The End is Nigh

We are nearing the end of our extended trip.We return to UK on Monday. We've had a fabulous 6 weeks but I am not too sad as I will actually be returning in 25 days time for almost 3 weeks! Then Hil, Matt and Jack will accompany me so I am looking forward to that. Quite a few folk have asked me why I am bothering to return to UK for those 23 days - well, I have 2 visits to the dentist, a wedding to attend, my health insurance only allows 45 days at a time, a hair appointment to sort out my very damaged mop from all the sun. Also my visa allows me to be here 90 days in any 180 so I am getting close to that allowance this year. We have also missed 6 weeks of our dancing lessons and haven't practiced at all so we must get back to that, we missed the Ceroc Summer ball too. The Winter masked ball will be along before we know it so we need to brush up our moves!
Matt has enjoyed the windsurfing and catching up with the Brothers of the Wind. I often woke at 7.30 am to find he'd gone off for a spot of cycling and an early morning swim. So he must be feeling quite fit now or perhaps exhausted. I have swum most days but have found it too hot for much else. It didn't drop below 30C and usually hovered around 35C. I have enjoyed catching up with friends, having BBQs, lots of lovely meals out and in, listening to musicians in the square, lazing around and just being warm all the time. We spent the majority of our days on the beach at Gebekum, where even when it was really busy everywhere else remained peaceful. I bought a few new cool clothes for the trip but most of them still have the labels on as almost daily I wore the same dress - a long flowing beach dress from M&S. I washed it out at night and put it back on in the morning!
We had planned to maybe travel around a bit during our stay. Rhodes was a possibility and Symi but then we were so settled in here we couldn't be bothered. We did have one night in a hotel in Marmaris and that was nice. Ercan the car hire man did us a very good deal on a diesel Corsa for 6 weeks. It was brand new and very smart. Best of all the fuel consumption was very low so as well as a really good rental deal we spent very little on fuel.
We've had some of the bonkers experiences we often get here. Shopping for things like bath sealant, new air conditioning remote controls (I put one in the washing machine) and such like always proves to be amusing.
Melanie and Rob came to visit for a few days and Hil came for 2 weeks. Beyaz the white pussy moved in with us. This is her fourth year of hanging around. Matt gave up trying to shoo her out of the house and we treated her for ticks and fleas. She isn't really bothered about food, just likes our company. Although she usually appears bright eyed and bushy tailed at lunch time. We didn't encourage the rest of the entourage and I discovered a Turkish lady feeds them all at night outside of our house. Maybe I'll give her a bag of food to help a bit.
So here are a few photos taken in the last few days.

Some of the Brothers of the Wind.

Beyaz in the bush.

The wind mill has a small companion - it will be returning to the UK with me!

The new shorts.

... and the back view!

Someone once said to me 'There isn't much at Gebekum just a load of dunes'. Such an idiot, the dunes are teaming with life. If you sit still there you will see masses of insects and other life. I didn't see any lizards or tortoises this time but they are there along with rare birds and butterflies. It is the wrong time of the year to see the plants but there were a few surviving in the sand.

Gebekum at the height of the Summer season.

The evening sun at Gebekum, you can see the reef that protects the dunes. Sadly in places this has been blown up with explosives. At the far end the dunes have been bulldozed in order to build an 'environmentally friendly' hotel - madness.

Bye Hil x

There she goes!