This is my humble guide to squeezing the most out of the unforgiving minute. Travel, music, literature, food, drink, walking, wildlife and more, all grist to the mill, and I’m an expert on none of them. I do however try to get the most out of a modest budget whilst filling my precious time with enough diversion to make resigning from my 40 hours a week on the treadmill worthwhile.

There’ll be no bungee jumping, Iron man comps, Jenga played in gastropubs or 3 grand spa weekends but there will hopefully be enough of the sort of online tips & ephemera I myself am grateful for when planning a trip, day out, evening on the razzle or need a bit of inspiration for the odd change in direction. I originally came up with the idea for this blog whilst shoe-horning snippets of pleasure into a life dominated by a demanding and time consuming career. Such were those demands I barely had the time or oomph to muster enough copy to publish & so I’ve been fruitlessly paying WordPress for a couple of years for a largely blank site. Despite an unimpressive bank balance and no hopes of a mysterious benefactor bankrolling a life of ease we packed in our jobs, and moved to a town in the South-West of Turkey (Türkiye as it is now).

This now means the attractions of Köyceğiz, Muğla (near Dalyan, Fethiye & Marmaris) feature heavily but I still have strong links with London and will never stop travelling.

Of course the real reason for writing this blog is to set myself on the gilded path of a fabulously respected author, earn enough from my ground breaking opus to indulge a serious absinthe habit whilst living in a crumbling Venetian mansion overlooking the fog haunted lagoon, then die tragically by choking on jelly in the bath. My elegantly wasted, ivory hued body, borne naked along the canals on gondola past legions of overwrought mourners, some raising a salutary glass, others throwing their underw……anyway I digress.

“Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre”-Albert Camus
Contents–

1. Blackbird Cottage. Home in the orange grove.

2. Köyceğiz first book cafe -Lutra Lutra

3. A guide to Turkish offal dishes and where to eat them in Köyceğiz

4. Erdal Kara at the Viçe book festival

5. Mirrorhead by Diego Garcia

6. Good food at Keyfoturağı near Muğla.

7. Hiring an affordable & memorable private boat trip in Dalyan

8. A day on the Tango- Köyceğiz boat trip

9. A guide to the Köyceğiz lake front bars, cafes & restaurants

10. Köyceğiz in spring

11. The Turkish & Syrian earthquake of 2023

12. An entertaining, fairly unknown river walk of wizards, ancient pubs, smugglers , Cher and art near central London.

13. Guide to Köyceğiz market and how to make the most of it.

14. A guide to the chilled out trip from Fethiye, Turkey to Rhodes & Symi and back.

https://open.spotify.com/user/theaxisofelvis?si=MRk25Qo_TAasqWIXnqgGuw

https://instagram.com/tan_bollesty

A last word- anyone that can help me correct the obvious glitches and layout of my site feel free to contact me. The laptop has nearly been launched through the window several times.