Rude customers and a tragedy 7.1.06

of course, i still have much to blog about concerning the recent festivites etc. however, tonight i was, once again, working in our kebab shop. there was an unpleasant incident which i am not sure i handled that well, although i did resist my natural impulse which was to a violent response, i am not normally a violent person i hasten to add. even my husbands ridiculously loud snoring doesn't make me feel violent - but my very mild tempered sister was tempted when she slept in the next room to us at christmasD

anyway, i am already digressing, could be because it is 3 a.m. which in anybodys time zone is surely bedtime.

my husband has gone home to turkiye again to check on his mum etc. he normally goes at this time of year anyway as the shop is so quiet. so once again i am 'in charge' - i do not, however, have a badge, i think i might invest in one tomorrow.

so there i was, behind the counter, being all jolly and pleasant, which is harder than you think when most customers are drunk and/or foul mouthed. this one man came in with a most unsavoury t-shirt on and asked for a drink, i said 'coke? to which he apparently said 'yes', he was EXTREMELY drunk. when i came back with the can he had about 60 gbp in notes and coins laid out on the counter, i carefully took the 60p and pushed all the other money back together and asked him if he wanted anything else. he got very incoherent, kept asking for drink and then started swearing and name calling in a very unpleasant manner, very upsetting, he could hardly stand up so i was tempted to go around the counter and just throw him out on his ear, but then if he hurts himself i am in the wrong. so i asked him again, he wouldn't go and just kept getting ruder and ruder and ruder. our security guy couldn't get him to leave either. so i dialled 999 and called the police. at which point the man did leave. when the police came they asked me what happened, took my details and then gave me all these reasons why they actually couldn't do anything about this man's appalling behaviour they did go and have a word with him, but what good is that? he won't remember tomorrow. but really, why should we have to put up with that? he was threatening and bullying, i am trying to earn a living by offering a service, is it worth it? and don't even get me started on how it makes me feel as a Christian - go and read Romans, especially chapter 1 and see how the Lord God views this kind of sinful behaviour.

on to the tragedy. on monday night meric and i were doing Team Pizza, as we went round a corner onto one of the main roads we saw a car coming towards us, driving erratically, no lights and smashed windscreen. as we turned into the next street we saw a man on a phone next to a body and a smashed up bicycle. i wouldn't normally stop but i did this time. turned out we had seen the suspect car driving away from a fatal hit and run. the cyclist was dead, his brains were all over the road. the police did find the car and have arrested two WOMEN a 17 year old and a 44 year old, the inquest was today. from the state of the cyclist and his bike, and the amount of debris spread over a pretty wide area the car must have been really moving. what i find upsetting is not so much that the car hit the bike - anyone who drives knows that, by the grace of God, there go anyone of us, accidents happen. but driving away? the cyclist was on the bonnet of the car for 50 meters or so, how could someone, a woman, drive away and leave a person dying at the side of the road? then the cyclist couldn't be identified. poor guy. in the end his dad came forward.

so, the fragility of life, that cyclist left the house, said his goodbyes, he looked as if he was off to work or something, he had all the right gear - a helmet, high visibility jacket etc etc, and then, a split second he was dead. and where did he end up? was he ready to meet his Maker? because meet Him he did, are YOU ready to meet your maker? the bible teaches us that our life is like a vapour, gone in a fleeting amount of time, especially when compared to eternity, where will you spend eternity? on whose merit will you plead when you stand in front of God Almighty? I am thankful that i stand on the promises of God and can plead the righteousness of Christ, without His finished work at calvary i know that i would be heading to hell, i am a sinner like we all are, but praise God i am a sinner saved by grace. i hope that cyclist was too. i hope you are. if not then please think carefully about how you will stand before God if something were to happen to you today.

sorry to be so preachy, seeing a dead body laid in the wet and the cold makes a girl feel like that.

anyway, i am off to bed, first i am going to pop in on vickie and see how she is doing and if she is back at uni.

Panto and cleaning 5.1.06

just so that you don't all think i sit around all day doing nothing i am happy to report that the lounge/living room is back to its normal pre-christmas self, the tree is dismantled and the room is clean, so that will do for another month or so. where does dust come from anyway? we don't have coal fires, we take our shoes off when we come in, we don't live on a busy road, i know i know, its dead skin, gross. oh. i also taxed the car today and booked it in for its MoT.

as i am doing a kind of christmas catch up and raved so much about it before hand i thought i had better mention the pantomime. you can read about it and see some pics here http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/archive-news/news178.shtml

anyway, christmas eve dawned bright and early. we were actually ready to leave in a reasonable time, not late as usual. we were going to my sister and her husband for brunch, little sister was already there. we played a rotten trick - they rang us to see how long we were going to be and we said we had only just left home, which meant we wouuld be at least another hour, actually we were 5 minutes down the road " class="middle" border="0"> but actually it backfired because jacqueline turned the lunch off. serves us right i suppose.

after a lovely lunch we packed the cars up and got ready to go to the pantomime. it was HILARIOUS, FANTASTIC i was aching i was laughing so much. we had front row seats and Lovely Niece sat bolt upright on her daddys knee all the way through and watched the whole thing, the musicians kept turning round to look at her, she was really enjoying the whole thing. in the bit where the dame reads out peoples letters and there is a bit of a sing song our mum had send a postcard from argentina, so he read that out and of course we all cried.

