Slow Day

With Ellie at Pete's for the weekend, today seemed very quiet and pleasantly slow. We love her to bits, but a little downtime is nice. We had a very lazy start to the day with the cousins' Zoom call being the first item on the agenda, and I only just made it on time. It seemed a little restrained today, possibly because Tim was quiet.

Di and I took a walk into the village. She needed to collect some meds from the pharmacy. It was nice to stroll in together, and then walk home the back way (avoiding all the traffic).

The afternoon was dedicated Kindle time, though I did receive an email from a contact who has provided a "Ports Guide" for our planned cruise in September 2025. I sat and read through this, then printed a copy for Diane and sent a soft copy to Trevor and Jane.

GPS

 It was a gentle start to the day. I was up first, and Ellie came down soon after but only to get a charger for the iPad. Once we were all up and about, some of Ellie's new friends knocked at the door and invited her out to play. I attached the AirTag and off she went until lunchtime.

Di spent most of the day working through a pile of ironing. I spent most of the day researching and comparing GPS trackers that Ellie can wear when she's out and about. There were too many gaps in the tracking of the AirTag. It took several hours to narrow the choice down. I phoned their sales offices to ask for several clarifications. My favourite choice was rejected because it was too big - there was no way that Ellie would carry it around. I called another but found they required a monthly subscription of nearly £20. I eventually selected a model from a German manufacturer. It should arrive early next week and then we can assess the best way to use it.

Ellie spent the afternoon out playing, again. She was meant to be off to Pete's for the weekend, but a major crash on the A27 was disrupting the traffic between Arundel and Chichester, and the A259 was closed because of a huge fire at an industrial unit near Ford. The plan at present is that Ellie will stay with Zoe until Pete can get across to collect her... but won't even try until this evening.

Doh!

 I knew that we were looking after Ellie today and that she would be staying overnight. I am sufficiently senile, however, to have forgotten that she wasn't being dropped off until lunchtime. So it was that my alarm went off, needlessly, at 06:30. I got up and as I approached the bathroom the reality of the day's schedule dawned on me. I returned to bed and apologised to Di (who, to be fair, had forgotten to switch off her 07:00 alarm).

When the morning finally got underway, I dealt with some admin regarding the annual insurance for the house, car, and Jasper. There were a few minor changes and I wanted them recorded accurately. I also queried why there was no breakdown cover, to be informed that the breakdown cover was packaged in my bank account rather than the insurance. As long as we have cover, I don't care where it comes from.

From the insurance, I returned to our TV service with EE. It was time to change the package again removing the Sports package and replacing it with the Entertainment package. This was well timed as the price seems to have been reduced.

Ellie was dropped off and settled down for a lunch of hot dogs. Her friends came a knocked, asking if she could come out to play. We armed her with an AirTag and of she went to play in the various parks and open spaces around the estate. We realised that the AirTag was of limited use. It only triggered when it was within range of an IOS device, and clearly, there were few about. I was also hoping I could send it a signal to chime and thus call Ellie home. That didn't work as I had to be within Bluetooth range for that to function. In the end, I went out to the last locations she had been near and found her opposite the school. She had enjoyed several hours of freedom to run around with her friends but now it was time for dinner. I think we need to find a better solution for tracking her (she seems delighted that we can monitor her).

Nil by Mouth

 Jasper has been "Nil by Mouth" since 21:00 last night so we were expecting a disturbed night. As it happened, he was very good until about 05:00 this morning when he started break-dancing all over us as he sang a series of melodies made famous by Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer. Once we were finally up and about we took him along to the Vets. This would be the second attempt to get his teeth checked, scaled, and polished. This would be done under anaesthetic so we wouldn't be needed until he had recovered.

Back home we finished our breakfast and completed the weekly shopping list before heading off to raid Sainsbury's. We were back in time for the arrival of the electrician. I had summoned him after the hob tripped a circuit breaker on Monday. Under his guidance, I re-engaged the breaker for the hob. There was no blinding flash, no ominous click. On testing, the hob worked perfectly. "Had you cleaned the hob?" he asked. I admitted that I had. "You probably dripped water into one of the starters." Suitably chastened, I swore I would never clean the hob again. The electrician left. I'm sure he was muttering and shaking his head.

We were summoned by the Vet and went to collect Jasper at 17:00. He has returned with various medications, and must go back for a check-up next week. Since getting him home, he has eaten heartily and strolled around the house, checking that we hadn't changed anything in his absence.

I popped into Shripney to grab a cheeky Nando's to bring home for the two of us. (I didn't get any for Jasper).

Gearing Up

 I was up at 06:30 to greet Ellie as she was dropped off on Zoe's way to work. Unlike yesterday, she was wide awake so we had a bubbly hour or two.

Just as we were about to take Ellie to Littlehampton to meet with her friend Lily, I received a text to say that Kim's MacBook was being delivered this morning. This was a week early... and it was a problem as we would be out. I asked Ian and Trudy, but they were going out. I tried Chris and Maureen, but they were going out. Then I found that Paul and Ali would be available and could take it in. Instructions were entered in the DHL app and we headed off to LA. 

Andrea and Lily arrived soon after us and Ellie charged across to greet them. We left them to it and then went for a walk along the front and down by the riverside.

We stopped off at the Harbour Lights Cafe for a cup of coffee and a muffin. It was very pleasant sitting in the sunshine and watching the river flow past.

