Girly Carboot Sale

We finally got back from our holiday after some delays and sank into bed at 3.45am Sunday morning. Both of us had managed to sleep most of the 4 hour flight. The only sound that woke me was the air steward saying "duty free". Now why would my ears prick up for that? We were up at 6.35am because there was the Cheshire carboot sale to go to. Is that committed to carboot sales or what?

David bought practically nothing but I came back with a tonne of girly items - pink seems to feature a lot. Some for me and some for the women in my life. So I bought this lovely candy floss pink leather weekend bag from Marks & Spencer for just £3. I looked at these when they first came out and coveted one but would not pay the £85 price tag but £3 is pretty good. It is missing the shoulder strap but I never use them anyway so no loss. It still has its padlock and key and leather cleaning instructions inside.

I bought a lovely king sized bedspread in dusky pink from John Lewis for £4. The lady I bought this from was really lovely and had some very tasteful items for sale. The bedspread is immaculate and lovely quality. I also bought this heavy weight necklace from her for £1 and 9 magazines - Cheshire Life, Red, The Lady etc. For 20p each. They are all 2016 and 2015.

 

I bought another Dualit 4 slot toaster from one couple as we love these toasters. They are such quality and toast bread quicker than any other toaster I have used. I have one already in our kitchen but David wanted one for putting on a tray for using in the dining room. He wants us to have a sit down breakfast together in the dining room now that he has retired. Such a lovely idea really.

From the same couple I bought these new Marks & Soencer Autograph earings. They have a £12.50 price tag on them and are made with Swarovski elements. I like that they are a simple design. I paid £37 for the toaster and earings.

I bought two toiletry gift sets for my niece and nephew. For my niece there is this Lush boxed set which contains 6 full sized items and it cost me £7. I tried to knock the lady down in price but she would not sell for less. I looked up the prices when I got home and found £7 to be more than reasonable. I bought this Soap & Glory mens gift set for just £2. It has two full sized products inside - a shower gel and body spray. I will put these away for birthdays and Christmas gifts.

After buying the Thomas Sabo silver charms a couple of weeks ago I have hankered for a bracelet to put them on. I found a lady selling a new and unused pink quartz bracelet for just £5. It came with its box, bag and gift receipt so clearly an unwanted gift. I think it will look great with my handbag and shoe charms attached to it. From the same lady I bought this travel sized Soap & Glory lime body butter for just 20p.

I normally get my nails done at Nails Inc in Selfridges and I have their two week gel manicure. A couple of the ladies at work have bought their own uv lamps and gel polish to do their own nails and I have considered doing this myself. So when I saw this lamp for just £3 I snapped it up. The bulbs all work and it is in very good hardly used condition so I just need to buy some clear top coat gel and I will be good to go with my own varnishes.

I always hanker for a black Longchamp bag when I am in Turkey and the copies are cheap to buy at around £11 each but I never buy one for whatever reason. However when I saw this one at just £1 I had to buy it. I bought it from the same lady that I bought the bedspread from.

My hair has become terribly dry and frizzy during our holiday. The sun and humidity has not been kind to it and I wanted some kind of conditioning mask to try to restore it. I found a Charles Worthington hair repair kit which is new and unused for just £1. The box it comes in is a little crumpled but no worries.

I got my usual selection of DVDs some are boxed sets for 50p to £1. I have started to sell some of my boxed sets on eBay so that we do t get overwhelmed with too many in the house but I can't resist buying more.

Room Change & Kalkan Beach Club

Part way through the holiday and the hotel owners son asks us if we want to change rooms. An hour later and we are two floors above our old room with a view out over Kalkan and a partial view of the bay. Much better. I've seen the view of the bay loads of times but it is still lovely to have a balcony with a view and to watch the town wake up in the morning and start to come alive in the evening with twinkling lights. 

Our old room was big and was for three people with three single beds. As soon as we moved out, three people moved in so the son is a sharp operator!

I took charge on Tuesday and decided where we going during the day and where we were eating in the evening. I opted for the Kalkan Beach Club which is a great spot to spend the day. After breakfast we walked down to the harbour for the free boat ride across the bay to the beach club. The captain stopped the boat mid way as he had spotted two large turtles for us to look at. The two ladies sharing the boat with us we're delighted as they had not seen them before.

The beach club provides free sunbeds, umbrellas, kayaks, water slide etc as long as you buy drinks and food from them. The food is varied and fabulous the spot is heavenly as there are wooden boardwalk affairs over the sea with the sun beds on them. Bliss.