anyway, after the panto it was all back to our house. an hours drive from york. i had planned to have a curry all ready just to be heated up, but because we know the butcher the meat didn't arrive until late on friday night. so, after some discussion it was decided to eat from our shop - kebabs etc. but when we rang up they were really busy. so, it was back to curry. i wanted to cook the turkey, so little sister said she would do the curry. i got all the ingredients out for her - i use a ready made paste, not a sauce thing, a proper curry paste. i had two jars, little sister didn't bother to read the recipe and used both jars of the paste. thankfully it was only a korma. so we got some more chicken and just made more curry. it actually tasted very good.

we spent the evening putting presents under the tree once Lovely Niece had gone to bed and then we played cranium and articulate. after which my brother in law and little sister went to the pub. me, our kids and middle sister sang a few christmas carols and read the christmas story from Luke. it was really nice and my first tradition of my own.

we have been married 20 years this year and have always spent christmas with my mum at her house, first because the two girls were still young, then because mum bought a home for elderly people with dementia so she could take care of my step dad who had alzheimers, so obviously we all had to be there at christmas in case staff didnt turn up or anything. actually we enjoyed it, for our kids it was like having a house full of grandparents, we used to help them open their presents (families dont much visit confused relatives too hard), sing carols with them etc etc and then have our christmas in the evening. this year, since mum retired, there was none of that. it was very very weird. took some doing to get me in the christmas spirit and i realised that i don't really have any trimmings or traditions of our own, so thats something to work on for next year. we had Lovely Niece and my sister and brother in law this year too which was fantastic. we really missed mum but we had a lovely time. my turkey was cooked almost to perfection - i followed delias instructions exactly and was pretty impressed with the result.

anyway, my dinner is about ready, i will be back later , i want to call in on my friends

Cleaning 5.1.06

its really late, and i should be in bed, but there are quite a few 'blog this' thoughts going around my head, so i decided to at least blog one thing, maybe two - my new years resolution is to stop procrastinating. its a terrible habit of mine.

anyway, about the cleaning. regular readers (or is that reader?) will know that i have an aversion to housework, even though i am a stay at home mum. (home-schooling means the whole house gets taken over by piles of books and various works in progress, however i do not allow the children to practice their handwriting in the dust). anyway, in honour of christmas and the fact that it was at my house for the first time in 20 years (more of that in another post), i decided to clean the oven, menekse egged me on so i blame her too.

i got some really good stuff from tescos and put it all over the oven, it was supposed to be left overnight, which i did. then i got an unexpected visitor, so had to leave the stuff on even longer - too long i think. the oven exploded and blew the electrics. not that i noticed until meric 'needed the tv'. so there i was, december 23rd, a 12 lb turkey to cook, visitors for christmas and no oven. i did briefly wonder how a turkey would cook in a pizza oven, but discarded that thought quite quickly. i did panic, not unreasonably i feel. called the delivery driver who does electrics but not gas so he was no use. called someone else who said he would come later, my husband just grumbled and muttered under his breath as is his habit. then later i remembered that the oven itself doesn't work if the clock isn't set, since the hob and grill were working i fiddled with clock and hey presto the oven started working

what a relief. of course by the time i had finished fiddling about the day was over. my plans were all out of the window, my meat was late coming, so although i did some christmas preparation it wasn't all as i wanted, but nevertheless i didn't succumb to the pressure - i had a small tantrum on the thursday, and two in one week is a bit excessive even though it was christmas.

anyway, thats all for now, i am going to catch up with everyone tomorrow and write some more. i am determined. oh, and btw, the doctor is taking me off the meds, he thinks that perhaps i am not crazy after all, we will see what my mood is like in a couple of weeks.D

in the meantime i am really so

King Kong and Narnia 22.12.05

you see, i knew i would forget something. i took meric to see the new King Kong yesterday, he has spent the week watching the originals on tv. we go to the cinema in hull, its a 45 minute drive but the cinema here is in the middle of an amusement arcade and i really really hate amusement arcades. they are such sad places, noisy, smelly, full of grey faced kids who look like they need some tlc, also the number of young girls with buggies in there is very depressing - do they not know that the babys face is right at cigarette height?

anyway, the cinema was pretty full considering we went to the 11 a.m. showing. and, suprisingly, i enjoyed it, it was quite good. the special effects were, of course, excellent, much better than Narnia which we saw last week with my sisters. i didn't particularly enjoy Narnia, the cgi was appalling in places and that kind of fantasy is not really my cup of tea, i have never read the books - if i want to read the Gospel its right there in the Bible and am not really comfortable with allegory. anyway, i thought king kong was going to be tooooo long (3 hours 9 minutes, plus 20 minutes for adverts in our case), but it didnt drag really, even the build up part was quite good. so, if you have an afternoon to spare i would recommend king kong over narnia.

there are a few films out over the holidays so no doubt we will be going again, i really like the cineam. my husband doesn't particularly enjoy it - well, i suppose when you have gone to open air cinema in turkiye its understandable!! i like the look of the Memoirs of a Geisha - actually i quite fancy reading the book and i dont read alot of fiction, i might put it on my wish list at amazon, if i can work out how to use it.

well, off i go again, i am going to watch 'the 100 best family films of all time' on tv, my number one is probably finding nemo, although i like lion king too.

i have created some of my own 'blog lists', don't know if anyone reads them, i read other peoples and am always interested to see what people are reading, so i thought i would make a list of my current reading material, i have a terrible habit of having several books on the go at once, and i also read alot to the children, so i might include those books as well.

my pizza has arrived!!

