Rantings from a Tired & Grumpy Old Woman

It’s fair to say that I’ve been a tired grumpy old woman this week. Mind you, so has Phil. Where once he was the most patient man I’d ever met, this last year, he has turned into Victor Meldrew. The reason for this week’s grumpiness I guess is down to post holiday blues. The weather hasn’t helped though; it’s been a shit summer so far. Sunshine definitely does help the soul!

It has been a flat week with only a few highlights. The first one was when Julia and Jack turned up on Monday night as arranged. Phil spent most of Monday shopping and cooking up a chilli con carne and a lasagne, a baked potato, a nice salad and some tasty garlic bread. Harriet came round for a drink after work to see Aunty Julia and cousin Jack but she didn’t stay for dinner. We had a nice evening and even managed to sit outside in the garden for a bit.

In spite of the weather we managed to cut the grass at the NH house and the OB flat. I pulled up the weeds and popped them into the green bin. Phil got the PAYE done and the VAT return sorted and in the post. He also managed to get started on his OU TMA which is due in a couple of weeks. It won’t be an easy TMA because most of his work is stored on the water logged laptop, which as I type, is sitting in the airing cupboard. Steve B suggested that we try and gently dry it out, but so far there is no life in it. Phil phoned Rashmi and he is kindly digging out the receipt from the 2008 / 2009 accounts and is putting it in the post. Once we receive this, Phil can take it back to Staples and try and get a repair done under the guarantee. He is not going to tell them about the water spillage which I think is a mistake. From what I’ve read on the internet, it’s a specific kind of specialist for water damage and I think he would do best to come clean in the first place, if he has any chance of recovering his hard drive. But still, it’s his call.

The Friday before we left for Kalkan we managed to finish off the OB flat just in time for Adam from Morgan’s to come and give us a valuation. He valued it at a rental value of £725 pcm which for unfurnished or at least part furnished at best, was a bit on the high side. Phil said we’d give it a go for a few weeks and handed over the keys. We had a call whilst we were on holiday to see if we would accept £675pcm and we said we would but nothing came of it. I got Phil to phone Morgan’s on Tuesday to see whether they had found a tenant and they told Phil that no one so far and that it was quiet because of the holidays.

I said to Phil “Huston we have a problem” as normally when we view a refurbished flat, everyone that views wants to take it. We came to the conclusion that we need to dress it up some more with some furniture so on Monday we are going to take the double bed from the spare room at the NH house and the brown leather 2 seater sofa from the main bedroom and ship these over to OB flat. It’s a shame really because it may detract from when we come to market the NH house but we can always take the bed from the Cranfield bungalow when it becomes vacant on the 10th September. Perhaps Phil and I should go the whole hog and buy a white van and go into furniture removals. We could have a big sign on the side of it that reads “Man and Wife with Van”. Just a thought, albeit a silly one at this time of the morning!

Aside from cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, gardening, housework and cooking, it's been a fairly uneventful week. Phil’s diving Padi certificate and card arrived in the post yesterday and he was feeling very proud of himself. Thank god his bottom is better, I couldn’t stand all the moaning and groaning. Now he is back to his old self, passing wind and sitting on the loo all the time. Joy!

Phil has been scouring the property paper and arranged for us to do a couple of viewings on Wednesday. The first house was a 3 bed mid terrace in Wolverton where a little old lady had lived for the past 56 years. Her husband has died and she is looking to go into sheltered accommodation. I felt sorry for her but the house had no central heating and the area wasn’t good for either rental or re-sale. The second house was a 2 bed mid terrace on the Riverside estate in Bletchley which came complete with polystyrene tiles on all the ceilings. Complete wreck inside and everything needed changing. It didn’t do anything for me, parking was a problem and I don’t like Bletchley so it’s a no no from me.

Phil has his eye on another house in Downs Barn. The agent has given him the address and we are going to suss it out today. Phil says he may knock on the door because the vendor is pissed off with the agent as his last 2 sales have fallen through. I don’t blame him, I would be annoyed but I’m not sure that knocking on the door is such a good idea. Phil likes to drive around his favourite estates looking for ‘For Sale’ boards. It was whilst we were on our way back from an estate drive that as we drove over a sleeping policeman on Tower Drive, there was a loud crunching sound from underneath the car and we were forced to stop.

