Santa sent me a bumper prize this year: globe-trotting local lass Roving Jay paid me a whistle-stop visit. Jay currently lives in Los Angeles but grew up in the flatlands and big skies of East Anglia – she’s a Norfolk broad at heart. She parachuted in from La-la-land to spend Christmas with family but took precious time away from the rellies to join me for a natter over an Americano. Dedicated Turkophile, Jay, owns a house near glorious Gümüslük, on the Bodrum Peninsula. Readers may be familiar with her own blog, Roving Jay and her website, the Bodrum Peninsula Travel Guide.  Jay has been a faithful pansyfan from the beginning and very kindly wrote a stunning review of Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey when it was first released. I have to say, it made me blush (really) and I shall be forever in her debt. Because of the vagaries of the rural bus schedule in these parts, we only got to chew the cud for a couple of hours and didn’t get around to hitting the sauce.  We still managed to pack a lot into the chat. Meeting cyber friends in the real world can be a nerve-shredding experience and I was a tad anxious. I needn’t have worried. Jay was a delightful coffee companion. Anatolia aside, it turned out we have a lot in common – for a start, we were both forces brats of more or less the same generation (though Jay is younger and so much prettier).

This spring, Jay is publishing her first guidebook, just in time for the summer scrum. It’s Jay’s unique take on the Bodrum Peninsula. Unlike so many guidebooks these days, it’s a first-hand account and covers the small corner of Turkey that Jay intends to call home one day. The book is stuffed with must-sees and must-dos and is a literary and factual treat. For more information click here. Very highly recommended.

Imagine the absurdity of two openly gay, married, middle aged, middle class men escaping the liberal sanctuary of anonymous London to relocate to a Muslim country. I chronicled our exploits with the mad, the bad, the sad and the glad in a blog for the whole world to ignore. Then came the book which became a critically acclaimed best seller. Its success opened out a whole new career for me, firstly as an author, and now as an indie publisher. Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me. In June 2012, we ended our Anatolian affair and paddled back to Britain on the evening tide, washing up in Norwich, a surprising city in eastern England, then to the wilds of Norfolk as the only gays in the village. I’m sometimes nostalgic for our encounters with the hopeless, the hapless and, yes, the happy go lucky. They gave me an unexpected tale to tell and for this I thank them.

16 thoughts on “Roving Jay”

  1. Isn’t it funny meeting people that you have known, sometimes for years, online? Good for Jay! It’s interesting to see how much you do have in common too. Obviously, Bodrum being one of them!

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      1. I have a feeling we will! I thought about descending on you last September but we lingered too long in the west country… Thanks for the votes, you ARE an angel!!

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  5. Thanks Jack! It was fabulous to meet you… my only complaint was that I had to leave after two cups! There was so much left to say – I demand a rematch! Thanks for all of your tips and guidance on the ebook-world. See you next time I’m in the neighbourhood. xx Jay

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  6. Ahhh, knew Jay was a Brit but didn’t realise she’s from that neck of the woods. Great that you got to meet up. Like you said, cyber friends are good but great to meet them in person. Who knows, we ALL may meet one day… 🙂
    Julia

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  7. Pingback: Bodrum - Turkey Attraction
  8. Pingback: Vakantiepark Iassos Modern bij Bodrum, Turkije - Mesuon International News
  9. Pingback: Jay Talking | perkingthepansies

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