Tis the season 22.12.05

Well, its almost here, which means its almost over, for which i am very thankful!!

we are almost organised, everything is just about done, and whatever is not done can stay undone. i was in tescos today, i had a panic attack. it was dreadful. all of these people blocking the aisles whilst they bought *everything*, plus for some reason which is beyond me, no doubt because they are so busy, tescos were shelf filling, so the spare bits of aisles were filled with those baskets of stock . so, whilst i was hyperventilating and wishing i had made a list i chanted a mantra 'it's only two days, it's only two days and somerfield is open boxing day, it's only two days'. because when everyone else is shopping as if its the end of the world the temptation is to join in. i didn't, but still managed to spend the best part of 100 gbp. by the time i got home i was a gibbering wreck, but i soon sorted it with a snuggle with my husband, a hot ribena (i have a cold due to letting my guard down and stopping the echinaca), and writing various lists - menus and shopping. i intend to do the last bit of tescos stuff with my lovely husband at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning when he will just be finishing work

on friday we we are doing some of the cooking, curry for christmas eve when we get back from the panto etc. also a bit of cleaning, we did a big clean last week so it only needs a bit of a flick round. by the time my family and all their stuff arrives no-one will notice what state the house is in anyway

it seems like ages since my last blog, i find i quite miss it, which is, i suppose, why people keep diaries, for the therapeutic value. we had a very nice visiting speaker at church last weekend, he stayed here with us, the fellowship was pretty good. and his sermons were excellent, he is, sadly, not eligible for a call being still at college, but he would suit us as he is an ex-elim pastor. anyway, we are not ready to call yet and i am sure the Lord God will show us His man for the job. well, actually, i know He will.

erdinc is going to turkiye on the 3rd of january, he is going to check on his mum etc, i don't like it when he is away, but he has to go and make sure all is well over there. he will be there for bayram again, last year we were all together there. its called eid by most muslims. this is the one where the animals are all slaughtered, sometimes in the street, i won't be devastated to miss it to be honest.

christmas is a bit of a struggle this year with my mum being awol, i have discovered that it is doing the preparations with her that gets me in the christmas spirit, my husband being a bit of an old scrooge to be honest. he just really doesn't get into the swing of things and because we have never had christmas at our own home we don't have any of our own traditions, which i have just sort of realised, since menekse will be 16 next year i suppose we should start making some. so, on christmas eve i am going to get everyone round to sing carols and read the christmas story from Luke, after we have had our traditional curry for supper actually i am making that deliberately because its non-christmassy and also because i can make it the day before as we are going to panto on christmas eve and will be out all day. my sister is making brunch. we are taking Lovely Niece to the panto again, we took her last year, even though she was only 3 months old she enjoyed it.

i witnessed a disturbing incident the other night. meric and i were doing deliveries, as we drove past Iceland (the shop, not the country), i saw a member of staff manhandling a person, the man ended up on the floor and another male member of staff kicked him whilst he was on the floor. i drove round the one way system and got out and went and gave the male staff member a piece of my mind. the person, a member of the public and looking like a homeless/possibly drunk/mentally ill could hardly stand up, no doubt he had been shoplifiting or something. i told the iceland guy he should have rung the police and not be kicking the man whilst he was on the ground. when i told my husband he was sympathetic with the iceland guy - he said drunks come in and shout abuse etc and you have to throw them out, which i suppose is fair does, but still is it right to kick that drunk person when they are laid on the floor? i dont think it is. my husband says its because i am too nice and the world isnt like me.

anyway, time is getting on, i am waiting for a pizza, i am cleaning the oven and the stuff i have used has to be left on overnight, so sadly i can't cook tonight

i might be back later when i remember all the stuff i thought 'must put that in the blog' when it happened. if you see what i mean.

Fridays - again 9.12.05

am almost home alone, not quite. Menekse has gone to a horse sale, an hours drive away, she has bumped into a friend there so hopefully will have a good day. Meric is ill, really ill, although i am trying not to let him know that i know he is very ill. he has an outbreak of herpes simplex all over his face, well, not all over, thankfully we got the meds in time and it has now stopped spreading. i had the same thing 20 years ago, but we didn't know what it was, it spread horribly and i ended up in hospital for 3 weeks. they even took my photo for posterity!! my stepfather, then in the early stages of alzheimers, thought the germans had 'got' me with a flame thrower. anyway, meric's illness is making him even more bad tempered than usual, not surprisingly probably, so i have sent him to bed. my husband is at cash and carry so basically i am wasting the day sitting here at the computer catching up on my email and writing my blog.

