Sit down and make a pot of tea, this is a long one!

Monday morning, and the kitchen fitters turned up at about 10.30, with a truck load of cabinets. There were about 8 lads working, bringing them all up the stairs and into the house. They worked all day fitting the base units and then the wall units. Everything was going fine, until they realised that there was a recess in the wall that they hadn’t noticed. Eyup got the drill out and started to drill into the overhanging bit to hang the cupboard. Oops! The reason for the lower than expected recess was that it contained some kind of pipework, and we now had water seeping down the wall! Time out as they realised they would (a) have to repair the pipe and (b) take all the wall units for that side back to the workshop and cut out for the recess. Luckily the pipe was not mains water, but some kind of drain, so there was not too much water involved. We looked around upstairs but still to this day do not know what the drain is for, where it comes from or where it goes.

A couple of hours later and the boys are back with the modified units, and the drain hole is repaired. Before they left that first day at 8.30pm, all the carcasses were in.

With no kitchen facilities, we headed out to Kosem for fish and chips.

Next morning, and we go off to the granite man to make sure the stuff he has got is what we ordered. Iain, being Iain, had tried to get a discount from the man, but as the stuff is imported he wouldn’t play ball. Undeterred, Iain then asked if maybe the guy would throw in a ‘cucuk hediye’ which is Turkish for a ‘small present’. Iain was after a stand with feet to go under the woodburner to keep the heat off the laminate. Worn down, the man agreed. The granite was exactly as we’d ordered, and we gave them the go ahead to make the worktops.

We got back to the house to find two of the workmen busily attaching the door fronts and handles, then cutting and fitting the top cornice and the under unit pelmets.

After lunch a young man arrived from the granite shop to measure up.

At 4.30pm the oven and extractor arrived complete with service engineers to fit them.

While all this was going on Iain supervised and chatted to the boys, while I got on with making roman blinds.

Wednesday morning and all the units are finished, and we are expecting the granite to arrive and be installed. Pat popped by for lunch, which she brought! One of her delicious soups since we were unable to do much without kitchen, and not long after Clare and Rec popped by to see the state of the kitchen and say goodbye as they were off to Malaysia for a couple of weeks early the next morning. Rec was free for the afternoon, so he offered to hang on and help us with any details when the granite arrived, which it duly did at 13.45pm. There were 4 large pieces, each weighing a flipping tonne, which the three BSB’s had to carry up the stairs to our apartment. They had already cut out and stuck in the sink bowl. There was one main join to be cut on the long straight run, and they also had to cut out for the hob. Using angle grinders, no eye, ear or mouth protectors, they set about this causing an horrendous mess of fine granite dust. Once in place and levelled they joined each piece with apoxy and then set about doing the splashback edges and the window sill. Just as they were finishing the hob arrived from Ariston, but the granite boys said they still had to rub on a granite sealant fluid which would take an hour to dry before any more dust could be made, so Recep asked the engineer if he’d come back in an hour and a half.

After all that we thanked Rec and wished him a good holiday before heading back down the Kosem for, hell why not, fish and chips again!

Thursday was spent all day cleaning up. Every cupboard needed cleaning off from granite dust inside and out, on the sides and under shelves. A mammoth task. Iain zipped into town to pay Bekir for the appliances, and Eyup came over to plumb in the sink. He did a fair job, but had hardly any tools, so Iain had to supply most of what he needed. When he’d finished, we had a working sink and tap, but the joint leaked.

We headed back down to the Kosem, for our third meal that week – Iain couldn’t resist fish and chips…again! But I went for lamb chops and they were gorgeous.

It was quiz night, so we stayed and played, and came a rather predicable last.

On Friday we were both feeling pretty tired, but Iain went off to the bank for the money to pay the granite man and the kitchen guys. We then headed into town to meet up with Pat and Chris at Mustafa’s carpet shop. While we chatted and Chris and Mustafa played backgammon, Mustafa’s nephew, another Bekir, went off to the bakery and came back with a great selection of little cakes to have with the seemingly endless stream of tea and coffee – delicious. After a very relaxing couple of hours, we headed back home, and Iain had a couple of hours napping.

