Travelling

Pleasures We Forgotten Boat Train Travels There is nothing I enjoy more than traveling on the Cityline ferries between Bostancı Büyükada or Büyükada Kabataş in Istanbul. You sit on a secluded wooden bench on the back deck, you take a cup of tea from the buffet, you have a solid sweater or coat on, you have a earm hat on your head, the wind blows light breeze, the sun warms you, you have a very pleasant time. When I was in high school, we made a family ferry trip between Istanbul and Amasra with the Black Sea ferry. At that time, the ship stopped at the ports of Samsun, Ordu, Trabzon, and then went to Hopa, the farthest port. Now there are no longer those ferry services, people go everywhere by plane. In February 1973, Metu Mechanical Engineering education ended with a one-semester extension. I had to repeat the Dynamics course that I failed in the second year in the extension semester, so I studied one more semester, got good grades and passed. With the limited pocket money we received from our fathers, we wanted to make a long journey that we had never done before. Three close friends from the same school, even from the same AAL high school, we first took the train from Ankara to Istanbul at night. The next morning, we bought a third class cabin ticket on the passenger boat from Galata dock to Iskenderun. In the afternoon, the boat left the dock, we sat on the deck and watched the sea with pleasure. Each of us had dreams to do in the future. In the evening, we ate the food and sandwiches we brought with us in the cabin. We passed the Dardanelles at night. When We came to the Aegean Sea, a storm broke out in the sea. The steamer swayed like a walnut shell. Passengers with weak stomachs were trying to regain their senses on the deck. We got dressed and went on deck. Storm intensity was up to Beafort seven, we didn't know what this scale was, we learned it here. The sailors passing by were always speaking in code, saying "three Beaufort, five". The night has passed, the storm was over. We arrived at the port of Izmir. After the storm that we spent at night, we didn't feel like going ashore, we continued towards Kuşadası, we put on our swimsuits and sunbathed on the deck. The next day, the ferry arrived in Bodrum. Since there was no suitable pier to berth, it anchored in the open sea. The sea voyage was now over for us. We did not want to continue to Iskenderun, we took our suitcases and went ashore by boat. In February 1973, Bodrum was empty. It was not as popular as it is today. We found a suitable hostel in the center. We were eating at a local restaurant nearby. We were walking on the beach all day. There were other university students who came to Bodrum like us, and we were chatting with them in the coastal tea gardens. The weather was mild and relatively warm, but there was no such thing as swimming in the sea. After the holiday ended, we returned to Ankara by bus. Each of us went his own way. I got a job in a public factory. When I look back, I say I'm glad I made this boat trip. I always wanted to make long-term ferry trips to distant ports, but the opportunity did not come. Greek islands, Mediterranean tour, Piraeus, Naples, Marseille, Barcelona. It always crosses my mind to make an Atlantic crossing by boat. You will take the ferry from South Hampton port, you will go on the open sea for three nights and three days to New York port, you will see the Liberty statue on Ellis Island while entering New York port. You don't necessarily need to travel in a luxury cabin. A second class ticket with decent food with deck pass is enough for me. Until now, all my Atlantic crossings have always been by plane. I took the longest flight from Istanbul to Houston, it was a very long flight over Frankfurt and Dallas, as if it will never end. I would also like to take a long train journey eith sleeping cabinet. I have always traveled by train to Ankara- Istanbul and Ankara- Izmir. I would also plan to cross between Ankara and Kars by train. I plan to travel to stay in Sivas for a while after the YHT high speed train Ankara Sivas line construction ends. In 1976, while in Russia, the Moscow Vladivostok Trans Siberia Railway was being built. It's now already over and it's a very popular. .There are other long rail trips. The most popular is the voyage that starts from Cairo and reaches Dakar from the North African coastline. Then, in America, one should take a central American train journey from one coast to the other ocean coast between Washington and Losangeles. Another is in India. Also keep in mind train in Australia from Sydney to Perth, Sydney to Darwin. These are all in dreams for a while during the covid19 process. Even YHT high speed train which takes a little more than four hours between Ankara and Istanbul, travel tickets are not easy to purchase. There are almost no tickets in the first week, but you can find tickets for the second week. There are already tickets for the next two weeks at most. Business tickets are sold out immediately. This summer, there is the possibility of unlimited train travel within Germany with a ticket for only 9€. Those living in Germany should make the most of this opportunity. Traveling is a good thing. Especially if you don't have to drive. Air travel is a necessity for business. If you have the opportunity, take a train or ferry to travel. Prinkipo island Buyukada near Istanbul 12 June 2022

