| Once in Istanbul I was eating at a cheap | | | | potential customers but I didn't see why I had to |
| restaurant near Sultan Ahmet- the Blue Mosque. It | | | | subsidise the whole trade on my own. At one |
| was one of those times when a bomb had gone | | | | point, I thought of buying a small carpet and |
| off or there was a war on somewhere, and | | | | carrying around with me all the time, so that I |
| despite this being a tourist area there was | | | | could show them I already had one, but obviously |
| nobody but me in the place. And then a lady | | | | that wouldn't have worked. They would have told |
| walked in. For some reason I decided she must | | | | me I needed a bigger one. Then, one day, I |
| be Korean. She had a little girl, just about to | | | | chanced upon the Sahaflar |
| experiment with walking, but mostly an | | | | Çarşısı the outdoor book |
| experienced and very fast crawler. And as soon | | | | market near the Grand Bazaar and there I found |
| as the lady tucked into her meal, the little girl was | | | | a big red book entitled A Dictionary of Turkish |
| off, under the next table, round the corner, past | | | | Proverbs. I learnt an easy one at the front of the |
| me and straight for the door on the street. On | | | | book - At var, meydan yok - We have a horse |
| the threshold one of the waiters whisked her up | | | | but no parade ground. And the next time I was |
| and carried her back to her mother, who paid her | | | | propositioned by a carpeteer, just to change the |
| no attention whatsoever. Five minutes later the | | | | script a little, instead of saying No, thank you,I |
| girl was off again, and again a waiter carried her | | | | said At var, meydan yok. And then something |
| back. On the girl's fourth outing it was the cook | | | | strange happened - words failed him and he fell |
| who came out from the kitchen and grabbed her. | | | | behind me - for about five seconds- then he |
| He held her in his arms, put his chef's hat on her | | | | caught up- but I had bewildered him for a bit. So I |
| head and stood in the window with her and they | | | | learnt some more proverbs, I thought that if I |
| both waved at passers-by until the mother had | | | | could master eight or nine I might be able to put |
| finished eating. The city was full of little poetic | | | | enough distance between us to escape. And |
| gestures like that. Every now and then someone | | | | sometimes it worked. Lack of logic was not |
| would give you their time or something they | | | | something they were prepared for. Fish are in |
| owned in a completely unexpected way. I got | | | | frying pan, hares in the plain, If you cannot find a |
| really used to it, so that one day when I was | | | | great man to consult, find a great rock, When a |
| trying get back to the city from half-way down | | | | snake has a headache it comes out into the |
| the Bosporus, I got on a dolmuş bus and as | | | | middle of the road. If you don't have a mirror, |
| I stood stooped in the small vehicle just behind | | | | look at your neighbor If you want yogurt in |
| the driver, I was not really surprised to find that | | | | winter, carry a sheep in your pocket. I had no |
| people were handing me money. It took me a | | | | idea what they meant. I actually tried carrying a |
| few seconds to realize that these were all fares I | | | | sheep in my pocket one winter, but nothing |
| had to hand over to the driver and that I would | | | | happened - well, no yogurt at least. But I did |
| then have to sort out all the change. The only | | | | manage to get away more often and in a much |
| people who ever bothered me were the carpet | | | | better mood, go down to the Spice market and |
| sellers who would follow you for what seemed | | | | the fish market and the lane where they sold |
| forever, turning everything you said into another | | | | wonderful old knives and kitchenware and as in |
| question. No thank you, would be answered by | | | | the wonderful poem by the Turkish poet Orhan |
| Why not? and Because I don't want a carpet by | | | | Veli (Istanbul's dinliyorum) listen to the city with |
| Why don't you want one? and so on and so on. | | | | my eyes closed or do what I most enjoy there- |
| And if you said nothing it was even worse | | | | ride the boats which cross all day from Europe to |
| because they would then go through every | | | | Asia. |
| nationality in the world in many different | | | | You can read more writing and poems by Phillip Hill |
| languages. Français ? Italiano ? English ? | | | | at Sideways Station. |
| Deutsch ? I realized that there were not many | | | | |