Istanbul: The Reality of a Sleepless Night
Istanbul: The Reality of a Sleepless Night
1am in the morning Friday 22nd January 2010; whilst the rest of normal civilisation in Istanbul sleeps I sit here staring at the city glowing through the window with one eye, the other watching and flicking through the 200 TV channels without remotely being interested. The heating system has failed and doing a Google search fails to hint at a DIY solution, it is -1c outside tonight on the balcony and wearing two jumpers and a pair of fingerless gloves to type is not the Istanbul in the picture I keep seeing. A far cry from those humid evenings I had felt and seen when I arrived and taking cold showers to cool down before I could sleep.
My comfort now is a hot pot of Cay and a warm scented candle giving of heat feeling like a luxury I never appreciated till now, sometimes these priceless things in life are worth more than gold or anything else momentarily. Fistik our cat snuggled up under a coat a sure sign of the cold night and forthcoming days ahead as the TV news channel warns of heavy snow for Istanbul and alarmingly waves of seven metres high to hit the Black Sea area of the Bosphorus, this really does reiterate my thoughts on this is not the picture I saw in my head. Something that I have noticed in recent weeks it have could been there forever but the minarets on the Asian side of Istanbul every Thursday night into Friday morning light up but here on the European side they do not. I can’t seem to find an answer but like many other things I live and learn everyday here and perhaps in the future I will understand and stop all this analysing.
Now approaching 3am my eyes feeling sore standing on the balcony smoking some awful Turkish brand LM cigarettes, whilst the wind blows the musical tuned chimes hanging from the apex chime away, the districts thousand dogs are barking loudly whilst the city sleeps, the occasional boat comes into view sailing along the Bosphorus and right then I was thinking I am the only person stupid enough to notice all these surreal sounds and movements in the night. A thought recently influenced by a twitter friend @Thandelike “life story is not just about where we’ve been or are now, but where we’re willing to go”. Right now that is where I am thinking of what will happen next that continuous bad habit of analysing the future that comes around on sleepless nights.
Come 4am I’m on Facebook talking to my friends from my teenage years Darren and Steve back in England reminiscing over our antics during our teenage years, being sixteen and let out into the big wide world without fear or a care in the world .We were free from the demands that came with being a responsible adult, we didn’t need money everything was new, going to bed when the sun came up when the rest of Britain was starting a new day. All this changed some five years later job and responsibilities arrived but now talking to them it is like being sixteen again and strengthens the thought that sharing pleasant memories and reminiscing is not such a bad thing.
It is 6am and my wife awakes for work looking bemused at finding me awake and I can’t think of anything worse than waking up to a cold house and no hot water but it doesn’t bother her ,her life is not a pampered lifestyle and a two hour journey ahead to work each day doesn’t allow time to complain . Five hours later for me after a restless sleep the scene outside is more of a view of an Atlantic storm ,the Bosphorus looking angry ,the trees outside bend at 45 degrees no dream scenery here today just the completion of the four seasons here in Istanbul. Only thought I have now whilst I sit on a hot water bottle waiting for the man to fix our boiler is those humid nights in the summer they don’t seem so bad now.
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