Almost expat

It's been a very emotional few weeks. We all took the train to Devon to attend my dad's funeral, I can't describe how I felt when I walked into the chapel, numb, disbelieving that he was laying there in the coffin. It was a very nice but sad service, my dad wasn't a religious man but a reverend attended him with a humanist sermon. Afterwards, we went back to my sisters house where she had enough food to feed an army. Still better safe than sorry. I returned to London and stayed in the house I used to share with my dad, it really didn't feel like home anymore, and I settled into a routine of lethargy for the remaining week that I was there. I did nothing, I ate crap, I had not, until Thursday eaten a vegetable for 2 weeks and I was feeling it. My flight home was crowded, there were a family of Asians sitting around the aircraft, 35 of them, so at various points of the flight, they played musical chairs so I think I chatted to most of the family. They were all very ...

I arrived today, courtesy of Pegasus airlines, but only just. I had to split the flight, Dalaman to Istanbul then Istanbul to Stansted. I had an hour and 10 minutes transfer time. In the summer, this is fraught. Years ago you could get off at Istanbul and go straight to the domestic terminal getting your passport stamped at the end destination airport, now you can’t do this. You now have to get off the flight and get the passport stamped in and out at Istanbul, and it is there that you can run into problems. Today I breezed through passport control, where I got held up was in the duty free shop. After a 5 minute delay arriving, followed by a 5 minute walk to the international departures then a 10 minute queue to get stamped out I thought I would get some duty free shopping. It is a very long hall, the duty free at the airport but I picked up my tobacco (yes, I know it’s bad for me) made my way to the cashier and then waited 20 minutes to pay! He was so slow! He scrutinised EVERYTHING. ...

So as you have probably guessed, my stab at expatriate life has been temporarily put on hold. I am flying back to the UK on Wednesday so that I can be there for my fathers funeral. I am so glad I had not applied for my residency, had I have done, I would not be able to leave the country until I had had my interview. I’m flying back on the 20th as I want to spend Christmas here in Turkey. My dad has been quite ill this year, so his death hasn’t come as a massive surprise, but the speed has. He moved to Devon and seemed to perk up, his health was improving, a scan 2 weeks ago revealed nothing untoward. He had just had enough of life and quietly and peacefully slipped away. He never liked Christmas much, he was a bit of a bah humbug, now he doesn’t have to face it. I will miss him greatly, I looked after him for 9 years, but he looked after me too. MHTTB has been fantastic, he has kept me busy until my departure back to Blighty, taking me out and just letting me be quiet, miserable an...