Today, we went to Nisantasi with the intent of going on to one of the markets. Unsurprisingly, it was closed, what with it being a lockdown, but on the way we explored some interesting new streets, including one lined with cake shops. Finding the market closed led to a minor crisis as the GF was […]
Good neighbours
The (hopefully) final blast of winter is here, cold, grey and wet. Hopefully just till tomorrow and then the forecast says temperatures should climb and the sun should emerge. The relative has rallied a little. He has been conscious throughout, and it must be terrifying to be in that high oxygen room surrounded by PPE. […]
Lights
Our day’s excursion was to the lighting shops. We went to a place which makes bronze and copper lights, including to any design you specify, and seemed to have good quality and workmanship. Later, we found a few sites with stylish lights, and have a much better sense of what we might eventually use in […]
What I noticed
1. Vaccine passports 2. Attack in Mozambique 3. Jordanian thises and thats 4. A man, his plan: a very long canal 5. The reason for rape according to Imran Khan (skimpy attire) 6. Myanmar deaths 7. More talk of vaccine nationalism 8. Train crash in Taiwan 9. Deaths among the tribesmen 10. Coronavirus horrors in […]
Easter quest
This morning, Easter Sunday, the GF woke with a quest in mind. So off we went to Kurtulus, in search of a legendary baker of Greek Easter bread, described as brioche-like, flavoured with mastic and mahlep, and baked by a Turkish family whose patriarch had been apprenticed to an old Rum baker. We went on […]
A walk in the sun
We took the new tram to Eyup, what a lovely journey. I was a little distracted, but could enjoy the slow glide on the edge of the water, and sometimes over the water itself. Until the tram line opened all of this had been behind scaffolding and construction barriers, so though we’d walked past many […]
Sad news
The GF and I stepped out for an early spring stroll, on a pleasantly warm day, and stopped at the flat where they were busy plastering over the electrical wiring and the plumbing. It is really coming together beautifully and now, for the first time, I can imagine living in it. While I was there […]
Day off
A partial day off today, the first in long time. I finished up in the morning, and then the GF and I went for breakfast, after a very long time indeed. The plan was to go to Nisantasi and stock up on bulgur etc from our favourite shop there, but instead we wandered through Cihangir, […]
What I noticed
1. A ship is stuck in the Suez canal. 2. Imran Khan has COVID, keeps chairing in-person meetings. 3. Lira and stockmarker jitters 4. Delhi nationalised. 5. The SNP vs Alba. 6. COVID in Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico 7. Deaths in Myanmar. 8. Taiwan buzzed. 9. A mine in Balochistan. 10. A man, a plan, […]
Back to the wall
We went back to the city walls, this time to the southern bit that we accidentally missed last time. This we did, and among the highlights were to arrive at Yedikule to find it closed and being restored, but a workman let us into the courtyard so we had the pleasure of seeing its sweep […]