We’re back in Axminster now. The travel all went smoothly,
and it was a nice surprise at Stansted to find that the sun was shining and it
was almost hot (though less than the 38° we’d had in Izmir.) Axminster has not
changed much; though the grass in our garden had grown quite high.
Our final services in Izmir went
well, and we said our farewells (or au revoirs – we’ll see what 2026
brings!) Monday and Tuesday were tidying up, and a final boat trip across the
Bay. We transferred to the Ibis hotel on Wednesday, and had a final meal at
Doga café that evening (Jo had another hug from the proprietor!) On Thursday morning
we took a taxi to the airport, and were taken on the scenic route (alongside
the Bay for some of the time.)
We nearly had a catastrophe at
the airport, as Michael managed to lose his wallet. We later discovered that
the taxi-driver had found it and taken it to Ibis – what a relief! And the
panic abated, when I realised that we had enough euro notes to buy drinks on
the plane, and enough sterling notes to pay the taxi fares. So all was well –
and I have been chastened and warned not to be in too much of a hurry! We give
thanks for the honesty of taxi driver (Turkish people are generally very
trustworthy) and for my providential putting European notes in separate place,
and for storing plane and rail tickets on my phone!
Anyway what else have we learned,
what will we miss – and what will we not miss?
We learned that there is goodness
and kindness in many people. And we have learned to trust God more!
We were encouraged by the
commitment of the young Christians at St John’s. All of them have to travel to
get to church; yet even on a hot Tuesday evening, two or three came to Bornova
to the evening service (even though one was in the midst of end-ot-term
university exams.) There is an enthusiasm, and a desire to learn more. Most Sundays they went for lunch with a couple from the congregation, and we joined them for coffee and chat. It wasgood to be included
by them, despite the considerable age difference – we didn’t feel so old!
We will miss that – and the
variety and international flavour of the whole congregation. The patience of
some of the refugees is impressive.
And there are incidental
pleasures we shall miss:
Every morning, before we said our
daily prayers, we could look out of the apartment windows across the city, to
see the sun rise behind the hills. We will miss that (we can’t see the sunrise
here.) We enjoyed our regular pre-breakfast walk by the Aegean, and often
collecting our gevreks straight out of the bakery oven. And some
evenings, we could see the sun set across the Bay if we walked by the Kordon.
The skies were filled with swooping
swifts, which we seldom see in England m- and there was always a chance of
spotting pelicans on the water.
On the other side, we will not
miss the noise and pollution of a big city – or the particular nuisance in
Izmir of large cars trying to negotiate narrow back streets, or motorcycles and
electric scooters, which appear to go where they like (including pavements and
pedestrianised roads); food delivery bikes are ubiquitous. Nor will we miss the
litter – including plastic bottles and beer bottles floating in the sea.
But we always felt safe, and
accepted. The church congregation is welcoming and friendly, and we continue to
feel a part of it.
So we will hold Izmir and St John’s in our hearts and in our prayers
