Why ? Apart from the fact that he is indeed a marvelous man ? Well - yesterday he successfully passed his simulator test. He is through to the next stage of the job now - with 3-4 weeks off while he waits for his apron pass to come through. I know its his job, and he does it really well, but the stress levels before these 6-monthly tests run pretty high. No-one wants to fail their sim and these guys put a fair amount of pressure on themselves. So this has been a quiet week while Paul has studied, trained, studied. That's the first one over for Turkish airlines now. Once he's cleared to fly he can get that new uniform on. Sneak preview - but not of Paul because he won't be photographed in it until his first flight. Get the hat though !!!
And he has just fixed the blinds on the balcony and done a few small DIY jobs - so Captain Marvel strikes again :-)
Its been a quiet few days but there have been a few small achievements :
Thu 1 - The official documents arrived at the shipping company safely. So now the processing can start - even though all our worldly goods are still at sea somewhere.
Thu 2 - Went to my second Zumba class while Paul was at the gym. He grudgingly agreed that the instructor could possibly be regarded as a hunk.
Thu 3 - Successfully ordered water for the water machine. I called them - said "Su lutfen. Bir numera. Naima Sokak. English" (Water please, Number 1. Naima Sokak (our street). English). There was silence for 2 seconds til he caught on - and then said "Tamam" (OK). He was around with the water within 30 minutes. Great service ! I think it was the word English that did it !
Fri 1 - I went into Istanbul on a mercy mission to help Hannah (from my newly founded book group) as she was having her wisdom teeth out. My job was to escort her home safely. So this was a chance to try out the Number 72T bus from outside our home. I thought it only took an hour to Taksim Square. Wrong ! 90 minutes later, and a sweaty heap - I got off the bus - 1km further down-route as I should have been as my book was so good. .
Fri 2 - I did manage to make great inroads into my book club book for October though
Fri 3 - Hannah (who was absolutely fine after the teeth removal) showed me how to catch the minibus (dolmus) back to Yesilkoy - perfect. Took 40 minutes, and I had a great big seat to myself - they don't allow any more than 8 people on at a time. So I now know the best way to get to the city centre - for the huge sum of 5 lira.
Last night we went to see Karl and Burcin (Karl has been training with Paul all week) to celebrate the guys' success. Several bottles of wine later, and great fun playing with their lovely kids, we were bundled into a taxi.
We are now off to a big supermarket (probably Carrefour) to fill the cupboards with staples, and lots of wine and beer as the Coghills return tomorrow. We need to find out how we can watch the rugby world cup as well - Wales play their first game tomorrow. Its wonderful to be back in the same timezone (almost) so that we can start watching sporting events live. We can even see the Singapore Grand Prix perhaps. Now that will be weird - a night-time race that's been a huge event for us for the last 4 years - watching it during the daytime with the time difference. Looks like it could be a great afternoon !
And we also need to plan what we will do for the next 3-4 weeks that Paul is off. We've got several things lined up though :
- Sally and Brian for 4 days
- Sacrifice festival for 3 days
- Ffion arrives for a week
- Shipment hopefully arrives the same week as Ffion
- My parents come for a week (only if the shipment arrives)
- Colin and Vaila visit for 10 days.
Thats us til mid-October !!! I guess we aren't going away anywhere for a while then ! But lots to keep us occupied.
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