Solution

Are electric cars the ultimate solution? For almost a century, we have used internal combustion engine (ICE) gasoline or diesel fuel firing cars all over the world, nowadays electric cars are gradually becoming more prominent, but are electric cars the ultimate solution? Electric cars are still relatively expensive compared to old ICE motor cars, the batteries they use are heavy, the batteries used require special materials, their supply is difficult, these difficulties will be overcome in time, but there is no quick solution from today to tomorrow. Heavy electric cars rapidly erode the asphalt they go on, highways age rapidly, more maintenance and repair are required, more expense money is required. How environmentally friendly are electric cars? The energy-producing power plants they use are as environmentally friendly as the fuels, if they use the electricity produced in the coal-burning thermal power plant, it is not environment-friendly, if they use the electricity used in the natural gas-burning combined cycle power plant, it is not environment-friendly again, if they use the electricity produced in the nuclear power plant, the answer is another. It is necessary to know how the nuclear wastes of the nuclear power plant that produces this electricity are eliminated. The thing that stresses the driver the most while driving an electric car is the lack of electric charge on the road, that is because there are not enough charging stations on the roads at the moment, you can run out of battery power at any moment, you can stay idle without power on the road. It is not possible to travel long distances on an electric car, you can go a maximum of 1000 km with a full charge, very optimistically. In the future, there will be more frequent charging stations on the roads and this problem will disappear, but at the moment, the number of charging stations is very few even between Ankara and Istanbul, the simplest long distance, it is possible to have a lot of trouble with charging between Istanbul and Bodrum. The charging time of electric cars is also a problem, you cannot charge energy in such a short time as you get gas, you need at least 20-30 minutes, maybe more time is needed for full charging, the energy you buy is not cheap at all, the electricity price is quite expensive depending on the fuel cost. Let's come to the use of heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, this is a big problem in electric cars, you need to consume electrical energy to heat the interior of the car in winter. There is no hot engine at your disposal, which is preheated and where you can use already available heat energy. The use of heating rapidly reduces the amount of battery charge, and the use of air conditioners in the summer also weakens the battery power. We have been observing the domestic usage conditions of electric cars best in the Prinkipo island environment near Istanbul for the last 2-3 years, electric cars wear out quickly, their batteries run out quickly. First, Chinese-made electric cars came, they were worn out very quickly, then domestic small cheap production taxis and buses started to be used. They have a short lifespan, with battery and charging problems, and they have difficulty on slopes. The electrical energy required for electric cars is transported from the mainland with a submarine cable, there is no possibility to install wind and solar power plants on land in Prinkipo, there is not enough available land, if wind and solar power plants are installed on the sea around Prinkipo in the future, then the system can operate in an environmentally friendly manner. Thus Electric cars are not a perfect solution, let's know their disadvantages, let's do the necessary, these cars are heavy, the batteries may get lighter over time, but the weight problem will always remain, the heating and cooling problem will always be. There will always be distance problems and limited charging time. Prinkipo near istanbul, 10 June 2022

