Yesterday was Monday I’m told, but I feel quite out of time, as though the week has been going on for a very long time. It turns out taking my weekend on Friday didn’t actually feel much like the weekeend, or maybe it did and in that case it should be Friday tomorrow, but it isn’t. All very strange.
First thing, nearly, on Monday morning, I went off to run a few errands, with the help of the agent who sold us our flat. One, get our water connection to our name, finally. Two, apply for a gas connection. For both of these we had to drive about 20 minutes to various offices, but once there they were fairly quick and easy. The water stuff, at least, was very easy: showing a few documents, giving my phone number, paying a transfer fee, done.
The gas was slightly more complicated as it’s a new connection. The man we were called to was clearly the only person in Turkey taking the coronavirus seriously, for he didn’t let me and the agent in the room at the same time, which was tricky as the agent spoke Turkish and knew what the hell was going on, and I was getting the connection and had all the information. He was a very anxious type indeed, and whenever I accidentally kicked the rope barrier in front of his desk he’d wave frantically at me, and since I’m rather clumsy this happened frequently. Of course between our respective mounting anxiety communication was impossible, and at one point he gestured at me saying something about a photo! photo! and pointing at a contraption behind him. By now I was almost as anxious at he was so I thought it was a camera he needed facial recognition or something so I removed my mask. His voice rose to a squeal, his arms flapped at hummingbird speed and I put my mask back on. Finally the agent was called back in and told me that they were unable to identify my building and he wanted a photo of another meter from the same building.
I rang the GF who fortunately answered his phone and even more fortunately had a photo of someone else’s meter already as we had thought it was our’s. So all was well, except when I went to sign the documents on his tablet, carefully set up with a separate stylus for him (black) and one for customers (white) and accidentally brushed against his hand. By now he seemed so relieved to be nearly rid of me, that he didn’t say anything, and I paid the connection fee and we left.
Very reasonable, his caution, and I would not like to be in a public facing role during a pandemic, but I did feel like a stupid and cow.
On the way back we passed the British consulate which had a big old barrier saying ‘INVEST IN THE UK’ and giving the URL great.gov.uk. Damn this Brexity country.
After I returned and we had some lunch, the GF and I decided to go for a walk, rather, a quest for a pepper grinder. I had over the weekend identified a manufacturer of brass coffee grinders which do very well for pepper etc, and so we set off, past our new flat (gratifyingly, there were some tourists admiring our building), and through the hardware market. On the way we spotted an open door and went inside to find perhaps one the loveliest little spots in a lovely city. It’s a caravanserai designed by Sinan, with rows of arches hung over by grapevines, the odd Byzantine column repurposed as a water spout, etc. The rooms on the lower floor were full of lathe operators working away amidst piles of metal. Upstairs were more lathe makers and, astonishingly, artist studios: a tile painter, a sculptor, some others. It was quite a surprise, and rare to find something that seems to still be under at least the Anglophone radar. And all very beautiful and graceful. I hope it survives and flourishes with this same mix of tenants, though I am sure the Taiwanese would say it needs good management above all.
We walked along the Golden Horn until we reached the bridge which bears the metro line. Crossing over we were at the foot of the Suleimaniye mosque, and in one of the streets we found our grinder at a shope which sold coffee grinders, brass mortar and pestles, and spade heads. This was a street of knife sellers, safe sellers and seller of weighing scales, so I suppose metal work (presumably the old weighing scales were all the scales of justice metal types with weights, but no longer). We stayed on the edge of the busy bits, wary of the virus, but popped in now and then to exmine stalls selling baskets, wooden stools, etc. Eventually we got to a cafe, purchased coffee and found a bench in the space outside the New Mosque. A lovely afternoon, and then a very busy rest of the day.