December Morning in Bodrum

The North Wind has been blowing through Bodrum whisking away all the southerly haze; bringing us cold crisp mornings, an excuse to pull on woolly gloves and hats and the chance to walk on the sunny side of the street after seven months of lurking in the shade.  The sunlight is however much brighter than that of an August day and easily blinds me if I forget my sunglasses.  My morning walk check list is therefore: 

Coat, hat, dog lead, poop bags, purse with ID card, door keys, very dark glasses and stick. 

I am reasonably ably bodied and don't need a walking stick but there are quite a few new stray dogs on the streets that Jake hasn't met before and he has twice felt teeth nipping him on his bottom.  The stick is a good deterrent when pointed forcefully at the potential aggressor's face. 

The stick is what I think is now called a 'trekking pole' and is red and silver - not white. I often meet people on my walks, nearly always familiar faces but this lady was a stranger.  We fell into conversation on the harbour front and it was a good five minutes before her combined actions and words made me realise that she was under the impression that I was blind.  Now if I was a 100% true blood Turk, I would have just said "You think I'm blind don't you. I'm not"  But I came over all British and tried to think of a way of showing her I could see without having to say anything that might embarrass her.  

So if you saw me doing a rather inelegant hop and jump over the high curb stones and a wide swerve around a bench - you now know why. 

I wasn't the only one with perception confusion yesterday. The dog that has to be goaded into the water on the hottest day of the year decided to go paddling on one of the coldest.