We carried on upstream until the path ended up near the Arun View. We turned back and retraced our steps to the car park and then headed home.

As we pulled up, Paul came to hand over the parcel containing the MacBook. I sent Kim a message to say it had arrived and she agreed to come and collect it. When she arrived we unpacked the MacBook and she set it up. I took her through many of its features and installed the TimeMachine backup. After a couple of hours, everything was ready and we had also configured her iPad. Now it's up to her to become familiar with it.

Circuit Dead, there's Something wrong.

 As part of the new regime, the alarm went off at 06:30 so that Zoe could drop Ellie off on her way to work. Clearly, Ellie had only just woken up and on arrival went straight upstairs and got back into bed until she had woken properly.

Once breakfast was over and morning ablutions had been completed, Diane and Ellie went clothes shopping. I stayed behind and got on with some tasks around the kitchen. They were gone for an hour or so and Ellie came back with several warmer outfits for the autumn months.

This afternoon I took Ellie out to the park.She played for a while and met up with a lad from her class at school, Jaxson (yes, I know about the spelling). He was being tormented by his elder sister and her friends, so he was delighted to see Ellie who immediately became protective. From the first park, we moved on to the park by her school. She didn't play for too long and we headed home. There we had to play restaurants. Grandpa was the chef and had to write the menu, Di was the customer, and Ellie the server. As the orders came through, I had to concoct imaginary dishes such as Crab and Chorizo, Prawn Coctail, Tomahawk Steak with Chips and carrots, and to finish Ice Cream and Chips, or Chesse and Soap! This seemed to keep her occupied  until it was time to take her to the Optician for her check-up. 

We've just finished dinner and as I started to write this, we had our circuit breakers shutdown half of the house. I have been through and switched each circuit back on until I found the offender. It appears that the circuit feeding the gas hob is at fault. I will need to get someone in to look at this, meanwhile relying on the Air Fryer and the Microwave. I think I now understand how Major Tom felt.

Quiet Sunday

 We had a slow start to the day. There was no specific plan. The day would just evolve.

Diane wanted to go to the local nursery for some plants. I had received a call from Zoe asking for some help, so Di set off for Shopwycke and I walked around to Zoe's. Zoe had bought a new TV for her bedroom and needed help plugging it in, as the socket was behind a chest of drawers within her wardrobe. Kim and Jon had just arrived when I got there, so Jon and I set about the challenge together. It was a matter of removing all of the drawers and then the chest itself. The plug was duly inserted and we started to put everything back together. We took the opportunity to level the chest of drawers because previously it had sloped forward slightly and this caused some of the drawers to open. Shims were added under the chest and the job was done.

After lunch, Diane planted the new purchases and I settled down with my Kindle until it was time to start on the Sunday Roast. I finished off the pork crackling in the air fryer and this was very successful.

Experiment

By way of an experiment, this whole blog entry was handwritten and automatically transcribed. That was the original opening sentence of this journal entry I have been writing on and off throughout the day. I was very positive about it and found it an easy way to jot down thoughts at random intervals. The problem was that while it transcribed everything to text, I could find no way to shift that raw text into the blog - but I could insert an image of the text. I will have to experiment more - but not tonight.

Ellie stirred just after 07:30 and that was enough to send me scurrying downstairs for a coffee. It was another hour before anyone else emerged and by then, I had to get ready for my call with the cousins.

After the call, I spent some time fitting the new "PaperLike" screen protector to the iPad. It was a bit fiddly trying to eliminate all of the little air bubbles, but when it was finished I tried it out and must say that it is a significant improvement if you plan to use the Apple pencil to write on the screen.

Diane spent some time catching up on Ellie's laundry. (She does seem to change her outfit several times an hour when she is here). Di then set about a reorganisation of one of the kitchen cupboards. I have made up a batch of chicken curry which spent several hours simmering away on the hob. There was enough for tonight's dinner and a portion set aside for next week.

Di received a message from Jan and John to say how much they had enjoyed their recent River Cruise. So much so, that they have already booked another for next Summer. It certainly is a very relaxing way to travel and see some astonishing sights.

Zoe has had all of the locks changed today. She and Ellie have just popped in to give us some new keys. 

Scribble

 Ellie slept well. She woke soon after 07:00 but was happy to stay in bed with her iPad for a further hour or so. I got up and had some coffee while reading the news. Zoe came to collect Ellie soon after 09:00. She has a day off today, so G-Force could stand down.

I spent much of the morning doing unrelated items of admin... one of which was a second attempt to cancel my Amazon Music Prime subscription. I thought I had done this several weeks ago, but it seems that I missed a final confirmation button. I didn't miss it today. I also received notification of our annual insurance renewal, so I went through that in fine detail. I have a couple of minor modifications to make, but I was pleased to see that it has actually gone down!

I mentioned GoodNotes yesterday. I spent an hour or two watching YouTube videos explaining its features while I tried them out. There is so much in the app that it will take a while to become really proficient, but my objective was to find something that may be useful for Kim.

Talking of useful things, yesterday I ordered a new screen protector for the iPad. This turned up during the afternoon but I haven't fitted it and tried it yet. It is branded PaperLike and has microdots on the surface which reduce the glare on the screen and, more importantly, give the screen a paper-like feel when using the Apple pencil to write or draw. I will probably fit this tomorrow and see how well it performs. 

