Aaronautical Delight

Just another day in Paradise. At 10.00 am on this particular day I had a handsome young man in front of me, taking me to heaven. Well just over a 1000 ft in that direction. I was securely strapped into the rear seat, bit like on a motor bike pillion, behind Aaron , 28 yrs old from Guildford and the pilot of the microlite aircraft we were flying over the Dalyan delta, in Mediteranean Turkey.
I had donned snoopy goggles, earphones and mike, and a helmet to start the flight. ‘Roger bravo tango ready for take off’ I said , no idea what it means, then, it took I think about 15 seconds, and we were up in the air. Aaron banked the aircraft with what looks a bit like a large handle bar, and we turned towards the beach. Bandits at one O-clock. An army helicopter had thwocked into view but turned away, then we climbed towards the south. It is stunning flight. The blue of the sea contrasting with the golden stretch of the sand of the Iztuzu Beach. Its sunbeds looking like a row of melon pips in front of the cluster of huts. Hole Island looks almost white against the sea, with a gullet parked alongside, and, look look, a turtle paddling along just off the sand bank.
We turned back towards the delta and headed over Lion rock, guarding Kaunos. The amphitheatre looks as impressive from the air as it does from the ground.
On the ground Dalyan seems to be a mass of new houses, in the air at 1000ft you realise that it isn’t. It is still quite small and a little blob in the landscape of reed beds, marsh and salt stained fields, surrounded by green hills and forest.
I had seen the sign ‘ ComeFly ‘, so I did, and I didn’t want to come down. But after 15mins Aaron headed towards the airfield, it looked quite small and as we descended the hot air came up to meet us. He had said it would be bumpy as the wind was at the top end for flying, but it seemed easy and we touched down and stopped in a few yards.I can’t wait to go again, where can I get lessons ?

Bird Flew shock

If you are going away for a bit, and have animals , cats, a word of caution. Be careful who you ask to look after them. Choose someone with a sense of smell and at least a modicum of peripheral vision. !
I came back from Christmas in England to find my house in darkness. Oh well another power cut, bit late , it was 10.30, better dig out the candles. I noticed a few feathers lying around, curious I don’t have a budgie. I do have 4 cats, and a 5th guest feeder, left in the care of my friend , lets call him Norman, to feed and tend.
After half an hour I noticed the other lights around were on, mine still not. Aha , I found the main switch – off – must have been lightning ? I turned it on and screamed, not a shock, well it was a shock. I was in a pillow factory – feathers everywhere. Upstairs the landing was a sea of down. The cats had had a bird in. I think it died in the bathroom. Oliver Stone would have loved the scene, a wing in the bath, a leg on the bath mat, everything , towels, bottles, shampoo, toothpaste, strewn around , chaos, The torso and head were on the landing. One leg and one wing missing, presumed consumed, unless it was a paraplegic pigeon.
The degree of Rigor Mortis suggested death had been a few days earlier. Norman apparently hadn’t noticed anything on his visits. Well I hadn’t asked him to remove body parts had I ? ‘Oh’ you may be asking , ‘and he didn’t notice the smell either’. Well the bird smell wasn’t noticeable. That was because of the other smell that overpowered it. The power must have been off for some time as well. The vegetable soups I had made in some quantity before I left and frozen , along with some fish , weren’t frozen any more. Marie Curie would have loved the inside of my freezer, life had started in the veggy soup ! I probably have an antidote to bird flu .The moral of this tale -? Either don’t go away, ever, or don’t have cats, or ask a girl friend next time .

A little bit of Turkish

Is a Dangerous thing !

Eric Morecombe famously said , when told by Andre Previn that he was playing the wrong notes. ‘I am playing the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.’

Let me start at the beginning. I have a dog - Lucy, . You might have seen her around. White with brown patches, matches my curtains that’s why I chose her, big feet, nice eyes. Very clever, bit naughty and a slight tendency to bark at passing folk. She likes to sit outside my gate and see off marauding cars , scooters etc. She means well and wouldn’t hurt a fly really, but I have had to occasionally extract visitors from bushes and behind trees. That’s why when my neighbour called to me and said ‘Lucy’, I assumed the worst. I know a bit of Turkish, I discovered early on that ‘hiyar’ means small cucumber and is not to be said to boat captains, you say ‘hayir’ to mean ‘No’, so I get by. I got her gist. “Lucy”, “kopek” (dog) , “cocuk” ( child) with asthma ( choking mime holding throat) , with pregnant mother ( round belly mime) and the beladiye ( the council) Oh no! Lucy had frightened a child who had had an asthma attack and its pregnant mother had complained to the authorities. Lanet Olsen (B….y hell).

I resolved to keep Lucy locked up, and tried to explain that. But the reference to the Beladiye worried me. So when My friend Begum called, I seized the chance to go round and find out what the outcome of the complaint was. Would they remove lucy, take her into care ?

Begum told my neighbour about my concern, great expositions and worried protestations resulted, then begum started to laugh. I had got the right words , but they were definitely not in the right order. There had been a doggie friend of Lucy’s round, a pregnant dog, a dog whose collar was too tight and she was in danger of choking. The neighbour was thinking of asking the Beladiye to catch it to help it, but on seeing me had tried to enlist my help. No pregnant mum, no choking child, definitely no complaint. Oops , took me ages to explain to Lucy why she was tied to my balcony railings for so long. penny b

Gorusurus !