Phil got out of the car to see if anything had dropped off but nothing had so he got me running alongside the car as he drove slowly to see if anything was hanging down. There wasn’t so we limped home and phoned http://www.rescuemycar.com/ The rescue man came out within the hour and put it straight on the truck and drove it to the Land Rover garage in Whaddon. Yesterday we picked up the courtesy car, another Freelander and we have yet to hear what the damage is and when we’ll get Phil’s car back.

Today I am going to the healthclub, I’ve got Vanessa coming round for a coffee late morning and after lunch we’re going shopping for supplies. We have got Jill and Tony coming tomorrow night so we can handover their villa keys. Phil’s going to organise an Indian meal cooked by his friend Dolly and no doubt the talk around the dinner table will be all about Kalkan. Oh I wish I was still there.

My bum’s better

You will all be pleased to hear that my bum is finally better. It was still very painful right to the end of our holiday in Turkey but then on the plane it took a turn for the better. I got a massive bout of wind which seemed to do the trick and now I’m back to normal. I have never had such wind in my life; I couldn’t stop all the way home. At one time I almost didn’t need to breathe out, just breath in through my mouth and out down there.

Sorry we couldn’t finish the holiday blog off but, as Claire explained, we got the computer wet on the boat trip and it hasn’t worked since. Just need to find the receipt now so it can go back to the menders. I took my watch back Monday so I don’t know what time it is anymore. Since we got back we have been doing odd jobs here and there, around the flat, in the garden mending the gate and fence, concreting a washing line support, cutting grass etc. Of course we have had to stop and start with the weather, dodging the rain. We will put Jim and Shirley’s on the market at the end of the holidays as not much happens at this time of year. I have rang around all the agents today and register with all of them so we can buy another one, renovate and sell on straight away. None of them had anything suitable when I rang and John Woollett didn’t have any houses to sell at all but they have got an auction on 25th September so I registered for that and they will send me the auction pack when its available. Looking forward to that, never been to one before so our plan is to visit everything at the auction and set our price for them without bidding and see what they go for. See if any go for less than what we think its worth and how many go for more. Especially as our favorite TV program is “Homes under the hammer” at the moment.

To sum up Turkey I would say that its hot, pretty, hilly and getting quite expensive, especially in the area we stayed in but that has the added bonus of keeping the rabble out so, although touristy, they seem a better class of tourists in that area. There is a lot to see, lots to do, plenty of history and really good food, we didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there. The quality of the fruit and vegetables are superb, really fresh and tasty. The tomatoes and melons are especially tasty and cheap. There are loads of islands that are cheap to visit with boat trips going out every day. The couple that shared a taxi with us to the airport when on the boat to Meis, the largest of the local islands and its Greek so you could change your diet for the day. We didn’t get around to them this time but if we ever go back we definitely will be seeing a few of them and maybe I could go on a dive again if everything holds out. I don’t want another ruptured fart chamber.

The first two pictures are taken in “The Lounge”, in the end our favorite place which only opened this year. The owner was ordering me Raki’s at the end of the night, not good when you are on your bike. They have a small band on everyday and the place is very clean and modern and has excellent food at sensible prices. You must try this if you are in Kalkan. The next 4 pictures are from the boat trip which is good value for money if you come here. The owner’s son waiting to throw out the anchor, some people covered in mud on Green island or “Grinch” island as the son said. If you get off there be sure to take some shoes as it was impossible for me to even stand up without them. These massive hornets kept attacking me thinking I was immobile but I managed to swat one of them and killed it with my long floaty thing. Trouble is when another one discovered the dead one, she came back with 3 mates to have a real go at me, I was swinging the float around my head for a couple of minutes before they went away. The next one is of Kalkan harbor from the boat and the last one is Kalkan dive centre from the boat where I got my open water certificate. This area is actually Kalamar beach and we stayed a couple of rows higher; I can actually see our place but its difficult to point it out. The next photo is taken from the dive centre and the one after is from our balcony one evening when we seemed to have a little meeting outside. The last one just shows how great the views are in this area; this was taken from the gent’s toilet in the Kalamar hotel; I wish we had views like that from our toilet.

