I'm sure you'll have worked out that TA (T'other 'Arf) and I have actually 'bought' a property.
The inverted commas are because we have just paid the deposit as we await military clearance. I am also not sure that even 2 weeks after we agreed a deal, the reality has sunk in yet.
At this stage, I won't be putting on photos or anything like that, out of respect to the vendors who still, at this stage, own the house. I promise to add them once we have the Tapu in our name and I am officially allowed to jump up and down and scream and wave my villa-buying knickers in the air.
In the meantime, get a cup of tea. This may just be a saga .......
Chapter 1: It's my thing
TA showed no interest whatsoever in my year long 'Research Into The Turkish Property Market'.
Every time I tried to engage his opinion on a property or discuss the merits of a location, I was met with a gently gestured flat palm and the words,
'Aisha, it's your 'thing', leave me out of it, I've got enough to think about running this business and doing
all the work despite having 3 kids and a wife supposedly helping, blah blah blah blah'.
So other than checking that the budget I was working to was okay, I left him out of it. Completely.
My two youngest children displayed levels of interest verging on patronisingly polite and exchanged looks of 'Aw, bless our poor ol' Mum, least she's happy, what with her Turkey Obsession and everyfink ....'
My eldest son was very happy to listen to me and look at every link I sent him on Facebook Messages of a 'this one is
really nice' villa. Thank goodness. I felt like I had an ally. Although in reality and hindsight, I think these were all differing reactions to humouring me, as not one of them believed we would actually buy anywhere in Turkey.
How on earth did all this come about anyway? TA and I spent 10 years without valid passports and became 'a few days away on the coast' experts in the UK.
And as much as I can genuinely appreciate the glorious beauty of our fair isles having traveled its length and breadth, I'm not sure either of us could take promenading around yet another struggling seaside town with a vista of closed and faded amusement arcades and mackintoshed elderly battling a summer gale.
So I actually got round to it and renewed our passports. A minor celebration ensued and I booked our first holiday abroad in 10 years to Portugal. First package holiday too. We went again later in the year. We then went to Dusseldorf for a Trade Fair. All enjoyable in their own way. All never longer than 7 days away.
Then I got ill. Found out I'd inherited my Dad's heart condition not at all helped by the fact that we were running a very busy late night bar, never had enough hours in a day and stress levels were sky high. After a short spell in hospital, I was under strict orders from docs and family to 'take a back seat in the business and not work so hard'.
I found this very easy to adapt to.
I also find a mere mention of the word 'stress' and a pained look in my eye is sufficient to garner a chair for me to sit down on and someone to pat my hand ...
But anyway, this sort of thing (cliche warning) makes you reassess life etc, etc. It also gave me time to plan our next sojourn abroad. Turkey. Specifically, Calis Plaji.
To be continued.