I must say that the last couple of days of research have involved a great deal of writing and drawing with the Apple pencil and I am very impressed with the ability of the software (Scribble) to translate my handwriting into text. In fact, this sentence was written with Scribble which converted my handwriting.

Ellie is staying with us overnight again tonight. By staying here, she won’t have to get up early as Zoe heads to work. (And more to the point, we won't either).

Changes

After an escalation of ongoing domestic tension around the corner, Diane ended up sleeping at Zoe's last night as Darren was sent packing. This will mean some changes for all of us as Zoe adjusts to being single again, and G-Force has to step up to provide cover when her shifts demand it. My mantra "adapt and survive" gets replayed, again.

I got up at 06:45 just in case Di and Ellie were disturbed when Zoe left for work. I needn't have bothered, it was an hour or so before they turned up. The weather today has been pretty foul so there was no temptation to go out - other than a quick trip to Sainsbury's for some sauce for tonight's supper.

I spent more time looking at note-taking apps for the iPad, hoping to find something that may be useful for Kim. I was impressed with GoodNotes particularly the way in which it handled the Apple pen and the various templates that it provided. Now the question that Kim still has to address is whether she would rather write notes on paper or on the iPad. If she wants to write on paper, there are further options that allow the text to be sync'd to the iPad. I need to chat with her when she finishes her current batch of night duties.

Ellie had a kit that could be used to produce marbling effects on paper or canvas. We had to set this up during the morning as the liquid had to cure for about 4 hours before use. 

This afternoon she had a go with several canvases and we were all immensely impressed with the results.

Zoe came here after work; I was preparing dinner for us all and she probably needed the company for a while before heading home. Ellie is staying here with us tonight as Zoe has to perform an "out-of-hours" inspection in the early hours. Fortunately, she has a day off tomorrow.

Silent Running

 We were up early again, ready for Ellie to be dropped off. She had only just woken up and was in serious need of a cuddle with Grandpa and then Nana.

I had an itch that I needed to scratch. "Is an EV (Electric Vehicle) a feasible vehicle for us?". I needed more information so today we went to a local garage for a test drive. The first thing that I have to admit was how well the car behaved. It really was a pleasure to drive and, in terms of accommodation, it ticked all the boxes. It was also silent. Unnervingly silent. There were two options - a 50Kw and a 85Kw model. The 50Kw option would mean that several of our longer journeys would demand a recharge en route. This even includes journeys to Di's sister, where we could get there but would have to recharge while there or on the way back. The 85Kw option would accommodate all our journeys... but would cost more than 40K. This is a non-starter because of the luxury car penalty that you pay for the first 5 years of the car's life. This means that on top of the standard road tax, you pay an extra £410 each year. This comes into effect for EVs from next April... and I will not pay this penalty for buying an EV.  I had various other questions which the salesman answered without hesitation. Ellie's view of the whole event was that we should buy it. We returned home.

We had a quiet afternoon where Diane spent some time reading with Ellie and then they began a jigsaw puzzle. Zoe picked Ellie up at about 16:30, but she'll be back in the morning.

Nice try

Ellie was dropped off soon after 07:00, so it was an early start. She was hungry all day and just kept grazing. It's a good job she is so active!

My phone pinged from an unfamiliar number

"Dad save this new number"  was the text.

I may be paranoid, but we have 2 children, so which child was it? (I was suspicious)

"Who is this?" I replied.

There was a very long pause.

"Your eldest and favourite" was the eventual reply.

Nah! I can't see my elder child changing her phone number - though she may well change her phone.

"Because there is a scam going around at present... what is your middle name (sorry I'm paranoid)." I responded. 

Believe it or not, that seemed to end the conversation. The phone number is now blocked. Beware.

Once the scam was dealt with, we completed the week's shopping list and headed for Sainsbury's. Ellie was in charge of the trolley and the zapper. So we hustled here and there, filled the trolley with all that we would need for the next week and headed home.

I strolled into the village to get my hair cut and offered to take Ellie to the park, but she wasn't interested. She just wanted to spend time with Nana. As a result, she did some reading and practised her times tables.

This evening we walked back into the village with Trudy and Ian. We went to the new Indian Restaurant "Hungry the Jungle". We had a lovely meal from a menu that was quite different from the usual fare. The staff were charming (if a little overwhelmed) and the food was excellent. I had some garlic prawns to start and was surprised at the size of the portion. It was really big enough for two. I followed this with  Chicken Chetinad (which I had never previously heard of). This was lovely tender chicken in a rich masala. Ian, however, hit paydirt with the Chicken Shashlick which came on a sizzling plate and was a mountain of chicken on top of a pile of onions, peppers, and so forth. The portion was so large that he ended up sharing it with us.

We were home just before 21:00 and had a quiet hour in front of the TV before coming up to bed.

Orangery

It was a little cooler this morning, but still bright and sunny. We did get some cloud cover on and off throughout the day, but at least we didn't get any rain.

Today was our 51st Wedding Anniversary. They have been wonderful years and I hope for 51 more. She has been a saint, putting up with me for so long. She is my best friend, my inspiration, my love, and we have such fun... though at some point we may have to grow up.

We had to pop out during the morning. There was a box to take to the Charity Shop, and we had to pick up some vouchers from Next. As we arrived home, we found Matt was just unloading his equipment to complete the cleaning of the Orangery. His wife was with him to hold the ladder and pass the equipment back and forth. They were with us for several hours as they cleaned the roof glass, the vinyl, and the gutters. It does look very smart now that it is finished.

