January 20, 2022 Christmas and New Year 2021

Time to post again.

November and December are always busy times.  Now that new year has passed it is a drought as far as social activities are concerned.  That gives us time to worry about 

1. COVID - Not too bad here.  No further lockdowns.  The vaccination drive continues.  People are on their 3rd shot.  I am not eligible until the end of the month that is if I were to go along with the 3 month suggestion.  Everything I have read says 6 months, so I will wait for that which will be April.  Daily numbers hover around 500 to 600.  Only thing was I couldn't have more than 10 people at my home at one time over Christmas without a special license.
2. Fuel shortages - The cooking gas shortage has been going on for a few months now.  First it was the private provider stopped imports because the country did not have enough foreign currency reserves to get letters of credit.  This may have been BS as they seemed to be holding out for a price increase which they eventually got.  Then the gas cylinders of the government owned provider started blowing up due to a change in the ratio of  propane to butane in the tank and some faulty new tanks.  Turns out that there has been no regulation with regard to the mixture in the tanks, the quality of the tanks nor leakage.  They did not even mix in the odor causing chemical which allows for leakage detection. My 5 kg. tank ran out just before Christmas.  I managed to get a new one that I tested for leakage.  I did so much cooking over the Christmas period that just after Christmas, both tanks ran out.  I managed to get two new ones that I checked for fullness and leakage.  At first Vineetha refused to go near the cooker fearing that the tanks would blow up.  She is OK with it now.  Of course, the price has gone up.  I paid LKR.5000 all told for the tanks and my tuktuk man to pick them up.
3. Power outages - We are likely facing daily power outages of 1.5 hours during peak usage times due to a lack of fuel to power the thermal plants.  The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (government owned) is refusing to sell fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board (also government owned) unless they pay off their debt to the CPC in dollars no less.  Where is the CEB going to get dollars?  Why is one arm of the government holding up the other arm?  Chaos.
4. Inflation - Basic commodities are up about 12%.  I have had to increase Vineetha's wages twice in the last two months just to keep up with the increase in bus fares.  I don't know how ordinary people are managing.  Of course, the crime rate is going up due to the financial pinch.  Those of us who get paid in foreign currency are sitting pretty as the rupee is sinking like a lead balloon with the increase in the exchange rate far out stripping the rate of inflation.  Soon we will be carrying around our rupees in wheelbarrows.
5. Government ineptitude - Everything from unilaterally trying to switch from chemical to organic fertiliser causing the maha (big) crop to fail leading to imminent food shortages, printing money like it is going of style causing further devaluation of the rupee, borrowing money like it grows on trees to the point where they may default on their loan payments.

All in all, it looks like Sri Lanka may be ripe for a revolution.  Other than that, things are great.

Mahjong carries on as usual.  We are getting pretty good at it.  We are learning to score and are introducing some of the more stringent rules.

Have gone back to hair tattoos.  

Star of David good for both Hanukkah and Christmas.

Went to breakfast at Ru Boutique with Yoshitha and Duwi.  I made reservations via WhatApp and confirmed them only to discover that they had no record on the day and they had a wedding booked.  Finally, they seated us on the lawn.  Breakfast was fine, but not worth the LKR.2000 they charged.  Nice to see Duwi though.  She lives in LA and had not been able to come for a couple of years due to COVID.

Was invited to a birthday at Rangitha Herath's.  Actually, I did not know it was a birthday party until well after we got there.  Gerry and I went up to her place in Herasegalle after mahjong.  Interestingly, this was the first time I had been there.  Rangitha had sent me pictures before as she was trying to rent the place out.  Pictures can be deceiving.  I expected something much grander and better kept.

Some of the group.  From left to right:  ?, ? (I think his name is Jim.  He won't shut up, talking about things that no-one has any interest in.), Viv, Malcolm, me, Gerry, Rangitha's sister-in-law.

The spread.  The food was good but in usual Sri Lankan fashion, it was cold.

Me and my mahjong pal, Gerry.

Rangitha cutting her birthday cake.

Now including Claire Hemachandra on the extreme left.

The breakfast buffet at the Grand Kandyan has resumed so we took advantage of both before Christmas and on Christmas morning as has become our tradition.  

Went down to the south west coast for 3 days with the Thirsty Club.  We stayed at the Ypsilon Hotel in Beruwella and had a good time.  Found a great little dress shop just outside the hotel gates where they sold clothes that fit me so I promptly bought 7 dresses and had a top made for a total cost of LKR.26,500 about C$163.  The room only cost LKR.5500/night including breakfast.  Right on the beach.

