Terrible news greeted us on Tuesday morning. Dilara’s new little puppy, Odie and Atakan’s Doberman had both been stolen during the night. Nese was very upset, but I can’t say Adem was so bothered as they’d already agreed that Dilara wasn’t taking responsibility for the dog very well and that they would try and sell it.

After lunch, Ergun and his carpenter arrived bearing the new doors. They were all made up and in the frame. They expertly fitted them and made adjustments to ensure they opened and closed correctly. Once in, the carpenter fitted an architrave to both sides. Ergun asked us what kind of glass we wanted in the panels. Plain, clear glass please, so he gets on the mobile to the glazer, provides the sizes over the phone and within 15 minutes the glazer and his young assistant arrive to fit the glass.

Within two hours the whole job is done, and they are just what we want. They leave the fame braced with a piece of timber, which has to stay there for a few hours while the expanding foam they used sets. We now have to duck and limbo into the kitchen for a few hours.

Next day, we head off into town to buy some dark red paint for the dining room part of the salon, and Iain smoothes off and prepares the wall for painting with plaster.

We give the laminate floor guy a call, and he agrees to pop down at 5pm and finish off the join between the kitchen and the salon. When he arrives, he’s not happy as the door men have laid the frame right onto of the laminate. They should have left a small gap to allow for expansion movement. He reckons he told Adem to mention this, and Adem reckons he did, so I don’t know what went wrong. Anyway, it can’t be helped now so he just gets on with the job.

He glues the door strip down and we leave it weighted with my sewing machine, heavy books and an empty gas bottle. He instructs us to leave this until at least tomorrow evening. We now have to spend the next day or so straddling the various improvised weights to get in and out of the kitchen – will it ever cease to be an obstacle course??

That evening Jan has invited us up for dinner, she wants Iain to have a look at her laptop and sort a few things out. There are to be 7 of us in her very small and cosy bungalow. Pat and Chris, Clare and Rec, us two and Jan. Pat was going to pick us up, but she phoned to say Giles, the ginger tom, was ill and so they were just going to go up for a couple of hours, so they could get back for him. Instead we go with Clare and Rec in their Gas Fired Monster, a really old orange Renault 12.

We had a nice evening, it was very warm and cosy in the small living room, with Jan’s classy woodburner belting out the heat. It makes us nostalgic for our cosy soba, which is languishing on the balcony. We are really paranoid now about bringing it back into the salon because it might ruin the laminate, and distort the new doors.

Next day, Thursday, we spend the morning painting the first coat in the dining room. After lunch, Pat and Chris pop over to check out ‘the new doors’, woo, tourist attraction of the century!! And then we all head into town to have another go at seeing the film, which thankfully is now on.

After the film, we stop by the Kizmet to see the boys, and introduce Pat and Chris, who haven’t been in it yet. We have a couple of drinks before Pat drops us home. Chris is developing a bad cough, which turns out to be a bad omen.

Next day we head off into town to meet a FethiyeTimes reader and his wife. We’re a bit early so we pop in and see Mustafa and Bekir in the carpet shop. While Iain sets Bekir up with Skype, Mustafa shows me the new range of designer bags he’s brought from Istanbul. They are made from old Kilims, each one unique and very well made. We agree he’s onto a winner with these. After tea we meet up with Alan and Jennie and spend a pleasant couple of hours drinking tea with them. We hoping to bump into Pat at Mustafa’s as they usually pop in on a Friday so Chris can play him at Backgammon. We head back over and find Jan with Mustafa, but no sign of Pat or Chris. It turns out Chris has gone down with the flu, probably caught from the cat no doubt.

We’ve arranged to meet up with Rec, and go visit the kitchen workshop to see how things are progressing with the kitchen. We iron out a few details, and are told that the carcases will be ready for inspection the following Monday afternoon. Next up, we take Rec to see the Fethiye Lighting Centre in Karachula, which is a veritable Aladdin’s cave of lights and lamps.

On the way back, we invited Clare and Rec over for dinner, but Rec says he’s planning to make a curry and why not go to them? Ok, it’s a date.

Rec’s curry’s are really good, I make a salad and we troupe over. After dinner we start talking about the weekend, and how bad the shopping is in Fethiye. Before we know it we’ve decided that we will get up early on Saturday morning and drive to Antalya, to do some shopping and mooch around the old town. We have already arranged to do a walk on Sunday at 1pm, so need to be back to Fethiye for that. We will take overnight things and play it by ear. If we want to stay over, we can.

Next morning we rendezvous at 7am, and are on the road. A quick pit stop to fill up with petrol and get a free car wash, and then we’re on the open road. It takes about 3 hours to get to Antalya

After a bit of shopping, and a light lunch we head towards the old Kaleci area of town, and have a mosey around the back streets. I’m starting to feel a bit rough, and soon realise that I am going down with the same flu like symptoms that Chris had. (Picture of Suze and Claire in Kipa. Suze is holding a Rubic cube!)

It's a beautiful day and really quite warm over this side of the mountains, so we take a little time out to relax with a G&T at a restaurant on top of the cliffs, which has the most spectacular setting overlooking the bay and harbour, before heading into the main town and find a food hall for dinner. We share a couple of starters of stuffed mussels and deep fried mussels – lovely, followed by shish kebabs. Over dinner we decide that we’ll just head back to Fethiye as if we stay over we’d have to be up and gone by 8.30am to make it back. I’m feeling worse by the minute so this seems a sensible plan. We’re home by nine, offload our purchases and head to bed.

