Well at last you can sigh with relief - we are almost at the end of the saga and this is the last of the holiday woes and stories I am going to tell you about. Unless of course, I remember something else!!!

I did mention, didn't I, that we'd been adopted by a gorgeous young pup we nicknamed Ziggy? Now I'm a cat person, but you just couldn't help but fall in love with this gentle and affectionate dog...........

Ziggy never left our side

Little Ziggy

As you know, Mandi is going back to join Dogan a week tomorrow and so they're going to try and get her sorted out and adopt her. If they can find out whether or not she's a stray that is. While we have been back, Dogan has been looking after her. She still sits by our sunbeds every day and waits for us - so sad and sweet. Well soon she'll see Mandi and will be with her everyday again...........

Ziggy staying with us every day

It was strange but the whole time I was there, I only managed to get a picture of the sunset on the last day........ Now this was because down there, the time between the sun going down and total darkness is approximately 15 minutes!! We who live in the UK are used to having a good 40 minutes or so, and to be able to catch a lovely sunset. So here it is - there were hardly any clouds around which really make a sunset..........

My only sunset I saw

Our resort was facing the wrong way so we couldn't get the full effect.....

Right - our last night...........we said goodbye to our lovely friendly Ziya, who was our barman at our hotel - it was all down to him that Mandi and Dogan are together. He was the one who shot off to Dogan's hotel with Mandi's correct e-mail address and so they were able to contact each other.

Zia our friendly barman

He was so funny and this is one of his "hey guys" pose!!! Such a nice man and he's still looking for his Miss Right!!

We left the resort, luckily with Mandi in quite an upbeat mood because she knew she was coming back in a couple of weeks. While she and Karen popped off to the balcony to have a smoke at the airport, I sat down and took a picture....
Bodrum airport

Luckily another passenger saw me and not the police, because it's forbidden to take pictures as it's a military airport!!! Now that could have been awkward!!!

I was lucky to have another wheelchair and an airport employee pushed me through so many safety checks. I think we went through about 4 gates and each time we had to take all metal things off and go through these metal thingy's. I was pushed through each time and each time I ended up having to be frisked cos it always went "beep", eventually at the last one, the woman pushing me held the metal detector over the chair and it beeped. It was the damn chair beeping NOT me!!! Fancy having a airport wheelchair that set off the metal detectors!!!

So we get to the aeroplane gate. The attendant left me at the top of the ramp and it was up to Karen to push me down into the plane - now she remembered to take the brake off .... but........ the ramp was very steep!!! She wasn't too good at steering and my heart was in my mouth on several occasions. I honestly thought we were going to go through the glass windows on either side because she had problems steering the chair. Thankfully we got to the plane in one piece and we waited for other wheelchair assisted users to get on the plane.......

This woman came on who honestly looked as if she had had a severe stroke. It took 6 men to lift her out of the wheelchair and into a seat. She was moaning and looking as if she was on another planet. Then her husband came on and he had to be helped by the men into a seat next to her. The poor steward was looking very harrassed as they were in a three seat area but there was no way anyone else could go into the spare seat. We were really surprised that they were travelling on their own, no carers. The man was really rude and demanding and said that he and his wife should have our seats because I wasn't as disabled as he and his wife were!!! I was about to try and move, when the steward told him in no uncertain terms that I was disabled enough to require those seats and that he hadn't the monopoly on having the seats. For the rest of the flight, the wife moaned and the man took his sandals off his swollen feet [which wasn't a pleasant sight] which meant that anyone walking up and down the aisle had to be careful they didn't fall over his outstretched feet.

Then the woman wanted to go to the loo. The steward told her that they couldn't lift her up to take her to the toilet, that if her husband helped her, then they would guide them to the loos, but they weren't trained to act as carers. The man said that he was going to complain about them not helping his wife - the steward said that he was sorry but it had taken 6 men to get her into the seat and there was no way he could do it on his own. He did however, give them something for her. About 10 minutes later a rather unpleasant smell permeated across from them - she'd gone to the toilet on the seat!! She continued to act as if she didn't know what was going on - yet when we eventually left the plane, and we were waiting for the lift to take us into the airport, she asked her husband if he'd brought her handbag and her coat!!! The man had quite easily walked out of his seat and into the lift but didn't bring any of their luggage etc, he left it up the poor harrassed steward and stewardess. Methinks a lot of it was put on so they could have better seats and it didn't quite work out for them. I'm sure she needed help, but how on earth they managed to go on holiday without a carer is beyond my understanding. Also - they didn't have their own walking sticks nor their own wheelchairs - but they required considerable help from the staff. If they were that disabled, then surely they'd have had their own walking sticks or wheelchairs??

Thankfully we left them at the carousel waiting for their suitcases!!!!!!!!!!

It was gone 2.30am when we got to Mandi's home which our body clock was saying 4.30am!! I sank into the bed and it was bliss - the duvet was gorgeous and soft and the pillows were soft too - I snuggled down and just slept........

Okay folks - that's about it - I had a wonderful holiday - got to know my new son-in-law and he's gorgeous. He has no idea how much he's done for Mandi and how grateful I am to him. He's more thankful to me for giving him the best present he could ever want, his love and his soul mate. Mandi feels that he's her soul mate too, which is wonderful. To see her so happy and having a face full of joy and love when just over a year ago, she was a shell of herself - he's my hero.

Sorry I've rambled on again - better go out and get the washing in off the line. It's been a nice sunny day with a bit of a wind, so the washing should be lovely and dry.
Then it's off to make a toad-in-the-hole.