A fairly satisfying sort of day today as we did a fair number of errands. First, we met our old estate agent at the new flat to look for electricity and water bills so they could be transferred over to us. We dutifully started by having a cup of Turkish cay each at the tea stall outside, as part of our conscious efforts to get everyone on side and be good neighbours and citizens. An electricity bill was quickly found, but none for water. Eventually a rather horrible and grimy water metre was unearthed and a picture taken.
We went off to Cihangir to the nearest electricity office. Along the way it turned out that the agent’s friend could help us with a concerning phone issue – a relief. At the electricity office matters were sorted swiftly, and we became billpayers for the first time since leaving Malaysia. Next door was a locksmith’s shop, so we had our front door keys copied for the startling cost of 5 lira per key.
While the GF waited for the keys to be ground, the agent and I returned to Galata to catch his friend. Along the way, I mentioned Turkish lessons to the agent and was told he had a friend… interesting the way these things work in Turkey and how we have already acquired a Rolodex, so to speak, of people who can fix us up with something or another. In Pakistan also, but it feels slightly different here, perhaps slightly more equality?
As we walked, at the foot of the hill, a cat suddenly ran across the pavement and a man cam running after it, shouting something in Turkish. The cat stopped at the kerb and turned and said something back. The man flung a glass of pomegranate juice at the cat. The cat disappeared. Heads popped out of every shop and window. The man explained himself. Interesting, I thought, a rare moment of cat oppression. Then the chuckled. His face under his mask looked beatific. ‘Have you ever been to a country where they love cats more?’ he asked me, full of seriousness. ‘No,’ I said truthfully, and thought that clearly the juice flinging must have been out of affection.
We arrived at the friend’s office just off Serdar-e Ekrem with a startling little garden outside it. The friend was quite splendid, about seven feet tall and seven feet across, with a massive shaved head, a huge bristling beard, and a thick hoop earring. He looked very much indeed like one of the ultras of Turkish footballing. But as I walked in, across the door was a pull-up rod, and I pointed to it – ‘For exercise?’ I asked.
He broke into a huge grin, for it seemed the rod was indeed for exercise, for him, and he had only bought it a day or so ago so it was his favourite thing. This clearly broke the ice, for after that he told me he was on Instagram and had 50,000 followers, that he also sold watches, that he was stand-up comedian because he was quite funny but sometimes got stage fright, and he had a performance that evening. The agent, his friend, watched with an air of amused patience. Then his phone rang, it was a friend. He put it on speakerphone and the two sang to each other. Mid-song, he jabbed at the phone to hang up. ‘This is what we do,’ he told me. “Where are you from?’ he asked. ‘England,’ I said, incompletely, so he showed me his Big Ben statue and red double-decker bus. I admired them both.
Then he took my phone to check the SIM, but didn’t have the pin to pop it open. He brought out perhaps the largest safety pin I’ve ever seen and stabbed it into the hole. It didn’t open and I thought surely he’s stabbed right into the innards. Then he had an idea and, to my horror, removed his hoop earring from his ear and tried opening the compartment with it. No luck, so before he had an even worse idea I took the phone from him and said I would do it myself.
I went back to Cihangir where the GF was waiting for me at the mosque overlooking the Bosphorus. We had some coffee, looked at a couple of shops, and returned. Since then I have been working on the magazine some friends and I are setting up – the first issue is out next week.
Oh, and the GF did some important banking stuff and I turned down one of the quotes we received, and together the GF and I decided on some matters on how to proceed. And now, my magazine work is still not finished but I’ll do it in the morning as it’s past midnight and I slept very lightly last night.