By Sunday, I’m too ill to walk and spend the whole day in bed, as it Pat, so Iain cancels the walk. Sunday is a write-off. By all accounts this is not an epidemic localised to Fethiye, Mum is reporting similar symptoms back it the UK, so here’s wishing you a speedy return to your ebullient self, mother! :-)

Monday, and Iain and Adem have to go to the tax office to pay their respective scooter and car taxes. I’m feeling a bit better so go with them, but the air is biting cold, only tempered a little by the sun. When we get back we arrange for Rec to come over at 4.30pm so we can all go and look at the kitchen. In the meantime we empty the cupboards and start taking off the tiles, in readiness.

As promised, all the carcases are made and set up. We iron out a few more details and then go with the carpenter to see the granite man. He reports that the granite will arrive on Saturday, so we plan that Eyup will sort out the plumbing on Sunday, and the kitchen and granite will be installed on Monday.

We need to sort out the cooker, hob top and extractor fan so that these can be built in. Slowly, slowly it’s all coming together.

Tuesday, and the air is cold and I’m still a bit ill, but we need to see what appliances are available and check out prices, then make a decision. So well wrapped up we venture out. Actually it is quite warm in the sun, but in the shade it’s colder. We traipse around all the main dealers and a few sole traders to see what’s on offer. Armed with a load of brochures and prices we head for home to weight up all the options. After a couple hours evaluating – most of this spent trying to understand what the features are as they are all in Turkish naturally, be settle on our choices. Next job is to check that we can actually get the ones we want, and then beat as much off the prices as we can. Shopping here is exhausting!

Saturday morning, and the floor fitter arrives early to finish off the skirting boards. This is quite an involved task and requires lots of cutting. It’s raining first thing, but by 11 the skies have cleared and the sun is back. I make lunch for the three of us of doner wraps, and by three, the work is nearly finished. All that remains is the edging around the area which will be the new door. Ibrahim, the ‘usta’ says he cannot do this until the frame and doors are fitted, so we take his mobile number and he agrees to return on Tuesday or Wednesday to finish off. The floor looks perfect, so Iain, Nese and I go about sweeping and mopping all the dust off.

Adem arrives all dressed up and is planning to drive to one of the supermarkets to capitalise on their ‘weekly offers’. We chat and agree we’d all like a decko, so we down mops and head off to the shop.

After snagging a few bargains each, we’re back and ready to reinstall the sofa’s, TV, table and rug so we say goodnight to Adem & Nese and set about the task. We’re soon done and decide neither of us can be bothered to cook anything and as we feel so pleased with the floor, why not treat ourselves to fish and chips down at the Kosem.

The food maybe good there (and cheap) but there is little atmosphere, so we head off along the Kordon into town to see the ‘boyz’ down at the Kizmet bar and see what’s new with them.

They’re having a great time so we catch up for a few hours before ‘staggering’ home.

Sunday brings a well deserved lie in, Ramazan has invited us all over for *breakfast* at 12, so no need to get up too early! Awaiting us is a fine table, and we are joined by Adem, Nese, Eyup (our kitchen guy), his wife Nesrin and their daughter Gisem. In all we are 11. Ramazan and Ebru have surpassed themselves with a hot meat dish, many different cheese and olives, boiled eggs, fresh tomato and peppers, jams, honey the full monty – Turkish style, accompanied by seemingly unlimited bread and tea.

After a lazy and decadent feast, Iain and I check out the new boiler system he has installed complete with a Tarzan style pulley style to get the coal up to the roof terrace without carrying it through the house.

It’s a beautiful day, so I suggest we all go out for a walk. Some of the men folk aren’t keen, so we eventually agree that Iain will drive some of us ladies and a the children to Kaya village to explore the deserted Greek ruins.

We change and rendezvous by the car, and then realise that there are eight of us to get into the Toyota! Iain and I bag the front, and the other six all manage to squeeze into the back seats! Amazing. We are all happy to be going out, so we head off to Kaya. Spring seems to have come early and the place is festooned with pink and purple anenomies, which many Turkish women and girls are busy gathering in armfuls. Our group falls in and does the same, with Elifnas leaping around like a mountain goat.

We slowly climb through the deserted old streets, gathering flowers as we go, and soon we all have armfuls too. We go through a small canyon and emerge to an open vista out over the sea. It’s breathtaking. Time for a break. We settle down and take in the rays, gazing at the sea. Gisem has some MP3 music on her mobile phone, so she fires it up and the girls start dancing while us old ‘uns clap and applaud, just happy to be outside enjoying the day – the guys back home don’t know what they’re missing!

Pleased with their bouquets, we all head back to stuff ourselves in the car – this time Elif is riding in the boot, and head back to Fethiye.

We say goodbyes, and Iain and I pack up a few things to head over to see Pat for dinner and a night over.

We have to travel down a fairly long and potholed dirt track to reach them which is being ‘done up’. Unfortunately, we find at one point the track is impassable for our low slung ‘sport’s car!’, so I abandon Iain and walk on, while he turns and goes off to Park on the main road – walking over then via the back fields.

Pat and Chris have a roaring fire going great guns in the grate when we arrive, and we settle down to G&T’s and a good ol’chat.

After dinner it’s a Trivial Pursuit rematch, this time Pat and I lost rather emphatically to the boys! (lucky maybe??). It’s getting late, so we fill up hotties and head off to bed.

The next day (Monday, today!) is beautiful again, warm, sunny and clear, so we have a lazy morning before Iain and I head off back home. We’ve arranged to meet up later with Chris and Jan and go to the pictures to see Flags of our fathers, so we wander in after lunch, checking out a few haberdasheries on the way. I want to put some new curtains up in the salon, so we were on the hunt for material. In the end we found something suitable and bought 4 meters of it, so I can make some Roman blinds, just got to figure out how to do it now! Pat, Chris and Jan were waiting for us by the cinema, but our luck was out – the projector was knackered so instead we all went to a caff and had a drink and a chat before heading home for a quiet night in.