I had a nice long chat with Kim this afternoon. She had called back to wish us a Happy Anniversary and to discuss the research we had both done into the choice of laptop for her upcoming university course. We finally agreed on a MacBook and at the end of the chat, I ordered one - a clone of my own. It should arrive in a couple of weeks.

Lie in

 After the excitement of yesterday's events, it was nice to have a lie-in this morning. I was still up before 08:00, but it was nice to get the extra 45 minutes or so!

The morning was filled with small jobs around the house. These included Di preparing the latest box of items for the charity shop, and several bags of clothes for the dump. I was pleased to find that our new roll-on suitcases fit inside our big suitcases. This solves a storage problem that I had been puzzling over.

I went for a walk just before lunch. I strolled around the lake then up to North Bersted Street where I looped down across the bypass and along towards Shripney. Once I had gone as far as I wanted, I spun around and retraced my steps. I was out for about an hour and enjoyed a chunk of my latest audiobook. Back home, I whipped up a salad wrap with mackerel for lunch and then settled down for some Kindle time.

Dark Zeppelin

 Now, that's a title you weren't expecting!

The day started with my usual call with the cousins. It was fairly subdued for some reason, but we heard the latest family news and they wanted to hear about our holiday in Turkey. (Needless to say, a picture of the view from the vill provided the backdrop to the Zoom call).

The rest of the morning was filled with bits and pieces... one of which was to fit huge linked cable ties around a pillar by the front door so Di could train a rampant fuschia up by the door. It took a little longer than expected but is already a lot tidier.

The afternoon saw us heading west along the M27 and through miles of roadworks. We had booked an early dinner (or was it a late lunch) at The Old Forge in Otterbourne. It is a gastro pub that I have passed hundreds of times when travelling to and from IBM at Hursley, but it was the first time I had stopped. Being mid-afternoon, it was very quiet and, to start with, we had the restaurant to ourselves. The menu was not huge (by some standards) but it had some wonderful choices. I started with Crispy Squid and then went on to half a rotisserie chicken with a tasty glaze and a chipotle sauce. Di chose the sirloin steak. We were both very pleased with our choices - they were simple but beautifully done. We finished off with some sorbet which came with a chewy chocolate cookie. It had been a good place to stop, and we may suggest it for our next meet-up with Jane and Trevor (as it seems to be about 45 miles from us, and the same from them).

From Otterboourne we moved on to the Winchester Science Centre.

The car park was almost empty and we could choose a convenient spot before walking along to the entrance. We had hoped to get into the building and see what events were planned and whether there was anything suitable for Ellie. It was closed, however, and not due to open the doors until 18:30. We waited in the warm evening sunshine, chatting with other visitors until,, finally, the doors opened and we were allowed in. 

We picked up a small brochure and chatted to the receptionist before entering the main exhibition space where could wander around until the doors to the Planetarium were opened.

At the allotted time, the doors were opened and we took our seats. We were almost lying down in the chairs as they were designed such that you looked up into the huge dome. We were there to celebrate 50+ years since the release of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon".

The lights went down and a visually stunning show flashed onto the dome as the music embraced you from every direction. The show illustrated the tracks as they progressed with views from space interspersed with incredible graphics. If visual displays similar to this had been available in the 70s, nobody would have needed LSD to blow their mind! The show followed the course of the original album, so it was all over in about 45 minutes. The audience was stunned at first, then erupted into applause before filing out.

We returned to reception and checked in for the second event of the evening - 50+ years of Led Zeppelin. Again, we had a wait while the Dark Siders left and Zep-heads arrived. It was noticeable that there were very few people under 60 in either audience - those who were there were in for an education! We filed in for the second show. Again, the light went down and as the dome lit up with some incredible graphics, the thunder of a Led Zeppelin track split the silence. I wasn't sure what to expect but we got tracks from many different stages of their career - "In the Morning", "Whole Lotta Love", Immigrant Song", "Black Dog", "Stairway to Heaven", "D'yer Maker", "Kashmir", and finished off with "Ramble On". (There were several other songs, but I can't remember what they were). Again the show lasted for about 45 minutes or so, and while the music was wonderful and penetrated right through you, I thought the graphics were a bit hit-and-miss.  Some were brilliant, but others were a little underwhelming. The final light-cycle chase during "Ramble On" was spectacular.

Before we knew it, the evening was done.  If you ever see these events advertised at your local Planetarium - don't hesitate to book your tickets and go!

We filed out to the car and hit the motorway. We had a fairly clear run and were home just after 22:30. It had been a brilliant day!

G-Force

G-Force was in action again today. I was up early so that Ellie could be dropped off soon after 07:00. She looked half-asleep when she came through the door. I asked if she wanted a cuddle - she did, but only with Nana. I sent her upstairs and left them to it. It was another half hour before they came down for breakfast.

I spent part of the morning catching up on the accounts while Diane and Ellie were up in the sewing room finishing the cushions. When Ellie had completed the cushions, she then played quietly in her room before coming downstairs and reading in the lounge. She was reading an encyclopaedia and doing some maths in a puzzle book. 

I took the opportunity to take a walk and post a birthday card. I started a new audiobook as I went. It seems quite good so far.

