January, 2021 to February 11, 2021

Now we begin the second year of COVID.  We are lucky in Sri Lanka, or maybe I should say Kandy.  We can swim, get our hair done, go to a gym, go out to restaurants, travel around the country and have small parties.  No cause for complaint.  Only restrictions are masks, hand washing and signing in.  Having said that, we are bracing for a possible third wave.  In late December, 2020, the former Ambassador to Russia and a cousin of the ruling family negotiated a deal with Ukraine allowing 4 plane loads of tourists into the country.  They were to kept in a "bubble"; being restricted to one hotel, travel in designated buses, and only go to certain areas approved by the government.  The deal was made without consulting either the Ministries of Health or Tourism who have been working for some time on developing protocols for the reopening of the country to international tourism.  

Before you knew it, these tourists were turning up in places where they were not scheduled to go.  The starkest example was when 3 bus loads showed up at Sri Dalada Maligawa (The Temple of the Tooth Relic), the holiest of Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka.  One lone monk launched a protest, to no avail.  They were allowed in, although apparently not into the main building where the relic is stored.  Next thing, packs of maskless Ukrainians were seen in Kandy City Centre (the main shopping mall) roaming the shops.

A similar deal has been made with Germany and on January 21, the airport reopened for tourist traffic and cargo flights.  The required quarantine period for returning residents on arrival and/or a positive test result has been lowered to 10 days in a monitored facility with the remaining 4 days to be completed at home.

The number of cases now exceeds 72,000 with 375 recorded deaths.  Very low as compared to other countries, but enough to dictate caution.  Seems if you have political connections, nothing applies to you.  For example:

A group of political cronies and monks outside Kandy City Centre (KCC) on January 12.  No social distancing and it seems that masks are optional.

The monks look like they might be Burmese.  One would have thought that we should be keeping our distance from Burma.  A view point reinforced by recent events in that country.

Our continuing attempts to revive Book Club have fallen on rocky ground.  Film Club has also been suspended until we can get back into a hotel.  The Kandy Club disgraced themselves at the Christmas lunch and are none too clear on what the health regulations are for private clubs.  Discussion Club and mahjong continue unabated as do lunches at Lesley and Ralph's and monthly visits to Simpson's Forest. On our last trip to Simpson's Forest, I managed to swim 40 lengths.  Getting close to 1km.  

Deanne had a small luncheon on Independence Day, February 4.  We toasted Sri Lanka's 73 years independent of the British with sparkling wine, our current hooch of choice.

From left to right:  Douglas, me, Deanne, Lorens, Judith, Jim

The Wrights had a birthday party for Viv's 60th.  15 in attendance making us fortunate to be able to gather.

We have continued to have rain long after the north east monsoon should have been over.  Kind of a drag, although, I always say, "You don't have shovel it."  Of course, it has done wonders for the plants.

My purple thunbergia that I got almost a year ago from L'Atelier is finally blooming.

Unfortunately, the white one that was growing so well on the outside staircase wall has been totally destroyed by the bandicoot rat living in the bank.

Don't be fooled by the picture.  They can weight up to 1 kg. and grow between 7.5" to 13" long.  The one living in the bank is a bruiser.

The water hyacinth in the pond has also bloomed.  The flower only lasts about 1 day.  I was lucky to capture it.

The fish aren't doing as well as the plants.  All the guppies in the pond died.  They continue to flourish in the bowls, however.  Turns out the guppies are not very hardy, so now I have carp.  I got 4 of them; two couples, one of which died.  Let's see how they do.  One cleaner fish is still there as well.  I think I may have been killing them by filling up the pond occasionally with tap water.  Of course, you have to leave the tap water sit of a while so that the chlorine will off-gas.  Duh!

The black bat flower has also brought 2 blooms.  Totally amazing.

So many other things are in bloom so that we have flowers all the time courtesy of Vineetha's talent.

The flower bowl at the front door.

The spiders also like the rainy weather as do the birds.

Keep finding these amazing webs.

Kept hearing these loud bird calls one day coming from the other side of the paddy field.  I stupidly thought it was the crested serpent eagle, but it turned out to be a fabulous peacock.  This is not the actual one as he was too far away for the camera.  I did see him through binoculars though.  Looked to be about a foot tall with a 2 foot tail.  Lovely.  Ava saw him displaying for a couple of peahens.  

The bounty of fruits, vegetables and spices continues to amaze.

Pomelo from Vineetha's garden

Pepper from my mahjong buddy Gerry's garden put out to dry in the sun.

Starting to dry.

Closing as always with my delightful snuggle of cats.

Putha is the cutest of them all.

