Thursday 17 December 2015

Christmas 1983

Wandering around the Maritime Museum last week, I noticed a small photo of a familiar face.  


In September 1983, my boyfriend, dog and I were given notice to leave our rented house in Tepecik, Bodrum. We had to be out the day before Bayram, despite this falling mid month, and we searched high and low for somewhere to go.  If you think the rental market is difficult in Bodrum now, it was even worse then and on national holidays, every single spare bed and mattress in the town was sold to a tourist. Many would arrive in Bodrum and end up sleeping in their cars; we only had a bicycle, so that wasn't an option.  I can't remember how, but Boatyard owner, Erol Özyurt heard of our plight and offered us his house in the middle of Bitez citrus gardens. It had no electricity, no bathroom and an outdoor loo but we were overjoyed to accept his offer.  There wasn't a track to the house and we had to cross a small (at the time, a torrent later in the year) stream and a few fields to get there. Guests would have to be met and guided in or else be lost wandering for ages.

Lon and Deniz being shown the way through the orange trees
Within a week, we had put in electricity poles, dug out the alaturka loo in the garden (although it took us a year to actually put a door on it), added a water heater and shower and we were set to spend 2 happy years living amongst the trees, only leaving to buy our own house.  I'm not sure how I would cope now with having to put on wellies and grab a torch to go to the loo in the middle of the night, but then it was an adventure and what most of my friends were having to do too. Going through old photo albums, I found this picture of a Boxing Day party, and realised that I'm in regular contact with these friends still and my mother often recalls that warm sunny December day.
So, as I passed his photo in the museum, I offered up a big thank you to Erol Bey for being so generous  in offering us a home and making my first Christmas in Turkey a beautiful one and the first of many.

Boxing Day 1983



14 comments:

  1. That's what I call bulldog spirit!

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    1. A good pair of Wellies and a stout stick - all you need.

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  2. B to B, A very nice memory of what must have been a great adventure. (And a sure test of a relationship as well.)

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    1. My mother in law was horrified at the place and spent the next few years trying to make us move to an apartment in Ankara.

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  3. . . there is something special about Turks. When we were threatened with house demolition during the campaign to save Kocadere Valley we were offered five or six (I forget) houses in the village by our neighbours. In the end there wasn't any need to take one of them up but we have never forgotten the generosity of spirit of these fine people.

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    1. When the cards are down, you can always rely on a good Turk to help you out.

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  4. Oh, this is so wonderful, what a wonderful start of your time in Turkey. As Alan says the generosity of spirit comes above all; may it continue strength to strength. Have a lovely Christmas, cok sevgiler, Ozlem xox

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  5. What a lovely story and good on Erol Bey - clearly a great chap! No wonder you'll never forget that Christmas. :)

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    1. It was the best place to live. I can't even find it now, it's all so built up.

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  6. It's amazing what we adapt to when starting out isn't it? Reminds me very much of our first rented home 18 years ago. Lovely story thanks for sharing x

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    1. My accommodation when digging wasn't much better, so I was probably used to roughing it

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  7. What a lovely tale of a kind man and the energy and resilience of youth. DH and I lived in some wrecks in our early years of marriage, but we never had to dig our own loo!

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  8. Our "hardest" years often turn out to be our best years.

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