After lunch, Ellie decided to play doctors. Diane and I were confined to our ward (the Orangery) and blessed with various treatments at her hands. Zoe picked her up just after 16:00. She is off to Pete's for the weekend.

Battery

Ellie decided, yesterday evening, that she wanted to sleep here overnight. Zoe dropped her off and Di took her straight up to get ready for bed. She was asleep by 20:00 and slept through until about 07:30 this morning. I had been up and about for about 30 minutes by the time she came down.

After breakfast, Diane oversaw Ellie's ablutions, and when she was ready, I took her with me to go to Sainsbury's for a quick top-up. We saw Zoe while we were there.  Once we were back home, Ellie joined Di in the sewing room and they started a little project to make a patchwork cushion. Ellie did very well and the project is well underway.

I spent several hours looking at my laptop for a laptop. Kim is off to University in September and I said I would provide her a laptop. Battery life was one of the requirements she had mentioned. The obvious answer is a MacBook, but a Windows 11 system is likely to be more compatible with the University's apps. I have found some possible candidate systems, but each of them has some drawbacks, according to the reviews.

Ellie and I went out for a walk this afternoon. We didn't go too far, but we had a chat as we walked and she pointed out the homes of several of her school friends. 

Darren collected Ellie late afternoon, but she will be back first thing tomorrow.

Slime

 I managed to have a lie-in. It was 07:00 before I got up and staggered down the stairs for coffee. We had had rain overnight, but it was drying up when I opened the blinds.

Di bought me a set of intelligent scales, as an anniversary present. I set up the accompanying App and linked it to the scales. I was pleased that it calibrated exactly against our old mechanical scales. After a few moments, it reported weight, BMI, body fat, subcutaneous fat, skeletal muscle metabolic age, visceral fat, and several other statistics. I was impressed with how comprehensive the report was, and pleased to see that it shared this data with the Apple Health app.

During the morning, I cleared the slimy blanket weed from the rill. Di had sprinkled a weed killer on it and after 24 hours it had turned into a foamy slime. I used a net to scoop it all out and left it to dry before adding it to the green waste bin.

Diane headed off to the hairdresser's late morning. While she was gone, I ploughed through much of the post-holiday ironing. I then headed up to the study to spend some more time fiddling with the Apple Music library. There is a fair way to go to refresh my whole library, but I think it is worth the effort.

We both managed a little Kindle-time this afternoon.

Sounds, Streams, and Music

 For some reason, I was again awake early. I got up soon after 06:30 and started the day with a coffee and the overnight news. While I was reading some articles discussing music streaming, it occurred to me that I could switch my current music service from Amazon Music Unlimited to Apple Music.

The idea seemed straightforward enough. It wasn't quite as easy as I expected. The new service fired up and allowed me to download and stream music, but I found it remarkably difficult to incorporate my existing library of ripped CDs. Eventually, I got it to work, but it did take several hours. The next job was to extend the family sharing so that Diane could get access to the music from her iPhone and iPad.

This exercise has taken most of the day, and there is more to do over the next few days. I must say the sound quality seems very good.

Zoned Out

 My body decided that I had slipped back to Turkey overnight. As a result, I woke at 6:45 (Turkish time) which, unfortunately, was 4:45 here in the UK. I lay still for a while, but by 6:15 I had to get going. Coffee was consumed and the news was perused. Despite my attempt not to disturb Diane, she was up soon after 7. 

My morning was taken up with a list of administrative trivia which included writing some reviews for our central heating chap. With that done, I then had the excitement of writing a post-holiday shopping list. Mid morning the chap who cleaned our driveway and patios came around to clean the outside of the Orangery. He brought his wife with him, to hold the ladder and then got stuck in. Firstly, he cleaned out the gutters - which turned out to be full of various airborne detritus. Once the gutters were done, he set about the glass and vinyl. It's looking very good, but he will have to return next week to try and get at the inaccessible area of the roof, from our upstairs windows.

I did the Sainsbury's run this afternoon. It was remarkably quiet in-store, so I was in and out quite quickly.

After a fabulously warm, sunny day and given the early start, I suspect it be a quiet evening followed by an early night.

Home thoughts from... home

 My word, it's good to be sleeping in our own bed. We both slept really well, but being a man of habit, I awoke at 6:45 without any prompting from my alarm (which was switched off). Once awake I was worried that I would fidget and disturb Di, so I snuck downstairs for my first coffee of the day and to make a list of the various items of admin I would have to address during the day.

Di emerged an hour or so later, but it became clear that she had a return of her "gastric stress". This would keep her close to home throughout the day. In turn, this meant that I would have to be trusted to go and fetch Jasper from the cattery, by myself! This event turned into an epic as the gridlock around Chichester and towards the coast turned the 8-mile journey into a 65-minute drive. The run back was much quicker and I was home in 12 minutes! Jasper has soon settled back into the swing of things and is patrolling the house and grounds as I write this.

One of the features of our TV is called "Ambient Mode" which allows an image to be displayed when the TV is idle. I have tried this before but never really achieved the result that I wanted. Today I made a concerted effort to display one of the images from our Turkey trip. It took a lot of fiddling about, but I succeeded and we now have the panorama that was visible from the villa in Kalkan as a piece of artwork when the TV is not in use. Very satisfying.

We had been invited to Zoe's for a BBQ this afternoon. This would not have been sensible, given Di's discomfort, so I popped around to say hello and drop off some cards that had been sent to us for her Birthday. I didn't stay for too long.

