This evening a new age dawned, somewhat belatedly for us, as the rest of the world has been on the food delivery wagon for a good long while, even before the pandemic. I successfully ordered profiteroles from my favourite cake shop, and the GF ordered dinner from one of the nicest places in Cihangir. Remarkable […]
Small victories
A few small achievements on Monday to make up for the stagnant weekend. The first was that I finally managed to call the helpline for our visas to learn that they were still being processed, and that was why we had not heard back. A relief, as it was definitely keeping me up at night. […]
See you on the other side
Metaphorically speaking, of course. The weekend lockdown starts tonight so the GF and I decided to take Friday as our weekend (well, I did anyway; the GF just moved his working day to the evening). It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we went to get supplies for the next couple of days, having decided […]
Pandemic lunching
We were out of groceries and it was a sunny, if chilly, afternoon, so we decided to go out for lunch. It turned out to be very pleasant: we went to Cihangir, to a little hipster street food place. Under the new regulations there is no dining in, so we took our food to the […]
No phones
Both of our phones have turned over and died due to various tedious reasons. Ah well, we did without mobile phones for half my life, and without data for three-quarters, so I daresay we’ll manage. It was a working day for me, though the GF ran a few errands and then I met him in […]
The landed gentry
This morning I woke early, as we were moving flat. Away from the mosquitos, the dripping fridge, the foetid kitchen sink, the oddly placed shower. Off to Galata, to the same building we lived in when we first arrived in Istanbul, but a lower floor. Also, no hot water, for there was none this morning […]
Foiled
This morning, we were told, the appointment would be arranged for the afternoon. We would have to go to the bank to arrange payment, pay the taxes and turn up at the appropriate government office, hand over the payment, attest that we did indeed intend to buy this specific property at this specific price, sign […]
Istanbul pads
Last night the GF and I went flat hunting with a local property person we’d found online whose portfolio seemed to have the sorts of properties we would like. It didn’t start well: he took us to one we’d seen on his website, which looked rather pokey, but when we arrived it was well beyond […]
Waste of a day
A terrible day and a terrible night before it, much of it awake and in pain. Woke up and got dressed, and threw up out of pain, then felt too drained and weak to even make my tea in the morning. When the GF woke up he made me some tea and a slice of […]
City gods
Yesterday we went first for lunch to perhaps Tainan’s most famous export, the home of slack season noodles, Du Hsiao Yueh. Quite tasty, and they had some very nice fresh bamboo served simply with a bit of mayonnaise. This is in one of the two historic centres of Tainan, about a 10 minute walk from […]