The kitchen now in commission, I cooked my first meal – aubergine cannelloni, stuffed with cream cheese and herbs – fabulous.

Saturday, and we were still waiting for the tiling, electrics and a few last minute items, so we decided to clear all the old kitchen units off the front balcony and give the dining room it’s second coat of red paint. Half way through, Jan called and we made a plan to meet up and go and see the Holiday at the cinema, with dinner afterwards. We all really enjoyed the film which is partly set in England, and then had a nice meal at Pasha Kebab, where I had a delicious Ottoman lamb casserole, and Iain had a mixed grill – letting Jan have his liver kebab. Walking home, we were passed in the car by Atik and his family, who’d finished work for the day. They waited for us on the other side of the junction, and said, hey, wanna pop over for a nightcap? Love to, said we, and walked on back to theirs instead of home. This was going to be a bit of a challenge for us, as normally we see them with Adem and Nese or with Ramazan, and they help out with the language side of things. Without our helpful friends, we were going to have to make conversation n Turkish. Atik and his family are really friendly, and welcoming, and Atik likes a drink. He said to me, what would you like..Raki, Whiskey or beer? It was quite late, after eleven, so I said I wouldn’t mind a tea, but he just said, Raki, Whiskey or beer again, so I thought, what the hell, I’d like a whiskey! So we sat around and chatted in Turkish, sipping Jim Beam and coke, and nibbling on snacks of mixed nuts, sliced avocado and stuffed vine leaves which Tenor brought out. We had a great night, and felt really pleased with ourselves at having been able to make conversations in our pidgin Turkish.

Sunday, and Iain’s birthday. Pat and Chris were doing dinner, Iain’s favourite – a curry and before that we’d planned a canyon walk in the area behind Yaniklar. It was a lovely sunny and warm day, so we started off early and spent an hour sitting by the beach at Calis watching the blokes fishing and the Turkish families promenading after their late breakfasts. Lunch of soup with Pat, Chris and Jan and then we headed up the dirt tracks to find the walk. Iris’s and bee orchids were flowering and we descended through a sandalwood forest down to the foot of the canyon. The views were amazing, the sun was shining and after the rains we’d had the days before there was snow on the mountain ranges in the distance.

The bad news when we got to the river at the bottom of the canyon, was that the bridge had been washed away. The river was too fast flowing and wide to cross, so we had no choice but to head back the way we’d come. Iain speeded off, with Pat, Jan and I took a more leisurely pace back up. By the time we’d got to the top and the track, Iain was waiting with the car to take us home.

Gals versus Guys at Trivial pursuit preceded an excellent dinner, and Iain got to open his birthday gifts. We stayed the night with Pat and Chris, and then headed back to Fethiye early afternoon to see if the tiler was coming.

Pat and Chris were expecting Audrey, a very spritely 72 year old, who lives part of the year in Australia and part of the year in Kalkan, a pretty hillside resort further around the coast from us. On Tuesday morning, they popped by for coffee and to introduce us, before heading off to the market. About 3pm. Saban arrived with the tilers, and they started work. The next morning saw rain, and the tilers back again to grout. Adem helped Iain move the heavy marble sink upstairs, and then the cast iron woodburner. After all the hard work I made a round of Turkish coffee for the three of us and Nese.

We’d been having an intermittent problem with bad drain smells, and Ferit had asked Adem if he could sort it out. We mulled over what could be done, and then, after coffee, Adem and Iain went off to investigate. After getting into the inspection hole, which rather Turkishly had been tiled over, they could see the problem was the absence of a ‘U’ bend. Off they went to the plumbing supplies shop, and returned some time later with a guy who’d agreed to fix it. We had gardening club to go to, so left Adem overseeing the workman.

