It has been brought to my attention by you lovely people that I have not burdened you with my most recent exploits here in Mersin. Honestly life has been busy and between the illegal building work, the constant rain, Daughter morphing into an obstinate teenager and The Turk driving me nuts I haven’t had a moment to sit down and write plus I am trying to concentrate on my novel – yes I am a frustrated (unpublished) author – perhaps the next J.K. Rowling – perhaps not.
In order to give you a quick Janey fix I will tell you about how I ended up (yet again) covered in shit after a night out in the Village. This time it was cow shit not human shit but shit is shit and I am starting to question how these things happen to me – over and over again.
Last weekend the expats here in Mersin decided a get together was in order and a fish restaurant was chosen here in the Village as the venue. I was ecstatic. Not only did this mean that I was a hop, skip and jump from home it meant that I didn’t need to catch a dolmuş or two dolmuş or even three dolmuş (would that translate to dolmuşlar?) to get where I needed to go. I merely had to walk less than 1 kilometre to the beachfront. 1 kilometre. That’s all I had to do. 1 kilometre to the lokanta and 1 kilometre to get home. I mean how hard could it be?
I guess it starts, as all good stories do, with alcohol. Yes an expat night out means I go all out, so excited to be speaking English to a whole table of English speakers that I let my hair down and am out for a big night. I was sensible though (in my own way) after all there was Raki (ick) as well as vodka jelly shots (and a vodka desert) but I stuck with my bottle of şarap (wine) that I brought with me. Sadly though the first bottle was drained as was another … and another … and so by the end of the evening I was feeling very jolly indeed.
Walking home was very pleasant and one of the reasons why I love living here is walking through the village at night. It is starting to warm up now, the stars were shining brightly and the smells through the village are just so delicious whether it be walking through a farm of freshly cut maydanoz or nane or passing a home where a family are listening to Turkish music as they enjoy the last of their mangal (bar-be-que). The Turk decided to cut through one of the bahçeler (gardens) to speed up my drunken dawdling (and yes singing) and so we turned into a garden where they had recently tilled the soil for the next crop.
I have cut through this garden many times with My Hurley Dog and I am well aware of the cow shit that is piled high on the side of the grassy track. In fact I have spent many an hour standing by the pile of cow shit as My Hurley Dog throws himself head first into it every. single. time. What I did not know or perhaps had plum forgotten that the owners have dug a rather large hole in the grass immediately beside the poop. On reflection I was bloody lucky I didn’t break my leg to be honest. Anyway I turned to Daughter (who was feeling very jolly herself as she had enjoyed a sneaky vodka jelly) to watch out for the poop when all of a sudden the entire ground disappeared from under me. It was as though I was being sucked into the vortex of a demon netherworld (which would make sense) but my fall was a slow one, slow enough for me to call out, “I think I’m falling” and for The Turk and Daughter to watch the collapse with glee.
As I fell I watched the pile of poop moving slowly towards me. All I could say is, “Oh shit!”. Yep it happened again although thankfully I am happy it was a dry poopy-poop not the human waste that chased me out of the long drop last time. Someone asked on FB whether Daughter captured this embarrassment on film and I am again happy to say no she did not for she is well aware of the unfortunate events that would occur if she ever crossed me publicly! She and The Turk merely stood there laughing as I tried to roll out of the poop and the mud and pull myself back up.
It took me 24 hours to recover from my night now and today I can examine my bruises that are forming a little more closely. I am taking My Hurley Dog for a walk to the beach this morning however, honestly, I will not cut through the bahçe as a shortcut home.
Next time on Janey … in Mersin – my appointment with the Governor for my kimlik. Stayed tuned.
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