So...we had a party to celebrate Paul’s fiftieth birthday last week and it turned out that two other guests had birthdays that day! It was a great night, with belly dancer and the fire show again. Cem was manning the barbecue as usual, I was in the kitchen and Murat and the boys in the bar. Thankfully, all our friends turn up when they can to help – namely Durmus, who is nearly a permanent fixture here, Hakan the boat captain (more about that later) and our friendly taxi driver Veli (known to some as ‘deli Veli’ or ‘mad Veli’), who came along to have a drink with Cem but got stuck in carrying plates and serving drinks!
Here are Verena and Paul cutting their cakes...pity you can't see the pictures on them but they were good ones!
The Peeters family from Netherlands, who have been staying with us for many years, left this week after a busy holiday including jeep safari, boat trip, diving and more. From this weekend, for the first time since early June, the hotel is down to half occupancy and most of the guests are relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous weather (sunny and warm but not scorching). However, rather unusually, we also have three rooms of lads who are here to party. One of them had a bad start to his holiday when the police brought him back on his first night (after rescuing him from wherever he had passed out) and his girlfriend ‘attacked’ him on their second night here. Anyway they have calmed down a bit and the only problem is that they tend to be a bit loud in the early hours when the rest of the hotel is sleeping.
We have a boat! Cem has taken over ownership of a 12m wooden boat set up for day trips. He assures me it will pay for itself next year, but at the moment he is busy planning all the improvements he wants to make to it. It has two cabins, a sundeck and a ‘fly deck’ on the top and is licensed to take up to 12 people on day trips. It is a nice boat, though I have yet to go out on it. Kaan has taken to spending his lunchtimes on it (when it is not out on a trip), ‘hanging out’ with the captain!
And finally, Cem and I were hopping mad yesterday with hotels4u and the agency that represent them here. They called on Tuesday morning and asked us to go to their offices to make next year’s contract. We agreed to go there at 1 – and duly turned up at that time to be told they were waiting for the contract manager to come from Bodrum. We made a new time of 3 and went into Fethiye to have some lunch, during which they called to say it would be better if we made a new appointment for yesterday (Wednesday). We dashed there yesterday at the arranged time of 1 (between my 12o’clock and 2 o’clock lessons), only to be looked at as if we were mad and told the team were visiting hotels in Ovacık.
To me, this shows either a complete lack of respect for us or total incompetency on their part. I am still deciding which, and waiting to see if they come to the hotel as we have refused to go there again!