Gardening club, this month, involved going to the University in town, and meeting the horticultural faculty. Over 20 English people gathered and we were all shown into the restaurant which had been laid out conference style. Pat provided translation services, and they lecturers were able to answer questions about pruning and other queries that people raised. They provided us with tea and biscuits, and then showed us around their greenhouses. The rain was lashing down.

When we got back home, we met Adem and Nese going out to the supermarket, and since we were planning to get the woodburner going, we invited them in for dinner when they got back. While Iain lit the fire, and sorted out the electric sockets in the kitchen, I made meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta for dinner.

We were just about to sit down to dinner, when we heard Adem’s doorbell – he went out to see who it was and found Omur, from the flat below us. Apparently they were suffering from smoke coming through their chimney hole and did Adem know where it could be coming from? Ooops! Must be us! We put the fire out, and promised to sort it out the next morning. We’d had the fire lit loads of times before, but Ferit and Omur had been away in Izmir, so goodness knows what had gone on in their flat while they’d been away!

In the morning, Iain and Adem investigated the chimney, there was a small blockage and it seems all three flats share the same flue. The locked up the bottom of the flue and Adem blocked up the chimney hole in Ferit’s living room. That should solve the problem. While the lads worked on this, I sat down with Nese to bring the house accounts up to date.

That evening, we went to Calis where there was being held a meeting with Foreign residents and representatives from the Council. We stayed for an hour to inform our article for FethiyeTimes, before heading off to Pat & Chris’s where they had had Mustafa & Bekir over to Dinner with Audrey.

Eyup was supposed to be doing the plumbing and electrics for us, but after the leaking water pipe, we decided that we would probably be better off doing this ourselves, so Iain sources some wire, switches and other electrical bits and pieces and we worked out a scheme to make it all work, and be tidy and safe.

Pat and Chris invited us to spend the weekend with them and Audrey and we planned that after lunch we’d go to the beach and collect driftwood for the fire, before heading on to Gocek. When Saturday came, the weather had turned overcast and rainy, so we decided to stay in and light the fire early, and have another Trivial Pursuit match. Ahmet Kizen, an Instanbul Architect who lives in Yaniklar and runs an organic holiday farm, had been planning to have a ‘film night’ for quite sometime now, and tonight was to be the first event. Around 5.30, we all headed up the dirt track to his farm and met and mingled with the other guests while another Ahmet set up the screen, laptop and projector. We were a small and interesting group of around 13. Iain and I finally met Farouk Akbash, who is a very talented photographer. He is currently working on his latest book which is about flowers in Turkey. We told him of the flowers and orchids we’d seen the weekend before and he was interested to go and get some photo’s. He’d originally planned to walk from Kaya to Oludeniz on the Sunday (a walk that nearly finished Pop’s off, when we took him!), but after some discussion, he decided to change his plans and would Iain be willing to take him up to the gorge and show his the flowers. Of course!

After the pot-luck meal (which we weren’t aware of) we settled down by a large crackling fire and watched Babel.

The next morning Iain headed off to meet Farouk and party by the mosque, while Pat, Audrey and I headed off to Calis market for a bit of retail therapy – vedge style, before returning and spending the afternoon reading in the sun in the garden and chatting, before Pat took Audrey off to town to catch her bus back to Kalkan.

Iain was back about 4.30 and reported that Farouk had been very pleased with the flowers he’d seen and got some great shots for his book. They had also continued up the mountainside and found a really enchanting waterfall with about three of four levels of pools. He’d had a great time.

Jan was invited over for dinner, and Pat said we could stay another night if we wanted. Well, why not! It’s very peaceful and relaxing with them, and we are so well looked after! Another fun evening spent burning the driftwood piles and setting the world to rights before heading off to bed. Chris is a marvel, and had put a hottie in for us. As I went to bed, I could see the bulge in the bed, thinking it was the hottie, I gave it a smack. It seemed larger and more solid than a normal hottie, so I lifted the covers to investigate. Sticking out from inside the duvet cover was a very small ginger and white paw..Ahhh, so that’s were Giles the ginger Tom went!