Go and visit this area sometime, its well worth it and if anyone wants to know more about the villa that we stayed in just contact us on this blog and we will pass you over to our friends Jill and Tony who own it. Thanx very much Jill and Tony for letting us stay there, we loved it. I’ve left you a couple of beers for when you go back next month.

Last few days in Kalkan

Phil did a brilliant job of blogging about our adventures in Kalkan so you may wonder why all went quiet at the end of our holiday. Well, the simply reason was that the water bottle leaked in the rucksack and water went into Phil’s laptop and when we went to switch it on when we got home from the boat trip, there was no power, nothing, the whole thing was caput. Phil’s laptop is only a few months old and we are slightly worried, because we know from breaking the screen on the little laptop that we are not covered on the insurance. The new laptop is still under guarantee so we are hoping that we can get it fixed and Curry’s can recover the hard disk.

Back to our last few days in Kalkan. After posting the blog at the Kelsan Kebap and sharing a turkish breakfast we stepped aboard the Sunset Boats vessel. We were meant to go on a different boat but they had sold out for a private party which is their prerogative I guess. We were a bit miffed at first but we managed to bag the best sun beds on the top deck and after a few minutes we figured the Sunset Boat was just as good as the one we’d previously picked. There were 12 people on board, all of us English. It felt most luxurious as we’d sailed out of Kalkan Bay heading out first of all to Mouse Island. Phil felt a little sick which probably wasn’t helped by the fact that we were settled at the top of the boat. The Sunset Boat first stopped at Mouse Island. This was basically a bunch of rocks, obviously no habitation on the little island. The captain said this was our chance for a free swim and snorkel and just about everyone jumped or dived off the boat. Phil did a little snorkelling and we spent a very pleasant half an hour.

When the captain gave the signal, everyone climbed on board and we set sail for Green Beach. Phil was feeling more nauseous by the minute and felt slightly better when he lied down. After a while we reached Green Beach which was again, another pile of mountainous rocks and essential a small uninhabited island. We also learnt that this was the place where they do the ‘mud’ thing. Basically the captain’s son jumps off the boat and when he got to the rocks he collected a bucket of mud from inside one of the small holes in the rocks. There were several other boats anchored around, all doing the same practice.

Phil jumped off the boat and swam to the rock shore, along with most of the others. He didn’t fancy a mud rub down so he just sunbathed on the shore watching the others. I didn’t fancy being covered with mud so I watched from the boat. I did initially jump off and swim to the shore but it was rocky that I couldn’t stand up so I decided to swim back to the boat. And actually I was glad I did as it turned out there was a nest of hornets near to the shore and I could see Phil frantically swatting them. There were a few swarming around the boat so I had to slide back to the bottom of the boat near to the Captain, in case of attack.

After the mud thing was all over, everyone came back to the boat and the Captain and his son served up lunch which was rice, meatballs, bread, salad, vegetables and chips. It was quite tasty, not the best Turkish food I have tasted but very well presented and freshly cooked. We had Kevlova for pudding and fresh fruit salad plus whatever drinks you wanted. Phil had a soft drink because he was still feeling a little queasy, I had a couple of beers and we got chatting to the couple next to us and the captain who was nice man.

After lunch was cleared away, we settled on our sunbed and the captain set sail to Camal Stone, so called because the 2 rocks are meant to resemble a camal. Personally, I couldn’t see the connection, but it didn’t really matter because I was having a lovely time on the boat. After the camals, we then set sail for Kalamara Bay where we were served up with tea and cakes, very English. We finally got back into Kalkan Bay just before 5 o’clock. The whole trip cost us around 17 quid a head, which was remarkably cheap for a whole day out. After we got off the boat we went to Kelsen Kebab restaurant for a drink and a light supper and then it was back to the villa for an early’ish night.

On Friday morning we went to look at a couple of flats with an agent in the centre of Kalkan http://www.emaestate.com/ The flat we spotted in the window which was a 2 bed top floor apartment for £54K turned out not to be in the block that we first thought it was in. The flat turned out to be another block which was rather old and run down. We weren’t impressed with the inside either. We looked at another couple of flats nearer to Kalkan centre but we didn’t like those either. Jill sent me an email to say that one of the owners in their block was interested in selling at what seems a reasonable price. But on reflection if we buy I think we’d want something that needs refurbishing as opposed to something that’s finished. I dunno, we certainly won’t rush in and will need to do some research on the net if we decide to buy in Kalkan.

