Horrible looking place with private beaches (lido) and dirty wharf. Though Izmir does seem to be slightly more Europeanised and emancipated than the rest of Turkey that we've seen. Buy more bread and some rather good goat cheese which is but 11TL/kg (3/6 per lb). Walk back for lunch, bread and cheese with tomato salad and French dressing a la Fig which is all rather good. Try drinking mint tea. It's all right but rather effete, I don't think we'll bother again.

OK so how do we remove that three-pointed star? Using the wire provided by the previous owner it is a matter of some simplicity to remove it complete with spring. Then some maintenance on car lights and darning before light fails. This place is really plagued with flies and stray cats and dogs. Go out for evening meal to place about 1km in towards Izmir. Brian didn't like the look of the places in Izmir. He did us a favour, we had delicious pide kiymali - sort of pizza, pastry with meat, tomato and onion plus egg all cooked very quickly in an open oven. The maker was rolling the pastry very thin with great dexterity without using a rolling pin, simply slapping it and flicking it over. He was very young as well. Quite a cheap meal. With tomato salad and bread total was 9TL (6/-),

Returned to camp for coffee and quarter of the melon each. Then diary writing and operating the army surplus radio. Brian found Radio Luxembourg, then I managed to find BBC World Service on 32.5m (as at Athens) and we hear most of 10 o'clock news. Also find another English-speaking programme about Pakistan. We learn that there was about 60% turnout in Turkish elections and five people died. There has not been much evidence of election here, though there were some gatherings just the far side of Izmir.

The countryside on the way here was undistinguished. Parched, and small coastal plain with hills on our left. Sometimes the hills tended to come down to the sea and the road executed several hairpins during the journey. The wind got up (from West) when we went down to the beach and died again before dusk. It is now still, and we can hear cicadas again, for the first time for some time. It is really rather cold, and I can't imagine why I'm wearing sandals.

Turkey is an extremely dirty place. There is rubbish everywhere. Apparently they don't think twice about tipping it in the neighbour's garden (let alone onto the streets and other public places).

Scruffy Day 13th Oct

Woke and rose at the unprecedented hour of 8am, while Brian surfaced about 8:45. After breakfast I rang Eric Lochner, one of Dad's contacts, and he said come in when you can, so off we went into Izmir. Found Halit Ziya Buvlari and parked at the end of the street much to the distress of taxi drivers and police. Went in search of Kubilay Han which was a long way down the street, so moved car. As Brian approached notice nearside rear sagging, as he drove over the pavement the tyre finally collapsed. Have a chat to Eric and meet Bill White, who later described us as "scruffy" when talking to Mum and Dad. What cheek!

Considering we were living in a tent with no facilities for pressing our clothes I thought we were very elegantly turned out. And allowances can definitely be made for the travellers' almost obligatory embryo beards. I must say I am growing quite attached to mine (without wishing to make a pun). Now that it has survived the crisis of the removal of Brian's, I suspect it will remain till I reach Australia - with all due respect to Father.

We went out to find market, no joy so we resolve to buy food on the way back to camp. Change wheel with great efficiency and stop for meat and veg then bread and wine. The sun is shining very warmly. Have lunch - the goat cheese is good then to work on tyre changing. Difficult to get tyre to unseat. It is tubeless! Put tube in and inflate, but wall is damaged beyond repair and starts to bulge. Decide to write off tyre. Put Town and Country tyre with tube on wheel and then discover other rear has a huge ominous bulge and is on the way out too so put on the other Town and Country.

Disaster, we have no spare, and what are the fronts going to do? They seem all right for now, but disturbing that two should fail so quickly. What would happen if we put a tube inside the second rear, is the wall damaged? Rang Eric again and told him tyre size so that he could find out where we can get a new one. Go and see him in the morning. Decide to run with only one spare tyre, and take damaged one, tied on somewhere, if it looks OK with a tube. Well we got in some tyre changing practice, and we need two more tubes. I thought they all had tubes because the spare had one.

Repack the boot much more economically now that we only have one tyre in it and then build supper. After we'd eaten we talked (in sign language) to the guard, who brought green, but good, tangerines and showed us trees of them and lemons. We also found huge overripe cucumber-like things which proved to be just that. Also found some Aussies (Keith, wife and daughter?) who is part of Australian UN peace-keeping force between Syria and Israel. He comes from Perth.

Our ancient army surplus short-wave radio finally died sometime round now.

Rose about 8:45, had breakfast then to try my theory about that other tyre. Put tube in and inflate. Bulge still there, but it's only air that's been trapped in the casing and it deflates quite easily with a spike pushed carefully into it, so it appears to be serviceable.

Now go into Izmir and find Herr Lochner. He sends a man out with us who shows us the Pirelli dealer on the corner almost immediately below. Character speaks excellent English and we buy new Sempione tyre and two inner tubes (we now have four inner tubes). He says that the bulging tyre with the lifting tread is dangerous, so we must not put it on the front.

It's infuriating that none of the tyres had tubes when I thought they all did, though I can't remember why I thought so. Then we returned to the Lochner who was very busy. He told us where the souvenir shops were so that I might buy a meerschaum, so that was where we went. A delicious bird was seen here, with no bra and a very lightly knitted jumper on. Her figure was fantastic. As far as I can remember the pipe cost 25TL.