because of meric's illness this week and menekese repeated viral tonsilitis we have had occasion to visit the doctor several times, we have seen the same one each time, which is, in itself, unusual. he is also the same doctor i have spoken to about depression, losing weight and who diagnosed my high blood pressure. for each one of our particular situations the prescription has been more or less the same - eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg, eggs, virgin olive oil and get fresh air and excersise - apparently a gentle stroll will cure anything, even overeating due to stress. now, if you are a regular reader you will know that i am generally very thankful for the NHS, i am also aware that i am being perhaps slightly negative (i read skip2468s post about this subject), however, i think its slightly unreasonable to advise three different people with three different conditions to eat fresh fruit and veg and go for a gentle stroll. when i took meric back again yesterday because a new cluster of herpes had appeared under his eye (and on his eyelid) in the space of about 10 or 15 minutes, the doctor said it was nothing to worry about, just acne!!!!! what??? i soon put him right, which is difficult for me, being english, i mean he is a doctor, but on this occasion i definitely knew better. anyway, we got the cream and today i am glad to say the outbreaks have stopped and everything seems to be getting better. thankfully we have also missed swimming this week which is a nice break - for me anyway, meric will be cross he has missed some training.

my mum called yesterday, it was nice to hear from her, she sounded like she was next door, the wonders of telephones. i have updated her blog today with an email she sent, i had to control my fingers around the '65 million year old trees' - i was going to put a comment and a reference in but didnt think it appropriate since its not my blog, perhaps i will just put a comment there instead with the link.

my sister, the one who just moved house and has a baby, well, she and her lovely husband have 3 degrees between them, not alot of common sense though. he has just taken possession of a very nice new company car, but neither of them can drive it because they don't know where their drivers licenses are my sisters actual words were 'haven't seen mine for about 5 years and its still in my maiden name'. so they have this lovely new car sat at the front of their house and neither of them can drive it. dear me.

i bought Lovely Nieces christmas present yesterday, i am very excited about it, but i don't think it will go under the tree. so i am thinking of leaving it in our bedroom or something. i will have to give it some thought. i should say that although i don't much like christmas, all the palaver etc i do love the day. and i love buying the presents for those i love. even though my husband is a bit of an old scrooge and does his best to be miserable, even he enjoys the day. anyway, i love that time together as a family, opening the presents, hoping that the thing that you have bought someone is well received - my sister is very very difficult to buy for. in all the years we have been married we have only had to consider my family at christmas - my turkish in laws don't celebrate obviously, although they do put up trees etc. anyway, its made life very easy for us, no worries about sharing families or anything, especially since we live several hours apart. for my sister and her husband its slightly trickier. they live in the middle with us on one side of them and his family on the other, i think we are probably just slightly too far apart to actually spend the day together at their house. so jacqueline and dan have been alternatiing christmasses between the families. now of course we have Lovely Niece, this year christmas is with us and she is still too young to understand what its all about. last year we had our presents together after christmas and this year i think thats what dans mum and dad are doing, sounds like a plan to me. thats what i would do - just have two christmas days. if i have spent time thinking and planning what to buy and am excited about the gift then really i want to be there when its opened, and children just get used to whatever the routine is, so if Lovely Niece starts off having two lots of presents on different days then she will just accept that. and no-one misses out. if anyone has any other ideas then feel free to offer them. we don't open our presents until the afternoon - it used to be after the queen but thats not the tradition it used to be. dan, my brother in law, thinks its weird, but our children just accept it as normal. so i think Lovely Niece will accept two lots of present opening - and thank her lucky stars that she has so many people who love her and want to be with her!!! of course the moral of the story is live near enough to both sets of families so that you can all share the day, the meal and the present opening, that would be the best bet i suppose, not that i am a betting woman, but my husand and brother in law are both betting men.

i think i was going to comment on the new tory leader, david cameron. what is there to say? he appears to be a blair clone, i feel like we have been here before. i mean i have always been a tory but now it just seems like all the parties are merging into one, nothing to choose between any of them, and of course none of them have a christian agenda. so what is a voter to do? i think we should vote, my great grandma was a suffragete. but what if there is no-one to vote for? my current mp (greg knight) is a tory, we see eye to eye on the religious hatred bill, but thats not all of it is it? so, i don't know what i shall do, we have 4 years till the next election probably, by which time bliar will be gone to the house of lords, and presumably we will know a bit more about cameron than we do now.

well, meric is getting more and more angry by the minute - he appears to be failing to understand that that is precisely why i have sent him to his room. and we are both hungry. so i shall go for the time being.

