The newspapers, the internet, all available social media and I daresay a good bit of English language television and radio as well is plastered with the Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan. I gave in and watched the clip where Meghan reveals that a member of the royal family had muttered something about the […]
Harrowing day
The morning started with a phone call: my grandmother is not well again. We left for our Ikea appointment to order our kitchen. It was not a good journey: the day had turned cold and grey, with a bit of rain. It was also the first weekend day after the lifting of lockdown and the […]
Abort, abort 2
We caught a taxi to take us to Ikea – a little indulgent as it is on the Asian side and we could get at least part of the way there by public transport. We were supposed to go there to get our kitchen planned out and then to pay for it and hopefully not […]
Vitiating
A soul draining start to the afternoon. We had a nice stroll up to Nisantasi, and on the way got a call about progress on our flat which was very reassuring. With the language barrier it is very hard to work out what exactly is going on sometimes. We were going to the Vitra showroom, […]
Red carpet
This afternoon, as the cleaners came, we popped by the flat to meet the architect and give her a small payment for windows, show her the basement, and measure the wall where the projector screen will come. Then we walked through Galata’s light shops to get a sense of what is available – light switches, […]
The chosen tiles
We have chosen our tiles. They are extravagant, but will be very beautiful. The pattern is below, though the central star is more blue and flecked with white, rather dusk-like, and the smaller star is a dark grey. They are handmade to order, so will take a few weeks to arrive.
Tile decisions
After lunch, the GF and I took a ferry to Uskudar – I will never grow tired of the ferry – and then a taxi about 10km inland to Ataşehir, a satellite town full of skyscrapers. I understand it’s a fairly desirable place to live, but felt rather grotesque, with huge glassy skyscrapers and massive […]
Virtues of broccoli
Overnight the weather changed, as forecast. Seemingly in the course of an hour, the temperature fell from 17 degrees to below zero, and when we woke up it was sleeting lightly. We woke up early, as we had to go to Tarabya as a friend had kindly volunteered to take us to a man who […]
Important people
In the morning we went off to the northern Bosphorus to visit a friend who has a house there at a rather pretty spot which opens up towards the Black Sea. We arrived in time for brunch and a TV show the friend had been awaiting, featuring an important person they knew. So they propped […]
Peran Christmas
We had our first Christmas in Galata, Pera as was. In the morning I dashed to finish some work, and managed just as the GF arose. We went off to bring a Turkish breakfast from a nearby cafe, along with a couple of glasses of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Since our dining room is dark […]