Turkish Dancing Part 2: Coming To Terms With (Temporary!) Life In Turkey (and in particular how to manage your holiday money in a Strange Land!) by Alfred N.Muggins

14/5/22

     Alfred was becoming very seduced by the Turkish Music – even by Turkish forms of rap, hip hop and dance on the boat trip they went on the day before. This was a place where a person could leave all their worries behind at home, forget about the normal jobs they did back home, and live for a while in a holiday dreamworld.

     As has often been noted before Alfred and his wife were very good at leaving reality behind and launching themselves into bold adventures, real or imaginary. Unfortunately even on holidays real worries and practicalities, such as how do you pay for drinks and meals in the hotel?, how do you pay for goods and services and trips outside the hotel?, and which currency do you use?; have you brought enough money with you? These became important concerns all of a sudden, now they were actually on holiday, and inevitably cast a shadow over their enjoyment of the first few days.

     Alfred, being a natural born worrier, inevitably was conscious of his lack of knowledge on these important questions, and it was a factor in slowing down his desire to escape from the confines of the Hotel into the real Turkey, down the road.

     Other specific concerns, which even caused him early morning worries, even in his waking sleep, included: Can you calculate roughly the exchange values between Pounds sterling and Turkish Lira?, because at first it seemed to Alfred that these two currencies were on two completely different planets and bore no relationship towards each other whatsoever.

     To a man who had holidayed a good few times within the European Union in recent years (in Spain, and once, not too long ago, in Greece!), and found he could actually cope with the Euro, as it was not too different in value from the pound (and even the dollar had been similarly similar on that cruise from Miami!), it was very confusing.

    It didn’t help when a barman omitted to include mention of the decimal point when quoting the relatively small price of a can of coke on one of the boat trips. Alfred had just handed him a larger note and stood dumbfounded while the man worked out his change, far too quickly for Alfred to compute. At first Alfred thought he had really been ripped off, but on later reflection over the next few hours of cogitation he realized the man had been perfectly straight with him and had given him the correct change, and that if he had mentioned the decimal point Alfred would have perfectly well understood the transaction.

    (There were a good few other moments when Alfred had lost comprehension of the confusing amounts, and just had to go with the flow, but he will not bore you all by detailing them all, or revisit disturbing memories of his own slow comprehension.! If it had all been in pounds or Euros he would have had none of these problems!) He found himself suspecting the Turks’ honesty, and yet, by the end of the holiday he did realise that actually they were quite reliable and trustworthy on money, in actual fact, and his fears had really been unfounded!

     Another crucial question developed: How do you get British money out of a Turkish cash machine without losing your bank card, when you can’t read or understand the Turkish language? (That was one language they never taught at school in Old England (or Britain as a whole!) Amazingly with Mrs Muggins’ help on one occasion they were able to persuade a Turkish man, who couldn’t speak much English, to show them how to do it, although as the holiday went on he realized that it was better (easier!) to get Turkish currency out of cash machines, rather than listen to the very clever requests from some Turks that they would be very happy to be paid in Sterling!