At last 6.12.05

I am here, i am home alone, meric is at scouts, menekse is holding the fort at the shop while erdinc watches liverpool (will *anyone* shout 'peachy bum' to harry kewell? ). so i am here, on the computer, with so much going round in my head i don't know where to start....

i have to update my mums blog too, she is having such a great time in south america, she sent some postcards today, one of them has a picture of an argentinian bbq, mmm, mmm. looks delicious, huge ribs of beef surrounding a huge bonfire, basically.

i am actually feeling pretty smug. my house is clean. well, not all of it. the kitchen and the lounge are looking pretty good. well, of course it is Christmas

i have finally got ALL the boxes out of the living room, we have cleaned it from top to bottom, left a few cobwebs behind for tradition though, and tomorrow menekse is going to put up the tree. this is our first christmas at home. ever. well, apart from the year mum was stuck up a mountain in turkiye, but then it was just us 4 and pretty much a non-event. this year both sisters, one brother in law and ONE LOVELY NIECE are comingD we are all going to pantomime in york on christmas eve, having brunch at jacqueline and dans new house first. then its back to ours for christmas. i am pretty nervous too. btw, anyone wanting to go to the best pantomime in the country should check out berwick kaler at the theatre royal york, fantastic. have a look here http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/archive-news/news115.shtml for anyone who doesn't know what pantomime is, well, its very english (or is that british?) do a google and find out all about it.

actually, i don't like christmas very much. its way too stressful for a start off. i always enjoy the day. but the run up leaves me feeling very and even

i'll tell you what i don't like. for one thing it starts WAY too early - our daughters birthday is september, there is something wrong with a country that starts putting christmas stuff in the shops in september. people spend way too much money. there is too much focus on drink, food and presents. i know its no longer a christian festival for most people (well, not for me either, i mean its the time when we remember the incarnation of the Lord but of course its roots are pagan and no-one knows the date anyway, and now its so wordly its perhaps best not to even try to put a christian spin on it.) i don't like the pressure to spend, spend, spend. i stopped sending christmas cards some time ago, i do send them to people who live away, but when i used to sit in mums and toddlers listening to people say 'i've sent 3 million cards this year' or 'i've spent 2 gazillion pounds on jonnys tracy island for christmas' well, seriously whats the point? and those cards where the people don't even put your name - they just put 'from such a body' - well, whats the point of that? theres no thought in it. might as well just wish people a happy christmas or whatever face to face. actually that was one of the things that drove me mad about the minister that has just left our church - a congregation of about 25 and he couldn't be bothered to write 'to julie and family' (no-one can ever spell the kids names or my husbands so i don't mind the 'and family' bit then). to me christmas cards are just another way of getting money out of people who can't afford it. then there is advent calenders, don't get me wrong, i get the kids them even though they are teenagers and surely should have grown out of it. but i refuse to buy anything before december 1st on principle and by then all the good stuff is gone, so instead of star wars meric has got a cheap spider man job from somerfield. and tesco have sold out of decent christmas tree chocolate, i kid you not. i mean, come on people what happened to the magic of rushing out last thing on chrstmas eve?

what makes it harder is my poor husband just doesn't get into the swing of things. i suppose because he didn't have christmas growing up and sees the worst side of it in our shop late at night when everyone is drunk 'because its christmas'. he always enjoys the day but hates the run up because it involves spending money things are tight this year anyway because of the unexpected trip to turkiye, but hopefully we should be sorted by the new year.

so, thats my gripe about christmas, i can probably think of some more, but i don't want to depress everyone. actually i am pretty excited about Lovely Nieces gift, i am not going to tell you what i am getting her, but i think its pretty good. my husband is underwhelmed as he was by her birthday present.

i have done alot of sorting out of boxes and cupboards and tomorrow while menekse puts the tree up i am going to sort out our spare room while meric cleans his room, its all part of Home Economics if the Local Education Authority want to know.

Well, i am doing Team Pizza so i have to go, perhaps i will be back later, i want to write a wish list on amazon, so many books so little time. and i have some thoughts on the new tory leader.

a week is a long time in blogging.... 29.11.05

well, i can't believe its been so long since my last blog. don't know where the time has gone. worse still i am not really sure what i have been doing. i try not to turn the computer on during the day, its in our school room and too much of a distraction for meric. then by the time the evening comes i am too busy or too tired or i can't get on the computer because of the teenagers.

anyway, i am not writing much now because its late and i am Team Pizza. So will write more tomorrow hopefully.

red Letter Days - part the second 18.11.05

Well, amazingly i have had a reply from red letter days, a satisfactory-ish reply at that....

Dear Ms Inan

I have been asked to respond to you on behalf of Stuart Henry. Please accept our sincerest apologies for any distress caused as a result of the mailing of our new brochure to you.

I was very sorry to learn of the problems you encountered with the old company. It is with regret that we are not in a position to fulfil their promise of a full refund and complimentary vouchers in connection with your son's cancelled experience.

However, as a gesture of goodwill from the new Red Letter Days we would like to offer you a complimentary voucher from the Red Range. This is to the value of £125 and can be used for, 'The Arrows Junior Experience' should you wish.

Please let me know if you would like to accept this offer, I will then be able to make the necessary arrangements.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information on the experience.

