Holiday time!

A couple of weeks ago we went on holiday to Bozburun in Turkey.

It was a lovely break!

It's most unusual for us to actually stop and do nothing for a bit.

(I mean, there's usually loads of boat jobs to do during any non-work committed time. And by this I mean the sort of jobs that involve angle grinders, harsh abrasives and lots of PPE, not the usual day to day chores like fetching wood, coal, water, diesel, cleaning, cooking, and fetching groceries. Or servicing the engine or the generator. Or fixing the Vacuflush 5000........ The list goes on..... and on....... :-)

And by "nothing", that's exactly what I mean.........

Nothing but sitting in the sun, or sitting in the shade, reading books, sleeping and eating lovely food.

We stayed at a beautiful place called Karia Bel.

It's very small, with only about a dozen rooms. Peaceful and quiet, with attentive staff on hand to look after you, with no children running around as it's over 16's only. (I don't mind children that much, but.......Ah!.......Peace!)

We flew into Dalaman via Easyjet, which was perfectly fine, and were met at the airport by our own people carrier (a first for me, this: I'm usually looking for the bus.....) to make the two hour transfer to Bozburun, which was smooth, steady, and without any drama.

We arrived at Bozburun in the dark. We were met at the jetty by the hotel's own speed boat, which whisked us across the moonlit Aegean to our destination. There's no road to Karia Bel.......

I have, sometimes, (and very rarely does it happen these days) felt that I have dropped out of the reality of my life and into the movie...... that's what it felt like crossing the bay. The feeling stayed with me for the rest of our stay.

Here's some stills from the movie:

The hotel speed boat dropped us off on a little island across the bay.

We enjoyed a hour or two exploring the ruins.

The most intact feature was this abandoned windmill.

This is Karia Bel seen from the island

This ruined church must to date from the time when Greeks lived on the island. I've no idea how long ago it was, but apparently both nationalities lived together fairly happily until around the 1920's when Nationalism reared it's ugly head and there were mass evictions.

There are the remains of icons still present on the wall of the chapel

Karia Bel, the bay, and Bozburun seen from the top of the hill on the island. It was quite a scramble to get up there! The indigenous goat population didn't seem to worried ny it though.......

The island in the distance is part of Greece. I think it's called Simi.

All in all, a wonderful holiday!

 

 

On Chesil Beach..........

Actually, I haven't been anywhere even remotely NEAR it, but had I been, I would doubtless have spent the last couple of months poking about in the shingle looking for sermons.

(Apparently, St Francis of Assisi once gave no sermon at all, on the grounds that the Spirit hadn't moved him.

Okay for Saints and their sermons, I suppose, so why not for this member of the laiety and his blog posts?)

Anyway, it's not that lots hasn't been occuring down here in Groovetown, I've just lacked the essential urge to wibble on about it.

High time to address this.

We went to Cheffins Vintage Auction out at Sutton near Ely last weekend. It's always a fun gathering, with lots of great stuff to see.

Old tractors by the score:

Then there were the steam engines:

Not the same engine from a different P.O.V! These are a matched pair of ploughing engines.

(The balance plough and a tilling implement they would have worked were sold as separate lots.)

I've always wanted my own road roller........

(It may have something to do with school bullies and one of the closing scenes in 'A Fish Called Wanda'.... which is a bit tragic, really, seeing as I'm now over fifty........)

This little Ransome was tempting, as it was more realistically within my price range.
 (And would probably squash childhood enemies with equal efficiency,

always assuming, I suppose, that they could be persuaded to lie still and not run away......)

But enough of the psychological havoc wrought by the Comprehensive School system of the 1970's.

Jackie jerked me back to reality by leading me round the paddock where the odds and sods were.

Old tractor tyres, piles of Horse Shoes, (that said SHOES! See me afterwards, young Tidy......), broken agricultural implements, buckets with holes in, Lister generator sets....... it was all there to be had.

But it was not any of these rusting flowers in this wondrous garden of delight that had us queuing up to register for bidding (£20, copy of catalogue included....).

Nope.

It was this:

What an absolute belter!

Jackie fell in love with it.

It's a fully restored, up and running, ready to go 1959 Austin Healey Sprite Mk1 (colloquially known as the 'frogeye' sprite.)

I have the money.

I could have bought it.

I've even got this to put it in............

So why didn't I, for Heaven's sake?

Well, folks, I had a nasty attack of sanity.

For this space is spoken for.........

More of which.........,

soon...........

:-)