Next morning, after another fine breakfast of fried eggs on toast and homemade jams, Iain and Chris decided to tackle the mulberry tree which sheds leaves and sticky fruits all over the seating platform in the garden, while Pat showed me how to make the delicious lentil soup that is one of her specialities.

After lunch, we had to tear ourselves away from the rural idyll and head for home, before heading up to Ovacik to help Jan with her ADSL problems.

Tuesday morning and Saban arrives with a bundle in newspapers. This must be our glass shelves! He gets one out and it is cut very roughly and badly. We have to send him away, and he promises to send the glass man around directly to us to sort it out.

We still have to sort out under unit lighting, so he head of to the shops to suss prices and options. We also chase the shop where we’ve ordered a new tap. After this, we drop in on Mike and Jean who have a beautiful bungalow villa in the hills behind Fethiye.

Next day, we decide on and order the lights and pick up the tap, which has now arrived, before heading home to install it. Another job ticked off. I spend the rest of the afternoon making coleslaw and Moussaka for our dinner in my spanking new kitchen.

We pop up and see Jan again on Thursday, and while there meet a lovely couple, Dogan and Nicky, and talk about setting up a photography for fun group. They travel the country collecting unusual Turkish bits and pieces to sell from their beachside stall in Oludeniz. For dinner, Jan suggests we go into Hisaronu and have fish and chips at Codswallop. These are just as good as we get in the Kosem, but quite a bit pricier.

The lights are in on Friday, so Iain collects them and we set about wiring them in. Jan is still having ADSL problems, now narrowed down to a dodgy telephone wire, so she pops in after her weekly errands and sorts her email and bookings out from here.

Don’t despair – nearly up-to-date!

This weekend, we spent with Chris and pat again. Iain and Chris wanted to prune a few more trees, so they set about trying to get the chainsaw working. It proved unwilling. So back to sawing by hand. During the operation, Iain extended himself at a funny angle and felt a twinge in his back. Work ceased and we decided to call it a day and head off to the beach in search of driftwood. It was a lovely afternoon and we collected sticks, waded into the sea and got a small beach fire going. As Iain bent to pick up a stick, he felt a really bad twinge in his back, not good. We sipped cold beers and poked the fire while Iain tried to stretch himself out.

The sun was waning, so he hauled the wood back to the car, Iain almost hobbling along, and headed for home. Another Trivial Pursuit match, and the boys levelled the score at 3 all.

The next morning, Jan was over early to use Pat’s ADSL, before we all headed off in search of the waterfalls Iain had found the weekend before. His back still sore, Pat said she knew of a German woman in the village who does a bit of physio, so first off the three of us headed off to see if she was in and could help. We were out of luck, the place seemed locked up. We weren’t planning on doing too much walking so we went back to the house and picked up Jan and Chris before heading off up the dirt track into the hills behind Yaniklar. First stop was to show Chris the gorge, and see the bee orchids and other flowers. We journeyed on to the waterfalls which we decided was a perfect picnick spot, so while Pat and Iain to a lesser extent made a fire, Chris, Jan and I climbed up to inspect the higher pools and falls. Stunning. Soon the fire was reduced to coals, so we came back down and made sojuk kebabs, with left over coleslaw, Jan’s Greek salad, and Pat’s yoghurt and walnut cake for afters – great fun and very Turkish of us!

We followed the dirt track stopping here and there to look at interest scenery, plants and what not. We seemed to be going for ages, before we eventually hit the main road. We must have made a wrong turn somewhere (not that there were any signs!), and we’d overshot ourselves by about 5km, coming out near Dalaman and on the other side of the Gocek tunnel! No matter, civilisation was now in sight, so we drove through the tunnel and were soon enjoying a cold beer on the marina side in Gocek – definitely worth waiting for.

