Decisions, decisions

This topical post was brought to you courtesy of that faintly melancholic state in which you drink through a hangover...it might get deleted post haste, so enjoy whilst it lasts.

General election, eh? Golly gosh, it's actually quite exciting. Which I don't think it has been since '97, and I remember my genuine excitement then to be lying in bentles (what was the field opposite school called? By the firestation? Where we'd go to 'av a faaaaag?) under a "new labour sky" before it all went pete tong. Anyway, exit polls seem to be saying Tory but no overall control, and coalition government, which from my days at the various councils that shall not be named, is Bad News - nothing useful ever gets done because the whole thing descends into the mechanics of doltish politiking and point scoring.

Over here there's also big vote news, no general election but they've been working on a reform of their constitution for a long time, which is now being voted on, and it's been massive massive news. The current constitution dates from the last coup time, which was 30 years ago or so, and it shows (are you part of the establishment that don't like the majority party in government? Why not petition to get them shut them down in court!) and so the reform is a Big Deal. The politics here is treMENdously complicated - nothing so simple as a left/right split - and to be honest I can't make head nor tails of it. But it does seem to be a genuinely exciting time, and this reform thingy seems to be a once-in-a-generation affair. Feelings are running high - fisty-cuffs in parliament and hitler comparisons flying about the media. So again, it's all good stuff.

In other, more facile, news - both turkish & english footie leagues coming to an end, again both genuinely exciting races coming down to the last match. (Trabzonspor, my adopted team, petered out spectacularly in the league after flattering to deceive - think Man City - but won the fa cup equivalent yesterday, so that was good fun. Particularly the 'us going mental in a central istanbul bar packed with Fenerbahce supporters' bit...)

And for me - well, voting has begun on the 'shall I stay or shall I go'. After toughing out the shitty months of cold and lack of dough, the sun is shining, the missus has got work so wolf is kept from immediate door, I'm feeling a lot more at home here, the turkish is coming on fine, Friday night contentment, house and garden and island are all a genuine pleasure now. Etc etc.

But on the other hand, by any of the criteria that I laid down before I came out here, it's a fail. No job, no friends, no hobbies, no sports teams. (Can't blame these on anybody but myself. But it's like the whole joining a gym and thinking that because you're paying for it you'll go. No, it turns out that even post-emigration, despite my hopes that being somewhere new may force my character to change into someone who actually pulls their finger out of their arse once in a while - I'm still a lazy shite.)

So. I said I'd give it 3 months and assess, and it's been 4 now. What to do, what to do.