We went to eat at Adams restaurant just on the road to Kash overlooking the sea. The menu was impressive but not cheap and although our meal was very nice, I didn’t think it reflected on the cost of each dish. But it was still tasty, we had the whole terrace to ourselves and the beer was cold. What more could a girl want? After lunch we went back to the pool and chilled. It wasn’t planned but we ended up driving into town for our ‘last’ meal. We decided on the Lounge Bistro halfway down the road to the harbour in Kalkan. They had a guitar vocalist who was later joined by a band, they were very good. Phil chose a chicken dish which he said was delicious whilst I went for a ‘lounge’ burger which although not an adventurous choice, tasted lovely. We loved it at the Lounge bistro, food was superb, service was excellent and the live music was a bonus. We had a great night and ended up being the last to leave at 2pm. God knows how Phil managed to drive the bike back to the villa but thankfully we made it back in one piece.

A hangover on going home day was not the best idea but we lingered in bed with our books for a few hours and then got up and got started on the cleaning and packing. There wasn’t a lot to do, just cleaning, sweeping and mopping. After we finished we got on the bike and went down to the harbour for lunch. We decided to try the top terrace at the Saffron Restaurant. Good food and excellent service but again, a bit on the pricey side. That said though, the terrace had a terrific view and the toilets were fabulous and well equipped.

After lunch we went back to the villa for a shower and a last minute cleanup. Phil drove the back packs up to the Hotel Kalamara ready which was where we were being collected for our airport transfer and then he came back for me and we went into town to drop off the bike. Luckily the rental owner didn’t spot the indicator which we’d had to glue back on when the bike fell over but Phil had to pay for an extra day’s hire which was no big deal. We then went next door to the BarBQ bar to watch the Grand Prix qualifying with a last couple of EFES beers. As soon as the qualifying finished we jumped into a taxi to the Kalamar hotel to wait on our transfer to the airport.

I’d had to reconfirm our transfer the day beforehand and queried why we were being picked up so early. The Customer Service lady told me that the collection time was correct and I couldn’t negotiate a later time. We were picked up in a nice air conditioned minibus and another couple were already on board. This time the driver was sober and we made it to Fetiaye in record time. When we got to Fetiaye or somewhere on the outskirts we were turfed out of the minibus and squashed into a car along with the other couple. When we got talking to them we realised why we had been picked up so early. They were flying to Manchester and had a flight time 2 hours earlier than ours. I have to say, I wasn’t impressed, especially when we got to Dalaman airport to find that our flight was delayed. This meant we had 5 and a half hours to kill.

Phil was not a happy bunny; he’s not very good at return journeys at the best of times so you can imagine how grumpy he was. We understand that Dalaman airport is new but we weren’t terribly impressed with it. Check-in wasn’t too painful neither was passport control but the price of food and drink is extortionate. You expect to be ripped off at airports but Dalaman airport just takes the biscuit. Phil paid £10 for a burger king meal for me, albeit it reluctantly, and he paid £11 for one large beer and one small beer in the bar. We sipped our beers very slowly and deliberately because we knew we had to make them last!

We finally board the plane at 12.15pm Turkish time. We managed to get cat naps here and there but the flight was packed and we had a baby in the seat in front of us and a family wriggling and squiggling in their seats behind us. The flight of 4 and half hours was otherwise uneventful and we landed at Luton airport just before half past 2 in the morning. Harriet and Shane were waiting in the drop off point when we finally stumbled out with our cases at 3pm. I felt very bad that they’d had to stay up late and I think had I of known that we were going to be delayed I would have booked a taxi back. It’s just not fair and I so hate to put people out. We finally got into bed at half past four, absolutely shattered and unfortunately for Phil I was in the wide awake club at 6.30.

