Freedom Frustrations

Last night, the Turkish President announced that from the following day (10th June) the over 65s could go out from 10:00 to 20:00 every day and they weren't restricted to walking.  I immediately contacted Murat at Medusacars and asked for my hire car back.  It was here by 10am today!

I packed my rucksack ready for my foray in to Kusadasi.  Normally it's just money, cards, tissues, phone, glasses and a bottle of water.  Today I added gloves, masks, disinfectant and a rubbish bag for used masks.

So, what to do?  I have been really looking forward to being able to do my own supermarket shopping just so I could browse and impulse buy.  My Turkish friends have been fabulous doing my shopping every week but I've tried to keep the lists short and simple.  I'm missing my walks along Long Beach but the number one thing, almost a symbolic rite, was to visit my favourite restaurant in the centre.  

Unfortunately that visit was a bit of a let down.  I don't know if the staff had been given bad news but they were less welcoming than before the lock down and curfew.  When I arrived, there was one couple finishing a meal and after I'd ordered mine, a party of three came in, ordered and were served whilst they managed to forget my cheeseburger and coffee and only served me my orange juice.  I did get comped the coffee and the waiter twice came to me about the delay with my meal but it wasn't very encouraging. 

It was interesting watching the various approaches to mask wearing on my journey in and at the restaurant; no masks, masks worn on the chin, masks covering chin and mouth but not the nose, masks dangling from wrists, groups where some wore masks and others didn't and no one on the beach was wearing a mask, which I understand.  

I decided to cheer myself up by going to the supermarket on the way home.  Whereas previously, there was a security guard at the car park entrance who walked round the car checking underneath with a mirror, he'd now gone.  When you enter the supermarket mall, you have to go through a scanner and put your bag through a scanner but the guard also checks your temperature with a handheld scanner.  There were social distancing markers and direction arrows in the mall and hand sanitiser at the entrance to the supermarket (the hand sanitiser was there in early March).  I don't remember seeing anyone who wasn't wearing a mask and customers seemed to be ensuring they kept a distance from others but then there were few customers in there.  Customers were free to wander back and forth to various aisles and there were social distancing markers at the tills but no screens etc.  

After the supermarket, I decided to go to the open mall on the other side of the road where the pharmacy, clothes shops and cafes are.  The pharmacy had quite clear markings at the front to direct customers to a table inside with a large sanitiser bottle, which was empty! (I'd just used my own before I got out of the car, luckily).  I bought the last box of masks on the shelf; 50tl for 50.  They're a bit flimsy; nowhere near as good as the 3 I got in my official allocation.

All the shops have sanitiser at the door and some even have a staff member to make sure you use it.  I couldn't see that any of the shops had spaced out their shelves or racks although there were some social distancing floor markers.  Having said that, most of the clothes shops already have lots of space around their racks, particularly Mango.  It's the smaller toiletries shops that are a bit cramped.

I managed to get most of the few items I wanted and headed back to the complex.  According to my pedometer I did 8451 steps today which is a lot less than like to do but more than 3 times what I've been managing recently.  

Tomorrow, I might go for a walk along Long Beach but I'd also like to explore the village as it seemed quite busy today and the pizza restaurant is opened.  If the tailor is open, I'll get him to shorten the two dresses I bought as they're too long to wear with sandals.