Trials and tribulations

I am worried about one of the street cats we feed. He is the smallest of the litter and has always been a bit fearful. When we captured them to get them neutered, he was the one who needed the most coaxing and it took him a good week to trust us again. Last week, he disappeared for 2 days. This was unusual as he seemed to need his big brothers to sooth his nerves. He's always rubbing against them for reassurance and wouldn't come too close until they did. The other 2 venture into the apartment, but he took his time and would only come in if they were with him. Anyway last Saturday, he showed up, he was terrified and wouldn't come near us, he attempted to eat and it was then that I noticed that he was dribbling from one side of his mouth. He has been every day but he wasn't eating and starting to look thin, then Wednesday he walked into the apartment and was mewing around me. I offered him food and as he attempted to eat it he let out a very loud yowl. Thursday MHTTB managed to catch him and get him to the vet, he told us to leave him there as he had a bad tooth and needed antibotics. We went to collect him today, but Berhan told us he has still not eaten and he has a very bad gum infection. He doesn't appear to have been bitten and to be honest I am wondering if he has Feline Immunodeficiency virus. My sister has a maine coon who has this and he had to have all his teeth removed as they get gum disease, and he is too young to have bad teeth (all 3 are about 9 months old). Today he was zonked out in the litter tray at the vets, he tried to get up but he is very weak and couldn't manage it, plus he doesn't trust us again. We have had to leave him there, Berhan said the smell from his mouth was terrible. MHTTB has put it to me that he doesn't think he is going to get better, I have told him that if Berhan has to put him to sleep then I want to be with him as I don't want him to feel unloved. I've named them all, Mac, Ash and Cocoa. Mac is the one who is ill and he is seen below laying down playing with his brother.
 
I need to swap my UK driving license for a Turkish one, I took my exams in 1976 so before I left for Turkey I contacted the exam board and they sent me this, as I have to produce a qualification.
Yes, yes it's grade E, a just made it pass, but in my defence, I did ask to do CSE as the grade was based on course work, which I found more interesting but the teacher insisted I could get an O level. I can only drive on my UK licence for 6 months in Turkey as I have a residents permit, but the guy who looked at my letter told me it would not be acceptable because it doesn't state the school I attended but it does!! Anyway I am trying someone else now who deals with it. It's a mission getting the license, I have to get copies of my UK license get them translated and notorised (made legal) then I have to get a blood test and an eye test then pay tax for this that and the other. BUT if they won't accept my certified letter then it means I have to leave the country every 6 months to get a new entry stamp. I think the thing that pisses me off most is that the standard of driving in Turkey is horrendous. The UK driving test is far more stringent than the test here but because I do not have a letter saying I attended this school on these dates they may not give me one!!
 
Work is progressing on the complex now. I have had to pay my maintenance 8 months early but what can I do? The pool is being cleaned but it has rained and rained today so it has come to a stop. On a brighter note, the gardens are looking greener and a lot tidier, the pool room is nice and clean and summer is on it's way. I still have to pinch myself.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Customer service and other stuff

Image
The one thing you cannot complain about here in Turkey, is customer service. When I first purchased the apartment, I needed Wi-fi access, because at that time I did not (and still don’t) have a residents permit MHTTB had to have it put in his name. We went to turk telecom at 5pm on a Tuesday evening, ordered it and at 10am the following morning we received a call from the telephone engineer saying he was outside and could he come in to install it! He came, with the modem, fiddled about a bit,plugged the modem in and voila! We had Wi-fi. None of this farting about that BT provide. Send a  modem in the post and then they tell you to wait up to 5 working days to connect it at the exchange. The same with the curtains I ordered. I went in gave them the measurements, chose the material and by 4pm the next day they were made, complete with the clips sewn in and ready to hang. Everything electrical that I purchase comes with an automatic 2 year guarantee. Go to the bank and say see this bill c
Read more

Hospitality

Image
Turks are very hospitable people, they are not the richest people, in fact some of them are downright poor. Yesterday we went to visit a friend of MHTTB, he was at his girlfriends house. She didn't know us at all, but the hospitality was immediate, she invited us to join her for a barbeque. The food was simple fresh chicken and fish with salad. I used to hate people turning up unexpectedly at mealtimes, but she just took it all in her stride, most Turkish people do. They seem to be able to rustle up a delicious meal from nothing at the drop of a hat. She had a small, clean lovely house in the middle of nowhere at a place called Yaniklar. It is a village about a 15 minute drive away. My Turkish is very poor, but with the help of Google translate we managed to have a good chat and a laugh. Today a man came to quote for putting a chimney up for the wood burner, including the materials I am looking at a cost of 700tl, which is about £140 quid at todays rate. Considering I am on the f
Read more

making a house a home

Image
Like most places here, the apartment, decor wise is quite bland. I brought my sofa's over, but they too were cream and it was all a bit..........boring. For quite some time I have been looking for carpets to put down. I have even bought a few carpets, but I like the kilim style, and they weren't really practical for a heavy traffic area and once again, they were beige. I needed new curtains so I got in touch with a lovely young woman, Grace. She came and measured and brought HUNDREDS of samples and as I wanted to inject some colour and as Ozlem had made me some rather nice cushions, I went for red!! This in turn gave me an idea of the colour carpet I wanted to tie it all in. Kilims tend to have traditional patterns, they usually have vibrant colour, but sometimes the pattern just doesn't appeal to me. For a number of weeks now, I have been passing a shop called Villa Home and had noticed some very nice carpets outside. They are all different pieces of Kilims made into patch
Read more