Turkiye’s Very Own Polar Vortex

In case you have been living under a rock the past few days social media in Turkiye has been blowing up with both the expats and Turks alike going on about the crazy cold weather we are having right now.  Soğuk, çok soğuk! (It’s cold, very cold!). Talk about “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, Turkiye goes and freezes over just to be like their fancy neighbours.

All over the country the weather has been abysmal.  Villages and towns have been snowed in, flights cancelled and even here in Mersin hell has literally frozen over.  I mean really – it snowed!  I know right!?!

Mersin snow

This shouldn’t happen.  I was only writing here about how hot it was a couple of months back.  This is an extreme turnaround and it really isn’t acceptable to me.

Electricity is scant and this transforms The Turk from his manly man Turkish self into, well, into a bit of a girly princess.  As expected this transformation has also pushed The Turk into his “I want to go back to Australia” phase of his re-entry into Turkish life.  We don’t have a soba here (Turkish fireplace) so when the electricity dies then icicles begin to form over any uncovered appendage.  The Turk is definitely concerned about his favourite appendage freezing and breaking off and has been checking it regularly.  Last night I threatened to move into the Hilton just for a hot bath and internet access (side note – what is it with Turkey not having instantaneous hot water?  Install a fecking Rheem for Christ’s sake!!).  But no I stayed and suffered in silence, well relative silence compared to The Turk that’s for sure!

But it is not just us who are suffering in the cold.  I feel for the stray animals that live in our village.  The kediler are breaking into any house with an open door trying to find a warm spot and I swear I saw a pack of kopekler milling around an open fire on an empty block.  I am not going to say that they started the fire but … it looked very suspicious.  My Hurley Dog is refusing to go outside and when I finally got him outside his pee froze mid-stream!  True!  I swear!!

I know I am ridiculous.

Yesterday was my birthday.  Did you know?  Yah happy birthday and all that!  I made a pretty strong statement on FB the other night saying it might be cold but there’s no way it will snow and certainly not on my birthday.  I will eat my hat.  Well as I was reminded by a well-wisher yesterday that it did in fact snow – soooo – would I like fries with that hat?  Humfph!  The Turk also reminded me of my wording off this morning and handed me his beanie and the salt and pepper shakers.  I didn’t eat it as that was his hat.  I agreed to eat mine.  Technicality?  Yep but I am going with it.

So happy birthday to me – and welcome to the Ice Age!  Bbrrrr!

_________________________________________________________________________

Loving this blog? Please help me build my audience and share with like minded people who, like you, prefer a Turkish summer to a Turkish polar vortex – oh and you love Turkey. You can also subscribe or like me on Facebook for all updates.

23 thoughts on “Turkiye’s Very Own Polar Vortex

  1. Happy Birthday Janie!! I’m in Luxor, Egypt, at the moment, and it’s flipping cold here too – the icy wind is blowing from the Turkish Coast straight down the Nile! I kid you not!!!

    Like

  2. Yes happy belated – thought about you tonight when Mersin featured on the news as part of an extended feature on which cities in Turkey has got the most snow and how Turks react to it (like they’ve never seen it before). Anyway, here to report that Mersin came out on top for the biggest icicles abounding on hedgerows and the like. And pretty spectacular they were too. I feel your pain, can only advise hibernation with your favourite snuggy blanket and a lot of tv. It’ll all be over soon 😉

    Like

  3. Happy belated birthday Jane. I’m writing this with the fan still on after another warm night in Australia. I love snow but of course not the added benefits of no instant hot water or lack of said fireplace. don’t worry it will be over soon enough and we also will finally get cooler weather. I think it’s been our third hottest on record this summer. I guess with “Hell” freezing over it might be your coldest or maybe at least it just feels that way. Warm hugs!!

    Like

  4. Happy Birthday Jane.!! It’s no fun when it snows or rains on your birthday.! Stay warm.!! p,s, I think you should get a cake made to resemble a hat. After all, it’s still your hat 🙂

    Like

  5. Happy belated birthday.
    Snow eh? Icicles huh?
    Well, we seem to have solved the ice on the windows here on the boat, and are currently enjoying a mild, if rather windy, spell. They turned the water off a couple of weeks ago for a few days when we went down to minus 6. All back to normal now thank goodness. At least the boat has a gas cooker and we can run heating from diesel via the batteries if we lose power.
    Snow on the marina should be interesting though.

    Like

    • I was thinking about your living arrangements yesterday as I was on my morning constitutional. I was down near the Marina and the boats on there were being thrown around quite violently. The rocking plus the cold weather (-6???!!!) would probably kill me.

      Like

      • Nah, it’s not as bad as it sounds (sort of). We had three nights of minus temps (-6, -4 and -2) but inside the boat we were snug, dry and warm. Didn’t go a bundle on the iced up windows though, but we’ve rectified that. It’s extremely mild at the moment, but you’ll see by my post later today that we are a ‘little windblown’. 😛

        Like

  6. Hopefully, you can have that happy birthday in a few days when it warms up. It’s belated, but the cake shouldn’t taste any different. 🙂

    It’s freezing in Florida, too. I could see my breath! In Florida! Anyone wanting to visit Disney World today needs to wear a snowsuit to stay warm. 🙂

    Like

  7. Happy birthday! I hope you get your hot water now, if you haven’t already got it, and I hope the weather improves soon. Been a bit cool here today – a top of 19C (Melbourne). I loved the snow when I lived in Scotland, but I’m loving the sunshine here more.

    Like

  8. Pingback: a visit from Storm Nina - Nine Years in Norway

Leave a comment