43ºC

Hottest day yet.  

After lunch I took the 13.30 bus to Ortakoy to spend a tranquil hour doing the local boat trip that runs on the hour, every hour,  a long up and down river cruise. I've certainly blipped it before, as it's one of my fav things to do, and make no apologies for doing so again - the views are always glorious.  Today's shot is Ortakoy mosque towards the end of the journey. It doesn't show the intense sunshine though! There were very few tourist passengers which I liked as it meant we were all able to roam the deck freely to take photographs.  One of the passengers was a lady roughly my age and we sat together and shared a table, although that was all we could share because she only spoke German - but we managed to communicate sufficiently well  about the view and the heat.  I had hoped for a breeze on deck but there was none, although it was shaded by a tarpaulin roof which at least protected us from the direct heat of the sun.

After the boat trip I took the bus to Akmerkez where I met Alison at 4pm in Midpoint restaurant - a favourite of hours - where for the next couple of hours we swapped news, family and retirement stories. It's been a while since we last met so there was plenty to talk about.

At 6.30 I walked back to college and 'home', about a 30 minute walk, in temperatures still around 30ºC which meant I was quite uncomfortable and immediately fell in to the shower once home. The rest of the evening continued uncomfortably hot as I tutored my nephew for more than two hours! (with a half hour break) as we battled our way through surds and indices in his pre-A level interactive Maths summer online course - a prerequisite of his school if he wants to take the subject at A level in September. 

Bed was never more attractive, but sleep is impossible in this night heat.