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8th January 2012 I still can’t get used to writing 2012 – are we calling it twenty twelve or two thousand and twelve?? I am very glad to be writing this article today after the horrendous weather yesterday. I don’t think I have ever seen such torrential rain here and as for the wind…!! In between squalls we had decided to go into Dalaman and do some shopping. I was ready to go when Pete decided to go back and pick up some rubbish to take downstairs. Thank goodness he did as a huge branch crashed down from one of the trees in the front garden at just about the time we would have come out of the front door Still, with the usual quick change in the weather today we have blue skies again although it will be interesting to go into town later on and see what other damage has been done. According to an article in Hurriyet Daily News this week CLICK HERE Turkey is ranking 43rd out of 44 countries surveyed to calculate proficiency in English. Living as we do in a predominantly tourist area, I was quite surprised to read this. However, as I hold informal conversation sessions with some local teenagers I must admit that the English they have learned in school seems very limited. Added to this of course, are the huge areas of the country where tourists seldom go. When we visited Usak in May, we were the first Europeans to go to one particular village. So now the Christmas tree is down, the cards have been thrown away (in the recycling bin of course) and life returns to normal. The nights are already slightly lighter and the bougainvillea is coming into flower. The oranges and lemons are heavy on the trees – it’s time to look forward to another fantastic year in Turkey.
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