The Book

Let me show you Istanbul.

Power towers man!
Everywhere.

And these great
Big
Beautiful
Courtyards
Surrounded by corridors
Where you can just
Step out
From the sun.

And sometimes
They move like jelly
And look different
From one day to the next.
Like Sofi one day
Looks like
This.......

And another day looks
Somehow different,
But the same.

You know you can come by taxi
Get your shoes polished
Walk through a beautiful courtyard
Pick up a ferry And cross the Bos back.

Now isn’t that worth a shoe shine!

Football.
They are football crackers here
Believe me I’ve seen it.
And some-one’s built a
Big tall building
Slap-bang on a hillside
Over looking a
Football stadium.

This person must be football bananas.

And if they read this...
....I’d love a studio at the top.

Istanbulians
Let me tell you Love fishing
And they love watching fishing
It’s part of the national curriculum

I love watching them too.

I thought they were among
The worst drivers.
Then I began to think they were
Incredible drivers.
But the dogs
They are the coolest street dogs
They don’t give a monkey’s nut
Who you are.
They will stand
In the middle of the road
‘Till they decide otherwise.

I love the baloncu
The balloon men.
They brighten my day up
Up an’ away!
And in the summer
Wow!
Balon festivali!

You gotta make sure
If it’s a pre-paid ticket
Or
A pay on board fare.
And these can get crowded.

That Cumhuriyet anniversary
Flags everywhere
Flags on flags
Looked fantastic.

Flags here
Flags there
Flags everybloodywhere!

Wake up mate!
And give us one of those
Corn on the cob jobs!

Look!
More power towers
And another balloon in the sky
It just floats around
Usually on sunny days
Advertising its wares
How wonderful.

And this is my favourite
Grand Bazaar entrance
And more flags.

Fish ‘n’ Ships
What can I say?
That’s it.

Fish ‘n’ Ships!

This is the
Coolest little shop in town
A little house inside
The Grand Bazaar

I imagine it selling little books
And chocolates
With flowers all around.

They say
One of the Sultans used to
Come here for a coffee
And a private
Chin-wag.
And why not?

One day
I was wandering along
And there was this huge
Pritt Stick
On the back of a
Big red lorry.

Last time I looked
The Pritt Stick was still there
On the wall Just by
Galata Bridge
But the lorry was gone.

You can’t really see the
Galata Tower and the crane
Directly behind
But hey It’s my picture
My license.

Look!
A balloon again
And fishermen

That’s what they do
Fish and balloon.

And hey!
Mr. Balloon owner
I’m always up for a trip in a Zeppelin.
Oo yeah!
Oo-oo Yeah!
(It’s a Robert Plant thing)

This man has been
Shining shoes
For 127 years
He’s the oldest
Shoe shiner on these pages.
And
By contrast
Those simit are
Morning fresh.
And the one
In the middle
Is in heaven.
He’s got fresh simit in his mouth
And shine on his shoes.

Some Turkish jazz musicians
Go learn their trade
In the USA
And come back
To get that
Fire fuelled
Again
And let out all that
Liberty Spirit

Miles man
They get to see for
Miles
And with a few more
Smiles
Imagine!
Miles of smile.

Now I got my scales
A bit mixed up here
And there should be
A tall spire thing
On top But your luck is in
‘Cos a bit of a breeze
Has come
And blown the top
Of the spire over
So you can just see
Another flag
Blowin’ in the wind.

Once there was
An otopark
And a half-built cami.
Then there was a hipermarket
And flags and flowers and food
And then the cami was finished
Even more so
Than it shows here

Trouble is
Not much Yakut
But they’ve got all the rest.

Well
Nearly all the rest.

Ah
Mustafa Kemal

Rarely do you get to see him smile
So I like to get him smiling
As much as I can.
People love seeing him
With a happy face.

Maybe Turkish photographers
Picked up the trick to say
“Cheese”
But the translation
“Peynir”
Was not quite the same deal?

One day perhaps some one
Will make
Ataturk
The movie.
David Lean style might have been interesting.

Ah yes.
Elementary Watson
A classic case here
That
Whatever the weather
Baloncu cometh.

Brightens up the cloudiest days.

A friend who found
A bike to borrow
While the
Garage fixed his 1995
British Matchless.

This one’s fast
But
The Matchless is really comfortable.

Man!
You’re so lucky!
They say.

And as if they’re never lucky!

You didn’t know it
I know
But they can
And often do
Digger leap-frog.

Istanbul.
Anything can happen.

Now
Trams only stop for people
And spaceships.

Even the dogs know that.

More balloons
It’s free travel for balloons
In Istanbul
So they make the most of it.

Like my friend
Glen says: "Whatever floats yer boat."

Just try and make sure it’s the
Bosphorus
At least once in your life.

Istanbul?

Yeah!