Leaving England two years ago I wrote an article about what I would miss, those British and London specialities that tickled my fancy that I would learn to have to do without. Looking back at the list some of it now seems trivial, No 11 was the G2 Quick Crossword, it took about 2 months but now I don’t even do it when I am in the UK. Christmas was No 7 and when it rolled around here in Turkey it actually came as a relief not to have to join the shopping queues and immerse myself in the consumer orgy. İ used to listen to BBC London religiously and thought I would need that same daily stimulus here. While I haven’t grown to love Turkish radio I no longer need to feel a metropolis breathing around me and am much more likely to tune in to the odd esoteric piece about penguin breeding or micro-molecular-biology on Radio 4.

Other pastimes have been less easy to replace, browsing in bookshops was No 9 and there are none in Dalyan so I bring as many books as I can on each trip and now browse my own bookshelves. TV cop shows were No 12 and I still make an effort to catch one or two on CNBC-e and joy of joys, they now broadcast CSİ NY. As a writer I had feared the hours of tedium that not having broadband Internet access would mean. Those of you who spend hours watching the strip at the bottom of your computer screens praying that the bars will pip-pip along before your connection goes down will know what I mean. I was spared that indignity though as soon after I arrived broadband became available and reliable all over Turkey, long live Turk Telekom!

Other items on the list have been replaced, the new version being same-same but different. Pavement was high up at No 3. İt’s not been replaced by Turkish pavement which is largely a hell bound hazard strip but instead by dust tracks which have more character and wildlife than featureless smooth tarmac – although I did have to purchase some rather fine wellies. My neighbours in Plaistow, Lillian and Mad Dina, have had their space occupied by Sezer who spoils me with fresh vegetables from her garden and her ancient father-in-law who entertains by being especially nice one day and rude and inconsiderate the next. His special pleasure comes from telling Sezgin that I will never return every time I go to the UK.

Some of the things on my list remain unreplaced and much missed; there are never enough salt and vinegar crisps no matter how many I bring over. I long for overcast weather, slate grey skies and light drizzle, I used to love to wake up, twitch the curtain aside and see the pale grey sheet of heaven above me, so easy on the eye. At the moment we are at the warm and muggy start of what will be my second squinty summer.

As for the intangible things I thought I would miss some have been as I expected. As I predicted I have managed to see my friends and family often enough not to miss them too much. Though I miss the ribald banter that is so common in mixed-sex groups in the UK I have come to appreciate the warmth with which Turkish people approach one another. The conversation topics may be more formal but the emotions are almost always more sincere. No 1 on my list back then was free time and that certainly turned out to be the case – I work far harder here to earn my daily crust than I ever had to in London and the arrival of baby girl Peri has ensured that my desire for quality alone time with a good book is unlikely to happen with any regularity.

Spending three and a half months in the UK gave me the opportunity to miss Turkey too and I tried to make a similar list but at first it proved to be unaccountably hard. I kept trying to put my mental finger on what exactly it was that made Dalyan home. I missed the astonishingly fresh food, chickens caught and eaten out of the backyard, yoghurt my mother in law made the same day, spring onions with heavy clods of earth lying in the sink waiting to be cleaned and dripping honey straight from the comb. I realised how used I had become to having most things within walking distance whereas in the UK I am always whizzing about in the car. On returning I noticed that I have become accustomed to being surrounded by people with actual pigmentation as opposed to spray on tans. I like the fact that most people I meet are either Sezgin’s cousins or friends of Sezgin’s cousins.