Kind Regards

Charlotte Hopkins
Customer Relations

Red Letter Days Ltd

So, leaving aside the use of 'Ms' which i dislike intensely but i know its a personal thing; i am amazed and quite pleased. i didn't expect a result. i am emailing her back to let her know we accept their kind offer.

i wonder if i should let the daily mail know? i don't actually know if my letter was printed, i don't always get a paper due to the fact that i have no time to read one.

its the weekend...18.11.05

Well, almost, its friday at any rate. my lovely husband is home, yippee. i collected him from the train station on tuesday evening. it was so wonderful to see him, of course i feel guilty because i missed him so much and he is so worried about his mum. the full time live in carer is, apparently, very nice, but of course its still a worry leaving her. the family will all be popping over/round to keep an eye on things.

the kids were both thrilled to bits to have him home, so it seems that life can get back to normal, whatever that is.

on wednesday we went over to my sisters new house. erdinc wanted to see it, and we also went to give her hand moving a few boxes around etc. we had a really nice day, she made lovely lunch, we spent a bit of time with my lovely niece, who thinks she is so clever because she can now walk which, personally, i think is very impressive. anyway, then we left menekse there to give them a hand for a couple of days before i go and collect menekse and my lovely niece because i am babysitting this weekend, overnight and everything!!!! Woo Hoo!! my sister and brother in law are off to a wedding in reading (it rhymes!!) and i get to do the honours, and i do feel honoured - its the first time they have left her. my sister is worried that lovely niece will keep me up, she is still breastfeeding and doesn't sleep through, but since i don't sleep either it won't make any difference. lol.

anyway, wednesday night i got to sit at swimming for 2 hours, whilst my poor husband got to see turkiye lose 4-4 on away goals to switzerland and so get knocked out of the world cup. very depressing, but turkiye played really badly in the first leg and the referee was rubbish. so thats that. i am so relieved not to be part of the admin team at swimming. i don't understand how people can be so two faced and.....well, just thoroughly unpleasant. a lady came over to me clearly with a row on her mind, and proceeded to attempt to wipe the floor with me - she said 'i haven't really read it but.....' - well, if you haven't really read it how can you possibly be having a go? she just kept saying she had 'only skimmed' but but but.....NOTHING. read it properly and then come and have a go - or apologise more like since she had totally the wrong end of the stick, will she apologise? i should cocoa. what is the matter with people? why can't they just get along together. part of the problem is that i refuse to toe the line belonging to the 'head coach' - he is such a chauvinist and very very old fashioned, he doesn't like me and uses our lad as his whipping boy, the others pick up on this and of course it ends up with us being the bad guys all the time. not just us, the head coach has his favourites and those he really dislikes and makes it quite obvious, i suppose its usual, but i don't like it. what you see is what you get with me, i only have one face, and i never say anything about anyone that i am not afraid to say to their face - that way i can't get into trouble, well, you would think, i also never lie.

oh yes, tomorrow i am going to a homeschooling day in milnrow, i am greatly looking forward to it. mainly because there will be alot of books there " class="middle" border="0"> - not that i have any money, but i like to look at them so that when i have the money i can buy mail order. menekse and i are going and taking lovely niece, meric is staying at home as he has a gala in the evening and we may not make it back in time, also i am babysitting. my youngest sister is coming over too and since we will be home alone with lovely niece, menekse will be at work, i think we are going to get a video and have a bit of a girls night in. then its sunday and i am making kofte, cheese borek, etc etc.

i realised today that actually i am very boring, lol. i lead such a quiet life, well, mostly, not as quiet as i would actually like but very quiet nonetheless. so why keep a blog? who would find it interesting? no-one most likely, which means i probably only write for my own self gratification, it is quite soothing i must say. but why not keep a diary? i was reminded yesterday, as meric wrote about dodos, that people used to keep a diary as a matter of course, i mean everyone did it. so i wonder why that no longer happens and do blogs really replace diaries? i am currently reading the journals of George Whitfield, can't imagine it being the same as a blog somehow.

i heard something very amusing on radio 4 yesterday and it has, apparently, made the papers. rhonda paisley is taking the DUP, of which her dad is the head, to an industrial tribunal for discrimination. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4442060.stm

i am reminded of one of my daily readings, concerning abram and lot - how abram allowed lot first choice of the land in order not to destroy their testimony, how can two members of the same family, both professing faith in the One True God not get along together, look at the consequences for lot.

i wrote a comment on vickies blog today, concerning the second law of thermodynamics, alot of people don't realise that the theory of creation OBEYS this law, whereas the theory of evolution does not now i am not a scientist, but, as i understand it, the second law of thermodynamics is the bedrock of science. so i wonder if this is why so many scientists today are acknowledging that our origins were truly in Gods hands, or to put it in science speak 'intelligent design'.

anyway, time is getting on. meric has resorted to type and is doing little or no work, i have no idea how he is ever going to earn a living, much less keep a wife and family. we are going to swimming and then to bed early as i have to leave by about 7.30 ish.

Tuesday 15.11.05

Had a lovely weekend. the new pool at Beverley is really rather wonderful. of course being 8 lanes its almost as wide as it is long. but nevertheless its impressive. the bizarre thing was that the council had spent who knows how much inviting a david beckham lookalike, who came on the poolside and signed autographs for the kids - how weird is that? i don't really do the cult of celebrity, but understand some do, but really, all that money for a lookalike? anyway, it was a good gala, we came third and i enjoyed myself. another funny thing. there we were in this amazing facility, with electronic timing and everything, the announcer had a radio mike, the starter had the latest mike/beep/light thing. the computer results were coming out in the specator gallery (also very impressive), and then being gently lowered via a bulldog clip and an orange rope:) it was very amusing.

