Luggage & Food

First a quick note on how twisted I am. In case you hadn’t noticed anything unusual about me.

Janet and I were quite worried that if she did not return to the boat with me, how would we get all of the stuff back that we had accumulated. Most of it relatively important things that we wanted for the boat.

That might make you think that were both a little twisted, since she was thinking, “Oh, I can’t die right now. How will Dave get all the stuff back to the boat by himself?”

Well, no argument there. Anyway, as I think I explained in an earlier post, I was able to fly business/first class for a very economical increase in price of the ticket. It turned out to be actually dramatically cheaper than the cattle car class that we usually fly. Because it included three 70 pound suitcases for free! I paid the princely sum of $200 for a single additional 50 pound suitcase and was able to get all of the essential items and many of the desirable items back to the boat and one load.

However, the items coming to the boat included my carry-on backpack, my briefcase with two computers and it and lots of other stuff, my camera bag that straps around my waist, and Janet’s big coat, which will fit me now that I’ve lost so much weight. The pockets of the coat were loaded with gobs of stuff.

When I was on the move with all of the stuff that I was carrying on to the plane, I was extremely aware that it was a lot of stuff. When I got to Istanbul and had a longer layover, I weighed what I was carrying on. It came to 76.5 pounds! No wonder I was kind of slow walking the miles of corridors to get from one flight to the next. At times I definitely felt like I might blow a gasket.

“Body of Santa Clause found under mountain of luggage in istanbul Airport!”

According to the rules on the United website, everything I had was technically legal. The backpack would actually fit in the allotted space and weighed 39.9 pounds. There was a 40 pound limit on that item for United Airlines. The other items were all allowable, and so on. However, as I repeatedly mentioned at the time in my posts en route, I was really afraid that someone would jump me about it and say that I have to check my backpack which was full of hard drives and other fragile things, that I really wanted to hand carry.

In each of the waiting areas, they routinely sent out employees to eyeball everyone’s carry-on and sort out differences of opinion before we actually started boarding. Each time I saw the carry-on police approaching, it always made me extremely nervous. But they walked on by every time. Did Janet put a ‘cloak of invisibility’ over me?

On an entirely different subject. Food. I have not yet tried these recipes, but the site seems impressive. Have a look.

http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/

Lentil soup, with generous amounts of what we would call French bread, is a very popular breakfast in Turkey. So, the stores are full of a large variety of lentils. Red, yellow, green, and who knows what all kinds? I was looking online for lentil soup recipes and this site just kept showing up. It has links to others that may be good also.

There is a potluck every Sunday here in the Marina. I was too tired and had no food on the boat to contribute a dish last Sunday. The first Sunday of my return. So yesterday was my first potluck since returning. Not my first group function. I’ve been to three or four.

Based on one potluck data point, I would say that the quality of food, and the amount of work everyone must go to, has increased significantly while I’ve been gone. One couple said that last year there were quite a few French boats, and they got into sort of a cookoff mentality. Fighting for champion Cordon Bleu potluck ribbons I suppose.

We have always gone to these to meet new people and visit with old friends, but now it is worthwhile to go for the fine dining. I will have to give more thought to what I bring next week. Yesterday I brought a type of tabouli that I thought was somewhat disappointing. I have adjusted the recipe a little bit and will see if it comes out better the next time I get around to making it.

Tonight I will be going to an Englishwoman’s house for a potluck with several of her friends. She was here when we were here before. She’s a dirt dweller and I’m not sure if she ever had a boat. But she likes to hang around the Marina crowd. I probably knew the correct story three years ago. But, I think she’s just an ex-pat that really likes it here in Finike.

Now I need to go find some acid brushes and large O-rings to have as samples. Since my Turkish is almost nonexistent, I need some props in order to communicate. And I need to buy some lacquer thinner. And some denatured alcohol. And some more bottled water. And more food. And so on.

The forecast thinks that the rain showers are decreasing in probability. So, hopefully I can fix the mast boot soon, if I can find all the things I need for the job.

Dave

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