Interesting times

Normalcy has now been suspended in Turkey as we join in the pandemic pandemonium. Precautions and panic fight for alliterative coronation as Istanbul’s supermarket shelves empty of certain spices and the meat counter is void of chicken – even in “interesting times”, Turks know the value of tasty home cooking.
Turkey has taken a little longer than our European neighbours to get thus far, although it’s been brewing for a while, and even last Thursday supermarket shopping had morphed in to trolley dodgems when the Turkish ministry of education announced that all schools would be closed from Monday 16th March, (initially) for two weeks. The first week is now the official Spring break holiday, brought forward from 6th – 10th April. Mandatory holiday with immediate effect – the concept is much more attractive than the reality. From 23rd April we will, to quote my school’s leadership team, ‘begin a new journey’ with on line distance learning, courtesy of Google.  Today the government has added to the list of banned countries for incoming flights. As yet, UK is not one of them – but I am not risking a lastminute.com flight because the only constant in these inconsistent times is that nothing stays the same.
 
After a fretful day home alone, I suggested that Caitlin and I might go to Akmerkez for groceries and sushi. Early evening on a Saturday and the shopping centre’s workforce outnumbered customers by about six to one.