With lockdown due to start tomorrow, and yesterday’s mission being devoted to pleasure at the expense of the practical, this afternoon I went out with a detailed shopping list and a pre-planned itinerary. The first stop was the chemist, followed by a walk down Istiklal to the mobile phone shop where I topped up my phone – something I am very laggardly about, and it had expired weeks ago. I stopped at a skincare shop for lotion, toothpaste and face wash. Then, a quick explore through the former fish market area where I examined the smoked fish shops for future reference, and then had a lamb durum for lunch. This was at one of the internationally famous spots and while the durum was good, the lamb was slightly tough and I would have liked a little more of the tail fat.
From here I crossed over into Cihangir, first to the meze shop where, horror, they were out of tarama, my breakfast of choice. I bought a little selection of meze, and some smoked salmon (they also salt and smoke their own fish), and then on to the organic shop. This is set up so you have to shout your requests into the shop over a barrier and they gather your purchases, for pandemic reasons. There was a woman before me and she shouted for a great many things that either they did not have or that were unsatisfactory, and she stomped off, leaving the shopkeeper holding a handful of green beans. I bought the green beans and a number of other items of produce, and asked for them to be delivered. The credit card hookup was down so I had to nip over to the nearby ATM. Then I went to the local supermarket. which is the ‘gurme’ version of a major international chain, and to my horror there was a long queue outside. It turned out that they were letting people in in batches so the wait was not outrageous. Anyway, I topped up on mushrooms, a few spices (including mahlep, which I intend to experiment with) and other bits and pieces. Then I returned to Galata via Cukurcuma, and was rather tempted by some of the furniture for sale – a couple of small tables which looked very appealing indeed, but since I already have a collection of furniture in Lahore which I shall never have the opportunity to use, it seems pointless to add to it.
The final actual stop was the soap shop where I stocked up and again had to pay in cash as there was no electricity. By now I was a bit fed up of tedious errands so, instead of my final errand (buying a toilet brush to replace the one which broke, disgustingly, in my hand) I went straight back. Then, I had a magazine meeting which was long and tiring as usual, and the story I thought was terrible others quite liked. Bah.
So ended a day of missions and not nearly enough work done.