7 weeks wihout socks done

7 weeks without socks were done yesterday and what an exit we had.

Morning started a bit stressful by the taxidriver showing up an hour early. Taxi was booked for 6.30 so he just had to have an extra nap in the car. When leaving Sweetwater Bay we noticed big cloud formations in the sky and knew there was some rain forecasted. Just thought it was a perfect day to leave after so many days in the sun. Finally we had a taxi driver that did not thought he was Michel Schumacher or Ayrton Senna. Had a nice and easy drive to Ercan airport. Check-in was done without any problem at all, and at 8.50 am we departed for our first leg to Istanbul.

Landed in new Istanbul Airport on time and started walking. This airport is just massive, kilometers of long walkways. I recorded 8500 steps yesterday, and at least 7500 of them were in this airport.

We had just passed the international transit area when I had the first phonecall from David. He was in the apartment to pick up my car to drive it back to Little Stones. “Your apartment is flooded, water everywere, coming down thru your ceiling lamps in the hallway”. There was this sudden massive storm with thunder, lightning, torrential rain and an electric black out. At time of writing, the electricity is still not back on, they expect a 30 hrs outage

Luckily we had a 3,5 hrs stopover in Istanbul, so managed to start organising help. Got hold of Maria at site to immediately start cleaning up. Together, Maria and David found the cause of the problem. The storm obviously had blown a lot of leaves up on the roof and one of the drains were blocked. This in turn led to a big nearly swimming pool on the roof, leading the water down into the electric channels. Once cleared, water obviously swooshed down the drains clearing the roof. If we are lucky, there will be no big damage. The place needs a couple of weeks drying up, ceiling a new coat of paints etc. Thanks to dear friends we luckily had no big damage.

When leaving, we let the electricity on with food in fridge and freezer to have some food ready when returning Sweetwater Bay next time. Organised Phil and Sheila to clear the freezer as it contained some pork etc., and neither Maria nor David and Ozi eats pork.

Then on to next leg of our journey home, flight from Istanbul to Oslo. Flight was without any problem at all. Landed Oslo on time and did my normal shopping in the duty-free. Weather was actually quite nice, 10 degrees. Think this is the first time returning home in October i have not had the thougt, God – turn me around and send me back. Noticed from the bus drive to the car park that there seemed to be queing up of cars on the main road. Turned out that the police had set up a control, leading absolutely every car on to one lane and thru a small resting area beside the road. We used 1 hour to beat 2 km 🙁 but were not controlled at all.

Finally made it home in the evening after our normal stop, getting shrimps for our evening meal. Cold water seafood is still one of the few things we miss down there. Was a bit chilly inside the house, but after lighting up the log fire, it is now arm and cosy.

Last not least, want to express my gratitude to all my friends down in Sweetwater Bay, residents and swallows. What an amazing weeks we have had. We truly miss you all and look forward to get back as soon as possible. Thank you all, you are all my heroes