Waves breaking on the sea wall

Whole lotta fishin' goin' on

Small island right in front of the hotel.  Close enough to swim to.

Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Kande Vihara (Mountain Temple) at Aluthgama.  So named because it is built at the top of a hill.

Guardian at the foot of the steps.  Actually it looks like the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi holding a lotus in her right hand and the God Ganesha in her left.

The temple is inside the statue.

We went out to a couple of great restaurants for dinner.  Pier 88 in Alutgama right on the Bentota River the first night and Amal Restaurant in Bentota the second night.  Amal was lovely and I had a great dinner of fresh caught langoustine.  Only problem is that it is build right, and I mean right on the railway track.  The trains almost come right through the restaurant.  

Amal is decorated with very traditional Sri Lankan motifs, beautifully done.

Images of the Perahera on the bannister.

My friend Ravana dropped over to sample some cheese from Maia Cheese.  The cheese is made by a Georgian woman in Madipola.  She has recently switched exclusively to goat's milk.  We sampled the blue and the chèvre.  The blue left a strange aftertaste in your mouth and made your tongue numb.  The chèvre was lovely.

I got a chance to use my lovely camembert plates

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Me and Ravana.

Went out to George and Yvonne's on December 12 for a pre-Christmas lunch.  She served lovely baked salmon.  Rode out and back with my friend Lillian who I had not had a real chance to talk to in a long time.  She has had a pacemaker implanted and is doing very well.  Her driver drove us out there and she drove us back.  Despite her 70+ years, she is one of the best drivers I have ever come across.  Driving in Sri Lanka is never easy and especially in Kandy, and especially driving a fairly big SUV.  Lillian managed brilliantly.

After much consternation, we finally managed to have our annual film club Christmas lunch at the Amaya Hills Hotel.  The consternation was over whether we should allow non-vaccinated people to attend.  I won't go into all the back and forth.  Suffice to say that the issue is ridiculous as you mix with all sorts of people on the street and in any public place.  It makes no sense to ban non-vaccinated people when the buffet is set up in the main dining room where anyone can come.  In the end, only a few attended because they were worried about the virus.

The intrepid who stayed to the very end.  Seated from left to right:  Liz and Lilamini.  Standing from left to right:  Me, Simon, Pauline, Devika and Luke.

In the dining room.  Simon in a fetching pair of pink pants, Pauline, Devika and Karin, our only Finn and vegan.  We really are an international community.

I started decorating the house and cooking a week before Christmas.  My annual tree trimming became a dinner due to COVID restrictions.  I thought that as there were only going to be 10 of us, I would do the cooking myself.  Even with Vineetha's help, it was a workover.  However, it turned out to be a lovely evening.  We managed to trim the tree, drink, eat, sing Christmas carols and clean up all by 2300.

This year's door decor.  Warli art by yours truly.

The gang from left to right around the table:  Yvonne, Ralph, Deanne, Jerry, me, Douglas, Lesley, George and Sally.

Taken from the other end.  All the same gang except Jim at the other end.

I wanted to follow my old family tradition, so I sent out the words and music the the two Hungarian Christmas carols we always sang as a family; Ôröm Dalok and Menyböl az Angyal.  Here is everyone staring at the unfamiliar words.

I managed to find enough voice to sing all the verses to both carols accompanied by Jerry who did a brilliant job in a language totally unknown to him.  I learned new verses as well.

The meal consisted of a Rutherian mushroom soup to start, beet and orange salad, nut loaf, butternut squash polenta, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower with pomegranate, leek and kangkong galette, and cranberry sauce.  For dessert rhubarb and tamarillo galette and mince meat (courtesy of Ralph) galette with heaps of whipped cream.  Lots of leftovers for me afterwards.

Christmas Day was a whirlwind.  I woke up at 0500.  Vineetha and I had done most of the clean up the night before, but there was still a bit to do.  By 0730 you didn't know that anyone had been there.  Then it was off to our annual Christmas Breakfast at the Grand Kandyan. 

The breakfast gang from left to right around the table:  me, Patrick, Patrick and Sanjika's younger daughter (can't remember her name) visiting from Holland, their property manager, Sanjika, Ava, Devika.

Got home in time to have a bit of a rest and then off to Lesley and Ralph's for their annual Christmas Day bash.  This year Vineetha came with me.  She had a nice time with a gift and a packed lunch.  Finally at 1600 off to Sally and Jerry's guest house, Jungle Tide, on the Hantana Estate for Christmas dinner and a sleep over.

