Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – Author Spotlight – Life Changing Moments – A complete lifesaver by Colin Guest

Welcome to Cafe and Bookstore Author spotlight.  I am inviting authors in the Cafe to share what they consider to be a defining moment in their lives that resulted in a major positive change. If you would like to participate you can find all the details: Author Spotlight – Life Changing Moments

The next author who is sharing his life changing moment with us is Colin Guest who shares how a disastrous business association led to a momentous life changing moment.

About Colin Guest

Colin Guest is a freelance writer whose latest book is Death on the Move, the final in a trilogy of thrillers startng with Desperation Rules the Day,available free of charge via Draft2Digital. His pen name Tigerman, comes from his love of tigers, with his adopting one for the past twelve years.

Apart from his books Colin also writes poetry, with several of his poems in the final four in contests. Colin once took part in a live American radio show and e has taken part in a number of online interviews. His latest was with Writers Interviews, while his strangest was a radio interview with Lisa Burton, a gorgeous robotic interviewer.

As a keen supporter of environmental and wildlife issues, Colin belongs to several organisation related to this. He lives in Istanbul with his wife, Gulden.

A complete lifesaver

After losing my wife of all but forty years to cancer, I did not think things could get worse, but oh boy, was I wrong.

A young Turkish man my wife had introduced me to, took advantage of my lack of knowledge of Turkish law and my stupidity. He ran a restaurant in Kemer near where I lived, and I helped him during reconstruction and after it re-opened. I trusted him and when he told me he was getting divorced and all his bank accounts were frozen, I lent him various sums of money. I assumed he was trust worthy as I had been with him previously when he deposited large bundles of US dollar bills into a number of his bank accounts.  He also said he would receive 1,600,000 euros when his divorce was finalised and I believed him. Unfortunately, he proved to be nothing more than a conman.

As a result, I ended up virtually broke, with neither money nor my beautiful 1958 Chevrolet convertible. Thanks to him I had to cancel my booked trip around the world, and due to not having travel insurance, I lost over 1,500 pounds sterling. Plus, at the time, I had been planning on moving from Turkey where I lived to Ecuador. However, with no money, this was impossible.

Little did I know my losses would result in my gaining something far better. A few years later, at the age of 72, I was introduced to a Turkish lady named Gulden by her cousin, an acquaintance of mine.. She was three years younger than me and spoke good English. Also, whereas I lived down on the Med in a house in the country, Gulden lived in Istanbul, one of the most exciting cities in the world.

While we were talking on the phone one day, Gulden said she and her cousin were coming down to Antalya. It being only an hour’s drive from where I lived. “We have booked into a hotel there, she said.” As Gulden liked antiques, I thought there must be a fair there. On mentioning this, she said “No, I’m coming down to see you on your birthday in December.”

As this would be the first time we would meet face to face, I felt apprehensive on the morning I went to meet her. I needn’t have worried, as both Gulden and her cousin Isil gave me a warm and friendly greeting. I thought Gulden looked most attractive and younger than her years. Not until much later did she tell me that for her it was love at first sight.

Gulden and I hit it off with our having a long talk during which we said about things we had not talked about on the phone. The following day I returned to Antalya to see her again that evening, while walking up the uneven pavement, I suggested Gulden hold my arm. While doing so, her hand touched mine. It was as if I had touched a live wire. From that minute, incredible though it might seem, I knew Gulden and I would become more than friends.

The last evening before she returned to Istanbul, we sat huddled together talking by a fire in her hotel’s garden as the bar was full and there was nowhere to sit inside the hotel. When at last I said I should go, although I wanted to kiss her goodnight, I did not want her to think me forward, so did not. Again, not until later did she say she was disappointed that I did not kiss her.

We arranged that after Christmas I would go up to Istanbul. I would stay in a hotel near she lived for a few days so we could get to know each other better. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise.

The day after Boxing Day I became ill and ended up taken to a friend’s hospital in Antalya where I had three stents fitted in my heart. When I called and told Gulden, she was shocked. She said, “When you come out of hospital I will come down and look after you.”

Five days later and following my return home, Gulden arrived. Within two short days we decided to get married. On the day Gulden was going to fly home, I had a hospital check-up appointment. We were in the hospital when I suddenly collapsed, hitting my head on the edge of a door as I fell. When I came to lying in bed, I found Gulden looking shocked sitting beside me.

“Thank heaven,” she said. “When you fell, I thought I had lost you.”

Despite wanting to stay, Gulden had to later leave and fly back to Istanbul. Over the next four days of my being in hospital, we spoke on the phone every day. During one call, Gulden said, “When you come out of hospital come to Istanbul. You can stay with me so I can look after you.”

Once in Istanbul, we planned our wedding, followed by a honeymoon in Paris. Not until after we had paid for our flight and hotel, did we find due to bureaucracy, we could not get married as planned. As a result, so as not o loose our money, we had our honeymoon before our wedding.

Now, eight years later, Gulden and I are still much in love and enjoying a second happy life in Istanbul.

Given this, I have to thank my ex-friend for cheating me. Had he not done so, I would have moved to Ecuador and missed out on meeting my beloved wife Gulden.

©Colin Guest 2020

My thanks to Colin for sharing this wonderful story of finding love following such devastating circumstances.
 

Books by Colin Guest

A recent review for Impending Disaster in Spanish (I have translated into English as well)

Aug 15, 2020 Gabriel Benitez rated it Four stars on Goodread.

Una historia corta pero emocionante. Un grupo de tres amigos ha sufrido un severo accidente de aviación que los deja heridos en plena montaña, pero pronto se darán cuenta de que ese desastre no es nada frente al que se avecina: se ha formado una laguna en lo alto de la montaña que está a punto de colapsar. Si no llegan a tiempo para avisar al pueblo asentado a las faldas, una enorme ola de agua, rocas y lodo se cobrará las vidas de todos en el lugar.

A short but exciting story. A group of three friends have suffered a severe aviation accident that leaves them injured in the middle of the mountain, but they will soon realize that this disaster is nothing compared to the one that lies ahead.  A lagoon has formed at the top of the mountain that is about to collapse. If they do not arrive in time to notify the people living on the slopes, a huge wave of water, rocks and mud will claim the lives of everyone.

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – follow Colin: Goodreads – Website: Colin Guest Author – Facebook: Tigerman 55 – Twitter: @Tigermanguest

Thank you for joining us today and I know that Colin would love your feedback.. thanks Sally.

If you would like to participate in this series you can find all the details: Author Spotlight – Life Changing Moments