Iain has been so busy over the last week or so, we had decided to have a day away from DIY on Thursday, so we in the morning rallied Nese and after Turkish coffee, headed downstairs to check out Jill and Den’s flat. Jill and Den are in Oman, and are planning to sell their apartment, so asked us to have a look at it, and remove some bags of clothes that they wanted to give to charity.

We gave the place a good airing and retrieved the clothes, sorting out any good quality jumpers, which Nese will give to the poor people in her father’s village.

We lazed the afternoon on the side balcony, reading and dozing in the warm sun, when we got a call to say the laminate floor was here from Izmir, and would be delivered late that afternoon. All materials and a large circular saw duly arrived, and Iain signed the chitty to confirm. The manager of the shop as well as the carpenter came too, to survey the job and agree that he would be around the next morning between 8.30 and 9 to start.

Friday morning, and the workman arrived at 8.55, fully clad in a rather nice navy blue suit! He then, snuck behind the corner to change into work clothes. He began straight away, laying underlay, and then the boards, cutting as needed as he went. By 11am, he’d done a quarter of the room.

Pat arrived, bearing the ficus that she and Jan had bought for us, and while we chatted over coffee, Attic from across the road popped in to have a look at how the work was going and to say ‘hi’. He’d managed to get himself a black eye from playing football the week before. A glutton for punishment, he told us he planned to play again that evening!

Chris soon joined us, he’d come over on the dolmus, and so I made a quick lunch for all before heading off into town with Pat and Chris to offload J&D’s clothes to FIG. Iain stayed back to monitor progress. Friday is the main religious day for Muslims, so at around 12, the workman changed back into his suit and told us he was going off to the Mosque and would be back in an hour or so.

We’d planned to meet Jan in town, and see Mustafa, the carpet man, but Chris told us Jan had phoned and Mustafa was in Izmir. After FIG, we headed off to Mustafa’s shop anyway to see if Jan was around. Bekir got us all tea, and then played a few games of backgammon with Chris, while Pat and I surfed the net on his shiny new laptop. There was no sign of Jan, so we headed back to the car, and drove to the Kosem for a round of drinks and a forage through their book store. Armed with a new set of reading materials, Pat and Chris dropped me home.

The workman had made excellent progress while we’d been out and done over two thirds of the room. Iain said that the other carpenter, Ergun, who was making our doors had told Adem that they were made and ready for a viewing. We grabbed A&N and headed off to Hedef’s shop in the Toyota. The doors were indeed made and undercoated as was the frame, just requiring glass, handles and a final coat of paint. They looked brilliant. He said they would be ready for installation on Tuesday!

After a coffee and a chat, we came back to the house where the laminate floor guy was just finishing off for the day. He’d be back tomorrow to do the last few boards, and then fit the skirting boards. The floor looked fantastic. We chatted with Adem about the next stages of work preparing the kitchen over a beer. After some time Nese came in wondering what had became of her husband! It seemed the only way we could get him to go home, was if we went too, so we took Nese up on her kind offer to feed us, and went next door. After dinner, Adem fancied watching a film, so Iain went to get Swordfish, which was great on his big TV! One last look at the shiny new floor and then off to bed.

Building works..

With the house in disarray, we must get busy and get things sorted out. First up we decide to have a look around at laminate flooring, but it’s Saturday afternoon, so not much we can do. On the way back, we call in on Clare and Rec for a coffee. Before Christmas I’d been extolling the virtue of my Slow cooker to Clare, and so she’d asked Santa for one, and as luck would have it, her first experiment was bubbling away, filling the house with gorgeous smells as we entered.

They kindly asked us if we’d like to stay for dinner, so we nicked off for beers and wine and returned for a cosy night in theirs. The experiment was a great success, and we settled down in their warm front room, watching TV.

Next morning, we’d all arranged to meet at Yonca for Sunday brunch. Jan came along with David and Stuart, and with Pat and Chris we were nine, all seated around tables on the beach for the stunning breakfast. An ulterior motive for the gathering was to plan out the arrangements for Jan’s 50^th birthday party, which is on April 28^th. The theme is ‘gold ‘cause I’m old’ so we had a good brainstorm of what needed to be done, followed by the divvying up of tasks.

Clare, Rec, Iain and I were all pretty tired and hung over from our night before, so after breakfast we headed back and Rec bought some celeriac to make us soup. We dropped them home and after giving Iain a hair cut, spent a couple of hours reading on the balcony in the warm sun, before Rec phoned to say the soup was ready. We picked up some bread and headed over. The soup helped the hangovers, and later in the evening Rec followed this with a curry, which really did the trick.

Monday morning, and time to get to work sorting out the kitchen/salon jobs. We grabbed Adem, and the three of us sorted out the laminate flooring first. This will come from Izmir, rest for a couple of days in Fethiye to acclimatise and then (hopefully) fitting will start on Friday or Saturday. Next up, the doors. The boys had made an opening of 1.5m, and I’d originally wanted a pair of French doors, opening into the salon. Now this looked impractical, as the left hand door would foul the room door, and the right hand one would hit the woodburner. Iain suggested sliding doors were the only workable solution. I was not keen, so sat down and tried to think of an alternative. How about a each door being made up of two smaller doors, hinged in the middle. That way you could open the two centre doors, each folding back on the other halves if you wanted, or for a larger opening open the fully, the centre parts folding back against the walls at an angle. It was hard to visualise, so I made a prototype using an old business card. Great, this should work, so we all headed off to a carpenter to show him and see what he thought. Yep, this will be possible, so we arranged for him to come round at 4 to measure up and get started. This should be in in maybe a week or two he said.

It was lunch time now, so I made kebab’s all round for the three of us, before I headed off into town to meet Pat, Chris, David and Stuart to watch ‘The Departed’ at the cinema. Iain and Adem went off to sort out plaster or something, and while out ran into the flooring guy. He had a bit of free time, so he came back to have a look at the job. He measured up and found that it was more likely only 38 square meters needed, rather than the 50 odd we’d thought, so that will save us some cash. The carpenter came to measure the doors, and could now make a start on those.

