Australian Debbie and Turkey - the place, not the food

I met Australian Debbie way way way back in 1987, when we were both about four years old, err, or thereabouts. I went to Australia in 1991 to visit her, the first of what has turned out to be a few jaunts around different parts of the world.
I haven't seen her in 18 years (lordy, some of my students are younger . . .) but we now keep in touch thanks to the glory and honour that is facebook. We facebook chat quite frequently, despite the 17-hour (I think) time difference. This morning we were chatting - 10 a.m. for me. 2:30 a.m. the next day for her. She always was better at staying up late.
"I'm bored," I lamented to her, "And lonely." She responded sympathetically and suggested I take up my blog again.
"I've lost the wee fanbase," said I.
"They will come back," said she. "And say something nice about me."
I think she may have been worried I would write something not-so-nice. Not sure why she would think that but then there was that person threatening to sue me after I wrote about my elementary school friend Bonnie-the-former-gymnast. So you never know.
Debbie and I were just young ones when we met in Vancouver and it is interesting to see how different our lives have turned out. She lives in the outback (but may be moving back to Adelaide) with her hubby of 17 years and her 6 children. I am single (bitterly so but still) and live in Vancouver near the beach. I sometimes travel.
"I have the heart of a traveller but the nervous system of an armchair traveller," I tell the lesbian minister at the wee United Church I sometimes attend. Is it important that the wee fanbase knows that she is a lesbian? I think it's my way of saying that I attend a very liberal church. Oh, oh, coolness - there are 3 elderly women who sit right in the front row - 2 94-year-olds and a recently turned 95-year-old. Amazing! I say. They get the bulletin in large font to follow and people help keep them up on things - like this morning they unveiled the new church labryinth. in our tiny church's case, it is a large piece of fabric on the floor. We are allowed to walk on it but only in socks - dirt will be a problem. The 3 women were given the labryinth on a piece of paper to trace with their fingers.
I like the hokiness (sp?), the liberalism and the calm of that little church.
A bit of a tnent there. In another tangent, my 81-year-old landlady (must everything be about age!) is setting up a mouse trap for me cause I think I have one in my wee apartment.
"I can't, I won't be able to cope with seeing it or hearing it or blah blah," I said.
"I'll come and get it for you," she said. Ick, I'll still have to hear and see it. I think I'll just pretend to put the mousetrap out. There's only been a tiny bit of mouse poo.
Travel. I went to Wales for a book festival for a week and then on to Istanbul for 10 days. The first five days I was on my own in Istanbul, which let me tell you, was oy boy all kinds of things. Hot, amazing, stressful, people people, body odour (mine too I'm sure, no air-conditiong in the cheaper place I chose to stay), men following me to the point where I wouldn't make eye contact with anyone, meat on a spit in the hot sun, french fries in a pita, amazing buildings from a thousand years ago, bread for breakfast, a bit of diarrhea, cold showers, street cats running into my room, BBC Prime channel on TV, heart pounding, hot, hot, hot, lady lady, hey rich lady, the Black Sea (the photo here) tour which was awesome, a Swedish girl on the tour who had cut herself all up and down her arms and legs but didn't hide it and she had a boyfriend twice her age who wore pants and a long-sleeved shirt, narrow cobblestone streets, drivers amazingly not running me over, swimming in the Black Sea and a fine vegetarian plate meal there, crowds and crowds and 35C heat and lady lady lady and let's bring my heart rate back to a better speed, I'm sure I have only so many beats. I am amazed by the history, by the fact that I have gotten myself out to Turkey and broken down my barriers yet again. This was a trip I'd booked four months in advance and had as a carrot on a stick.
I am lucky to have been able to go again to Europe (and Asia, thanks to Turkey being on two continents). I love the UK, I even love the food there.
I'm back now, got back three weeks ago. Caught on odd virus on the plane me thinks and was kinda down and out for a couple of weeks - lots of odd symptoms like night sweats and day sweats and a cough like a seal. I still haven't recovered all of the energy but have returned to my bicycle, the outdoor swimming pool (!) and to neck/back/shoulder pains that have me running to the massage therapist. Back to my life that is lonely and I haven't worked out yet in life how to get around that. Lucky me to be able to travel, oh yes, that I get don't get me wrong.
I think I'll try to keep the blog up a bit more. Wee fanbase, I hope I can woo you back.