There are steps down to the sea for a swim and after a few dips and a lie in the sun I nodded off and woke myself up with a snorty snore. It was just gone 2pm and time for a late lunch and an ice cold beer. Another swim in the sea and finishing my third novel meant it was time to head back for a cool shower to wash off the salty sea water.

We are eating later and later as it is too hot to eat doing am typing this at home 8pm on our new airy balcony waiting for it to cool down enough for us to head out to Hunkar for salad and traditional Turkish kebabs cooked in a fired oven. We ate there last week and Turkish families with small children were sitting down to eat at 10pm onwards. 

eBay Selling on Holiday

I have been keeping up with my clutter clearing at home as I know I have far too any possessions. I have so much "stuff" that occasionally I have not been able to find an item so have gone and bought the same item again. Just typing that has made me feel a little ill. Clearing out all my wardrobe and clothes storage bags under my bed a few weeks ago made me feel so light once it was done. It was great to know that everything I put my hands on fitted me and was loved and made me feel good. All the clothes that do not fit me or are not loved are in two piles against one bedroom wall. It is the wall of shame and each pile stands at around 2ft high. 

I am slowly decreasing the height of each pile and listing the items on eBay for selling. It does not take too long to list the clothes using my iPad and sales have been fairly steady. I play a game so that if I sell two items in a day then I will list a further three and if I sell three then I will list four etc. Doing this has led tome having around 100 listings so I now have a steady stream of sales with some repeat buyers. I just want to get rid of all the clothes once and for all. As you can see below some items are new, unworn and still have their shop tags attached. Shameful!

I had to close all my listings down on the day before we came away on holiday. I will relist them again the day before we finish our holiday and hopefully get some buyers over the weekend that we are flying home. I did this in April when we were on holiday in Tenerife and it was great to turn on my phone at arrivals at the airport to hear the kerrching of sales that had gone through while I was up in the air flying home.

Once the clothes are reduced to zero I will start with other areas although I do not know what yet. I have cleared through my shoes and boots, coats and jackets, make-up and nail varnishes and now clothes. Not sure whether to focus on a particular theme going toward e.g books or DVDs etc or just an area of the house e.g stuff in the garage or loft. I know that I will at this for at least another 6 months and I started this quest in January 2016.

The extra cash will come in handy to supplement my reduced status and salary at work which I had no option other than to accept or be made redundant. The one good thing to come from my new role is that I will no longger be managing any staff. I had 65 staff in 6 units with 6 managers reporting to me and come 1st August I will have no-one but myself to manage. Now that should give me some time to focus on the work and not people all the time.

Kaputas Beach

We decided to head out to Kaputas Beach on Sunday. It is about a 10 minute dolmus ride along the cost from Kalkan and along with the lagoon at Olu Deniz is one of the most photographed beaches in Turkey. The sea colour changes from deep navy blue to turquoise towards the shore and it looks magical. It sits at the bottom of a ravine with at least 100+ steps to get down to it and we have never visited it in the past despite having come to this area many many times over the last 15 years.

Part of the reason we have not visited is that normally the beach is bare when we visit in June and October. So no sun beds, umbrellas etc. I'm happy to lie on the sand but with the fierce sun I need some shade and there isn't any. This time we noticed there was plenty of beds, umbrellas and a temporary cafe with all facilities so we had to visit.

3 lira on the dolmus (about 75p) and 15 minutes later we were settled for a few hours of people watching and a dip in the salty wash. It was a choppy day out to sea and there was no sign of the usual gullets that lay anchor off the beach for day trippers to have a dip to cool off. The waves were high but fairly safe for swimming and the squeals of delight from children (and adults!) dodging the waves was lovely to hear. Good for the soul.

After a few hours it was time to climb up the steps, pausing for a breather every now and then and to take in the view. We caught the dolmus back to our hotel and after a quick shower we had a dip in the hotel pool and a refreshing Efes beer.

Another lovely peaceful and relaxing day which has left me feeling like my batteries are being charged again.