Chris and Pat dropped me home after the film and came up to check out the work.

Adem had bought fresh fish that day from the market, so they invited us over for dinner, Ramazan and family were coming too. After a delicious meal, Nese suggested we call up Nesrettin and Eyup – who live across the road, to invite ourselves over for coffee. We had a lovely evening with them, coffee, then tea, then fruit. Handi has been learning to play the sass, so she went upstairs to Ramazan’s house and gave us a lovely recital. Before we left them, we agreed that Eyup would come over the next morning at 10am with his brother and give us a quote for the kitchen. They had been over before and arrived promptly on time with a CAD designed kitchen. After making a few alterations, we agreed to visit their workshop at 12 to look at door styles and granite. Adem was no where to be found, so we were on our own. Eyup’s brother, Sabat took us to a warehouse to look at door panels, and we had difficulty finding the exact colour we wanted. He then took us into town to show us some work he’d done at a local jewellers shop. The quality was excellent, but still not quite the right colour. Clare’s kitchen is very similar to what I want, so I suggested we call round and see if they were in and would let us show Sabat. No probs, so up we went and Rec made us all coffee while we inspected their kitchen. While there, Rec impressed on Sabat that we had lots of English friends who would see our kitchen, as well as a website where we would write and say if the work was good or no good, so make sure you do a good job! Next up was to check out the granite, so back to the Sanaiye (the industrial estate) to see what was available. Soon we found exactly what we were after, a dark black granite with small sparkly bits in it. We agreed a price and left the chap to order it in.

So, within a couple of days, wheels have been set in motion, and with a bit of luck all the work should be done and dusted within a few weeks, as they say round here - inshallah! (god willing!).

A new week starts, and as always, never quite as you plan it. Firstly, Nese knocks on our door after breakfast. It’s a lovely sunny morn, and here she is armed with her aquavac. Come on, we can wash your carpets today and they will dry before I change the hoover back to *normal* mode. OK, great, so in she comes and gets busy washing the carpets with the machine. While we are doing this, we lament the poor quality workmanship that has led to a number of tiles coming loose in the back room. This is nothing compared to the ones in the salon, which appear to have semi erupted – forced up for some reason. When she is finished, we settle down to a well deserved Turkish coffee and in comes Adem all dressed up ready to go into town.

We’re soon back to discussing the tiles, so Adem, man of action that he is says, come on, let’s sort this now. I’ll change into my overalls and we’ll reset those pesky tiles. In a flash he’s back with a hammer and chisel and the pair of them lift about 10 tiles in the back room. Next, they move to the salon, but soon realise that there are so many loose tiles here, that we may need to get the services of a tiler in.

Off they go, and comeback a couple of hours later bearing free calendars each and a tiler. He appraises the situation, tapping tiles and sucking air through his teeth (this must be a universal gift of tradesmen) and says he will take up all the tiles, clean and relay, but that it will cost a lot of money.

Adem and Iain drop the guy back to his shop, and then consider the options. Maybe it will be best to replace the cold hard tiles, with a softer, warmer laminate flooring. They get a few quotes and return, this time bearing a free clock each!

We all sit down and discuss the situation, and agree that if we decide to re-floor, we ought to really do the building work we were planning for our remodelled kitchen first, as the laminate would scratch and be ruined if we waited until after.

That evening, Clare and Recep came over for dinner, so we were able to put all thoughts of mess and upset to one side and have a pleasant evening with them.

Next morning, we join Adem and Nese for coffee after breakfast, and plan the work. Firstly the boys need to reset the tiles in the back room. Then we need to empty the salon of furniture and set up the back room as a living room. Then we need to lay down dust sheets in the kitchen and cover the hanging light fitting with bags to keep dust away. We also need to mark and measure the location of the double doors to go from the kitchen to the salon. All this done, the boys can get their tools out and start knocking through. A hole is made in no time, and while Adem neatens the frame edge with concrete, Iain starts to lift the remaining tiles from the salon. By the time it’s dark, we have a door shaped hole, half the tiles up in the salon, dust everywhere and a massive pile of building rubble.

Nese comes to the rescue and after a quick bath, we all go next door for dinner.

Last week, we had planned with Jan and Pat to visit Erhan and Canan in Bodrum for a few days – Wednesday to Friday. What had started as lifting a few tiles had turned into the start of a major building project, so Iain suggested that I go on my own and that he stay and work with Adem to get as much done as possible.

Next morning, I pack up and leave for a girls 'weekend' away, while Iain and Adem carry on working.

The weather was lovely, clear and warm, and we had an enjoyable drive to Bodrum. We stopped along with way for lunch and a look around the old town of Milas, before arriving at Bodrum early afternoon. We’d arranged to pop over and see Mustafa, that captain of our Bodrum cup Gulet, so we found his office – a beautiful old house a stone throw from the beach front. I helped him set up his Skype, and he offered to meet us the next day and take us all to lunch. We were delighted and suggested that we could meet in Gumusluk – a wonderful undeveloped little seaside cove around the peninsula. He said he knew it well and that he’d phone in the morning to settle the time.

Next up was some essential shopping, as I forgotten my peejays, so we popped into MGM which sells outlet clothes including Matalan stuff and Banana Republic. Jog bots and a Tee shirt later we were on our way to Turgutreis to meet up the Canan and Erhan.

We eventually found their lovely converted cottage and were soon settling down to a good catchup with all that was new with them. Canan cooked us a superb dinner of baked salmon, veggies and stuffed mushrooms, finished off with some of the orange cake that Pat had brought.

