Things here are going from bad to worse. There is no petrol or diesel except for essential services. Even my vegetable shop has had to close because they don't have petrol to bring the vegetables from the market. Vineetha still manages to come every day by bus but she says the buses are crammed. Someone told me they saw people on the roofs of buses the other day. My tuktuk man, Asoka, is very resourceful and has managed to get a couple of liters of petrol here and there on the black market for 3 times the normal price. He only has enough to run either Lesley or me into town. I had to cancel a dental appointment because we did not have enough fuel to get to the dentist.
There is also no cooking gas. I still have some in both my tanks, but I have had to make contingencies. I now have 8 gas burners and a gas oven, an electric hot plate, an electric pressure/rice/slow cooker, 2 electric ovens and a solar oven. I should be able to manage.
My pet shop has run out of the usual cat food that comes from India. They are hoping they will get some this week. As far as groceries are concerned, I have managed to get everything except fruits and vegetables which I am going out for today. Thankfully, my friends Simon and Pauline have managed to secure a van to bring them into Kandy from Naula, so Pauline and I are going to do a big shop with the van.
Power cuts continue for about 3 hours/day. That is not too bothersome apart from the fact that the power company seems to change the schedule every other day, so it is difficult to plan. Plus, we are having very windy and rainy weather plus a switching station is being put in just across the paddy in front of my house so we have mini breakdowns almost every day.
Despite all this, I am coping well and am able to do almost everything I did before the crisis.
Film Club and Mahjong are continuing. I may resign from Film Club as one of the members is so rude that she spoils the whole event. Mahjong is down to Lesley and I so that we are playing cribbage or dominoes. This week we may switch to backgammon.
I got a new hard drive and some additional memory put into my 27" iMac which is now 11 years old. It should have another decade in it with the upgrade.
I have even been able to get to the Grand Kandyan a couple of times for the breakfast buffet.
The monkeys have been coming in droves to eat our mangoes and avocados. The avocado crop is especially big this year.
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| Some of our crop |
On the nature watching front, I had a small jumping spider eating a large wasp on my wall the other day. Fascinating.
Apart from that, I am watching my programs, reading and listening to audio books when the power is out. I just read a very interesting book lent to me by Simon about Madagascar called The Gardens of Mars by John Gimlette. I recommend it. I never knew about Madagascar and this gave a very good picture.
So it is just me and the cats and now a couple of frogs have taken up residence.
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| Another tree frog that has taken up residence behind the cushion on my loveseat. |
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| I disturbed him while watering the pots. |
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| Chewy sitting on the bed. She has taken to suckling my hand and won't go to sleep unless she is in bed with me. |
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| She is growing. |
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| With Buddy and Putha. |
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| Yin and Yang. Buddy and Nangi. |
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| In her favorite chair. |
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| Yang and Yin. |
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