For our last few days Heybeliada put on her most vibrant clothes. One afternoon I sat on the kerb watching one of the men who sweep the street with a brush and an oil tin cut for the purpose. The pools of debris he collected were only brittle shards of old leaves and freshly fallen blossoms. Even the rubbish was exquisite that day! Talking of rubbish, I have really enjoyed seeing the Island recycling in practice this week. Determined not to take anything at all that we didn't need or love to our new home (and we were taking every item in suitcases by boat!)  I put box after box of stuff next to the bins. Over the following days I saw the things turn up in the places they were needed.

We arrived, nearly four years ago, to an apartment with vomit-coloured lino, peeling paint, a toilet that wasn't really attached to the floor, no lock on the back door and the name of the previous occupant's son written all over the walls, and that is also as we left it! So much money has flowed through our hands during the last few years but none of it into creating a little comfort at home. However, this Island has given all of us air and space and natural beauty so close to the overwhelming, overcrowded city we are now excited to take our place in the heart of. But first, tomorrow, we are going to Finland....

This weeks pictures are of Anton chilling in the baby bath before it goes to Island recycling. Of Neve on our kitchen balcony that never had a single plant on it, while the one opposite had an abundance! There are evening walks and sleeping children on late night vapur trips laden with luggage. There is fun with fantastic friends. Here is Anton (with Başak) and Neve being carried onto the vapur on our very last day and Ville cleaning the windows. Here is our record of Ruskin's incredible growth, the flowers Anton picked and we gave to the apartment in deep gratitude for so many happy days in its walls. I caught Anton, on our last vapur as Islanders being persuaded to give kisses to girls! On Monday Ruskin and I walked to our new apartment to pick up the key and we took a few shots of our new neighbourhood. We were (easily) persuaded to drink a few glasses of Calvados with the current occupants and I took some pictures of their girls in their final days in their home. The last pictures are of Ruskin getting a haircut and the shoes that form a ring around the Beşiktaş bird, part of the on-going, though thankfully relatively calm, protests.

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