Well, the last two weeks certainly have been busy!

After deciding the appliances we wanted, we headed back into town to the spot shop, and chatted to Bekir who runs the place. One of the items, the hob, we’d found in the Ariston catalogue he gave us. The other two – oven and extractor were Beko but we asked if he could get those too. He got on the phone to his suppliers and secured all three, with a sizeable saving on the prices we’d been quoted. He told us they’d be here in a week, and to pay him later – after they’d arrived. Great.

Don’s 65^th Birthday is coming up this year, and he and Ann will be abroad, so they were having a pre-birthday party this coming weekend (3 Feb), so we next called into a lady who makes cards to see if she could do something for us. We agreed that I’d do the art work and email it over, and she’d print it up, ready for Saturday, magic.

Time for a well earned G&T, so we headed for the Kizmet, where we ran into Ronnie, an ex-diver and now local estate agent, to find him there with his family, excited about the prospect of running their own new venture – an Irish pub in Calis.

In the morning we awoke to discover that Ferit and Omur, our neighbours who live below us, had returned from Izmir, with their new baby daughter, Omay.

Having decided on and ordered the kitchen appliances, we drove down to Saban’s workshop in the Sanayii, to give them the dimensions. Work on the carcasses was nearly finished and the doors had arrived. They were all set to start the installation on Monday.

The weather turned really cold, and a rainy day in Fethiye, produced snow capped mountains the following morning, and a bracing northerly wind. It appeared Ann and Don had picked what was probably going to be the coldest night for their party. They’d invited about 20 people, and I loaned Ann my slow cooker so she could make a large batch of chilli to go with jacket spuds to feed everyone. She also made a couple of lovely trifles and chicken liver pate. A very pleasant evening was had, and we were able to catch up with Denise, who’d been living in Fethiye when we were out for the year, and we’d met while walking.

She had a sad tale to tell. She’d sold her house in Ovacik, and bought a troglodyte cave in Cappadocia with a view to converting it into a pansiyon (like a B&B). Foreigners can’t actually buy the caves in their own name, but she’d fallen in love with a Turkish man, and they agreed to take on the project together. Work had gone well, but the relationship broke down, and it now seemed she’d have a battle on her hands to get her money back.

Sunday morning, saw Euyp come over to ‘sort out the plumbing’. I wanted to move the sink to a position under the window where currently resided a radiator. Within 40 minutes the entire old kitchen was taken down and relocated on the balcony. Eyup reckoned that the plumbing would be easy to do later, so sealed up and removed the radiator ready for us to give to Ramazan.

We have a problem with our telephone line, and in order to make it work, Iain has joined a cable directly to the junction box downstairs and run the line up the outside of the building and in through the window. Not ideal, but it works. Iain had spent ages one day trying to figure out where the wires came into the house, but concluded that the connections must be broken. Adem had told us that Eyup was an electrician and could sort our phone line out. So, he and Iain spent about 2 hours trying to locate the wires and make it work, but to no avail.

That evening we had been invited to dinner by Stuart and Dilek so we got washed and changed and headed out in the last of the afternoon sun to walk into town. Stuart and Dilek have a lovely house in the old part of Fethiye, with an amazing view over the harbour. They’d just bought a new wood burner, which had an integral oven space and the whole meal was busily bubbling away while heating the room up. Dilek is pregnant with her first child, which is expected in March and it was good to catch up on all the news. We were delighted to discover that they’d also invited Gordon and Clarissa, who we didn’t know were over. Clarissa has been unwell since the middle of last year, when she was diagnosed with cancer, and we hadn’t seen then since before then.

Dinner was excellent, lentil soup, followed by slow roasted chicken with Mediterranean vegetables. We had a busy day ahead of us, as on Monday the guys were coming to install the kitchen, so we said our goodnights and walked back home.