Needless to say that we were shattered all of yesterday. I had the washing/dryer machine on all day and Phil dropped me off to collect my car the OB flat and then I went to Tesco’s for some basic supplies. I couldn’t think what food we needed so will have to go back again today. In the afternoon Phil settled on the sofa to watch the Hungary Grand Prix and I went to Christine’s for a girl’s late luncheon. We were lucky with the weather and after a glass of Pimms we settled in the garden for a lovely lunch of lasagne, baked spuds, salad and also salmon on a bed of couscous. The sweets looked delicious but I 2 servings of the main and I was stuffed. It was nice because Janet was there so it was good to catch up with her. I met some of Christine’s friends that I met before also a couple of new friends. Unfortunately I don’t think I was very good company, I was so, so tired, it was almost like having an out of body experience. It was a nice afternoon but I was the first to leave just after 5pm, I was just knackered. We stayed up for a few hours but had an early night, we were exhausted. I can report that we both slept like logs and hopefully today we can get everything will be back to normal.

Well, I say back to normal, normal being one hundred million things to do and I already feel overwhelmed with my list. Some things just never change. I have got my sister Julia coming to stay tonight with my nephew Jack. It’s a shame the weather is so dismal because we would have done a B-B-Q on the patio but I suppose this is England so we shall have to have supper inside. It’s such a change from the sunny blue skies in Kalkan that I already wish I was back there.

It’s a long way to Kekova

We had a walk around the harbour last night looking for a boat trip to organise before we come home. Most we tried to start with were fully booked until next week as it is now high season. We had to walk to the end before we found one that could fit us in for tomorrow on Thursday. We paid our deposit and he gave us a receipt which said it was for Friday so he took it back and changed it to Tuesday. I said we want Thursday and all was well third time lucky. They seem a nice little family with a small boat that can only take 12 passengers. He did tell us where we will be going but all I can remember is Snake Island. We had a couple of drinks in a quite posh bar and Claire felt uncomfortable so we decided not to eat and come home. I think I put too much vodka in Claire’s drink before we came out. As we felt a bit peckish we stopped off at the Chinese restaurant on the way back. Don’t bother, it was probably the worst Chinese I have ever had and with very grumpy service and also it wasn’t cheap.

We set off first thing without putting the daily blog on before we left as we had a long bike ride ahead of us; we set of for Kekova which a bit too far for that little bike we have. Lovely views over Kas as the road made its way over the mountain. We almost turned back as there seemed no end to the journey but we did soldier on until we got there. It’s very pretty but there was nowhere to park in the harbour so we had to head on out and find this little weird place that was obviously a homemade sort of tree house. I did manage to get a couple of photos on the way back up the hill again but it was very hot and a bit misty today.

We seemed to get back allot quicker than we got there and stopped off at our favourite restaurant on the peninsular called Akropol; we really highly recommend this place with stunning views and excellent food. We both had the fillet steak as it is probably the best in Turkey and with it we ordered Austrian fried potatoes with onions and a Mexican salad. Claire opted for the pepper sauce and I tried the Mexican one.

Mmmmm the highlight of the day! Looking forward to our boat trip now.

Lantoon Lagoon and “Pants Man”

My bum is still bad I’m afraid so won’t be going diving this holiday. And guess what? I now have the shits as well.

We did decide to go to the beach today and the place is called Lantoon and guess what? There is yet another Amphitheatre there. There must have been allot of Christians living around this area to support so much entertainment when the Romans were here. Shortly after Lantoon you cross the river and the road then track follows it to the sea where there is a very long sandy beach that goes all the way to Pataya. Unfortunately we couldn’t walk very far as we had the river in the way. I suppose there must be a way across it somewhere back along the track, but never mind we did see Pants Man while we were there.

We decided to head back to the mountains for lunch at Chops in the mountains where Claire had Chicken Chops and I had Lamb chops. Not so good today, the best place for chops so far has been Kalsan kebabs. In fact we will have a night out tonight around the harbour night. We are almost at the end of our holiday and so far only had one night out so we are quite looking forward to it.

On our way back down the mountain Claire wanted to stop and look at the log cabins with a pool called hidden gardens. The lady showed us around the two styles that they have; very nice with a tv, aircon, pool and they even have a trout pool fed by the same mountain stream that supports all the other trout pools down this mountain; no wonder they are so cheap in this area. They are charging about £50 per night but that includes breakfast and evening meal; a lovely little place with nice gardens.

When we got back we had a cool off in the pool; that was until Claire’s new best friend came out with Turkish coffee and to entice Claire to have a sneaky cigarette. Ohh no, she will be back smoking again before we get back. Bad luck Harriet and Shane, looks like you won’t be getting your duty frees after all. Hope we still got a lift home from Luton!