Cool in the pool

It's not quite as hot as last week, but very sticky.  The best place to be in this weather is the pool, which is freezing since we emptied and refilled it yesterday.  It doesn’t stop the kids though, and under this sun it will be back to more reasonable temperatures by tomorrow.

Kaan and Matt in the pool

The pool was also the venue for a ‘dive show’ this week when divers from European Diving Centre came to give people a chance to try SCUBA diving.  They had a lot of takers this week including two children of seven and nine who are too young to dive in the sea but did a tour of the pool with so much confidence that they both got a round of applause when they came up!  There was also a guest who had always wanted to try scuba diving and thought he wouldn’t have a chance after he had a heart attack a few years ago; needless-to-say he was very happy.  

Sarah getting ready to try SCUBA

 Sarah and Matt who have had more than 20 holidays to Çalış (at Poppy since 2000) had never tried SCUBA before.  They had a go and loved it so much they went out on the boat the next day to experience ‘real’ diving in the sea with the fish.  They loved this too and have plenty of photos of their great day out.

Turkish Night on Friday was good fun.  There were about 35 people for the barbecue and others who came just to join in the dancing. The belly dancer is one who has been before and is good at getting people up to join in and enjoy; as with most of them, she does a little routine that involves blindfolding and playing a little game with one of the men.  However this time she was the one to get a surprise when one of the guests (who celebrated his sixteenth birthday with a cake in the bar this week) came out in his mankini - a la Borat.

Roger having a GOOD time!

 The good news is we finally received payment for May’s guests, which was handy as we had a rather huge electricity bill come in yesterday.  Even accounting for all the a/c units, fridges, pool filters etc. over £400 for 10 days seems a bit excessive.  We are going to query it but without much hope as last time we did that the electricity board agreed the metre wasn’t working properly and made us pay to change it – but also made us pay the inflated bill!

We also signed a contract with one of the agencies for next summer.  This was relatively hassle-free.  Two glamorous and very positive ladies came to do the new contract; they even decided to change the listing of Poppy on their website from two to three-star (apartments are not included in the official star rating so it is a company rating).  However while we were discussing business in general one of them said she manages contracts across fifteen countries and she has learned that properties with less than 100 rooms and especially those offering self-catering accommodation just don’t make money.

That’s why I shudder when the electric bill comes in!

HOW HOT???!!

Back in a VERY hot Turkey – temperatures late 40s and up to 50 (110 to 120 ish – or damned hot!)  Still, our good old Çalış breeze is doing its best to cool us down and there is always the pool – or a cold Efes.

Everything seems to have gone smoothly while we were away.  I came back with a lovely British cold which has made me snuffle and sneeze my way through the first through days but I seem to have got on top of the washing, the paperwork and the bookings already – much better than I managed last time we went away.

boys in Fletching, Sussex where I grew up

Here are a few grumbles…!  Hotels4u have acknowledged our May account but not quite got round to paying it yet.  I thought it would be better this year as they are paying us directly in the UK rather than through the local agent here – but it seems my hopes were misplaced!  As this left me a bit short of money, Cem transferred some from the bank here using internet banking.  Is this not virtually instantaneous in the UK?  Well, not between countries.  He transferred it last Monday and when I checked this morning – a full 8 days and 6 working days later it still hadn’t gone through.  We really need to chase it up - he could have driven to the UK with the money by now – but I’m sure the bank here will say they sent it and it is the intermediary bank that is the problem.  I hate banks!

Back at the hotel, two things are causing me stress and it appears there is nothing I can do about them.  The first is the drains.  Most people know that the drains in Turkey are a bit temperamental but our pipes have always been pretty good and can handle reasonable amounts of toilet paper.  However they cannot cope with wet wipes (virtually indestructible), sanitary towels (made to absorb water and expand) or some of the other things that people attempt to dispose of down the toilet.  Before I left I put notices in all the bathrooms explaining this but we had another – thankfully small – problem the other day after somebody flushed a WHOLE toilet roll down the toilet.  What can you do?

The other problem is the linen.  We demoted a lot of towels and sheets this year to the rag bin and I spent approx £500 on new linen.  However a lot of this is already spoiled by stains which do not come out.  Some of them are sun cream – I think it is mostly the all-day creams and particularly P20 which leave ugly yellow stains on the sheets, pillow cases and towels.  But someone had also used a brand new towel the other day to mop up hair dye.  I wonder if they would appreciate being given a towel with dark brown stains all over it?_  Of course not, but of course they also don’t think like this.

a wet afternoon in Camden, London

However I’m trying to stay chilled after our lovely holiday. A lot of places are complaining that business is down – my sister was even advised that she would get a good deal in Kalkan as the hotels were so desperate for business – but we are pretty full and I have just had to stop sales for the middle of September.  Now if we could just get paid….!

UK tour

The boys and I have been over in the UK for 10 days now.  Our departure was a bit fraught as Emre had his second exam on the Sunday morning in Muğla, we had a barbecue on in the evening and I had been so busy getting things ready in the hotel that I hadn’t had time to pack.  Add to this the fact that I hate flying and Emre had left his ID card somewhere and only realised as we were leaving the house for the airport (where we use in place of a Turkish passport) and you will understand why I was hyperventilating and overdosing on kalms by the time we were ready to fly.

Actually the flight was fine, but my trial was not over as we then flew over to Germany for 3 days with my cousin who lives near Dortmund.  That was very nice…especially spending time with her twin boys who are nearly 4 and very sweet.

Since being back in the UK we have been mostly in Kent where my sister, various cousins and friends live. The weather has been drizzly but pretty warm.  The only thing it has spoiled was a surprise I had organized for Emre the other day – a flying lesson from a little airport near my sister’s house.  Unfortunately rain stopped play but we are hoping to squeeze it in before we leave.

Kaan on a bike ride

 That is easier said than done as our 3 weeks suddenly seem not nearly long enough.  We have a rental car (with satnav – how cool is that, no more looking at maps!) and spent yesterday driving round the beautiful area of Sussex where I grew up.  We even stopped at what used to be my mum’s farm shop and when I admitted that I was having a nose, the current owner was lovely and we had a chat about the history of the place and which of the old neighbours are still around.

Emre 'levitating' Lulu!

We are currently with Deb and Tom (who had second kidney transplant 8 weeks ago but is doing very well), driving up to Oxford today to see other uncle, then up to Blackpool where Kaan is insisting on going back to the Pleasure Beach (more sitting on benches for me and Grant).  After that we have a couple of days in London, leaving only next friday back in Kent before we fly home.

I am sure Cem, Murat and co are coping fine in the hotel but by the time we return it will be the frenzy of high season with 80 guests and everyone flopped round the pool as it’s too hot to do much.  That is great – but it’s always a bit of a shock when I first return and haven’t got back into my routines.  For now though I’m going to forget about that about enjoy my holiday…the sun is even doing its best today so we might have a good drive up to Oxford.

Kaan and Tommy - playing Xbox of course!