Di has spent most of the day catching up on the holiday laundry. The washing machine provided sterling service throughout the day and as it has been so warm, the washing dried quickly. 

Happy Returns

It is Zoe's birthday (we celebrated the birthday over the last two evenings) and our final morning in Kalkan. We were awake early and by 07:15, I had everything packed and ready to go and was making my first coffee of the day. I stood on the patio to watch the nun poke its head above the mountains just to the east of us, it was a wonderful site seeing the rays as they spread down through the valley to the sea.

As the time ticked around towards 08:00, everyone was up and it was all hands to the pump as the villa was given a good clean and tidy, and luggage started to accumulate in the lounge. My little digital scales did sterling work ensuring all bags were well within their weight limits. We had to check out of the villa by 10:00 but were able to store our luggage in the annexe until the airport transfer.

We called a couple of taxis to take us down into town for the last time. Unfortunately, Diane managed to leave her phone in the back of the taxi when we went down to the old town. This caused a bit of a panic. We contacted our tame taxi driver, Mohammed, and he contacted his mate who actually drove the taxi that we came down in and 15 minutes later he turned up at the taxi rank and the phone was recovered thank goodness. 

We stopped for breakfast and some drinks at Café Merkez down in the old town. From our seats we could see a purveyor of fine leather goods across the street. When we had finished our drinks, Diane and I wandered across and we bought an early anniversary present… I even managed to haggle a better price as it was for our 51st Anniversary.

We returned to the taxi rank and took a ride back up to the villa. We retrieved our luggage and awaited our airport transport. A 16-seat Mercedes Sprinter turned up and was soon loaded.  The transfer started at 12:45 and wove its way through the mountains back to Dalaman. We arrived at the airport by 14:40 and everything went through smoothly. They seemed very security conscious as we actually had to go through several separate security scans as we made our way to the gate. The plane took off on time and landed about 30 minutes early. Gatwick was at its most benign. Passport control was very quick and baggage collection was no more than about 5 minutes. We left the terminal and Darren's friend appeared with his minibus to collect us. Everything ran like clockwork.

(I should point out that Kim and Jon were on a different flight from us and were due a bit later. They planned to get the train back to Chichester).

Back home we all said one last Happy Birthday to Zoe and bid our farewells. We walked around the corner, made a cup of tea, and started unpacking. This would have gone smoothly if the combination on Diane's suitcase hadn't refused to open or even bet rest. In the end, I had to resort to some tin-snips to cut the zip tags off so the contents could be accessed.

We've just dropped into bed... and it is so nice to be back in our own bed.

Last Day

Today is the last full day here in Kalkan. I was up at seven and, unusually, Di was the next one up… followed by Kim. Late night’s dirty stop-outs didn’t get back until about 23:30 and certain people were a little hungover (not Ellie or Broadie!!!). It took another 90 minutes before everyone had emerged this morning.

There was no firm plan for the day. Kim and Jon went off their motorbike. They were heading for town and planning to get some lunch. The rest of us stayed by the pool - in my case, tucked in the shade. It was a very relaxing day, despite the heat which reached the mid-30s again and stayed very intense until about 16:00.

I wandered around the grounds taking a few photos to remember the wonderful views that greet us every morning. I was also nabbed to be the subject of several photos (just to prove I was here). Late in the afternoon Darren, Zoe, and Ellie headed down to the town to get some shopping for tonight’s dinner. Tammy and Broadie also went down for some ice cream and last-minute shopping - and bearing in mind I haven’t seen Millie for several hours, I suspect she has gone to the town also.

Once the intensity of the sun had waned, I hit the pool for a few lengths. It was delightful after such a hot day. When I had showered, I started packing in preparation for tomorrow.

We have a large BBQ planned for tonight and it may well include 1.5kg of prawns that I bought yesterday (and kept in the freezer).

Power Cut?

We were given advanced warning that the power was likely to be switched off between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. This meant that we had to come up with a plan for the day as no power meant no air-conditioning and no water. The first alteration came when I decided to forego my morning swim as I didn’t want to be caught without a shower. Kim, Jon, Millie and Darren decided to take the boat across to the Mahal Beach Club. Di and I decided to have a quiet morning at the villa and then head down to the old town for a mooch around. Zoe, Tammy, Ellie and Broadie elected to stay at the villa.

We summoned Mohammed, our tame taxi driver, and he took us to the old town. We roamed down to the harbour and wandered along past the boats and restaurants along to the local beach. 

We swung around and headed back, stopping for a snack down at “Aubergine” overlooking the marina. Di had baklava for the first time and absolutely loved it, chased down with a coffee. I forced myself to have a beer so that I remained hydrated in the hot sun. (It was about 34C and humid again today).

I must say that the old town and particularly the area down by the marina is absolutely gorgeous. We zigzagged up from the marina, up through the old town going up one alley down another it was hard work (as it’s very steep), but it was absolutely gorgeous.

We stopped for lunch at Chata Restaurant where we sat on the roof terrace and chatted to a family from Nottingham. We had a wonderful hour chatting, eating and drinking. Di had a beef sandwich which was an open baguette with onions mushrooms and a whole cow on top. I had a pizza and again managed to maintain my hydration levels with a further infusion of beer.

We continued our exploration of the old town and stopped at a couple of shops. At one, we got a nice outfit for Ellie, and I bought a nice t-shirt. 

