Concert at METU with Yigit and Isil.

Annie and I met up with Yigit Yildirim and his girlfriend Isil to go to a Turkish concert last night in a stadium at the Middle Eastern Technical University. It was good - particularly the woman solo singer with red hair who reminded me of Bjork. She was dynamite. She sung about her lover who was like the match that hadn't been struck. The other band sung about the Iraq war and the Turkish government - very political. The night before we'd had dinner and played backgammon in downtown Ankara. Yigit won both games by using strategy. I asked him what his strategy was like in paragliding - he's competed in PWCs around the world - lots of competition experience. 'I'm good in strong conditions' he said, 'but when conditions are weaker I don't have much patience and I often go down'. Yigit has also competed in two Vertigo acro competitions. He flies with a Gradient Avax comp wing. He's very good and modest with it. The weather is worsening for XC now. It's raining a lot and getting cold. Will I be able to fly XC at all this season? Time is running out. Yigit told us that the big birds we saw thermalling on the drive to Ankara were storks ('the ones that carry the babies')! 'Yigit' means 'brave man' in Turkish. 'Isil' means 'ray of light' or 'sparkle'.