Random or meant to be? We all experience them from time to time. Whether a chance meeting, event, or circumstance, a series of actions have occurred to place certain parties at exactly the same place at exactly the same time.
A few days ago, we cut short our stay in Istanbul. A spur of the moment thing. During our onward journey we pull into a services next to a parked car. The driver, crouched down by his rear wheel. A few minutes later he’s expectantly holding up a tiny self-tapping screw to me and intimating “Do you have a pozi-screwdriver?” Silly question! Beastie used to be in the Boy Scouts, so he’s always packed with a set of tools. After several minutes, the young man (I can use that phrase, now that I’m ‘An Ancient’), is till crouching. I wander over. His back bumper is damaged and hanging on by a thread. Beastie has been in the same situation. He’s stacked to the hinges with Gaffa tape, for just such a circumstance. It’s almost the same colour as the car. Half a dozen strips do the trick – now what are the odds?
Later, that same day, the weather sets in for the worse. It’s tipping down. A young teenager is standing at the side of the road in dripping hope. Beastie does the right thing. 5K later, he’s nearer to home – a coincidence?
Today’s target is Bursa and its City Museum. Reaching it easier said than done. Not knowing it’s the fourth largest city in Türkiye, Beastie trundles in. And in. And in. Manic doesn’t come near. Unable to find a suitable car park, we pull up in a side road, behind a parked coach. Unsure if a non-domicile could be left there, Mr S goes in search of a clue. With the help of Google Translate he’s informed that it would be unwise, because “there are nearby thieving children who are always on the lookout for visitors’ vehicles”. However, the man suggests we use the free carpark behind the new museum ‘over there!’ – as in one hundred yards away! – now what are the chances?
Not where we had in mind, but what a spectacle. It’s the largest fully panoramic museum in the world, and depicts one day, April 6th 1326, when Bursa was eventually captured by the Ottomans.
We then go in search of the City Museum. When in doubt, always best to ask. We stop a young Turk woman. She speaks perfect English. She’s an English teacher. She directs us. She also takes Mr S’s telephone number. She wants information about language schools in Bournemouth – you can’t make this stuff up (although it has been known)
The museum frustrates. No English. A pity. It all looks really interesting. Our favourite section and needing no translation is dedicated to Zeki Müren – a Bursa born Turkish singing legend, who’s career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His outfits were more than spectacular.
There is another couple walking the same round. We can hear English spoken. We engage. They have been on the road for eighteen months and aiming for Japan! Their green camper is parked two spaces away from Beastie. She is French/Peruvian. He lives in Boscombe, Bournemouth. Honest – I’m not making it up . . . and all because we left Istanbul one day earlier.