July 2010 Koca Calis
BLOG 29: Inch by inch down the dusty road. . .
I’m sitting in the rustic outdoor Internet café just up the road from our rented villa where L has put us up. Infinity, as per contract, are paying for the rental. This café is within spitting distance of our villa construction, so with a few paces down the dusty unpaved road, I can check progress. Every morning, Daughter (armed with her ever-present laptop) and I traverse the road to this café, called ‘The Escape Bar’, have an orange juice (the freshly squeezed ones are great) while she goes to work on her emails. At this time of year, even that short walk in the blazing heat is exhausting.
While she taps away on her emails, I go to the building site to view the (non) progress of our villa. When I do spot some activity on the site, it is usually a couple of men, lounging outside our ‘soon-to-be kitchen’ on a slab of concrete that will become our terrace. They are drinking tea. The other activity normally seen is these same men tossing their empty water bottles or cigarette packs onto the road wherever they happen to be (normally lounging at the building site).
Sometimes a similar activity can be seen at the other three villas being built at the site. I note that there now appears to be only two more villas similar to ours and a third of a different design. When I ask L about this, she says that the two Russian families bought the adjoining plot so they could each have a larger garden. That’s good for us – more open space. A German couple bought the third villa, so it seems supersalesman, Oz, was successful there. All villas appear to be only half built, and with the sparse building activity I’ve observed, I’m not surprised.
On one of my sojourns past the site, I bump into an English guy, John, an expat who lives just across the narrow (paved) road that runs at right angles to the muddy unpaved road past the forest. He’s obviously not delighted to see yet more of his rural, unspoilt surroundings disappear. He tells me that only a year or two ago ago, there was no road leading down from the Escape bar, past the forest and past our half built villa. The forest, it seems, butted right up to the end house. They were told that the forest was sacrosanct and could not be built on. Next thing they knew, trees were cut down to make a road. There’s still a lot of empty land around. I wonder how long it will be before it, too, is built upon. He asks whether we are happy with our builders and my bitter laugh conveys my answer. He says something I’ve heard more than once before: “just make sure you get your Tapu!” I tell him we’re aware of this, and that it is part of the contract.
Our nine-year-old twin grandchildren (boy and girl) are enjoying themselves in the pool, watched over by OH. Daughter’s husband couldn’t make it at this time (in the US, it is standard practice to have only two weeks annual vacation; we should count ourselves lucky on this side of the pond).
Moaning about my frustrations to L doesn’t help. As she once said, she is only the messenger. As to getting through to the bosses – well that gives more frustration than it’s worth. In Turkey there is not supposed to be heavy building going on in the tourist season, I’m told. Presumably that means things could hot up again after October. I certainly hope so. OH reminds me we are on holiday and not to become obsessed with the villa’s lack of progress. He has the kind of patience I most definitely lack.
When I go to the site and attempt to talk to the men, they look at me as if I’m some weird creature and shrug their shoulders. Their boss man is not in evidence – so no luck there. I tell myself that there’s not much point in expecting sudden, miraculous progress – judging from what I’m seeing – it just aint happenin’. But Daughter needs to check her emails daily, so we make the short daily trek to the Escape bar and I make the short trek to the villa site just down the road.
The best place to be at the moment is in the pool with the cool water lapping over one’s shoulders. That’s where Daughter and I will be heading next. We’ll make the most of this family holiday!
. . . to be continued . . .usually posted on Thursday