Meanwhile, back in Fethiye, Adem and Iain had been very busy. They had taken up the remainder of the tiles, and found an old guy to come with tractor and remove all the building rubble. They had also bricked up the old doorway. Iain spent the evening with Adem and Nese and Attic, watching the football after dinner.

After a fairly early night in Turgutreis, we all rose quite late the next morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast outside on their new deck area. The weather was still warm and sunny and it was amazing to think of sitting outside and eating brekkie in early January. Mustafa phoned and suggested we meet at 3, for a late lunch/early dinner – perfect.

Around 11.30, we set off with Canan driving Jan’s Doblo, to see the peninsula, and revisit a few of Pat’s old stomping grounds. There is a great deal of development going on in the area, and things had changed a lot since the seventies. To Jan and I though, seeing it all for the first time, it still looked pretty stunning.

We meandered around the small seaside towns and arrived at Gumusluk about half past two. We had tea and took walked the length of the seafront. The ancient causeway that exists linking Gumusluk to the nearby Rabbit Island was just exposed beneath the surface. Mustafa arrived and we took at waterside table at the restaurant, where he suggested we have a selection of meze instead of a large meal – as Canan was planning to cook for us that evening. Excellent idea, so Pat, Mustafa and I went inside to the meze counter and chose half a dozen different dishes - Fried Calamari, Octopus salad, Mustard leaves with Garlic, pureed fava beans, tomato and chilli salad and fried wild mushrooms. Mustafa ordered some wine and we settle down to a lovely lazy lunch.

After thanking and leaving Mustafa, Canan asked Jan if she’d like a quick tour of Turgutreis on the way home. I think it’s a charming little place, and has been developed quite well. There is a really nice park, and as we passed bay, Canan pointed out the flat she had rented when she first came there. The landlord had become a firm friend and owned the bar too, when she and Erhan were now regulars. He was also the guy who had found them the house she now had. As it the sun was nearly down, why not stop for a G&T and see the bar? Great idea, so we turned and pulled up outside. It was then we saw Erhan’s car parked up the street, and when we entered there he was, behind the bar helping out with serving and sorting the music!

We stayed for a few, chatting to a few of the local characters, before heading back home to get dinner underway. Erhan came home about an hour later.

Back in Fethiye, Iain and Adem had by now rendered the old door way, and resited the kitchen light switch into the salon. They spent another enjoyable evening together again and this time were joined by Attic’s neighbour, who Iain said was a really nice, well educated Turkish man, and they had lots of really interesting conversations. Iain’s Turkish progressing in leaps and bounds, he was able to follow a lot of what was being said without help.

Friday morning, and we girls were up early for breakfast, as we had a lot of shopping to fit in before heading back later in the afternoon. After saying thanks and farewell to C&E, we drove back to Bodrum, shopping at Mudo, Marks and Spencer, B&Q and Kipa (which is Tesco).

We don’t have B&Q in Fethiye, and I knew Iain would like to know what kind of things they had and the prices, so as I explored I took photo’s of various things so he’d be able to see. After a while, one of the staff came over to me and asked me what I was doing. I told him, in Turkish, that my husband was at home, and that he wanted to know prices of things. Grudgingly he said OK.

Laden with purchases, we had a quick lunch before getting on the road around 2.30pm. With a few Cay stops on the way, we were back at Yaniklar by 6.30pm.

Iain was there and had brought over a couple of spit roasted chicken, so we had dinner while filling in Iain and Chris with our adventures, and Iain telling us how the building was going.

Jan was very tired after driving so far, so she headed off back to Ovacik, and we weren’t long after her. I couldn’t wait to get back and see how the house had changed. I was so impressed with the amount of work they’d done and how well it was done. Now we need to sort out the doors, frames and laminate flooring and may as well get on with getting the kitchen done too!

Let’s see what next week bringeth! Until then..

The weather turned very wet and windy on Wednesday, but we still decided we’d like to walk the 2 or 3 miles to Calis along the sea front. We arrived at the Gardening Club meeting at 2.50, thinking we were nice and early for the 3 o’clock start, if a little muddy and sopping wet. But everyone was already there, apparently they always start at 2! Iain was compering a Gardeners Question Time style discussion, but luckily they had just finished all the other business and this was ready to start.

After the meeting we headed off to another bar to peruse their book selections before heading back home with Pat and Chris to eat the famous turkey.

We got back to find Adem in the house, we asked what time we needed to be ready for the big meal. But Alas, the turkey was still languishing outside on the balcony. Tenor has a bad back and as the weather is bad the cooking is being postponed.

Never mind then, we decided to cobble a meal together between me and Nese, and all eat in our house. Iain got the fire going and I made roasted chicken with caramelised carrots, while Nese provided soup, dolma and ‘wedding pudding’, which is like porridge. In the end a good night was had by all, and Chris and Pat stayed over.

Thursday and the rain was still with us, but the wind died down. Late afternoon we met up with Jan at the Doruk cinema and settled down to watch Borat, which was alternately good, funny, and cringe worthy! We’d promised to take Jan to Kizmet to meet the boys and check the bar out, so after the cinema we headed downtown.

Jan and the boys really hitted it off, and were soon planning charity events to be held at Yakamoz, with them providing the entertainment.

This morning, Friday, the sun and blue skies are back, so we’re busy catching up with the laundry and waiting for the solar panels to heat enough water for a well needed shower!

Nese has popped round to say that the turkey will be cooked today (they better get on with it say I, as it’ll take a lot of cooking!), and can we let Pat and Chris know. It's a lovely morning and we have a few errands to run. Firstly Iain needs to get a static IP address to help a friend with an IT problem, so we head off to Turk Telecom to sort this out. There is some confusion here, as the account is in my name, so the lady wants to see my identification. No problem we hand over my passport. She looks the date of birth, and then at my photo, then she looks at me. She seems to be saying that I don't look like my photo. The photo is of someone with brown eye's and mine are blue. The girl in the photo looks very young - I guess I do not!. Do I have any other ID? Luckily Iain has my driving licence on him too, so we pass this over. She still looks a little quizical, and reluctantly agrees that these must be photo's of me, so lets us have what we want.

