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Visit my other blog at the Australians Abroad website for all the details.

Following is a photo not in the election special. It was taken from my balcony looking down the street. What are the banners?

To find out you will have to visit here.

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… 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 Turkish lira

There are 14 zeros in one hundred trillion!

In smaller numbers, this amount is almost 102,000,000 Australian dollars or just over 22,000,000 Kuwaiti Dinars.

I am sure the printers of the all the banners and flags are having a boom in sales. I wonder how many trees are left…

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This photo was shot Tuesday morning before work whilst wandering the streets of Mersin. I was shooting election photos (I borrowed my boss’s digital camera) for my upcoming special on the Australians Abroad blog when I came across the following scene on a side street.

The stray cats are probably waiting for breakfast to be tossed down from one of the upper level apartments. There are many stray cats in Turkey. Just this morning, two cats were about to enter through the work office front door before they were scared away.

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…no, I don’t know this human trafficker or any of his customers. Although flights from Turkey to Australia are expensive and uncomfortable, I am certain they are much cheaper and easier than via the back of trucks and leaky boats. That some people are willing to try anything to get from Turkey to Australia reflects the poverty apparent in most areas of Turkey, particularly the east.

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This morning, most likely before I came to work earlier than usual at 7:50 am, a green Mitsubishi car was stolen from in front of work. Investigations are continuing…

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Early yesterday morning, well before I arrived at work (from walking around the city taking photos for an upcoming election special on my other blog) a tragic incident occurred. A 65-year-old lady from the apartment block neighbouring work committed suicide by falling from her balcony. She was suffering from depression. Apparently she has a son studying in Canada. I can’t imagine what pain the son is going through now.

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On the weekend I tried the best non-Turkish food I have eaten for months.

On Saturday afternoon Betül visited from Adana. With her she brought a packet of Thai green curry, dehydrated coconut milk and two pairs of chopsticks! She had obtained these items when she was in Thailand a few months ago. To the green curry and coconut we added chicken breast and vegetables, complemented by egg noodles. The curry was very hot and delicious although I took a minute or two to remember how to use the chopsticks!

For lunch Sunday I added grated cheese to leftover tomato-based pasta sauce and took it to “Salih Usta”, the local oven. Salih put the mixture on flat lahmacun style bread dough and placed them in the oven. The resulting 35 mini pizzas were ‘Greek’ – in between Italian and Turkish 🙂

I took the pizzas with me to Adana where Ali ate them all (slightly assisted by Magda and myself). Ali ate about 20 of them I believe!

That evening I visited Murat’s family’s flat, where Fabs and Isa were staying. Fabs and Isa cooked a European delight! First of all there was a leek quiche. Next came the lettuce-based salad with tomato, white cheese, walnuts and a lovely dressing. Following the salad was lasagne and finally, a strawberry custard torte. A fine French red wine complemented the dinner. Fabs and Isa are more than welcome to cook at my place anytime!

Returning to Mersin in the unlit cabin on the very last train of the night I reflected on what a gourmet’s delight of a weekend I experienced!

PS: after walking half way home from the train station a car stopped and the driver asked me “Çamlıbel?” Now Çamlıbel is the inner city suburb that I live in and I found it hard to believe the man did not know where it was. He said he came from Ankara. He was kind enough to offer me a ride home. On the way, the electric windows went up and, to cut the story shorter, he asked about purchasing ‘eroin’. You can translate into English! After saying I didn’t know anything about it, he kindly dropped me off next to home.

The moral of the story:

For a less interesting life, don’t accept rides from strangers 🙂

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From the front page of (Australian newpaper) The Age’s website at 17:31 (02:31 AEST) Turkish time yesterday:

“Astrologers (sic) claim to have found the most distant planet-like object in the solar system.”

This was the front page introduction to the article titled “Sedna, a cold red world” about the discovery of a 10th planet

The actual article credits astronomers as the planet discoverers:

“Astronomers announced yesterday they had found the most distant planet-like object in the solar system ever, and the biggest since Pluto was discovered in 1930.”

I submitted this critical oversight to Media Watch but The Age had rectified the mistake before Media Watch’s Executive Producer Peter McEvoy read my email and witnessed the hilarity himself.

I realise many people give astrologers and other supernatural snake oil salesmen credibility (I don’t) but crediting them with the discovery of a planet goes way beyond the usual.