We headed back to the taxi rank and then up to the villa. It turns out that the power had remained on all day… and Zoe, Tammy, Ellie, and Broadie had enjoyed a nice quiet day at the villa. Soon after we got back (and I had a swim) all the others arrived back. They too had enjoyed an excellent day at the beach club.

This evening Zoe, Darren, Tammy and the kids have gone into town for dinner. The rest of us are just chillin' back at the villa.

Up late

We all slept late after last night’s excursion to the old town. My alarm went off at 06:45 because I forgot to switch it off last night (that was not popular). I went back to sleep for an hour then wandered out to patio to read the news, drink some coffee, and have a swim. Again, Kim was first to join me, followed a while later by Ellie.

It was clearly going to be another hot day. The forecast suggested 34C. During the morning, Zoe, Di and Tammy headed down to the shops for necessary supplies.

Kim, Jon, and Millie headed off to a local beach club for a few hours. Ellie was feeling a bit down, possibly because of the slight heat rash she had on her legs. Zoe called a taxi and popped down to the pharmacy for some liquid Piriton (children’s). Within 20 minutes, Ellie was back to her usual self. She and Broadie spent a fair bit of time in the air-conditioned lounge. The temperatures were in the mid-30s and with the humidity it felt like 39C (according to the local weather app) so hiding inside made sense.

The intensity of the heat died down by 16:00 and somehow all 10 of us ended up in the pool. Kim taught Ellie and Broadie to snorkel and they practised up and down the pool.

Some of the crew (no names, no pack drill) are heading back into town for a bit of a boogie this evening. It will come as no surprise that the more mature of us will be staying put).

Ten

After an excellent BBQ last night, we spent much of the evening educating Millie on proper music. To be fair, she was a quick learner and Spotify enabled her to add Cream, Santana, Led Zeppelin, and The Doors to her playlists. Di and I left them to it and went to bed soon after 22:30.

Darren and Zoe stayed up into the early hours, waiting for Tammy and her son, Broadie, to arrive. There had been a mix-up over her transfer from the airport so, in the end, she took a taxi and arrived here just before 02:00. So now we are ten!

I was awake early and by 07:00 I was making coffee and heading to a lounger near the pool. As I read the overnight news, Kim emerged. She and Jon had decided to head off early to visit a ruin some 25 miles away, and then spend time at the beach. They were gone before anyone else emerged. I had my morning swim and realised I was being watched by Broadie, who was standing on his balcony. Despite their late night, Tammy and Broadie were the next to come down… and then slowly, everyone else appeared.

It was more humid today and the temperatures hovered between 34 and 35C. I sat in my shaded corner, and over the day was joined by Kim, Jon, Diane, and the kids when they needed some relief from the sun. The kids actually spent a lot of the afternoon inside in the air-conditioned lounge. Everyone else was quite quiet - I think the heat was getting to them.

This evening we shut up the villa and took a couple of taxis down to the old town. We wandered the streets looking for a suitable restaurant for dinner. We stopped at one place for a drink, but on reading their restaurant menu, decided to try elsewhere. In the end, we retraced our steps and took the next road, closer to the harbour. 

This was much more lively and had a larger selection of restaurants. We chose one and they settled us down. We had some drinks while choosing from the extensive menu. The food was exquisite. Between us, we had pizza (for Ellie), shashlik, mixed grill, lamb chops, fajitas, halloumi, and who knows what else. It was wonderful and the staff were charming and made a real fuss of “princess” Ellie. Despite our best efforts, it was nearly 10 p.m. before we arrived back at the villa… and the kids seemed to have gained a second wind. 

It really was a lovely evening and we must return to the old town for a look around during the day.

Peaceful Start

There is something very satisfying about being the first up, grabbing a coffee and sitting by the pool while reading the news. Kim came out to join me after about half an hour, but she too sat down for a quiet read. With my catch-up complete, I dropped into the pool and swam some lengths before towelling off and grabbing a second coffee.

Over the next 90 minutes, everyone else emerged. I was surprised to see Diane as she had a dreadful night’s sleep, but she was up and about. Breakfast was a casual affair. Most helped themselves, but I did scrambled eggs and bacon for Jon, bacon for Darren, and had fried eggs and bacon myself. The morning saw a local transformer blow meaning we had a power cut for much of the morning.

Ellie spent much of the morning in the pool with various adults to accompany her. The rest sat chatting, reading or listening to music. Kim had her iPad with her - this was my old iPad. The Logitech keyboard wouldn’t pair with it, so I spent about 45 minutes trying to sort it out. Eventually, it burst into life and seems to be fine now. (I seem to remember having a similar problem on Diane’s old iPad once - and it took a while to fix also).

The local maintenance man turned up at lunchtime. The toilet seat in our en suite was all lopsided, so he fixed that, and then put up a hook for us to hang towels. Soon after he left the power came back on… not that we had missed it during the morning.

After lunch, Kim and Jon headed off on the motorbike. The aim was to have a look around and stop for something to eat. At the same time, Zoe, Ellie, Darren, and Millie took a taxi down to the town to get some shopping. Diane took the opportunity to go back to bed for a nap. I stayed on the terrace in a shaded spot and had Kindle time until everyone returned. When everyone returned there was a huge selection of meats and salmon for the BBQ... and the odd bottle of wine and can of beer.

