Promptly at eight a different man at the door. No jackhammer or indeed any equipment. He says something in Turkish which I don’t understand. Tries again. Then reduces it to one word - su. Water, a word I understand. Right, but last night’s visitor had said the water was leaking under the marble floor which would have to be broken up and removed. We envisioned piles of rubble outside the bathroom, total lack of access to the loo. Seemed unlikely it could be done in a day. Had begun researching alternative accommodation. No. The man determines that a pipe from the hot water tank is leaking - and causing the pressure loss J shows him. With virtually no language in common the two of them have a mostly non-verbal handyman’s ability to convey the essentials. Very pleased with the bathroom now dry, relatively clean, and supplying hot water at decent pressure. Ten o’clock and all’s well.
Ascertain that we are pretty close to the City Mall. Newish and relatively upscale but actually full of shops we’re not especially interested in. But there is a supermarket so we walk over. Neighbourhood not devoid of commercial establishments but mostly car body repair, appliances, pet supplies, radiators and such. Not much in the way of cafés, bakeries, corner shops. Not high interest from our point of view. Supermarket ok though and we get bottled water, a couple of bottles of wine, peanut butter that is 100% peanuts and a few other things. Probably our nearest decent source of bottled water.
Then news of a (suicide?) bombing in central Istanbul, leaving at least six dead and more than fifty injured.
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