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!