Modern times

New Solutions in modern times I was in primary school. We had a wire cabinet hanging high on the wall in the kitchen in a cool place to preserve the fresh food. We tried to consume freshly cooked food on the same day. The next day, the remaining food was finished or thrown away. One day, a refrigerator was bought into the house. My father carefully read the users manual of the refrigerator, then he gathered us all in front of the refrigerator and gave us a refrigerator using training. Very hot food would first be cooled outside to ambient temperature and then placed in the refrigerator. The refrigerator door would remain open for as short a time as possible. Foods such as vegetables, fruits, fresh meat and chicken had specific places. The food in the big container would be taken down so that the shelves would not deteriorate, and the food containers would definitely be closed. When the electricity was cut off, the plug would be pulled off so that the refrigerator cabinet would not be damaged by the voltage change, and the plug would be inserted after a while after the electricity came on. Only perishable food would be put in the refrigerator. There wouldn't be much use of ice. Then came home the simple phone apparat. We had a three-digit number. We were picking up the headset and telling the switchboard lady, the number of the person we wanted to talk to. Mostly we were looking for my father's or mother's workplace, mostly they were calling us. When we moved to Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, we did not have a phone at home for a long time, we were requesting to use the phone in a few privileged units within the cooperative houses. Then it was our turn and a four-digit phone was connected to the house. The number of digits became six. Then it was seven. Everywhere in Ankara became searchable. Later, the city code was added in front of it. Dial-up dialing has been switched to keypad. Now, free calls to almost anywhere in the world are possible. When I went to Russia for training, I waited in line for a week to be able to talk to Ankara on the hotel room phone. The line was connected, the listening services of both countries intervened and it was impossible to talk. In 1968, I took Fortran computer courses for the first time in the first grade of METU university. We were preparing simple programs, printing boxes of punch cards. The whole school was using a single computer. School was over, I graduated then worked in the factory for the first eleven years. There was a simple calculator in the project office. In 1984, I was working as an engineer in a private contracting office that cooperated with American companies. For an international tender, the sales team of our American partner had brought a very new IBM Pc personal computer with them on the plane. The tender was over, they left the computer to us and left. Another American friend brought us Lotus 1-2-3 software on 5.25 floppy disks. Then computers developed, common modems came, desktop computers were placed on everyone's desks. Now, laptops are used on every desk, at home, at work. People buried their heads in iphones on the roads, one-to-one face-to-face voice communication is no more. There are earplugs in the ears and people seem to be talking to themselves on the roads. They are either talking to someone or listening to music. Iphone connections have entered new cars via bluetooth. In company meetings, everyone opens a laptop or iphone, and no one follows the meeting. You go to make a presentation, the attendees do not listen to you. During the meeting, they reply to the email as if they were in a hurry. If I am invited to a company for a sales presentation, I give the powerpoint software, demo application, documents of the presentation to the participants in a USB memory stick. I want them to install the demo application on their laptop computers. “Those who cannot install the software on their laptop computer cannot use the software anyway, so do not bother”, I say. The demo software is loaded onto everyone's laptop computer, I explain the usage of the event to them on the screen. In a sense, I'm capturing their screen. I am making “thermal power plant presentation” at the university lecture hall for senior students. All students look at screens of their social networks with iphone. So I found a solution to get their attention. I'm asking about a subject they don't know, I want them to find the answer with google. Such as, Coal reserves in Turkey, Afşin Elbistan A-B thermal power plants, natural gas pipelines, the effects of the Ukraine war on us. They use iPhone devices more quickly and effectively in order to catch up as I ask. Students find the answer themselves. I want them to download demo applications or powerpoint presentations to their computers from internet web pages. I make them follow on their own screens. During the covid process, we were all under quarantine, even walking in the open air on the street was said to be dangerous. We got on the elevator wearing gloves and masks. All of a sudden, an online working order from home has emerged, office workers are now doing online computer work without leaving home. Mothers with babies can work as call-center operators at home. “Information technology” specialists, vendors, engineers, sellers, bankers can work remotely from their homes. Courier bring home services suddenly increased. Internet banking has further and better developed. Academicians have started to give their classes online. However, you have to go to your office once in a while and show your face physically, otherwise you will not be promoted. In summer time, I work on the balcony of our small summer house on Prinkipo island Kadıyan slope near Istanbul. I am writing my article there. I answer my emails there. However, I make a voice phone call with a close school friend every day. I don't miss family zoom meetings, online zoom friends meetings. Since modern technology has come to us, we use it for our own purposes. In the future, more advanced technologies will appear, be produced, new modern devices and vehicles will be launched, and we will benefit from them. When we were at university, the professors used transparent overhead projectors, we quickly moved on to Powerpoint presentations. Let's not be afraid of innovations, let's use them for the benefit of all of us. Prinkipo island near Istanbul, 9 June 2022

