January 6, 2013

Off to sign the lease papers today.  Very exciting.

Went to the house yesterday with the whole Wijeratne gang.  The place is even better than I remember. Lots of space.  I will even have room for a small exercise area.

Niroshan and I went through the entire place measuring and talking about the furniture that will be needed.  It will be great.

Next steps are to get some painting done, build a servants room and a laundry drying area out back and get the electrician in.  There are no ceiling fans in this place but more importantly, there are not enough plug points.  I don't know where these guys plug in their electrical fixtures.  Maybe they have AC running through their veins and they plug into their arses.  In any event, I need a bunch of plug points.

After the marathon at the house, we went to a place called The Pub in Kandy town.  It is run by the Bake Shoppe, my favorite bakery.  It is nice, but not very Sri Lankan.  It was quite busy, but the only Sri Lankans in there were us.

All the foreign tourists look like hobos around here.  They remind me of my backpacking trip to Europe in 1971.  Maybe that's it.  They are doing the econo tour.  Anyway, The Pub was full of these types all sitting on the balcony.  Now normally, you would think that is smart.  Outdoors, nice view.  Not a chance.  The balcony overlooks the street that is busy, congested and polluted.  Plus it was right around dusk when murders of crows assemble.  You've never seen the like of it.  Maybe 100+ crows, all making the most ungodly racket.  You could not hear yourself think, let alone talk.  But the stupidest thing of all is that everyone knows that all those crows not only make noise, but they also shit.  All the locals have their umbrellas up at that time of day.  But there were the tourists soaking up the air pollution, the noise, and I would bet the odd plop plop.  We went inside!

Spent a bit of time at Gunfire yesterday just checking in on Manil.  That place is like a hotel.  2 new guests from Australia showed up.  Nice people.  The staff laid on lunch for 4 without skipping a beat.  That was in the dining room.  In the kitchen, they made lunch for 8, all the staff, Shanti, her daughter, boyfriend and his buddy/driver/peon.  Boy, is life ever different here.