Quiet days as befits fhe working week for our young guests! The weather has been very pleasant. Back to the 33/34C but with quite a stiff breeze. So stiff in fact that it has blown our pergola curtains too much and snapped some of the hooks. The hooks were a couple of years old to be fair and plastic is just terrible in the heat out here. It goes so brittle and snaps at the drop of a hat. I shall have to get out to the curtain shop soon and buy some new ones and repair matters.

Poor Bob has been laid low with the….errr….. “squits”…… Absolutely no idea how he got it or what has caused it, but he has been confined to the bedroom to be near the loo. All better today though, thank goodness. But definitely a time of “dangerous wind” from his point of view.

I joined him in adversity today with a cracking migraine that kept me in bed all day. I think perhaps we’ve had too much sun and heat, although we are drinking a lot of water, constantly. All better tonight.

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Habibi the gardener has been a few times and reduced the height of our hedge and trees so that our view of the mountains and the easterly half of the Etel vineyard is restored. He is just a marvel. I have a large evergreen – a Ficus Benjamina – growing in a planter on the terrace and it has now sprouted a few melon plants grown from seeds in the washing up bowl. We’ve agreed that next time he comes, we’ll move it out to the garden and plant them all up. The ficus never does well over any gap in occupancy, it’s quite thirsty, so it will do better outside. We inherited in when we bought the house in 2006, so it’s a good age. Outside it can grow to be very big so we might keep it in the container but plant up the melons. Will be guided by Habibi as he is an expert in what things grow and how they grow around here.

Not so much other news to report. A massive wedding party just went up the hill to Ilgaz, possibly to the Vineyard. A massive posse of cars, including the bride and groom, all tooting their horns and waving things out of the window. I stood on the balcony and waved back and the bride hung out of the window to acknowledge me. It’s obviously going to be a BIG DO. A lovely evening for it.

Lucy is cooking tonight – some sort of pasta dish. Mushroom cream cheese …… delicious. Bob managed a good portion and then went for a swim. All is well!