Boy is it Hot

We normally have our sunshine holidays at the beginning of June and October and have done so for the last 20+ years. We are creatures of habit. This year we have thrown caution to the wind and had 2 weeks in Tenerife in April and the current two weeks in mid July. We have found the resort really in full swing by visiting mid season which is great but we realised yesterday why we normally visit at the beginning or end of the season. It is because it is cooler. Yesterday David felt "overwhelmed" by the heat and was tired and listless. We slept for two hours in the afternoon as our room is dark and cool at this time. We ate late as our appetites had waned and we wanted cool fresh air and a breeze  before we felt like eating. We sat down to order at 9.30pm. Today it feels a little fresher although I have woken up to damp frizzy hair!

We thought about visiting one of the many beach clubs around the bay or strolling into town to do some shopping but felt lazy and have decided on a day by the pool. The shopping in Kalkan is great. Small boutique shops selling leather goods and handbags in particular, silver and gold jewellery, pottery and cotton ethnic style clothes. I normally buy a handbag and matching purse from bsg every visit. The owner now greets us with open arms these days and he is such a lovely chap. We sometimes sit and have an apple tea and chat with him, or at least David does while I check out the stock. We also love Just Silver and we have both bought lots of jewellry from here over the years. David likes a silver item on a leather necklace - aging rock star look a la Keith Richards style. I prefer  some silver charms or long pendant.

I'm spending my lazy hours reading MC Beaton books and have finished an Agatha Raisan mystery and am moving now on to a Hamish Macbeth murder mystery. I love her style of writing and the flawed characters. I have two Hamish Macbeth books with me and the third Victoria Hislop novel, Sunrise left to read. I only seem to get chance to read when on holiday although I suppose I could make more of an effort at home. 

I'm loving my Christian Lacroix beach bag this holiday in an "on trend" palm print. It has three pockets on the inside which are great for my bits and bobs and I especially like the zip up pocket for carrying my money. For just £13 this was a real bargain from TK Maxx. There are two of these shops near where I live and I rarely go in to them if at all, but if we go away for a weekend and I see a TK Maxx I am in there like a shot. Now what is that all about?

We missed all the drama last night of the Turkish coup and woke up to see it on my newsfeed on Facebook. It has not affected Kalkan at all and the locals appear to be totally unaffected. We'll carry on holidaying in our little bubble of paradise for now.

Day trip to Kas

Kas is the next town along the coast from Kalkan and we have had holidays here for several years too. It is a lovely town which is more authentic than Kalkan in that it is less for tourists and more of a working town with a farmers market each Friday selling livestock, home grown fruit and vegetables and home made cheeses. It has a pretty harbour with hotels on one side and beach clubs on the other.

We wandered down towards the harbour and found that the council had revamped the gardens which were now light and airy with bars and cafes surrounding it. It looked a lovely place to stop and watch the world go by which we did. We saw Micheal who owns the Cinarlar Pizza restaurant and had a chat with him before walking down to the row of hotels where we have stayed in the past. We had forgotten how lovely it was staying at the Linda, Linda Beach and Aqua Princess hotels over the years. We would love to come and stay here again but cannot find any tour operators that visit. We could do it ourselves but it becomes costly due to 3.5 hour transfer time from the airport to Kas. I'll look into it again and see if I can come up with a reasonable deal.

We walked over to the other side of the harbour stopping to have a look in the lovely boutique shops en route.

It was hot and we were feeling in need of a cool breeze and a beer so we called into one of the beach clubs which is our favourite. It used to be owned by a small family of mother, father and son and was a tatty little place but last year it was bought by someone with some cash to throw at it and it is now all shiny and new with young handsome staff with handheld computers taking your food and drink orders. We had a couple of beers and took in the view of the bay and the cool breeze that blesses this part of the town.

It was soon time to amble back for the £1.60 dolmus ride back to Kalkan on the most scenic route I have ever taken. The road hugs the mountains with spectacular views across the bay and stops at Kaputas beach to collect those who have spent the day lolling on the beach and swimming in the turquoise sea. We'll have a day here later in our holiday. 

At the dolmus station is an animal charity shop which is tiny and ramshackle. We love it and in the 10 minutes we had waiting for the bus I bought the Ashes to Adhes DVD boxed set - series 2 for 54p and David found a Steely Dan CD for 13p. There wasn't enough time for a proper rummage so no doubt when we are there again over the next week we'll have a good nosey. Even on holidays abroad we sniff out the charity shops! 

We had a doze after such a busy (!!) day in Kas and then we were showered and out for another lovely meal in Kalkan. The restaurants are just fabulous with many on rooftops for the view out over the bay towards mouse and snake islands. This holiday is turning out to be as heavenly as all our holidays to Kalkan. Long may we return.