Next up, we need to go back to the Nil bar, where we had the gardening club meeting, as I left my fleece behind. It's there, fantastic, so as it's a nice day we decide to check out a new cafe which has been build at the far end of Calis beach, rather unfortunately called 'Shat'. It's a superb building, in a great location. Large clean glass windows looking across the entire bay of Fethiye, and across to Sovalye Island. We enjoy a leisurely coffee staring at the scenery and the sparklies on the sea. The few rainy days have resulted in snow caps on the surrounding mountains, magical.

That evening, Pat and Chris arrive promptly at 7, and after a quick G&T with us, we all head next door. Our offerings to the dinner are potato’s boulangere and mash potato with celeriac from me and Pat has brought a delicious walnut and yoghurt cake.

Apparently we are not going to be eating with the other families and the turkey has been divided up, so it didn’t need too much oven time in the end. Nese has excelled herself with a carrot gratin, barbecued red peppers, and aubergine salad to complement the roasted bird.

It was a fairly quiet night as I think most of us were pretty much partied out by now, so after dinner Chris and Adem had a few rounds of backgammon, before we all settled down to watch a film on the mega TV.

Saturday arrives, the day Clare and Reg are due back. Chris and Pat had stayed over that night, and we were all awaken about 9am to the sound of drumming. A family down the far end of the road must be celebrating a wedding, and we can see them setting up the irrepressable white plastic tables and chairs from our balcony for their family feast. After brekkie, we all headed into town to get cash and a few bits, before leaving parting for now. Iain and I then walked around town to suss out prices and styles of sofa bed, which we want to get for the new second sitting room (the ex-office).

It’s another beautifully sunny day, so after a quick lunch, we head off to Yaniklar where we plan to go beach combing with Pat and Chris. The two wet and windy day’s we had last week should have blown various flotsam and jetsam onto the beach, precious free firewood we hope!

En-route we call into the local bakal, and pick up a few cold beers to reward ourselves for the hard work, and to enjoy the waning sun with later.

The beach is deserted, and there is debris a-plenty, so we fill sacks and crates and anything we can find with bits of sticks for kindling, logs, roots and pine cones for the fire. There is loads of it, and Pat and Chris vow to get up early tomorrow and collect more. Within an hour the car is full to brimming, so we grab the beers and head for a rocky outcrop at the end of the beach to gaze at the sea in the last of the afternoon sun. Pat gave Iain a handmade catapult for Christmas, so he busies himself firing stones to see how far he can reach. Once bored of that, he decides to build a little beach fire, using some of the kindling lying about. He makes a small sand pit to contain the hearth, with high sides and a front channel to help draw the wind through. It’s not long before he has a nice little fire going, and we all stand around it with our beers adding our own sticks and cones of choice.

Once the sun goes behind the headland, it starts to really get chilly, so we agree it’s time to get back to the house and get a proper fire going, and prepare for Clare and Reg’s welcome home dinner.

While we waited for them, they were not due to arrive with Jan until after 9, we had a couple of rounds of Trivial Pursuit. Girls v Boys. Naturally the girls won! Well, they did give us a good run for their money though! Soon after 9, we see headlights.

It’s great to see Clare and Reg, we’ve not seen them for 5 weeks now, and it does feel like a long time. Jan picked them up, and had brought a Turkish friend, Usnu, along with her. A nice guy who owns a jewellery shop in Hisaronu, who spoke superb English and was very good company indeed.

After an excellent dinner and catch up with C&R, Pat enlists all our services to take down the Christmas decs, as tonight is twelfth night, so we put on the Christmas CD for the last time and collect all the trimmings, putting the various bits of holly and ivy foliage onto the crackling fire. By now everyone was getting a bit tired, so we transferred their baggage from Jan’s car to ours and said our goodnights to Pat & Chris thanking them for a wonderful evening, before we took C&R back to their house in Fethiye.

Hello All! Welcome back to the blog.

Before we recommence chapter two, I must just tell you about a wonderful walk we did before we went back to UK in December. It was a glorious Sunday, so we picked up Clare, Chris and Pat in the Toyota and headed to Gocek, which is a pretty little marina town on the way to Dalaman. In the cliffs behind Gocek is a great canyon walk which Iain and I had done a couple of years before with Canan, Erhan and Andre.

We thought we could remember the way so parked up by the Mosque and headed to the foot of the canyon. It was quite hard work climbing the rocks and scree and we couldn’t locate the path straight away and found ourselves doubling back a couple of times. Eventually we phoned Erhan, and he explained where the turn was, so back up we went (again) and there it was. As we climbed the views opened out and we could see the cove and Marina’s at Gocek stretching below us.

In true Turkish fashion we’d brought a picnic with us, and Pat had made fruit scones, so when we reached the top we found a suitable rock each and settled down to eat our lunch in the warm sun looking at the amazing view.

December saw us mostly back in the cold and windy South West, one of the highlights of which was M&D’s 40^th wedding anniversary party. A good time was had by all, and you’ve never seen so much food. Mum had worked really hard preparing a wide range of savoury delights, and planned entertainment for the children. Nan was in good form, looking gorgeously coordinated in a green outfit.

The following Friday we were booked to leave and had to contend with the upset and chaos that the British weather is so good at causing. This time fog was making it difficult for planes to taxi about the runaway, but fortunately for us most of the problems were at Heathrow and Stanstead, Gatwick being fairly OK. Nevertheless it took 2 hours of queuing to get to the front of the check-in desk. Once there the staff were so frazzled they didn’t get picky over the baggage allowance, so we didn’t have to pay any extras.

