A Birthday in Isolation

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday; again.  I've now had more 32nd birthdays than the original one 😉.  Being the age I am, every birthday is cause for celebration and most years I've spent a week somewhere overseas to celebrate, either on my own or with one or more friends; Olu Deniz, Santorini, Antalya, Marbella, Mykonos and more recently in Italy.  Six years ago, I went to Santorini for a week with 7 friends for a milestone birthday. But I've also celebrated in the UK, in the English Lake District and last year, in a Bradford casino on my actual birthday and then with most of my wider family in Ashton-under-Lyne on the following weekend; exotic or what?

When coronavirus first struck and I decided to stay in Kusadasi, I never imagined that I would still be here for my birthday.  I thought I'd be back in the UK by the end of April and able to plan a shared celebration with friends and family but it wasn't to be.  Whilst being in a most beautiful part of the world, because of the over 65s 100% curfew, I couldn't even go 'out, out' to celebrate yesterday so had to improvise.  Having said that I had a lovely, if rather emotional day.

I arranged for my favourite Menemen, to be supplied for my breakfast and then spent the day  catching up with my eCards, voice and video calls from family and friends. It was lovely to hear from everyone but the highlights were a very unexpected video call from my 91 year old dad, helped by his care home manager, another unexpected video call from my dear friend who has been very ill with Covid-19 for nearly a month and hasn't had the energy for calls, and the last call of the day from my fabulous son.



And my friends here decided they wouldn't let the day pass unmarked and presented me with the most sumptuous chocolate cake, complete with candles.  The cake was so light, oozing with chocolate mousse and cream and topped with just about every fruit imaginable.  Someone also arranged for me to have dinner of my favourite kuzu pirzola (lamb chops) with pea mash and potato croquettes.


All in all, another lovely birthday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dolmus - the Turkish mini-bus

Image
When I visited Turkey for the first time in 2004, the holiday reps in Olu Deniz told us about the dolmus with stories of them being old and battered, fitted with kitchen chairs strapped to the side to offer additional seating, everyone crammed in regardless of numbers and don't be surprised if someone gets on with a goat or hens.  Oh, and you get on sit down and pass your fare along the other passengers to the driver.   Whilst I didn't see any goats, hens or other animals on a dolmus, they were a bit old and battered and I once had to sit on a cushion placed on a wheel arch as a seat. On my return to Olu Deniz the following year, the old dolmus had been replaced with very modern, white mini-buses with automatic opening doors in the middle, proper seats, buzzers to request a stop and a limit on the number of passengers. I don't have a lot of experience of using buses back home but one day, I had decided to get one in to Halifax and I needed to be there by 12pm.  Me ...
Read more

When it rains, it rains

According to the BBC's weather app, today in Kusadasi we will have 'light rain showers and light winds' and it will last all day.  I have only ever seen heavy rain here, not light showers, although it generally doesn't last for long. Yesterday, after heavy rain and thunderstorms earlier in the day, we had warm sunshine later on. We've had lightning and thunderstorms this morning which normally knock out the internet but, fingers crossed, it's OK at the moment. Already, I can see the sky clearing up to the northwest and, whilst still heavy, the rain has eased off slightly from when I took the videos.  The chair at the far end of the terrace, started off next to the table!
Read more

Stormy Weather

Image
As I lay in bed last night reading, I heard a distant rumbling and at first thought it was a car coming on the complex but as it repeated and started to grow louder I realised it was thunder.  It hadn't been forecast; not on my BBC weather app, anyway.  It got louder and louder until I was in no doubt that it was thunder.  I had a quick peek out of the window but there was no rain......... Eventually, I drifted to sleep only to be woken very suddenly by an extremely loud, overhead explosion of thunder and lightning.  I decided to take another peek out of the window only to see absolutely torrential rain coming down.  So I jumped out of bed to go close the lounge full length window/doors which I leave open all the time as they aren't accessible from outside.  Luckily, being set back 40 cms from the outer walls, no rain had come in.  The washing I'd left on the airer on the terrace was protected but I took it in, just in case. I decided to chance leaving...
Read more