The latest addition, Mali (younger brother) enjoying the window seat.  He doesn't really live with me full time.  He comes to eat and lets me pat him a bit.  He recently got bitten on the front left leg and was limping around on only 3 legs.  He let me lift him up to put him into a soft place to lick his wounds.  Then the wound got infected.  He let me put coconut oil on it.  The oil induced him to clean the wound and all is well now.  The continuing wonders of coconut oil.  I am hoping that I can get him to a vet soon to get snipped.

A tangle of boy cats.

Brothers in sleep.

Buddy (the ginger) allowing Mali and Baby to eat.  Relations among the brood are improving.

Mother and daughter as Yin and Yang.

December, 2020

I have just realized that it has been more than 2 months since I have posted anything.  That being the case, I will break things up into bit sized pieces.

We have been very lucky with the virus situation.  We have been able to continue with mahjong as well as Film Club.  In fact, we were able to gather 23 people for the Film/Book Club Christmas lunch.  Sunday lunches at Lesley and Ralph's have continued also.

I was able to go to the dentist and the hairdresser; two activities that I know are impossible in other countries.

Deanne took us for lunch at a French restaurant, Leopard d'Argent for Judith's birthday.  Only 4 of us in the lovely setting of the guest house of the same name.  The food was good, although not exceptional.  The milieu, on the other hand, was beautiful and the sparkling wine made it a festive occasion.

From December 14 to 16, a group of 6 of us went to the Scottish Planter's Glendevon Bungalow just outside Nuwara Eliya.  Judith and I drove up and back with Douglas.  Not my first choice as he is a terrible driver.  I am not a nervous passenger, but I was white knuckled on the way back.  Douglas was driving like a Grand Prix driver on the steep winding roads, tailgating, passing on turns and slamming on the brakes at the last minute.  I was never so glad to get home in my life.

We stopped at the Blue Bonnet tea factory on the way up to Nuwara Eliya for tea and to meet up with the rest of our party.

The not so well tended tea in front of the factory.

The factory

Some lovely little birds in the tea room cleaning up the crumbs.

A red passion fruit vine growing on the factory fence.  I have never seen a red passion fruit before.

I don't know what this is, but it is beautiful, so I took a picture.

The bungalow as terrific.  They have kept it in the old planter style with some very welcome plumbing updates.  It got cold there at night; down to 8℃ and was pretty chilly during the day as well.  I was bundled up in shawls and a fleecy that Lesley lent me.  Thankfully, there was an ample supply of very hot water, down duvets on the beds and fires lit every night in the sitting and dining rooms.

The bungalow from all angles.

You can get a glimpse of the well tended garden.

We started off our stay by eating a picnic lunch that we had each brought with us on the veranda.

This is the view from the verandah.  An amazing tree fern is growing in the foreground.  They thrive in the temperate climate.  There is a lovely little water fall coming down among the tea bushes that does not show up in the photo.  Magical especially in the morning sun, all wrapped up and drinking bed tea.

Douglas, Jim and I then proceeded to take a walk/hike through the estate trails.  Crisp and clean air and all around healthy tea bushes.  The trails were a bit slippery.  Douglas fell and so did Jim trying to help him up.  I was thinking that I was going to have to run for help, but all was well.  A real worry as Douglas is 82, Jim is over 70 and I am no spring chicken either.  We made it back to the bungalow just before sunset in time to have a nice hot shower and get ready for pre-dinner drinks around the blazing fire.

The bungalow normally costs US$512 a night.  We, of course, got a fabulous deal, LKR.16,600 for two nights with half board, as there are no external tourists and Colombo was on lockdown.  The dinner on the first night came out cold so they made up for it by giving us an unexpected high tea on the next day.

Otherwise, the staff were very obliging and helpful.

The dining room.  The fire was lit at night.

Dinner on the second night was good.  From left to right around the table:  Yvonne and George (George has been fighting lung cancer since last March.  This was their first outing since he completed his treatments consequently they both look really tired.), Jim, Judith, Douglas and me.

Unfortunately, Judith had a melt down on the first night; attacking both Jim and I over some trivialities. I think she had started drinking while we were out for our walk and was smashed before dinner was even served.  Very uncomfortable for all of us.  Jim precipitated an apology the next day, but I just left it alone.  

A very old tree in the circular drive.

One of the flower arrangements.  I thought they were plastic, but they were real from the garden.

Amaryllis grow wild here.

The sitting room.  Everything is tartaned up as it is Scottish.  A bit too much for my taste.  Jim is Scottish as well and also thought it was a bit much.

The window seat in the sitting room.  A huge room.  All the floors were this highly polished wood.  I have never been in such a clean place.  I dropped a ring behind my night table into a deep, dark corner where you might expect a bit of dust.  I could have licked the corner and come out with a clean mouth.

My bedroom.

The fireplace in the suite that Judith and I shared.