A four hour delay on the flight, meant we landed at 8am instead of the planned 2am. Better really as the dawn had broken and we were greeted by a lovely, clear but chilly day in Dalaman, and a warm welcome from Pat.

We’d had to leave our car with the customs people while we were out of Turkey, so Pat decided to try and see if we could get someone to release the car today (Saturday) rather than have to wait. She pleaded and conversed until the poor may agreed to phone the director for permission. He (or maybe she) was not so forthcoming and like De-Gaulle said Non. We’d have to come back Monday, which was Christmas Day. We explained that this was our big holiday, so that was not possible, so we settled on going there Boxing day.

Pat dropped us and our stuff back to Fethiye, and Nese and Ramazan helped us in with the bags. Nese said breakfast was ready, so we dumped the stuff and headed next door for a welcome Turkish brekkie and to catch up with all the gossip.

The next morning Pat had booked up a Sunday Breakfast at Yonca Lodge which is a beach side camp site in Yaniklar. After a well needed lie in, we got there at around 11.30, to find Pat and Chris and Jan waiting for us, sat around a table set up right in the sand on the beach. The sun was well up and warm and playing sparklies on the lapping tide. Perfect. The breakfast here is superb. Freshly cooked eggs to your preference, unlimited tea or coffee, cheeses, jams, breads, honey, olives, tomatoes, fresh orange slices, plus more that I’ve forgotten. We had a long and lazy brunch catching up on the last few weeks and left there around 2 or 3. Luckily we still had the scooter to get us around!

That afternoon, I spent making gift tags to go on the Christmas presents. I selected a photo of each person and added Christmas hats and beards, before printing them out. They looked fab.

Christmas day was spent at Pat and Chris’s with Jan and Mustafa. Pat and Chris had the house decorated with a tree and everything and excelled themselves with a fantastic meal. Jan brought her little carroty falafels for pre dinner nibbles, followed by a starter of pate and toast. Full roast Turkey with sausages and bacon, stuffing, bread sauce, mushroom sauce, sprouts, roasties – plus a few other veggies which I forget, followed. If that wasn’t enough there was Trifle and chocolate log for pudding.

Jan, Mustafa, Chris and Iain played Okey while Pat and I squared up the kitchen, and then we all relaxed with liqueurs by the fireside.

We stayed the night at Pat’s and after a lazy breakfast of the last of the bacon with eggs, we headed off in the gas fired monster to Dalaman to see if we could get the car out.

We arrived at about 11.20 and we told that we’d have to pay the parking charges before they could begin the paperwork and release the car. OK, no probs we said, here’s the cash. Oh no, we can’t handle money! Said they, you’ll have to pay the Maliye (which is the tax office). Here I had visions that we’d have to trek back to Fethiye – they do like to give you the run around in Turkey! No, no they said, there is a Maliye office in the arrivals section of the airport. As we turned to leave, Pat said, by the way, what time do you have your lunch? 12 til 1.30pm said the customs officer. It was now 11.30 – You’ll never make it back here before 12 he said with a twinkle. We’d already encountered this particularly unhelpful chappy when we’d tried to drop the car off before. Game on! Said Pat and we legged it to her car and sped around to the terminal.

There were no flights going in or out so the airport was really quiet. Pat and Iain ran into the terminal, through the security checks and searched for the little office that was tucked away around a corner. I waited with the car in case somebody needed to move us on. Within 3 minutes they were out and by 11.36 we were back in front of the desk with our little receipt. They were amazed, but the miserable little bloke had disappeared anyway. We were left with the rest of the office, and they were a much happier and friendlier bunch. It wasn’t long before the process was underway and we were all joking and laughing and making fun of the bureaucratic process. After much information giving and box signing we were taken out to the lot to retrieve the car. There were loads of other cars in the pound and we asked what happens to them. Apparently after a 3 month wait they are sent to Izmir and then sold.

We said thanks and farewell to the customs guys who by now had had so much fun with us they asked us to call in for tea any time we were at the airport.

With thanks to Pat we convoyed it out of the airport. On the way back we decided to stop and look at a Lycian rock tomb that we’d noticed by the roadside on the way over. These are quite impressively carved and crop up all over the mountain sides in this area. There is a particularly important one in the mountains behind Fethiye.

Next up, as the day was so beautiful, we thought we’d check out the beach at Inclice. It was a good sized sandy beach and absolutely deserted. We strolled up and on the way down saw a car driving along the beach side. The car stopped and inside was a friend we’d not seen for a while, Elaine! We said hello’s and met her friend Mavis. It’s amazing who you meet in the strangest out of the way places.

By now the afternoon was moving along and we had to get back to get ready to go to a Boxing day party at Stuart and David’s villa in Ovacik.

The wind really got up, and it was chilly waiting for the Dolmus. When it finally arrived it was packed, but a couple of Turkish guys got out from the front seats next to the driver so we could sit down – very kind. It was a nice new Mercedes Dolmus, and the guy had his heater on full pelt, so it was a cosy trip up the mountain. Walking to Stuart & David’s through the strong wind was hard as the dusk was flying into our eyes, and we saw someone’s solar panels flapping in the wind, barely held on by a few last remaining screws. We renewed our caution and kept an eye out for flying debris.

Stuart and David’s villa Lavanta is AMAZING. Very large, a self contained part downstairs, lovely open plan living area on a mezzanine and then 3 or 4 good bedrooms upstairs. They had it decorated really well, and the coup de gras was a sparkling silvery toilet seat! Very glam. We met old friends and new and partook of a wonderful buffet, which included a chocolate fountain with strawberries and marshmallows to dip in – brilliant!

