Oh for a boring day!

When I left my job in London twenty-five years ago one of the things I was happy to give up was the routine of an office job.  It’s a bit ironic then that in the last couple of weeks I’ve caught myself longing for a dull, predictable day.  This is why...

You probably heard about the earthquake that struck off the coast between Greece and Turkey on 21 July.  It measured 6.8 and was felt all along both coasts, most strongly in Bodrum and Kos, where two people died and more were injured when the roof of a bar collapsed.  After I posted a complaint on Facebook about the reporting of the event it was suggested that I was downplaying it in order to protect tourism; this was certainly not the case.  However I still don’t see how sensationalising (ie. lying about) the circumstances of the deaths shows respect.  For me the most significant fact, sadly ignored by many locals as well as most of the press, was that in an earthquake of this strength (on the Moment scale used to measure earthquakes, 6 is described as ‘moderate, may cause damage in populated areas’ and 7 is described as ‘strong earthquake with loss of life') there were so little damage and so few casualties.  This shows that building regulations have been successful in raising the standard of construction.

On a more local scale, there was drama at Poppy a few days later when the cleaner and her assistant fell out.  I heard the shouting, but thought it was coming from next door and by the time I realised where it was actually coming from, quite a few of the guests were enjoying the entertainment!  Luckily we found a new assistant cleaner very quickly and she is working out better than I could have hoped.

The following week, there was more excitement when Emre had to jump into the pool to save a Turkish boy.  That same evening we had a visit from the Health Department to say that a Turkish guest who stayed one night at Poppy early in July had died the following week from malaria.  Though he had contracted it in Nigeria where he had been working, a team came out from Mugla (2 hours away) to take blood from all of us to make sure we weren’t infected!

Poppy is NOT impressed!

Then last week, it was the police who turned up at the hotel.  The new security system into which we are required to enter the details of all guests had identified one – barely an hour after he had arrived and within minutes of us entering him into the system – as an army avoider.  I had visions of him being dragged out of the hotel but actually they just gave him a paper and told him to go to his local recruitment office when he got home.

Just when I thought it was calming down, we had a family of 14 arrive in an old Peugeot minibus (ex dolmus).  I asked Kaan to keep an eye on the children who got straight in the pool with arm bands on but half an hour later it was a lady and a teenage girl that we had to rescue from the pool – only ten in the morning and I had to go home to change my sopping wet clothes.

Abidin the crow

In addition to this, we have been enjoying the attentions of a very naughty crow that someone has tamed but which has decided to hang around the hotel.  Cem has named him Abidin and been putting videos of him on Facebook.  He steals cigarettes from packets, pecks at clothes hanging on balconies and squawks loudly at anyone who dares to tell him off.  And today two kittens have turned up in the garden – very cute and quite healthy-looking but Poppy has already had her nose put out by the crow and Mischa chased them up a tree today and the boys had to rescue them.

cute kitties looking for a home

Thankfully, through all this madness we have had some great guests, friends and family staying at the mad house and keeping us laughing.  But you will understand why I am beginning to hope for drama-free days!

The peace and tranquility of Calis!