Sunday was lovely, we had sunday dinner, roast lamb and yorkshire puddings. meric did the remembrance day parade with scouts which was lovely. he knows he did it for granddad jack. i was very proud of him.
it was pretty cold but he managed ok. but in the afternoon started with a migraine. he got his first one on his 13th birthday and thankfully hasn't had one since, but on sunday afternoon he started to feel sick etc. by monday he was quite poorly and spent the day in bed. listening to radio 4 (we currently have 'i'm sorry i haven't a clue' blaring out of the computer speakers at full blast, we don't get digital radio in our area but meric listens online). so monday was kind of weird. meric was in bed and menekse was at riding, so i was more or less on my own in the afternoon, you would think i would do something useful, but of course i didn't, i wasted the afternoon playing nintendogs!!!!

last night we had our childrens meeting at church, christine was doing the lesson, so i did the memory verse and menekse did the singing. it went pretty well and we have nine kids now, all girls though. the worrying thing is not only how little they know about the bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, Christmas, God, etc, but also how little respect they have. they are all nice kids, but just seem to think they have carte blanche to behave how they like. afterwards we had our bible study, the guy in charge of the work came up from bristol. he brought a really good message again and also was very very kind, he had called me about my mother in law and had visited the elderley and infirm yesterday before the meeting, pretty impressive.

today has been a bit of a lost cause, meric is still feeling under the weather, he went and did a bit of training, but came home feeling horrible. i am waiting for erdinc to come home, he hasn't called yet to let me know he has arrived at manchester, i am hoping he is on the train somewhere between here and there. i can't wait for him to come back, and all the staff keep ringing up to find out where he is. no-one has any money!!

anyway, i have to go and get dd from riding shortly, this blog seems to be one of those full of 'i, i, me, i, etc' perhaps i should try and be a bit more......global!!

Fridays.......11.11.05

Fridays are a funny day. Meric doesn't go to training until 8 p.m. which sort of messes the whole evening up. not that i mind.

we didn't get up as early as i had hoped, mainly because i spent the whole night battling cramp for some reason. anyway, we did the usual, including tesco. then after a late lunch i spent the afternoon fiddling about on the computer. its going to be reformatted after the weekend so i know i am going to lose everything. i dislike using web based mail but will have no choice for a while, so i have fiddled with all the settings and sorted that out. i also sorted out mums email, blog etc (maureen is my mum) and sorted out a blog for les (he is one of her travelling mates). its taken me ages. i did also catch up on some email.

i haven't heard back from the daily mail or stuart henry - but at least his didn't bounce so i am sure he will get it. not that i expect anything to happen but at least i feel a bit better for getting it off my chest. i also bought some books " class="middle" border="0"> i just can't help myself. my husbands nephew called to make sure we are all ok, which was kind of us, he has also sent me some money until erdinc gets back, which makes life a bit easier i must say.

tomorrow morning we have a morning gala in the new pool at beverley. this country is hosting the 2012 olympics, but we have no 50m pools, this new pool at beverley has electronic timing, 8 lanes but it is only 25m - how stupid is that? apparently there wasn't enough money. this is the opening invitation gala, i am judging, meric is swimming, it should be a good morning, and it makes a change from saturday night. at least we will be able to watch casualty live or get a video out. casualty is one of the few programmes we watch, but we are also GRIPPED by Lost well, the kids and me anyway. even meric watches it all the way through without flicking through the channels - not even in the adverts, during those he shares all his theories about the programme with us. its bizarre really - nothing that much happens and its very weird but we are totally hooked. meric even looks for spoilers online!!

anyway, its almost time to go to swimming, so i will drink my cup of tea made by my lovely daughter and see you later.

Red Letter Days 11.11.05

I wrote this letter to the Daily Mail today, I also 'cc'd' it to said Stuart Henry of Red Letter Days, needless to say i think my blood pressure was through the roof this morning!!

RED LETTER DAYS.

I write this letter as a salutory warning to your readers who may be lured into spending money for their loved ones on so-called 'Experiences' from this company. Last Christmas, 2004, my mum bought an 'Experience' for our 12 year old son, she spent around £100 on Junior Rally Driving. We booked the day for July 2nd 2005, at Castle Donnington some 120 miles from our home in Bridlington, East Yorkshire. Mum and Meric had to be there at 8 a.m so they left home the night before. This was supposed to be a special day for granma and grandson to spend some quality time together before she left for South America in her camper van. When mum and Meric arrived at the racetrack, along with about 30 other people, it was to find that the 'Experience' had been cancelled without prior notice.

We spent several weeks, alot of emails and phone calls trying to chase up what had happened. In the end we were told that the Rally company had gone into liquidation. We were promised a full refund plus another 'Experience' for Meric and one for two adults as compensation. Several more weeks went by with no sign of the promised refund. Eventually, since mum had gone on her trip, I phoned again and was PROMISED a refund that very day, the full amount was going on my credit card that VERY DAY and the vouchers for the 'Experiences' would be in the post.

