I have had to pop home to fix the central heating (don’t ask!), hug my daughter (lots) and see the accountant (boo, hiss), so I have forsaken the gentle blue skies of the Aegean and the funny, engrossing, absorbing life of the village for the grey skies of my homeland. For 16 days.

I flew back to the UK on Wednesday night and after a few hours sleep hit the road for the long and extremely boring M4 drive to Wales.

Lousy timing, I managed to hit rush hour at Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea.  As I was scuttling down the M4 towards Pembrokeshire, happily listening to the sanity that is BBC Radio 2, I mused on the huge streams of traffic gridlocked for three lanes on the approach roads to our major cities.  What is it like to spend an hour or so a day moving at the speed of a racing snail toward the holy grail of an off-ramp?  Why would you do it? 

I guess I am lucky, and seeing things like that make me realise how lucky!  Sitting in a traffic jam is not part of my normal daily routine. Neither is finding somewhere to park, being spotted by speed cams and paying vast sums for a takeaway sandwich. Okay, evicting the occasional snake hibernating in the walls is, but I think it’s preferable.

I spend most days in the sun.  I watch kittens learn to stalk (which is funny).  I learn new words and expressions and absorb strange cultures and I laugh a lot.  Pretty much most days we laugh until our jaws ache.

So the next time I get grumpy about travelling, about packing, about insane Turkish driving and mad Turkish rules I will think back to those lanes of traffic creeping forward on the M4 and I’ll be a bit more grateful for the life I have.

Whilst I am away Metin has sworn a blood chilling oath to have the swimming pool concrete completed by the time I get back.  Ha, much shame will come to him if he fails!

PS – If someone from Saudi Arabia is reading this, don’t be shy, drop me an email saying “Hi”, because I can see you on the website and its driving me nuts wondering why you are there so much!
posted 19-02-2007