Nearly didn’t make it to Istanbul , I didn’t realise Emerson Fittipaldi was driving for our local mini-cab company. When we left our house in the early hours of Thursday morning, we could barely stand up on the snow and ice – obviously our cab driver thought differently and got us to Boston Manor tube in less than 2 mins ! Hearthrow T5 was crazy, wall to wall people with a 5hour queueing time to check bags in , as our flight left in 90mins ,i blagged my way to the front and was sitting in Gordon Ramsays having a continental ( breakfast not waiter ) in less time than it took our mini cab driver to Lidls in Hanwell. The plane had trouble taking off as the steps were iced to the side. I reckon we should have just gone for it and ditched them somewhere over Croydon Council offices ( don’t ask ). Anyway back to Istanbul………………….I am now going to practice my brain gym on you. For 55weeks i haven’t been able to think straight and forget what i have done , so , this is a little test on myself:-
Landed, cab to our hotel ,after an hour and a fab view from a suspension bridge over The Bosphorous , we saw a sign ”You are now in Asia” we checked in to our hotel and wended our way to Jacob’s pad . After about 20 back doubles ,His instructions said climb the stairs to the 2nd foor and there will be a blue hat outside the door …nearly missed it cos it was in fact a red hat with ‘this is a blue hat ‘ sign stuck to it – surreal. Well sadly our little soldier was under the weather , but after a trip to the Docs ( spookily called Jacob ) at Istanbul General ( I made that name up ), with his translator, flatmate and friend, Deniz, he is sorted , with an array of medication ( which invoves NO shisha or alcohol ). Apolojies ,I realise the brain gyms gone AWOL, so here we go…………
Friday dins, kebabs, tabla ,tabla, draughts , draughts, John sulking cos he lost all 4 games. Friday , hospital, cleaning ( thats John and I de dusting the flat , an Austrian girl came to the view the flat and commented on what good staff we were ! ), Deniz and Panache’s ( Deniz’s girlfriend ) cooked brekkie, long walk by the sea, found amazing hidden beach bar on the sand, dominoes, dominoes,John still sulking , AMAZING mezze, walk to tabla bar , tabla, introduce Jacob to scrabble , John wins ( thank god- smile returns to his face ). Saturday, boat to Europe, cruise up The Bosphorous, last stop on Asian side , 6km before we meet the Black Sea, Anadolu Kavagi ( get your google images out ), steep climb to fortress at the top – decide I won’t bother climbing Mount kilimanjaro this year, climb down, bbq mussels, miss ferry, coffee and scrabble. get next ferry to Sanyer in Europe, walk, quayside drinkies, dominoes, bus to istanbul, kebabs, scrabble – Jacob wins, hurrah. Then today , we all go for a run ( except me ) , scrabble, goodbyes, airport , home, celebrity BB.
Just 1 question – is ‘jus’ a word allowed in scrabble ?
So glad to hear you all made it there and back safely! Sounds like you had quite an intense couple of days. I like the ‘this is a blue hat’ thing. Oh and jus? As in the sauce? Yeah, why not! I think it’d be allowed, it’s used quite commonly isn’t it? Or maybe i just watch too much Masterchef. I’m back in Reading now, back in ‘clever student’ mode, but see you all soon no doubt x x
Can’t believe all that you managed to cram in. It was very cold here and I went up and downstairs quite alot.That was it really.