10 minutes ago there was a brief firework display commemorating the day. One of the fireworks was loud enough to start a car alarm opposite work.
The university in Samsun is actually named ‘Ondokuz Mayis Universitesi‘. In English this is ‘Nineteen May University’. The university is named after the same event today’s holiday celebrates. Here is a description of the city of Samsun and its university. Click on the arrow for the next page.
Today is a public holiday in Turkey. Well at least for schools, government businesses, banks and the odd commercial business. This holiday commemorates Ataturk’s arrival at Samsun on 19 May 1919 at the beginning of Turkey’s War of Independence.
Like all public holidays (except for the two main religious holidays) many Turkish houses and businesses display the Turkish flag out the front. In the past 3 years I am sure I’ve seen more Turkish flags than any other flags in my whole life.
I am on the way home from a beautiful, relaxing walk along the coast, around the yacht harbour, to the port and back. The twilight evening light created sureal images across the bay. There were shades of red, purple and blue. The yacht and fishing boat reflections were similar to those on the current photo of the moment (top right of screen). The view across the bay to the port was breathtaking.
A brief afternoon rain had cooled the temperature from late 20s to early 20s (centigrade). Many families, lovers, groups of friends and individuals were enjoying the coastal tranquility only a short distance from main roads and city centre. For a while the tranquility was disturbed by the honking of car horns celebrating the local soccer team, Mersin Idmanyurdu’s win.
On the return I boarded a boat restaurant for ‘balik servis’ grilled fish accompanied by lettuce-based salad, bread, a wedge of raw onion and wedge of lemon. As with almost all simple restaurants in Turkey the meal was accompanied by a side dish of pickled chillies.
For most of the afternoon I felt the pain of a headache and moped around at home. The evening was so much better!
As referenced in a previous post, here is what the new 3 star Fenerbahce looks like:
In case you don’t understand, the above image states: “Champion Fenerbahce”
Tonight is the night of nights for inter-European pop-culture. Yes, the contest that launched Abba 30 years ago, Eurovision, will launch a new act to superstardom or, more likely, 15 minutes of fame. For the first time Eurovision is to be held in Turkey. The venue is Abdi Ipekci Stadium on the European (doh!) side of Istanbul. Eurovision 2003 was huge in Turkey as Sertab Erener became the country’s first ever winner for the song “Everyway that I can”. This year’s Turkish participant is the country’s most popular ‘punk’ group, Athena.
According to BBC World Service radio this morning, TRT, the official broadcaster and Turkey’s national television company, was having some technical difficulties with the production. Let’s hope, for the sake of tackiness and bad pop songs, the broadcast will be clear and crisp. Actually, I’m not really concerned how it turns out. I’m not even sure if I’ll watch it.
Who do I think will win?
The singer/group with the highest number of votes. 🙂
…visit Alicia’s blog at NonsensicAlicia and click on the links on the right hand side. Hurry up as the links may not be there for long.
If anyone else wants to give me password access to their blog I am happy to modify theirs as well 🙂
Today a ro-ro ship sank whilst sailing from Mersin to Northern Cyprus. Unfortunately, at the time of the report, 3 crew are still missing.
Turkey is the only country that recognises Northern Cyprus and all the trade goes vis Turkey. Due to its proximity, Mersin is one of, if not, the main port for trade to and from Cyprus. With the lack of development in Northen Cyprus, there is a large trading deficit between it and the mainland. Many of the ships returning to Turkey are almost empty. With that trade differential, the freight cost from the island to the mainland is far cheaper than to the island. All of this may change in the future with the EU-Cyprus machinations.
FOOTNOTE: The search was called off. Unfortunately 2 crew members are still missing, presumed drowned.
Recently I have remembered the old days of computing. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s during my primary and early secondary school years I recall using the early IBM, Amiga, and Atari computers, playing snake (I still play snake on the phone) and writing simple programs using BASIC. Well, today I searched google for BASIC and it turns out on 1 May the BASIC computing language celebrated its 40th anniversary!
Does anyone else remember BASIC?