We danced a little and David compered a ‘guess the TV theme tune’. They had a very well stocked drinks selection, and David offered us all to try the special Villa Lavanta Cocktail, which was Tequila and dried ants, yep you heard right, ants! From Harrods no less. Iain and I tried it and it was quite nice! The ants gave it a nice nutty tang. Next up we tried Absinthe. I’d never had this before and was interested to see what it was like, after hearing so many Parisian artists had lost their minds on it. It was really strong, and I decided to stop at a few sips.

The next few days were spent getting ready for the New Years Party, which we decided we’d host. Cleaning the house, doing invites and shopping. We asked people to bring a plate or a bottle to help with the catering.

Often the power goes off here, mainly during the day for a few minutes or so, but Thursday evening, the power went off around 7pm for a couple of hours. OK for us as we have the wood burner keeping us warm and candles and lamps to see by – quite cosy actually. We heard voices in the hallway and went to investigate to find Adem and Nese in about 6 layers of jumpers seeing Dilara out as she was going to see a friend.

Come over says we, it’s warm in our house – they are relying on the aircon to keep warm, and without power it’s no use. In they come and we sit and chat and have a few drinks in candle light. Nese told me that a neighbour across the street (Attic and Tenor), their daughter had just got engaged and that all the family was round – nearly 50 people in a very small living room. She said she was going to wait till maybe 11 before going over when most of them would have gone home, and did we want to go with her? Sure, why not. We’d met the family and they are really lovely people.

About 10 the power came back, so we all got changed and went over to the neighbours at about 10.30. Attic likes a drink, so immediately offered Iain and I a Jack Daniels (I demurely declined). Never a dull moment here.

We met Pat, Chris and Jan at Mustafa’s carpet shop in Paspatur (the old part of Fethiye) on Friday lunchtime, and Pat invited us over on Saturday night to sample her Turkey and mushroom pie. Not to be missed, we gratefully accepted. Next Jan asked if we’d pop up to Yakamoz to see her as she was having problems with her lappy, and getting skype and her headphones to work. In return she’d treat us to Fish and Chips at ‘Codswallop’in Hisaronu. Well I’m my father’s daughter, and F&C is always welcome, so we agreed to pop up and see her late afternoon. The F&C were excellent, as was the turkey pie!

Sunday saw us busy preparing the house and food for the party. Dead on 7pm, the Turkish contingent arrived laden with food, plates, cutlery, breads, wines, soft drinks and Raki. Very well organised. They all took there shoes off and had either brought slippers to wear, or clean shoes that they could wear indoors (to match their outfits of course). All the food was going in one room at the back, and then we set aside the other back room for dancing, and the front salon for backgammon and general chatting etc. The kitchen was for getting drinks and the smokers.

Pat and Chris had arrived at about 6.30 and helped with the final preparations. The part went well, and the British contingent turned up fashionably later bearing food, cakes and trifle! We learned during the evening that two of our Turkish guests, Attic and Nesrettin were celebrating their birthday today on the 31^st, so we hijacked the cake and Pat rammed a few household candles into it. Gathering everyone into the salon, we sang them happy birthday as they blew out a couple of candles each. The younger people happily entertained themselves in the back room doing Turkish dancing, while some of the men played backgammon tournaments and the rest of us circulated and chatted, grazing the magnificent buffet spread that we now had.

At 11, we gathered Adem, Ramazan and their families together to give them their Christmas presents. Normally they wait until midnight, but as it was a large party we thought it best to do it before hand. Elifnas was so pleased with the cardigan we’d got here she strutted around proudly, showing off to all and sundry. As before, I’d done labels with their pictures on and they were made up by them.

At midnight, David produced a CD of Big Ben and Auld Langs Eine, so we made a circle and joined crossed arms while we sang in the new year. Iain’s boss had very generously given him a bottle of Taittinger Champagne when he’d left and Jan provided a Turkish version, so we popped the corks and all toasted each other while exchanging new year kisses.

After an hour or so, people started to drift home, with the final people leaving around 2am. Chris and Pat helped as load the dishwasher and snap wrap the remaining food before we too retired to our beds.

And so, I think that brings us more or less up to date. The last couple of days have been spent cleaning the house (again) and catching up with this blog!

As a testament to ‘you never know what will happen next’ here, we have just spent another interesting afternoon. Initially at about 1pm, Nese knocked on the door to invite us in for coffee. On arrival we found Adem pouring a couple of Scotches for him and Iain. Not to be left out, I nipped home and retrieved the Port to Nese and I. As the aircon was on in their salon, we went in to the room to find they had rearranged all their furniture and it looked brilliant. The massive TV was on, so while Nese made the coffee, we nipped home again to see if we could find a good DVD to watch. We settled on I Robot, which was very impressive on their big TV and mega cinema surround speaker system. During the film Ramazan. Ebru and the girls popped round – Elifnas still in her Christmas Cardy.

Now, this year has been an unusual one for Muslim Turks as the Kurban Bayram – festival of the sacrifice began on New Years Eve. Many families came together to sacrifice their offerings of sheep, goats and sometimes cows. They donate most of the meat to the poor and the skins to the air force. These are picked up by representatives in open backed trucks who tour around the streets with loud hailers.

The neighbours from across the road, whose daughter had got engaged, and the father of which also had one of the NYE birthdays, announced at the party that they were sacrificing a very large turkey. They had looked for Adem to do the deed on Sunday, but he was out visiting family.

Adem and Iain were therefore now enlisted to sacrifice the turkey. It was HUGE! A very impressive white male turkey. They changed into suitable clothes and we all trouped around the corner to Attic’s house. Iain held the bird down while Adem wielded the knife. It was over in a flash and they then strung the beast up and began plucking it, followed by burning off the remaining smaller feathers.

The evicerated bird weighed in at around 18kg. It will be cooked tomorrow in the local Pide bread oven (as it is too big for any of us) and we're all going to eat together - it'll be like Christmas all over again!!

Until next time - Mutlu Yillar! happy New Year!