I was reflecting on the year just about to pass and have to share my thoughts on what has been a truly brilliant year for us, especially with all things Turkey.
In
January we sold our house in Calis which was bitter sweet but necessary - and in truth more sweet than bitter, even though our family have so many happy memories from there - but also meant we had a visit to Turkey in
April, booked ages before to sort out a few things with the house - and now no house to sort out! Steph and I had a week of no kids, not cleaning, not paying bills, not chasing up gardeners, not queuing to sort out direct debits. It was fantastic - the first time in a decade we were there with nothing to do. We started and finished at the economy but terrific value for money Manas Park Hotel (with sea view) and spent the middle part at the Ece Saray - magnificent and in April such good value. Breakfast on the rooftop restaurant looking over the marina and across the bay was sensational.
Then in
July we had a fabulous holiday to Morocco - with the Calis link being our travelling companions Lesley and Steve - great friends of many CBfers and Calis people (affectionately known as the "Sausage People" in Calis back the day). We had a brilliant laugh. Be warned though - it looked dodgy immediately from the first hour - we hadn't left the airport when we noticed we were very different in some of our ways. In the airport bar the flight status went from "wait in lounge" to "boarding" - that is my cue to head off there and then to the gate - those two proposed another round!!! Honestly, Alfie Moon boards planes earlier than those two!!! But we had a ball for 11 days in the sun (and rainstorms, sandstorms...).
Then
September brought a Highlander to Perth to see us. I knew it was CBF's 10th Birthday on the 3rd, and I knew I was meeting Highlander on the 3rd but didn't associate the two events at all, not even once. To run a website not just full of good info, but full of such good people is great, but for them to have a collection without me suspecting a thing is, quite frankly, worrying
. The award and gifts were very touching but hey, a book of people telling you really nice things about yourself - who wouldn't like one of those! Thank you all again.
October finally came allowing us (after booking it all 6 months earlier) to tell our twins that they would be leaving the next day on a jet plane to celebrate the birthday that would see them become teenagers in the place where they spent so much of their childhood. We met friends, visited their school, our old house, stayed at the lovely Oykun and managed (just) to keep their surprise party at Kings Garden a secret. I think about that night every day, often several times. It was like a dream playing out in front of your eyes - such a great night, friends including their ex-teachers came to make it a surprise party containing many surprises within. The whole holiday was simply amazing from beginning to end - too many reasons to list.
As if that wasn't enough for one year,
December gave us a wonderful weekend in Glasgow, including meeting up with some of our Calis-related Scotland friends for a most memorable meal (not all memorable for Highlander) at the brilliant Anatolia Turkish restaurant in the city centre. A truly great night of friends brought together purely because of Calis and/or CBF.
Not a bad year then
