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.

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.