October 22, 2015

We are experiencing inter-monsoonal rains at the moment and they seem to be driving more and more critters indoors.  I have the usual frogs expertly detected by Patches.  The other day, a small bat flew in and ended up in my bedroom until it found its way out again.  Then there were these horrible big black flying cockroach things.  The only good cockroach, or anything like it, is a dead one so I swatted these out of the air with my Executioner and then whacked them with my flip flop.  There have been lovely green cicadas which died a natural death.  The ants cleaned one up for me and it is now proudly pinned as a specimen.  A lovely opalescent green beetle which kept turning turtle despite my best efforts to save it.  Snails and slugs of all descriptions.  I found a snail in my compost heap yesterday that has a shell almost as big as a conch.

The cicada

I continue to feed the birds and anything else that wanders into the garden and can get at the food. 

One of the crows that comes regularly for the papaya

Patches has discovered the computer and has been helping me to play solitaire.

We have just won a game

What should be our next move?

I have planted some arugula from seed, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  On the other hand, the Flame Lily (Gloriosa Superba) has naturalized in my front garden.  It is highly poisonous, but beautiful.

The other day, I had to go to the Old Trinity Sports Club to pick up some money for Jez that was owed for cheese.  Trinity is one of three prestigious old boy's schools modelled on the British public school system.  It was founded in 1872 and is the only one of its kind in Kandy.  The other two colleges are in Colombo and Mount Lavinia.  There is a very powerful old boys network.  In fact, graduation from one of these colleges virtually guarantees a boy a good job/career.  The old boys have a sports club that overlooks the cricket/football field.  As usual, the money was not ready for pick up at the time appointed, so they gave me and my driver a cup of tea and I enjoyed a half hour of cricket.

My kitchen and bathroom have been very dark because of the heavy rain clouds and I have been wracking my brains for a lighting system that would be cheap and would cast more light.  I finally found it.  Shades made from A4 paper.

The kitchen

The kitchen

My bathroom.  The big round things are baskets make from palm fronds that hide the hideous light fixture and plug point.

October 3, 2015

Busy week this week.  Did something every day except Monday.

Tuesday, I went with my friends Liz and Tania in search of a shoemaker out in Pillimatalawa.  They had found him on a Discovery Club outing and had already had work done by him.  I had 3 pairs of shoes that the shoe repair place in town could not repair, so I was keen.  They had tried for over a month to contact him by phone with no luck, so we decided to take a chance and drive out there.  Eureka!  We found the place and he was there and still in business.  Of course, he had lost his phone and had a new number.  I left my 3 pairs of shoes which he will rebuild all for LKR.1300, about C$11.

After that we were off to Liz's place.  She runs a guest house in the hills beyond the University of Peradeniya.  It is quite a drive out there, but the view is worth it in the end.  She made us a lovely lunch of fettuccine alfredo, salad and home made carrot cake.  Haven't had carrot cake in I don't know how long.

The view.  It was quite cloudy and rained heavily before we left.

Liz on the left and Tania on the right.  When the rain started, the pool was dancing.  The dog is Max.

After lunch, Liz sent us home with her van and driver.  We dropped Tania off at the bottom of the Heerasagalla hill and proceeded to Gateway College where Elise, Liz's daughter goes to school.  That was in experience in itself.  Kandy streets are very narrow and windy.  At school times which are 0700 and between 1230 and 1400, no-one in their right minds goes out in a vehicle.  There are 60,000 school children in the heart of Kandy town alone and countless of thousands in the surrounding area.  There are almost no school buses, so every child is picked up by a minder in a tuktuk or a vehicle.  Some minders take the child on the bus, but very few.  Consequently the streets around schools are backed up for hours especially in the afternoon.  It took us an hour to get Elise and get me home.  I live a 5 minute drive from the school in normal circumstances and the trip from Liz's to my house would usually only take 30 minutes.  Crazy.

Wednesday, it was grocery shopping and fur/claw.  This time my hairdresser razor-ed coconut fronds on the back of my head.

Thursday it was shopping with Ava.  In the end, we met up with Marlise with whom we went to lunch and then to Lakeside Private Hospital to visit our friend Ewan.  It was hot as Hades, so we dispensed with the shopping quickly especially as we were walking.  I got the seed beads I was looking for, from which I am going to make earrings.  Lunch was at this newly renovated dosai place.  The masala dosai, sambar and chutney tasted very good and all for LKR.180.  In less than an hour, I knew why it has tasted so good.  It was laced with a huge amount of MSG.  I got a woolly tongue and was dying of thirst. 

We had stopped at Food City to get water and toilet paper for Ewan in the hospital.  You would think that for the amount he is paying to be in there, all this would be provided, but evidently not.  Both Marlise and I were wanting to drink all the water by this time, but we daren't because Ewan needed it.

On the way into Food City, I ran into Anuruddha my former neighbour in Sirimalwatte.  He told me that there had been a fire in the municipal car park behind Kandy City Centre and indeed the traffic was madness again.  We were parked right beside the access road to the car park and it was school time again plus the hospital is right on the lake side which means you have to go on the lake road which is terrible at the best of times.

We had a nice visit with Ewan despite the fact that Marlise and I kept ogling the water.

Then it was back to where Ava and I had started our shopping trip at Selyn so that Marlise could buy some of the bracelets we had purchased for LKR.160 each.  On the way, we stopped back in at Food City and instantly consumed a litre of water.  I was still feeling the effects of the MSG yesterday.  That was my first and last visit to the dosai place.

Bracelets.  Made out of beads and cord.  Lovely, but I discovered they are next to impossible to get on without help.

Yesterday, it was off to Sonali's for dinner to celebrate Rama's (her dog) 7th birthday.  We celebrated for Sita (the other dog) as well who will be 6 next month.  I saw some old friends from Gunfire that I have not seen in almost 3 years as well another acquaintance from the Cancer Hospital Fund Committee.  He is the chairman of the committee and is basically a loud mouth ex-planter type.  Apart from him, the evening was quite fun.

So it is rest and relaxation for the rest of the weekend.