Needless to say I found myself in Ortaköy one day (it's the title).
I was off for a longish walk along the shores of the Bosphorus that divides the Asian and European continents.
Feeling a bit peckish I stopped at a lokanta and had a kebab.
When I arrived the man in the photo (below) was sitting at the table in front of me. I'm guessing that he was the current owner's father who ran the shop before him. Usual custom here is to pass the family business from father to son. The father often remains in the workplace, but tends to do very little. It appears to be to relieve boredom more than anything else.
Shortly after I sat down his wife appeared and went to the serving area. She started talking with him. As he couldn't hear he said the Turkish equivalent of "EH?!"
She repeated herself a couple of times and so did he. In other words the message wasn't conveyed. Then he got up and upon getting closer to her it appears he understood her message.
He remained standing and went to the window.
What struck me as he stood there was the passing of time. I wondered how many times he'd been standing at the same window, looking out on his little corner of the world.
What changes had he seen?
What events had he seen?
How many people had he seen: kissing, arguing, playing, fighting....?
It was akin to thinking about what a tree has seen in it's lifetime. We have 800 year old trees back home. What have they seen in their lifetime!?
I wondered....
I was off for a longish walk along the shores of the Bosphorus that divides the Asian and European continents.
Feeling a bit peckish I stopped at a lokanta and had a kebab.
When I arrived the man in the photo (below) was sitting at the table in front of me. I'm guessing that he was the current owner's father who ran the shop before him. Usual custom here is to pass the family business from father to son. The father often remains in the workplace, but tends to do very little. It appears to be to relieve boredom more than anything else.
Shortly after I sat down his wife appeared and went to the serving area. She started talking with him. As he couldn't hear he said the Turkish equivalent of "EH?!"
She repeated herself a couple of times and so did he. In other words the message wasn't conveyed. Then he got up and upon getting closer to her it appears he understood her message.
He remained standing and went to the window.
What struck me as he stood there was the passing of time. I wondered how many times he'd been standing at the same window, looking out on his little corner of the world.
What changes had he seen?
What events had he seen?
How many people had he seen: kissing, arguing, playing, fighting....?
It was akin to thinking about what a tree has seen in it's lifetime. We have 800 year old trees back home. What have they seen in their lifetime!?
I wondered....
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