Ellie got a bit overtired and had a grizzly half-hour late afternoon. She settled and went into the air-conditioned lounge for some quiet time on her iPad. I took the opportunity to have another swim.

A BBQ is planned for this evening.

Lengths

 It was good to get to bed last night and we slept well, though I did have to switch off the air conditioning as it was getting too cold. I snuck out of bed before eight and found that Millie was already sitting by the pool. I dived into the pool and spent a pleasant 30 minutes ploughing up and down. Slowly, everyone else emerged and started a quiet day by, or in, the pool.

I settled down with my book, having found a shady spot with a pleasant cooling breeze. The temperature was in the low 30s but seemed quite intense.  I stayed put in the shade all day whilst others made the most of the sun. Ellie spent the whole day in the pool or being basted with sun cream. It was beautifully relaxing and I think we all enjoyed it.

Darren and Jon went down into town for some "supplies" this morning. Jon was driving the motorbike and Darren clung to his back. They managed to have a look around the town and gather various beers and bottles of wine.

As the peak of the heat died away, I returned to the pool for some more lengths. It's been a long time since I've been swimming and it was such a pleasure to be back in the water.

We decided to get the evening dinner delivered. This was a lengthy process of getting agreement on what everyone wanted to eat and then finding a restaurant that could cater for the various choices.

Travelling

We were up early, but having stayed in Gatwick overnight, it wasn’t as early as it might have been. We met up with Zoe, Ellie, Darren and Millie in reception and then made our way through to the terminal.

It was a good job we were there early as the queue was already building and there was only one check-in clerk. It took about 30 minutes to drop the bags and head for security. We had pre-ordered the Fast-track security line so didn’t have to join the long queue that had formed. As we went through, Zoe was recognised by a chap she used to work with when she was on Security. She had a quick chat as we made our way through.

Once airside we looked for somewhere to grab breakfast and ended up at Nando’s. Di and I managed to get a lovely porridge with blueberries and bananas, while others went for poached eggs or sausage buns. By the time we had finished, we had to head straight to the gate. We were bussed out to the plane (which I hate) and were soon settled in our seats. Because of Air Traffic problems across Europe, we took off an hour late. It was a very comfortable flight in a brand-new A321NEO. Ellie was very excited as it was her first flight but settled down with her iPad once the novelty had worn off.

We landed at 16:25 (local time) so it was about three and a half hours flight. By 17:00 we had cleared passport control and got our bags. The driver was waiting for us and we were soon loaded into the minibus and on our way. It took about an hour and 40 minutes to get to the Villa - which is stunning. Jon and Kim had arrived this morning and made the most of the location during the day. We shipped all of our bags and cases up to the villa and allocated the rooms.

Ellie went straight to the pool and while Di, Zoe and Millie headed for the supermarket (by taxi, because we are on a hill that would give Norgay Tensing pause for thought) I changed and joined Ellie in the pool.

The plan is to finish the day with a BBQ.

The Gathering

I woke to another glorious day. Coffee was beckoning and I was wide awake... there was only one thing to do and so I went to the kitchen and started the day.

The morning was fairly relaxed as we had completed most of our packing. We shuffled the odd items between cases and debated whether we had too much or not enough. Ian rang the bell to wish us "Godspeed" and to gather keys to allow his careful overwatch during our absence. Zoe sent through a boarding card to be printed for Darren's daughter, Millie.

After lunch, we finished shutting up the house and headed around to Zoe's where the Gathering would begin. Zoe and Darren were there with Millie and Ellie was playing with a friend around the corner. We swept her up and by 14:15 the taxi had arrived. It was a 9-seater minibus with plenty of luggage space (which was just as well). Paul, the driver, was a friend of Darren's. By 15:30 we were at Gatwick and checking into our hotel. Zoe had done us proud and we had an executive suite and they had a family room.

We took our luggage to our rooms and then met in the Executive Lounge for a soft drink. At 17:00 we went to the restaurant and settled down for a meal. We deliberately ate early as Ellie was with us, and frankly, Di and I usually eat early anyway. 

Halfway through the meal, Kim and Jon turned up. They are flying on ahead of us, leaving tonight, but had time for a quick drink and a chat before checking in for their flight.

We are back in our room now and have agreed to meet up at 07:30 in reception, ready to begin the journey.

It begins

I always feel as if a holiday has started as we drive away from the Cattery. I was so relaxed this morning that I didn't wake up until 07:45... that's not like me at all. It was warm and sunny again, and the temperature hovered in the high 20s. The yellow weather warning for thunderstorms has amounted to nothing so far, though the weather map shows some heavy storms north of here.

Zoe had received another missive from DPD. The second part of yesterday's delivery would arrive late morning. I duly walked around and settled with my Kindle to await the knock. It was on the dot of midday when he arrived and we manhandled the box into the hallway, and I headed home.

Back home, Diane has been refining her packing and I have been helping by weighing each new configuration of each suitcase. We finally have everything packed and each case is within the weight limit. Success! Meanwhile, I have been trying to find the best configuration for my rucksack. I'm a little confused by the fact that my camera seems to trigger the Magsafe iPhone charger. I need to keep them well away from each other. I also downloaded a few films or TV Episodes to watch on my iPad (whether I will, is another matter).

We had a nice Facetime call from Ellie this evening. I think we are all looking forward to seeing her tomorrow, after 2 weeks away.