The foyer seating area.  They also have a small bumper pool table in a games room.

The gang lined up for the school photo.

I pinched a couple of rosemary sprigs from the herbal garden they had growing behind the bungalow.  I couldn't get them to root, so in the end I just froze it for future use.  

We stopped at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya on the way home for a coffee.  As lovely as ever and even more so as they have recently built a swimming pool.

The Grand is known for its gardens and topiaries.

The new swimming pool.  Indoor because of the climate and fabulous.

A small and inviting seating area beside the swimming pool.  Covered but outdoor.

Another tree fern in all its glory.

A flock of flying birds topiary.

A living wall.

Douglas and I went to check out the new covered market in Nuwara Eliya.  Considering the amount of western vegetables that are grown in the area, the market was a real disappointment.  The vegetables were old and wilted.  Luckily, there are a number of vegetable/fruit stands in the Ramboda Pass where I scored some lovely rhubarb.  I made a crumble with the stems and Vineetha made the best curry I have ever tasted from the leaves.  I had always been led to believe that the leaves were poisonous, and it turns out it is true. The leaves are high in oxalic acid that can kill you if you inject enough of it.  I didn't have very much, but was sent running; literally and figuratively to the toilet.  Won't be doing that again.

Our last stop before we headed home was the Golf Club for lunch.  A friend, Nug, is a past president of the club and insisted that he would organize a lunch for us.  And so it came to be.  The course is beautiful.  The club house is nothing special.  The food was good, but did not come out of the kitchen for 1.5 hours.  I finally had to go into the kitchen to see what was going on.  We were the only diners. There were 4 kitchen staff and a waiter all standing around with their thumbs up their butts.  Once I went in there and raised a fuss, the food came flying out.

The view of the course from the club house. As always, there is a bed of roses that grow well in the climate in the high country.

The veranda where we were not allowed to sit because it was allegedly reserved for a private function.  The function did not materialize in the 2+ hours we were there.

While on my little mini-vacation, I kept getting panicked calls from one of my former students.  He was due to challenge the reading and listening sections of his public service promotion exam and needed help.  Upon my return, we did 5 classes in a row and now he has resumed his once weekly classes.

I didn't put up the Christmas tree, but did decorate the rest of the house since I had planned to have a New Year's Eve party.  In the end, I cancelled the big party (not big really; only 15 people were expected) because my friend Jez advised that someone had a small party of 10 to 12 people, a neighbor had complained about the noise, prompting the arrival of the Public Health Inspector (PHI)  and the police who immediately threw everyone into government quarantine.  This also made me cancel my attendance at Lesley and Ralph's usual Christmas Day party.  They held it in the end with about 40 people attending, but they made sure they had a retired PHI and some 4 and 3 star policemen in attendance.  Still, I didn't want to take the chance.

We got together with a group for our usual Christmas Day breakfast.  Again, we were the only people in the restaurant and yet the service was terrible.

From left to right around the table:  Douglas, Sanjika, Sanji's Mother, Sanji and Patrick's manager, Patrick, Ava, me.

I haven't been able to go swimming since March of 2020 and have been having a hell of a time getting any information from the hotel where I usually swim.  Finally, I posted a rant on Facebook, in emails to the hotel, the resort group that managed them, and Trip Advisor.  The Trip Advisor one worked.  I got a call from the General Manager of the hotel almost immediately trying to explain himself.  He agreed to extend my membership by one year from the date they reopened.  All confirmed in writing.  He also almost begged me to take the adverse review off Trip Advisor.  So if you are having trouble with an airline, hotel or other tourist supplier, just post a bad review on Trip Advisor.  

The latest development is that the Citadel has been made into a quarantine hotel, so they have agreed to refund me my membership fee.  Thereafter Douglas and I are going to join up at the Grand Kandyan as a couple.  The family rate saves us each LKR.5,000.

Douglas and I in front of the pool at the Grand Kandyan.

Tula, my landlady, had her usual Christmas dinner which I did go to.  Her daughter Jasmin is stuck in the US due to COVID but her grandson and his wife have had a baby, so we were the usual number.

The lighting of the Christmas pudding.

I got another referral from a former student at the electricity board giving me 2 new students; twin 14 year old boys.  They are identical twins, but oddly, the older by 2 minutes is shorter than his brother so I can tell them apart.

In the end, I had a very low key New Year's Eve party with just 5 of us.  We drank Bloody Marys made with my own home made worcestershire and tabasco sauces, martinis and bubbly.  My friend Husna catered for me.  Overall a success even if down played. 

New Year's Eve.  Good riddance 2020.  From left to right:  Ralph, his wife Lesley, Pauline, her husband Simon.

An so the first year of the COVID era came to an end.