August 27, 2014

M-day is getting closer.  August 31 is the first big day.  Electrician is taking out all the electrical, painter is starting the patching, truck is coming to take the first loads, moving over to Sonali's.  I have lined Amal up to be with me on the day of the house hand off.  His family have a big reputation here with which Sri Lankans are always impressed, he is very tall and can be very imposing and imperious if he wants to be.  That should intimidate bitch-face and her anger management husband.

I can add carpenter to my list of accomplishments.  On Monday, Veenitha and I disassembled the queen and day beds.  For all the trouble the furniture maker was, I have to take my hat off to him on this one.  Both beds broke down into very manageable pieces and quite easily.  Here is the day bed sans matress.

I was thinking I would have to hire a carpenter, but seemingly not.

Packing continues today.  Very little left to do.

August 18, 2014

The last couple of days has not been easy.  I find as I get older, I am less able to deal with conflict and I find that I am faced with it a lot with my current landlord. 

Despite the fact that I have no legal obligations to allow people into the house to view it, I agreed provided that I was available and the people were on time.  On Saturday night at 1752, I get a text from my landlady that there is someone outside of my gate.  She orders me to let them in.  I refuse.  No notice, it is getting dark, and I am alone in the house.

I won't go into all the details, suffice to say that I had a huge confrontation with her husband on the phone yesterday.  I am ashamed to say that at one point I told him to shut up as I couldn't get a word in edgewise.  At that point, he lost it and started screaming at me so that I hung up the phone.

The upshot of all this is that I started having chest pains and stiffness in my jaw, all of which are apparently signs of a heart attack. 

The good news is that after I had the big blow out with the husband, I instantly felt physically better.  I guess it is good to vent.

I am off to the new place today.  I will try to move stuff in there as soon as I can so that I can move out of this house asap.  If I am not here, I can't let people in.  I will also have to find someone to be with me on the day of the hand over as clearly the husband can't hold his temper and I don't trust them to return my deposit money.

What a drag.

August 15, 2014

Of course, now that I have a place to go, I can hardly wait to get out of here.  Everywhere I look there are ants.  You could fertilize a field with the cockroach shit.  Despite the fact that the floors are swept and washed three times a week, the bathrooms are scrubbed, there are still way too many bugs.  Add to that the fact that someone is burning garbage every day of the week to the point where my lungs burn and I can hardly breath and it is not a good situation.  Only 2 weeks left here before I move to Sonali's.  Patience, patience!

August 14, 2014

The universe does provide. I have found a great place to live. It is in a lovely residential area within walking distance of the Citadel Hotel where I can get a membership to swim in their fabulous pool.  The place is old and needs some work but it has lots of character so I don't mind. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms. One of the bedrooms is perfect for a servant's room with bath and is even furnished. Great covered veranda with a lovely view of a paddy field with the river beyond. Close to Sonali and the Kawasakis as well as book club. 

It is downstairs with the owners living up above. They are a lovely old planter couple. There is a young couple living in the annex with the husband driving a Tuktuk, so there is built in transport. Rs.25,000/month with a 5 year lease. That works out to about C$220/month. 

I will likely have to stay with Sonali for about a month while things get sorted out in the new place, but it is very close by so I can go up daily and supervise and work on things myself. 

What a relief. I slept really well Alastair night for the first time in a couple of months. 

August 13, 2014

Like so many things here, you have to learn to live with change and disappointment.  The Thalathuoya thing has fallen through, so here I am with just a little over 3 weeks before I have to move and no place to go.  That is not literally correct in that I do have a place where I can store my furniture, if it comes to that, and a place to live.  But it is just more upheaval.

On the bright side, I put out an appeal at book club on Monday, and the ladies have responded along with another friend, so I have been off looking at houses for a couple of days now.  I say one yesterday that had a brick oven right in the middle of the living room.  Very nice oven, much better than mine, but I can't imagine firing it up and baking in this climate.  You would be baking more than just bread.  Nothing yet, but I am due to look at 2 today which sound promising.  We will see.

I just have to keep believing that everything happens for a reason and that the universe is unfolding as it should.

Sri Lanka still holds some appeal.  The Perahera season ended on Monday with the day Perahera.  All the elephants are going home now.  I was meeting a friend for coffee yesterday at Cafe M on Peradeniya Road (one of Kandy's busiest streets) and saw this:

I wasn't quick enough to catch the front of him/her, but you get the idea. 

August 6, 2014

It is Perahera season so Kandy town is all barricaded off for the parades and there are a lot of tourists.  Unfortunately, it has been raining monsoon type rains so no doubt that has put a damper on the parades.  I can hear the cannons going off at 1800 and 2000 every night.  They scare the crap out of me when they go off signalling something to do with the parade.  The 2000 one signals the start of the parade.  I don't know what the 1800 one is for.  Maybe just 'cause.

My landlady and her husband came over on Sunday.  She is a rude, arrogant and avaricious bitch.  Plus then on Monday night she starts sending me texts starting at 2200, making me lose sleep.  I was so upset by Tuesday morning that I didn't know whether to scream or cry.  I will be very glad to see the back of her.  Now I will have to have a witness present when I do the hand over to her to make sure she doesn't try to pull a fast one.

I don't know what makes some Sri Lankans like this.  My neighbour was saying the other day that he and his wife are so  sorry to see me go and that if he had another house, he would give it to me on rent for nothing if I only maintained it as I have done this house.  Bitch face does not seem to acknowledge that in any way.

Oh well, she is making some really bad karma for herself.  What goes around, comes around.

August 2, 2014

Stage one of moving complete.  The garden is once again bare.  The garden room likewise.  All the plants have been moved and replanted at Thalathuoya.  The Buddha has a new home as well.

What a weird country this is.  We had to secrete the sand, the teak logs and the bamboo as permits are needed to transport all of these things.  Why, I don't know.  The Buddha also had to be covered as it may be taken as an insult if it transported in the open.  Talk about broken Buddhism.

I am beat, but at least I am finished for the day.  The boxes are mounting as well.  Another couple of weeks and I can send the first load of boxes and furniture.