The Travellers of Catan

Someone couldn't work out the air conditioner at 3 in the morning and decided that opening the balcony door was the best way to provide solace not realising that outside was 30 degrees and the we were in the cleavage of istanbul, prime location for hearing 5am morning prayers being blasted into the ears of anyone sans earplugs.  Another day of market trawling and I was getting a little tired of revealing my australian nationality and getting gdays and anecdotes about kangaroos and poisonous snakes and spiders so we revealed ourselves as residents of the fair isle of catan (we kept our titles as laird and lady to ourselves).  It backfired a bit when the shop owners started interrogating us about the details but at least I could give some detail of our principality's resources, rich in ore, wood, brick, sheep and grain.  It also helped that he'd discovered a place he'd never heard of only the week before (the isle of man).  I managed to resist the hard sell although I am very tempted to return for a red leather jacket (I'm partial to red) which is more than I can say for the wife who is quite partial to spending.  A shrewd negotiator she may be, I wish we had tilly here to bargain on our behalf. 
And also after much gnashing of teeth the rather superb customer service of vodafone turkey got me up and running with data (oh precious data, I am truly addicted) which means I will be leaving behind the twee advice of lonely planet and becoming a traveller powered by google ...