Monday 22 January 2007

Lovely weather we're having

The other day I watched a documentary film that seems to be very successful at the moment. It's called 'An Inconvenient Truth' presented by Al Gore. It's absolutely fantastic and I recommend watching it. It will change your life.

The film focusses on global warming and what we should be doing to combat it. The effects of global warming were all too apparent yesterday.

I joined a walking group that meets evalternate Sundays to walk and hike in places of interest in the local area. Yesterday we went to a place called Karpuzlu (meaning 'with water melons') and hiked for 3 or 4 hours over 12km stopping at the top of the mountain for lunch. I find these walks are so good for the soul. It's a chance to meet interesting people and chat as you stroll through the wilderness.

On the way back a few knowledgable ones amongst us gave a brief lecture in the bus. The subject was global warming and how we are now starting to see the effects. It was clear that the weather shouldn't be this hot in January. In fact if was so hot we had to have the air conditioning on in the bus. I was walking up the mountain in a t-shirt and sweating. It was indeed strange weather. Today it's the same. The sun is out and if it weren't for the slight cold, you would think it was a summer's day.

Here are some pictures of the walk:




I had my own personal Carbon emmisions issue the other night. I was sitting working away when I started to realise I was feeling a little down. That emotion grew into deep depression in which I even began to cry. I became very tired and thought the best thing to do would be to go to bed and hope to sleep through whatever was wrong. Just at that moment, my dad called. I explained how I was feeling and he asked whether I was burning the coal burner. I said I was and he told me to immediately open the windows. I did and the change in my state was instant. Suddenly I felt fine and positive again. It seems that there was a problem with the chimney and the fumes were starting to get to work.

Thank god I didn't go to sleep. I don't think I would have woken again. Needless to say the coal burner is going in the sea at the first opportunity. Back to good old electric heaters for me.

Sunday 14 January 2007

Billy's back

Here I am, back in Kusadasi. It feels like I've been away for an age. In fact I've been away for about a month.

The big change I noticed as I headed to the market on Friday was just how busy Kusadasi has become. What happened? Is everyone starting to get ready for the summer? Surely not. We're not even through the worst of the winter yet. Whatever it is, Kusadasi is absolutely buzzing with locals.

Christmas was a wonderful break. So nice to see everyone back at home and to see how my home town has changed. The funny thing was that this time, for the first time, I felt like a stranger. Somehow I was an observer rather than part of the community.

Well time to plug in the electric blanket I treated myself in the UK and snuggle down for the night.