Needless to say that never happened. When I telephoned AGAIN I was informed that Red Letter had gone into liquidation and that no-one would be getting anything. Our son was naturally disapointed but philosophical, we put it down to 'experience' in the true sense of the word.

Imagine my suprise when, this morning, we received a letter from - Red Letter!! I felt a frission of excitement as I opened the envelope. Were we to at least be reimbursed as a sign of good will by this large company?

No. This was a brochure, a mailshot, promoting more 'Experiences' the closing paragraph reads 'On behalf of the Red Letter Days team, I would like to thank you for your continuing loyalty and wish you a Merry Christmas and a sensational 2006' it is signed by Stuart Henry, Managing Director. Interestingly he was 'unavailable' when I tried to speak to him by phone today. Needless to say a poor young man named Dean felt the full force of my fury.

I am not sure if this is gross stupidity, appalling public relations or incredible chutzpah!!

long time no blog 11.11.05

seems like ages since i was last here, and i haven't even been busy!!

had to take menekse to the doctor with tonsilitis AGAIN, sixth time in the last 12 months, and thats just the times i think she has been ill enough to warrant a visit to the doc - i am not very sympathetic, no point in going unneccessarily (i think that is spelt wrong?). so, she wasn't very well. well enough to go and muck out a horse in the damp and cold though.

then friday i had to go for a review of meds of course when he asked me how i was doing i just had to laugh. i mean, i was starting to feel better until my mother in law had her huge stroke, my husband left the country for 4 weeks leaving me in charge of a business i know little or nothing about and then on top of that the electric was cut off and so we now have no money left and the rival kebab shop have snaffled all our customers. i am not worried about that though since our food is so much better (seriously, i kid you not, my husband makes the best pizzas in the world). so the doctor took one look at me and said 'keep taking the tablets' he then took my blood pressure. asked me if i had heard of virgin olive oil - and told me to increase that and decreasse my salt. i don't think he would believe me if i told him we use virgin olive oil all the time and i hardly use salt, i also don't drink or smoke, i am, most likely, the most boring person alive. anyway, my blood pressure is up, i have some more tablets to take and have to do a bit less of this and a bit more of this

chance would be a fine thing.

so, my kitchen floor isn't right, i have to sort that dispute out. on my own. we have no money coming in either and the bills are piling up. thankfully i am a christian and know that the Lord God will supply our needs but not our greed, i know that probably sounds like a bit of a cop out but at this moment in time i don't know what else to do. my husbands system just doesn't seem to be working, so i am praying for wisdom and discernment and for a way out. i am thinking of debt counselling, i wonder if anyone has any experience with that.

we had a minister over at the weekend, he stayed with us, he was very nice, very very quiet, homeschools 4 children with another on the way. he is coming again so who knows, perhaps he will be the one. i had to send him to someone else for sunday lunch as i couldn't manage a roast with the kitchen being all upside down.

we started some serious school on monday. after all the disruption of recent weeks it was good to get our noses to the grindstone. each day i have been getting us up a little bit earlier and each night going to bed a bit earlier, so we are more or less back to normal now. i have been putting classical music on in an effort to calm meric a bit when he is working and also giving him cod liver oil tablets - his anger is a site to see!! i have been sewing whilst he is working alone, that has worked ok and i have got alot done. i have also, much to his indignation, removed his pens. his handwriting is APPALLING, totally illegible, we have been working on it for years to no avail. so i decided to put him back to a pencil and when it is untidy i rub it all out!! " class="middle" border="0"> the first day i was rubbing out all day, and one subject was rubbed out about 6 times until it was done to my satisfaction. the next day saw a great improvement, perhaps i have, at last, found the answer. i have told him he has to do a week without any rubbing out by me and then he can have a pen back.

so, this is the kind of week i like. no outside pressure, we went to church on monday, we have spent the week doing our schooling, sewing, reading. i feel relaxed and peaceful, i almost got cross when erdinc said he hadn't booked his flight home yet, but that is because it was Eid (bayram in turkiye), i rang tonight and spoke to my sister in law, she thinks he has booked it for next tuesday. even at swimming last night i was able to read my book and relax, giving up being the secretary has been a blessing in disguise i think.

oh, last friday, the fourth, was my sisters birthday, so we all piled over to their new house to spend the afternoon with them. my brother in law had the day off too so that was nice, and our little sister came as well. my lovely niece is walking now so we all went together to buy her first pair of shoes, i am sure the ladies in the shop thought we were mad - six big people to buy one tiny pair of shoes still it was good fun. i also realised that i am turning into my mum and even with an ocean between us we are still like one unit - i could hear her voice in my head saying 'she needs to stand the baby up to check the fit, i hope thats not the only pair she is trying on, if they don't stand her up i am going to have to say something' - needless to say the shoe saleslady did in fact know what she was doing and her measuring efforts came up to my standard.

well, its kind of late, i have taken some nytol herbal in an effort to get to sleep. so i am feeling a bit tired i hope that i don't wake up when i actually get into bed.

hope to be back tomorrow and catch up with what everyone has been doing. oh yes, forgot the good bit of the news - the first defeat in the house of commons for this government, at last, 90 days is far too long. i feel like we are starting to live in a police state.