 24.90
1 carton of cream 18.90
Total spent 110.80 lira (£4.89)

I suspected that wasn’t far off the cost of the same things back in England, although I hadn’t been back for over a year. I put the ingredients for a Slimming World friendly curry in the slow cooker and brought my rice cooker over from one house to another. I had a bit of a tidy up then Vanessa popped over to join me on a dog walk.

Cheeky Charlie, obviously had us call in to Waterfall bar, which ended up being 2 drinks and Charlie getting lots of attention from his friends. When Vanessa and I got back to Jamie’s villa to pick up her bicycle, Ann and Nanny Kay were already on the patio waiting for me.

Once indoors and the dog fussing had been completed, we got the wine out. Ann had brought me a lovely birthday gift; a gift bag with Buzbağ red wine, Dairy Milk chocolate, M&Ms and a lovely purple bobble hat. Nanny Kay gave me a bottle of Tigre wine, which I also thought was a pre birthday gift as she also wasn’t coming to my birthday party on Wednesday. As Jamie would be away for my birthday, and Nanny Kay and Ann weren’t able to make it, we said we would do a night out at the end of January instead.
I thought the curry turned out well and the ladies were impressed with my rice cooker rice. Charlie took a real liking to Nanny Kay and was loving being a bit cheeky with both our visitors. We had a lovely evening and I was quite merry by the time they left.

Dalyan – 25th December

When I woke up on Sunday 25th December, I was slightly regretting agreeing to a Christmas Day walk so early. Our friend, 007, had previously suggested that she would like to join Captain Caveman, my parents and I if we decided to opt out of the usual Christmas Day festivities and go for a walk. We’d been looking after Charlie for 26 days now and I was wanting to make sure that we gave him plenty of exercise before we left him to go out enjoying ourselves.
007 was prompt and outside Waterfall bar at 9.30am and it was just us and Charlie, who wasn’t really wanting to go out for a walk and wanted to stay at home.
We had a lovely walk, chat and 2 stops for a hot beverage at the tea gardens, one of which we couldn’t take the dog to so we had to move on. We had set off in the cold but had ended up taking several layers off and by 1pm, when I headed back ‘home’, it was very sunny. 007 had kindly given me a small Christmas gift which I put in the kitchen for later. Charlie was absolutely done in and had decided he was getting on the sofa and not moving. This was concerning as I’d already told my parents I would go on another walk with them this afternoon. The one this morning had been too early for them but I was also worried I’d even manage it as it I was pretty tired already. Captain Caveman was about to leave to meet Josh and they were heading off to Dalaman to watch Dalyan Spor play football. I was unsure if they would be going at all as they had struggled to find transport to accommodate everyone who wanted to go.
When I contacted my mom about the walk she suggested we went to the tea garden for lunch first and then see about a walk afterwards, which I was pleased about, even though I’d already been to the other two this morning. I didn’t take Charlie with me, much to his delight and we bumped in to Tay (from Rehab) and he joined us. My mom and I had Fanta, Dad had a beer, my parents had a sandwich and I just had chips. It was really warm and we spent a couple of hours there before going back home, ready to meet up again in a couple of hours, once the fellas were back from Dalaman.

By 5pm on Christmas Day, Captain Caveman and I were treating Charlie to a trip to see his friends in Waterfall bar after his walk to Poo Corner. My parents were on their way to meet us and Josh had popped back to Captain Caveman’s apartment to get ready for tonight’s shenanigans. After dropping Charlie back off at home we walked to Bistro Blue where I had booked the 5 of us in for a meal. Captain Caveman was on good form and behaving himself, he even agreed to share starters with me. We chose stuffed mushrooms and garlic mushrooms, Josh had the onion bhajis and I can’t remember what my parents had. I was too busy trying to make sure Captain Caveman didn’t snaffle both starters. For main courses my parents had casserole type dishes, Josh had a veggie stir fry, Captain Caveman had chicken fajitas and I decided to have the steak with peppercorn sauce. My parents ordered a nice wine that they particularly liked, Captain Caveman and I stuck to the cheapest, Buzbağ, and Josh was on Efes. The meal was really lovely and I enjoyed my steak very much, having gone for the big size I had to take some home. Captain Caveman couldn’t eat all his chicken fajitas either so we had that packaged up along with a trifle and a mince pie, courtesy of Annie. We had thought we might pop by Adam and Kath’s for a drink to wish them, as well as Mark and Kate, a Merry Christmas but it was getting late. By 9.45pm Captain Caveman had surprisingly ordered an Irish coffee and was scooping the cream off, Dad was on brandy, Josh on the posh whisky, Mom and I on the Bailey’s. Annie gave us complimentary shots, Ferrero Rocher and After Eight Mints to finish off our meal and we didn’t leave there until almost midnight. I’d really enjoyed my non-festive Christmas Day and it seemed like everyone else had too.

Dalyan – 1st & 2nd December

December in Dalyan started with rain on the morning of Thursday 1st. Captain Caveman brought me a bacon muffin for breakfast in bed, which was delicious. Charlie, the dog, had left us a nice present on the floor of the living room before 8am, I cleaned up, and took him out but he wasn’t a fan of rain so was quite reluctant to walk and just wanted to play. He’d started to get on with Captain Caveman and I well and we spent the whole day figuring each other out and getting used to where things were in our new place. Captain Caveman made a plan to go back to our own apartment once it stopped raining to get food and booze from the fridge which I wasn’t able to carry when I moved in. The owners had kindly left us almost a bottle of wine and the fridge freezer was big enough for us to fit most of our stuff in. At 3.30pm we chanced a short walk with Charlie where he introduced Captain Caveman to Poo corner, a favourite spot for Charlie to do his business!
We had Slimming World pumpkin curry for dinner and hoped for a drier day tomorrow. Charlie started talking to me but I was unsure what he was saying, probably that he wanted some curry.

