Leaving the kids at home

It's a tough life being a parent, replete with angst, arduous choices and troublesome decisions. When you love something and feel responsible for it (ie my cat), relinquishing ownership, even temporarily, is onerous.

Doped up on rabies vaccine.

Tomorrow I depart for the sun-drenched skies of southern Turkey. More precisely, my flatmate and I will embark on a seven day expedition across the magnificent landscapes of the Lycian region, nestled between the modern cities of Fethiye and Antalya. Synonymous with Northern Europeans and ex-Soviet holidaymakers, package tours and ugly tourist developments, this part of the Mediterranean was once inhabited by the Lycians, best remembered for rock-cut tombs which we hope to meet with along the way.

A year ago I never thought twice before squeezing short and shirts into a backpack and setting out from home. My position has somewhat altered now. I feel vexed about leaving Kebap at home. Really bad. More so after returning from the vet an hour ago where he had to receive his rabies vaccination. Kitty's a bit glum this evening, and I'm hit with that Catholic guilt again from which, as a good Protestant lad, I've suffered since birth.

Perihan Hanım, the wonderful authoritarian disguised as a dame d'un certain age living downstairs and whose bill-paying capabilities have to be fully experienced to also be appreciated, has volunteered to keep Kebap in food and water until my return. However, her generous offer hasn't assuaged my apprehension.

It's April, the sun has miraculously reappeared, and in the feline cosmos hormones are running at an annual high. Again, my responsibilities imply keeping my adolescent cat from the clamoring paws of rutting females. A surfeit of unclean images unsettle my feeble mind. While awkwardly clambering across scree, gazing deeply into the azure waters of the Mediterranean, I shudder at the thought of my cat set upon by young females, who, for wont of a better term, are achin' for it.

Still, at some point in time successful parenting means letting go of control. Kebap needs the freedom and space to find his own way. I just hope he doesn't hook up with the town bike, you know what I'm sayin'?

So. The Lycian Way. Tomorrow morning Damon and I board a plane to Dalaman and then work our way to the beginning of a trail that promises a dramatic mixture of nature, history and culture. Actually, after the last few months in Istanbul, nature is the sole requisite ingredient for happiness. I need extended intakes of fresh air. Kate Clow was the first to mark out the path not so long ago and I'm thankful to her and those who have since journeyed in her footsteps that I've been able to prepare easily for the journey. The rest is up to us.

I expect this kind of thing the entire parcours.

The weather report promises reasonable weather if not cool evenings. Pictures I've nastily downloaded from the Net without referencing herald breathtaking moments. All in all I plan to return to my hometown in a week, full of vim, earnest, and ready to face the final half semester of the academic year.

I'm really going to miss my cat.

http://www.lycianway.com