Work

The women of our family always worked My paternal grandmother, Hacı Ziynet, was born in 1900 in Eğirdir. From her childhood until her death in 1977, she worked at the carpet loom all her life for her uncles, the carpet merchants, in exchange for a sore throat. When she reached the age of fifty, her son İsmal started to send her monthly money when he graduated from Ankara Law Faculty and became a judge. She lived downstairs in her wooden house overlooking the lake in the Imaret neighborhood of Eğirdir. With the monthly money from his son, she did the shopping for the market and the kitchen. SHe didn't stop working on the carpet loom. SHe no longer needed to work for money, but continued to weave carpets. SHe gifted the handcrafted carpets she wove to the mosque of the imaret district, just below the street where she lived. In the last years of her life, when her eyes could not see clearly, she stopped following the carpet motifs unique to Isparta, and now she wove intricate pansies, carpets, prayer rugs from wool. I admired her skill in very fast weaving carpets on the carpet loom. She lived in the small wooden house that was inherited from her late husband Mülazimı Sani Abdullah, the winner of the 1922 Turkish Independence War Medal. She lived with her relatives and with their neighbors. There was no running water in her house, the water for ablution would come from the street fountain with pitchers. She used to go to the neighborhood public bath once a week. SHe used to come to us in the winter, pray all night until the morning, the reciter of the Qur'an pray. It was her duty to wash us children on Sundays. SHe kept the apple orchard on lake shore and the Cire Balkırı fields, which were inherited from her father Rafi Bey, who was martyred in the Edirne trenches in the 1912 Balkan War, she resisted and did not sell, satisfied with taking the money from the rent, a few boxes of sweet, very juicy starking apples from the apple orchard, that would come to us in winter. On an August morning, on her way to the neighborhood mosque for the morning prayer, she suffered a heart attack and surrendered her soul at the door of the mosque. The burial place, the shroud, everything were ready, they brought her to the afternoon prayer and buried her on the same day. When I went the next day, all that was left to do was to pray at her grave and return. My maternal grandmother, Fatma Müzeyyen, was born in Pazarköy, Bosnia Sarajevo in 1900. One morning in the 1912 Balkan War, the tea in the stove was left hot and the whole family fell on their way to escape. When they arrived in Istanbul after walking 2000 km in winter, all the elders of the family except her Aunt died on the way. they took shelter with their relatives who had come to Istanbul before and settled there. Fatma Müzeyyen became the home tailor of the bridesmaids of Istanbul Aksaray Kıztaşı Hobyar neighborhood. SHe would go to the houses, cut the fabric suitable for the models that the housewives and young girls liked, and leave the sewing work to them. The women of the beautiful Istanbul Aksaray neighborhood of the 1930s 1940s wore modern gowns and wonderful dresses in line with Parisian fashion. She married Abdulkadir Bey, the clerk of the Aksaray court, in 1924. It eas Abdulkadir Bey’s the second marriage after many years. He had an adult daughter from his first wife, whom he lost early. In 1925, a daughter named Ayşe Hadiye was born. Abdulkadir Bey passed away in 1930 from a heart attack. The two-storey house where they lived was left for the mother and daughter. Half of the house belonged to Abdulkadir's brother. They lived in this garden house for many years and rented the ground floor. Hadiye went to the neighborhood primary and secondary school. She was a hardworking student, she had no choice but to study and succeed. She continued her education at the Capa teacher's school. On the weekends, she would go out as weekend home stay , she eould collect the sugar cubes for breakfast during the week and bring them to her mother. Capa teacher's school was over, Hadiye started her Turkish Literature branch teacher training at Ankara Gazi Education Institute, she graduated two years later. In the meantime, the lawsuit filed by their uncle ended in 1950. The house was sold, half of the money was taken by the heirs of the uncle, Fatma Müzeyyen Hanım, Hadiye and Abdulkadir's first wife's children and grandchildren shared the remaining half. Fatma Müzeyyen's house was lost, she moved to her daughter, and when she went to Istanbul, she became a tenant in a room of her close friends' house. In 1950, teacher Hadiye and Judge İsmail got married in the Army Gurst house in Isparta, where they were assigned. Fatma Müzeyyen smoked a lot when she was separated from her daughter, she died in 1952 at a young age due to a sudden heart attack. She was buried in the Cihanbeyli cemetery. Years later, when I was crossing nearby the main road, I looked for her grave and could not find it. Sandstorms of the Konya plain had erased the writings on the tombstones. Ayşe Hadiye, was born in 1925 in Istanbul, became a Turkish Literature teacher in 1947, her first assignment was in Isparta, where she worked at the Institute for Girls. She got married in 1950, worked in Aydın Çine, Kırıkkale and Ankara secondary schools, gave birth to three boys, retired in 1975, bought a house in Istanbul with her retirement bonus and lived there with her husband. There was an unchanging order in their house, classic channel trt3 was played on the radio, Cumhuriyet newspaper was bought at home, the kitchen dishes laundry was My mother’s responsibility. Whereas shopping, money, tax expenses were fulfilled by my father. We lost my mother in 2018 and my father in 2020, both from multiple organ failure. I understand that the mother does not work and takes care of her baby after the child is born at home, and I find it very right. The baby needs her mother. The baby should not be left alone and should not be entrusted to the nursery. In Germany and Scandinavian countries, State even give the father the right to leave work for a long time so that he can take care of his newborn baby. In order to prevent mothers from working and to increase the employment opportunities of men instead of them, mothers with newborn babies were not given the right to paid-leave. After years, long-term unpaid leave came out. I say that the father should be able to earn enough money for the family, and the mother should stay at home and take care of her child until the school age. Nowadays, it is now possible to work online from home using an internet computer, especially during the covid period. After taking care of their children and putting them to sleep at home, mothers can earn money by using a computer in the study room. There are many examples, they can work as call-centers, that is, they can work as customer services, they can write articles, novels and reviews. They can earn money on information technology works. All the women of our family worked for life, they sacrificed themselves in the difficult conditions of the Balkan and the 1st World War, during the scarcity times of the 2nd World War, they tried to give the best of everything they could for their children. May Allah be pleased with them all, may their place be heaven. Prinkipo island near Istanbul 8 June 2022