Today, as the lira missed 4 to the pound by a whisker reminded me of how this long, steady decline affected us - and how we now realise how we were spared a far worse fate.
When we brought our money back to the UK we did so in two halves - we had sold our place when the lira was 2.76 and possibly quite ridiculous with hindsight had even thought we might make a little bit of an extra killing if the rate dropped back to say 2.45 and we then changed our liras to sterling and would have made maybe another 10%!
We had to bring half back immediately due to commitments here and were content enough at 2.76/£ (but would have waited for that 2.45 rate had we a choice!!). By the time we came to bring the other half back the rate had gone on a slow, painful slide which caused me to develop some sort of financial OCD - I was checking the rate almost obsessively - some days I would feel the pain as it weakened two or three times in a day, but recovered two or three times too. So in effect I was stressing all day long over a rate that ended the day exactly where it started!
I took plenty of advice - I have an email still where one banking character in Fethiye told me (at 2.93) that he had "discussed it with the bosses in Istanbul and they were sure it would never go over 3/£. By the time we made the decision, we changed at around 3.18 and I don't mind admitting that nearly killed me. You can always find bright horizons if you need to see them, but there were far more black skies and bad headlines in the news. At the same time, people were getting hugely excited about getting so many liras to the pound for their holiday spends and you can't help thinking good for you, you are going to save 10p on an Efes while my family's future is eroding away. Selfish, I do realise that.
In the end, looking back now, I think we moved it as much to put an end to the speculation and worries as much as wanting to move the money for a particular reason. It worked, once the money was in pounds my ritualistic refreshing of the exchange rate websites stopped, there and then. Something that occupied my mind almost always had just, that day, gone.
Today I look at that 3.9998/£ rate and my heart goes out to those who are still playing the game I played - although in some ways it's not a game and you aren't playing it - there aren't enough viable options for it to be played. You gamble by cutting loose or you gamble by staying in and hoping. There's no safe or educated answer when you are on the inside looking out.
Fair play to those getting 4+ to the pound perhaps for this year's holidays - I'm actually one of you now. Also those living forever out in Turkey - the number of lira to the pound is irrelevant to them, luckily. But for those who have property/savings over there (and property priced in pounds is getting more expensive daily for those buying in lira) who at some stage need to cash in and buy sterling, it is a pretty awful journey.
But I would say do it, if you can. Get it out and get on with enjoying your life.