What I Did on My Holidays

I have had some time off, and while I didn't go away on holiday, per se, I did go down to Devon and spent several days at my parents' house.

On one day, when it stopped raining, I went down to Woolacombe and to Barracane Bay.

The sea was flat as a pancake (which didn't stop some hopeful surfers from going in!) and from time to time the sun came out, briefly.

I was able to go for a short walk and enjoyed a picnic sitting on the cliff overlooking the bay. It was a very pleasant, restful day.

My parents came home on Monday, and as it was a grey and drizzly day I wasn't tempted out, so instead I stayed home, and baked, and made dinner, and read.

It was good to catch up with my parents, and we decided, a day or two later, to go to Exmoor Zoo,which is just down the road, and which they'd never visited!

It is small, for a zoo, but seems well kept, and the animals seem content. They have 3 cheetahs, who were fed during our visit.

They also have some penguins, and pelicans (and ducks and seagulls, but I think those are simply opportunistic and not part of the zoo's own complement!

And otters. I do love the otters.

There were also some very dramatic Scarlet Ibises, and a rather bedraggled peacock (I think he had been moulting. His head was beautiful, but he had no tail to speak of. 

There was also a peahen (well, there were several) but one with a single chick; we met them several times as we were walking around, they are not confined at all.

We had an an enjoyable day wandering around, and with it being a greyish weekday there were not too many other people around.

And as well as the days out, I also spent a lot of time pottering around my parents home, reading some of their books, watching their TV and picking runner beans in their garden.

It was a pleasant, low-key way to spend an extended weekend!

In Which I Go Shopping

I was not in work today, or yesterday, being technically on holiday. But still at home, which is quite relaxing as it requires very little packing.

Of course, it's probably more relaxing if you remember to tell the alarm clock on your phone  *not* to  go off as if it is a Monday morning and you have to go to work....

It did mean, however, that I had no excuse for not getting up and doing stuff. Stuff, in this context, meaning going shopping as sadly, both my favourite jeans and my second favourite jeans have reached that point in their lives where they are starting to become unsuitable to wear in polite company, due to holes in unseemly places.

Also my proper, not-quite-walking-boots shoes have reached the end of their natural life, so I needed to buy some new walking shoes/trainers, too.

I don't like shopping. But sometimes, you have to bow to the inevitable.

As shopping goes, it was a successful day.

I bought some jeans, and some shoes, and a couple of tops, and a couple of dresses, and I picked up 2 books I'd ordered from Mr B's, and succumbed to the temptation of one more (but only one!!) And apart from the jeans, all of the clothes are things I should be able to wear at work as well as at home, which is good. 

But it was a little stressful, as I don't like it. It is better when I can go in the week when the shops are not too crowded!

Today involved lots of house work, mowing the lawn, running lots of errands and such like. There may also have been a certain amount of napping. It's a *long* time  since I've have much time off and I think several months of stress at work are catching up with me.

Terror on the roads

While there were obvious attractions to remaining in Fethiye for the whole holiday, we had planned to explore further afield and so K & C had hired a car for 3 days. This is much more courageous than you might suppose, unless you have had the experience of seeing how the Turks drive.

The first thing you learn, as a pedestrian, is that you are invisible. I am not entirely sure what function a zebra crossing has in Turkey: maybe it is simply designed to keep all the casualties tidily in one place. Certainly, anyone who assumes that because there is a pedestrian crossing that the traffic may stop for them is in for a sudden and nerve-wracking surprise.

When you get into a car, you realise that a similar laissez-faire attitude applies to most other rules of the road as well. Over taking is, it would seem, permitted anywhere. I assume that the ‘no-overtaking’ signs are some sort of national disclaimer – it’s not so much that you can’t over take, just that you have only yourself to blame if things go wrong. Overtaking the van which is overtaking the truck which is going up the steep hill approaching the blind bend is also popular, and of course mopeds are free to drive either way along any road.

After travelling for a while, however, you start to notice that the chaos is slightly more organised than first appears. People drive right over in the right hand gutter, which makes the overtaking easier, and no doubt it helps that there are many fewer drivers than there are here in the UK (at least, a lot fewer per square mile…)

But I wouldn't want to drive, and my admiration for my sister for doing so increases by leaps and bounds. (And worryingly, she adopted the Turkish attitude to driving remarkably quickly and enthusiastically)

Rain!

It was a shock to the system to be rained on a little the following morning, although, as we were attending a Christmas Fayre in the morning it did add a little seasonal feel to be drizzled upon. The fayre was run by ex-pats (mainly British & German) and had a ‘village fete’ feel to it – tombolas and cake stalls etc, plus also several Turkish traders selling scarves and jewellery. We were going in order to support some of K&C’s neighbours, who were running the cake stand. We indulged in German apfeltorte, to sustain us as it was over an hour since breakfast, and some bread pudding (as marching rations for our road trip) then had a very extended lunch, at a restaurant on the end of the beach, which therefore has 270 degree views over the bay. . .

For much of the bay the water is incredibly shallow and we could watch several fishermen wading out to their pots, way out to sea but still only knee deep in the water. I guess it’s important to know where the channels are.

What I Did on My Holidays: Part I

It did not begin well. Due to the cost of airport parking, and the not wanting to have to drive around (especially around Heathrow) when it was cold, and dark, and I was tired, I decided to start my journey by train. I was organised. I checked the time table and the connections. I re-checked, an hour before setting off. I checked the display boards when I got to the station. All were unanimous. The first train would come at 19.14, which would give me 8 minutes to change trains in Bath, en route for London. And it would have worked, I’m sure, if the train company had played there part by sending the train. So, with that, and with the next train being delayed, I didn’t get to Heathrow until Midnight, instead of arriving as planned at about 9.45. It’s just as well that I had planned to sleep at Heathrow (In a funky little Pod hotel), as I would have been very much more stressed had my flight been in the evening not the following morning.

The ‘Yotel’ Pod was rather sweet and the bed was very comfy. I slept, and arose refreshed for the first of many breakfasts.

My flight was on time, less than half full and therefore peaceful and comfortable. Changing planes in Istanbul slightly less so – the international and domestic terminals are quite a long walk from one another, and the domestic terminal was packed, as it was the Friday before the start of the Eid El Ulna festival on Monday (‘Feast of the Sacrifice’, which is festival, when everyone goes home to be with family, so my travelling was pretty much the equivalent of getting a flight on Christmas Eve…so the flight to Dalaman was absolutely packed. I felt quite fortunate in having actually got the flight to Dalaman, however, as due to various delays, cancellations and gate changes for a lot of flights, a very poor quality announcement system (poor sound quality; not even the Turkish passengers could make out what was being said) and an apparently arbitrary approach to buses I was half expecting to find myself on a flight to Antayla, or any one of a number of destinations…

It was therefore particularly nice to be met at the airport by my sister, Kat, and driven home (by one of her neighbours, who has a car) to a hot meal, drinks, and bed.

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