Sally, Yvonne and me.  We are wearing shawls as it is cold up in Hantana.

Sally serving the flaming Christmas pudding.

We sang Christmas carols that night as well including the 12 Days of Christmas which involved a lot of standing and sitting.  It was a very clear and almost cold night.  Perfect for stargazing.  In the middle of the tea estate there is no ambient light.  The stars were spectacular.  I even saw two shooting stars.

A great night's sleep was followed by a hearty breakfast; something we didn't need after a feed of salmon en croute and Christmas pudding with brandy butter the night before.  No swimming though.  They have a wonderful pool, but it was too cold.

I managed to get a couple of days rest before departing on December 30 for Flamboyant Villas for New Year's Eve.  Simon and Pauline were their usual wonderful hosts.  They had paying guest as well as Sally, Jerry and me.  The guests were interesting.  Irish man, American woman and their daughter living in the south of France near Cannes.  He sources the ingredients for large food companies such as McDonalds and Nestlé.  She spoke fluent Japanese and lived and worked in Japan for a number of years.  There was plenty to talk about as Simon is very erudite and is also an Irish citizen.  

They all had duck for their entree while I had one of Simon's lovely galettes.

I did manage to swim both mornings doing 500 m the first day and 1 k the next.  Great way to start the new year.

From left to right:  Sally, Jessica, Alie (guests), Simon, Mark (guest), Jerry, me.  Pauline was off working in the kitchen.

Sunday lunches at Lesley and Ralph's have recommenced.  Film Club is limping along.  Limping mostly because of unclear COVID regulations.  Looks like we will be back on track for February.

I have started meeting with contractors about quotes on renovating upstairs.  I got one quote back in only 2 days.  Outrageous; LKR.8,000,000.  You can build a whole new house for that here.  Waiting on two more quotes.

The new year has inspired me to get my throw cushions recovered and my cat protectors renewed, so I went with my seamstress Anu the other day to pick out fabric.  Plus a small shoe factory has opened at the junction near my house.  I took them some leather and they made me a pair of lovely leather flip flops for LKR.500.  Can't beat that price.

Had to have the plumber out to fix another leak.  As usual, he thinks he is almost finished; going to fix the pipes permanently when I ask him to test the system.  Only half the house was getting water.  These guys just don't think.

It seems that I have finally found a good doctor to do my cataract surgery.  I went to see him at Asiri Hospital on Sunday.  He comes up from Colombo once a week.  Despite the fact that I received 5 notices to come at 1135, they did not see me until 1244.  The whole place was a zoo.  Social distancing was a joke.  I have lodged a complaint with the hospital.  Probably won't come to anything.  Hospitals are the same all over the world.  I would not have gotten in for the macular test he wanted me to have had I not gotten pushy.  I finally got out of there at 1430.  I need to go for 2 more tests, one of which can only be done in Colombo.  That is scheduled for next Wednesday.  Hopefully I can get the surgery done before the end of February.

On the plant front, the Five Fingers (Syngonium Schott) is blooming.  This is really a parasite but it fills in any bare spots.

I received some nice fruit from Vineetha and Simon and Pauline.

Soursop from Vineetha's garden

Cacao pods that Simon and Pauline found somewhere.  Wonderful colour.  I fermented, roasted and ground them, only ending up with about 1/2 cup of cocoa.  A lot of work for so little return.

We have had so much rain that all sorts of critters are seeking shelter.  The mongoose family seems to have moved into my front bank from the back at least part-time.  I see one of the mongoose wandering through my front yard like he owns the place.  They are nice, but they have taken to digging up my patio garden looking for grubs.  Don't like that.  I have had a chat with them and they seem to have stopped for the moment. Haha!

First time I have seen a land crab.

As always, ending with my cats.

Nangi won't leave Buddy alone.  Buddy has been back on oral antibiotics for 10 days.  He seems to be better.  His glands are no longer swollen, his nose is clear and he is growing his hair back.

A snuggle of pussy cats.  My 3 faithfuls curled up together.

I have named him Blacky.  I think he lives a couple of doors down.  He is completely jet black.  A small male.  Quite sweet.  He comes to eat and get a pat.

I am feeding 6 cats at the moment.  My 3, Blacky, Dekai and Malli, the big male who has become a regular.  He roosts on top of my refrigerator at night.  He lets me pat him now.  Hopefully, I will soon be able to trap him to get him fixed.