On Friday 2nd December Charlie had left us another gift in exactly the same place as the last one. I took him for a walk to Poo corner and we saw a Labrador who was off the lead. A dad and his kid were walking a black and white dog on a lead, which the Labrador attacked. Charlie was very scared and tried to run off but I kept him walking as we were far enough away. He came back from his walk very cold, wet and shaking so we decided he could have a duvet morning. Captain Caveman made us bacon and mushroom muffins before he left to go to Bridge club at 10am. I worked on my laptop for the rest of the morning, Captain Caveman finished Bridge about 1pm and he had already been to our place to pick up some stuff and do some washing. I walked Charlie over to Lukka to meet Captain Caveman and on the way the same Labrador from this morning’s walk came out of his gate to try to attack Charlie, I stepped in the way and stopped him. I spoke to the owner and told him of the incident this morning and he agreed to keep the gate closed.
After a hand over of Charlie, the dog, to Captain Caveman at Lukka I went to my Turkish lesson and one of the girls there really had me laughing. She has a Turkish husband and family and had only just realised she had been mixing up the words for ‘interesting’ and ‘disgusting’ at family gatherings! Next week would be the last class until January as our teacher was going to visit her family in the UK. After class, I went to join Captain Caveman who was in Waterfall bar, having met Kate for a drink and to deliver her English goodies. Mark joined us later, saying he had just seen my reprobate parents at Tez bar but they were making their way over to join us. Charlie loved Waterfall bar and had been made very welcome by the owners and customers, including Skippy, the dog. My parents arrived, closely followed by John and Andrea, and they were very merry. When Gay Gaz and Engin arrived, Charlie recognised Gaz and was super excited to see him. He was trying to jump across the table to get to him but when they were reunited Charlie was licking Gaz’s face and smothering him with kisses. It was quite sweet to see Charlie like this, as not many people are that pleased to see Gay Gaz arrive in a bar in Dalyan. Charlie was very well behaved and enjoyed his outing to the pub but we had to get back for dinner. Captain Caveman and I had diet pizzas and an early night. Charlie slept in Helen’s bed with his toy sloth and I hoped that meant he wouldn’t be tempted to shit in the house again.

Dalyan, Toparlar waterfall & Yuvarlakcay – 1st October

To say Captain Caveman was feeling rough and looking peaky on Saturday 1st October was an under statement. When I showed him the bottle of whisky with only a quarter of the contents left he was surprised! He had to have a cold wet makeshift flannel on his head and lay on the sofa. Even when our Aussie friends, Amanda and Greg, came to say goodbye he didn’t get up, which was embarrassing. They understood because it has been a bit of a tradition of their’s to end up with a casualty on the day they have to go back to Australia from a holiday, but it is normally one of their own party! It didn’t help that the weather forecast for today in Dalyan was extremely hot and sunny. The temperature would reach 38°C so it was probably a good thing we were off out this afternoon.

Today we had booked a bus trip with Kate and Daisy to go to Yuvarlakcay. It is up in the mountains and has an icy cold river with some restaurants along it. The bus cost us around 200 lira each (£10) and it left Dalyan bus station at 1pm. Captain Caveman really was struggling as we got on the bus but he had a bottle of water with him. On the way we stopped off at Toparlar waterfall which we had a short walk to and then we stripped off to our swimmers for a dip in the cool pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The rocks were tricky and if you have any issues walking I wouldn’t recommend this bit. I needed help getting in and out as well as guidance on the rocks. I really struggled on one particular bit but Captain Caveman was there to give me a hand up without me hurting my knee too much. I was glad to be wearing my porter sandals from Vietnam to ensure I didn’t slip.

Back in the hot bus Captain Caveman started to feel more unwell. By the time we reached Yuvarlakcay he had to be the first off the bus, despite being sat on the back seat, so he could be sick. While the rest of us found a shady seat by the water in the restaurant, Captain Caveman sorted himself out. Daisy had also had a late night last night so she had a little sleep while Kate and I drank a cold Efes. Captain Caveman arrived, ordered a beer and agreed to share mezes, bread and chips for lunch with all of us. He then had a nap and Daisy fell asleep too, Kate and I were just glad of the cooler temperature. As we left, we did put a toe in the water but it was too cold for a swim and the swings were busy with children, which we couldn’t really turf out.

On the way back to Dalyan the journey seemed a bit quicker, Kate had arranged to meet Mark after pool and we said I’d see Angelique at Rehab. That changed a bit as Captain Caveman went home to bed and Kate had to feed the cats. I managed a drink at Tez bar with Mark, Kate, Roy and Gay Gaz, though, before going to Migros to pick up crisps, wraps and tomato puree. I went home earlier than everyone else to make Captain Caveman a diet pizza.

Photo credit – Daisy, Kate & Captain Caveman

joloyolo

The ramblings and observations of a fortysomething lady of leisure

Tag: waterfall