Panic Attack

I am beginning to get twitchy now.  The boys and I will leave the hotel about 11 tonight for flight to UK at 2am.  I am stressed because I am not really ready – have sorted most of the stuff in the hotel and left lists of things that the others will need to do in my absence – but I haven’t even decided which case to take and as for packing – it will happen sometime between tea with Cem’s mum this afternoon and starting the barbecue tonight.

I am also stressed because I don’t like flying.  This is something which surfaced in my late twenties – around the time I had children and has got worse since. Actually, if you saw me for most of the flight you would think I was pretty calm and even a bit of turbulence once we are up doesn’t bother me too much but I LOATHE take off.  Funnily enough I have a guest in the hotel at the moment and she is just the same.  We were discussing how paranoid we get at any changes in engine noise, how bad we feel when the plane banks, how we get so tense you would think we were flying the plane!  I have tried web sites that describe what is happening when the sounds change or the pilot does certain things and they do help for a short time but I think I need a refresher course.  For now, I will be the one on tonight’s flight with my fingers in my ears and my eyes squeezed tight shut!  I have some herbal ‘kalms’ tablets but am actually thinking that a couple of whiskies before we leave for the airport might work better.

Emre has been for his second exam this morning.  He said it went OK – he generally does think things have gone OK – and as it’s a month before the results come out we can forget it for now.  He had his ‘lucky’ chocolate with him (prayed on by Cem’s auntie – last week it was a banana but that went a bit soggy).

I went shopping with Kaan yesterday in Fethiye for a few presents.  I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely gifts available now in Fethiye – you used to have to go to Göcek for good presents (catering to the yachty crowd, Göcek though smaller has always been posher than Fethiye) but now there are some gorgeous scarves, ceramics, textiles and just silly trinkets.  And there is The Soap Lady – who has apparently been established in Ölüdeniz for a while but has recently opened in Fethiye selling natural soaps with benefits for all manner of complaints….carrot soap for sunburn, grape seed soap for wrinkles, rose soap for blackheads etc.

So, I might blog from UK but will be back here into the madness of July (80+ guests in the hotel and heat of 40 degrees and more).  And a propos of nothing at all I had to take a picture of this plant – which I think is an aloe – which I pass as I drive to the hotel every morning (yes progressed from 2 wheels to 4 very noisy ones) and which is just spectacular…

Things are hotting up...

We have had an interesting couple of weeks since I last posted.  The carnival went off with good weather – the procession a little disappointing I thought but the concert was a big hit. The week before last Emre had his graduation party.  Here is the ‘before’ photo – looking very smart in the new gear he chose.  I wanted to post the ‘after’ photo of a line of sleeping bodies on the sun beds – still dressed in their glad rags - that greeted me when I arrived at the hotel on Tuesday morning, but I haven’t managed to transfer it from the phone so you will just have to imagine how funny they looked – all strapping lads with facial hair, snuggled up one next to the other!

Emre also had the first of his two exams yesterday for which we had to go to Muğla.  It is about 2 hours drive and we went in a minibus with a friend of Cem’s whose daughter was sitting the same exam, Grant, Dawn, Kaan ….We left at half past six and it was hot already.  Muğla was hotter and crowded with road works – not to mention a few thousand cars bringing examinee causing huge traffic jams.  I don’t know about Emre but I was seriously stressed – so much that I had my first swim in the pool (of this year) when we got back about 3.  Emre said the exam went OK.  I am just thinking that we have to do it all over again next Sunday!

Other news that you may have heard whisper of…we had a significant earthquake here last Sunday.  Cem’s family had all come to visit and I was making tea in the big urn but as I came up towards it I couldn’t understand why it was jumping around before I had even turned it on…then I realised that the whole bar was shaking.  I have felt plenty of tremors before but the centre of this one was quite close – off Oludeniz at 19km down.  It didn’t last particularly long, though there were other small tremors and aftershocks for the next couple of days.  It was a bit alarming for people who have never experienced it before, even though it is actually a good thing to have these small and frequent ‘adjustments’ as it stops pressure building up. 

At home, where Emre was, a few things fell over/off shelves and he was so worried about us that he ran all the way from home to hotel barefoot – not very far but as those of you who have walked on our road will appreciate his feet were in a bit of a state!  I was also impressed when the neighbours (English) said he shot out the door and ran off, then ran back to ask them if they were OK.  Actually in the hotel nothing even fell over so we feel happy that our ‘mushroom foundation’ (special for earthquake zones) is doing what is should.

Last night was also a night to remember as a super strong HOT wind suddenly blew in out of nowhere, battered us for a couple of hours, then blew away as fast as it had come.  The electric was off for half an hour or so and it was very warm with no fans or a/c, but there was no damage here, just a lot of garden debris in the pool (clean and sparkling again now).

We have been following the UEFA 2012 tournament and it’s been quite lively in the bar – particularly of course for the England matches for which we have been getting the barbie out.  The hotel is full now and we have had more lovely guests and lots of laughs with Frank here.  The boys and I go to UK next Monday but with our super new cleaners, Murat, Hasan and Cem in charge I am confident that all will be fine at Poppy!

Leather trousers and oil – must be wrestling again!

Into June already!  It’s quiet in the hotel – eight or ten rooms in – but about what we expect for May.  We have had several ‘old’ guests in, as well as meeting some very nice new ones.  We also have a honeymoon couple and a couple who are celebrating 66 years of marriage this year!

Down at the beach and in the restaurants along the front it is noticeably quieter than usual – or so the guests have been telling me!  I was down there this morning as it’s carnival day today and still it was very quiet with few people around and even fewer on the beach.  Hopefully this will change now as schools are out in Turkey next Friday.  Kaan already has his report card – mostly 5s with a couple of 4s (grades are 1 to 5) and wants a pair of Ray Burns as a reward.  I don’t think I need to give my answer to this…!

The end of school doesn’t help Emre who has a two weeks left until his exams.  Rather strangely, they have their graduation ceremony this weekend so we had to go shopping for a jacket and trousers for him the other day.  Emre is now 6 foot 1 and finding a jacket whose arms were long enough and that wasn’t huge and baggy on him was a challenge.  We gave up any idea of looking for shoes in a size 49 (14 or 15)!

There have been various events organized over the last few days as part of the carnival – beach football, tug-of-war, craft stalls and yesterday afternoon oil wrestling.  I am uploading a video to give you a taste of this very traditional Turkish sport.  I like the posturing of it – it starts (like most wrestling I suppose) with the competitors sort of teasing each other and showing off – but the combination of leather trousers, oil and grabbing each others pants (the only bit they can get a hold on) raises some eyebrows amongst those seeing it for the first time!

We are going down soon to watch the procession and I hope there are more people about to support it.  Then, this week, we are looking forward to Frank and Hetty arriving Monday, Grant and Dawn and also Andy arriving Tuesday and our trip to England in not very long.