It seems that nothing much is happening in my life, but then I look back to the last time I wrote this blog and see that, in fact, there has been quite a bit of activity.
Mahjong continues unabated. Our teacher has been living up in Jaffna for about 6 months and is now headed to Australia for a month. We are lucky to be using her set until I can have one shipped from the UK. So in the end, the student (read me) has become the teacher. We are getting the hang of it and are playing half-limit games with ease now. Limit games are becoming more familiar as well and we even get to double-limit games sometimes. It all keeps the brain agile.
Going for lunch with friends also breaks up some of the daily routine. I go into town for lunch most Saturdays after mahjong.
Also made one trip to Simpson's Forest. It was lovely as always. I still had the dog then. One of the people who came with us said he was happy to take the dog and promised to come for lunch at Lesley and Ralph's the following Sunday and take the dog after lunch. Come the day, he didn't show up for lunch. Not even a phone call. He wasn't answering his phone either.
I was on the edge of despair thinking I was going to have to keep Bandhi. He is a lovely dog, but just too much for me. Finally, Maryam came up with a young couple who really wanted him. So he has gone to live with them up behind the National Hospital. They have an aging Pomeranian and Bandhi apparently took to them and the place immediately. They called after a week to say that all was going well.
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| He was really growing |
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| Maryam giving him a belly rub. He loves those. |
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| Saying good-bye |
The Kandy Club has hopper nights on some Fridays. I went with Simon and Pauline on a Friday in September just the day before their AGM. The hoppers were good. The curries were cold. We sat on the lawn which was lovely. Also ran into some friends that I had not seen in over a year. The only fly in the ointment was the roving musicians. I can't stand that idea of them hovering over your table twanging their guitars in your ears. Apart from that, all together a good evening.
The breakfast buffet at the Grand Kandyan continues as well. I have let my swim membership lapse. It is too far away and is too expensive. I have been swimming intermittently when and where I can. Now we are into the northeast monsoon so it is raining all the time. That seems to have been the case for most of this year. In the new year, I plan to go and speak to a small hotel within one-way walking distance to see if I can make a deal with them for a swim membership.
I have become bored with Film Club and am taking a break from it. A number of us have been discussing what we can do for some variety when George and Yvonne came up with a good idea. There has been a hotel under construction on the rock outcropping across from their place for about 3 years now. It finally opened and they organized a lunch and afternoon visit there.
The place is called Greenacre Leisure Resort. Quite off the beaten path but worth it when you finally get there. There was some doubt that we would even make it as Lesley, Judith and I were to meet Jim at a Food City for him to give us a lift. He called that morning to say he had a flat tire which he had to change. We changed the pickup venue to the Peradeniya Rest House so that we could get a coffee and sit while waiting for him. Then he called back to say his spare was one of those small temporary tires and that he had to go into a garage the other side of Gampola to have the tire repaired and put back on. The three of us debated whether we should call the whole thing off and just have lunch at the Rest House. In the end, Jim was not too late and really wanted to go, so we set off. We made it only 20 minutes later than we thought.
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| First things first. Into the pool for 60 laps. |
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| Lovely infinity pool overlooking the valley with the mountains beyond. |
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| The panorama |
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| The rooms are in globe shaped structures. Two rooms per building. The rooms are spectacular. Very large with great views and extraordinary bathrooms. Very expensive though. |
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| The gang from left to right: Jim, George, Viv, Malcolm, Judith |
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| And again from right to left: Lesley, Yvonne, Judith |
The food wasn't great but not bad either. All in all worth the trip although I don't know what kind of tourist business they will get being so far out of the way.
Went to Los Amigos Locos with Simon and Pauline for dinner after a long time. They have been restoring their 1951 Land Rover so we went in it. When we came out from dinner, it wouldn't start. So here I am with 3 guys from the restaurant on a pitch dark road pushing this solid steel vehicle in reverse to get it going. We managed and got back to our destinations without further incident. Never a dull moment.
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| Pauline as car model. |
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| Great old beast. A real off road vehicle. |
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| Simon as car model. |
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| Because of all the rain this time of year, we get a lot of flying termites. They usually come out just as dark descends for about 30 minutes. At Flamboyant they came out in the morning as the sun was rising. They covered the pool. The pool guy took off 6 skimmer bags full. In the early morning after my swim, I was sitting on my veranda watching the large troupe of monkeys that came through. A mother with her baby clinging on to her chest was jumping and catching the termites and eating them. She cleaned up a whole swarm with the baby sleeping comfortably on her belly. In the ends, both Simon and Pauline got COVID in Malta and had to stay for another 2 weeks. Luckily they had a friends's flat to stay in or else it would have cost them a fortune. The couple living in the annex moved out at the beginning of October. I have made a deal with my landlady to take over the annex for a servant's quarters. I had decided that by time I was 70 I would have a live in housekeeper. Now that I have another bedroom with bath and a separate kitchen, that is possible. I interviewed Simon and Pauline's housekeeper's sister who seemed to be alright. Then while at the hairdresser for my monthly fur/claw session, I met a man why unusually was getting a mani/pedi. He was the second man I have in there getting a pedicure. We got to chatting. As it turned out, he was moving back to Colombo after a few years in Kandy. He has a housekeeper who he highly recommended. We made the necessary arrangements for her to come for an interview. She is perfect. 56 years old, speaks better English than Vineetha, has her own scooter and is willing to live in. After having gone to Vasnta's house to see how she kept things, I offered her the job. She will start in January. So I will have someone 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday, half day off on Saturday and Sunday off. It has been a bumpy transition with Vineetha but we seem to be over the worst now. I am hopeful that I have found her another job with a friend that lives very close to her house. She is off today being interviewed for the position. I will, of course, give her a pension as she has been with me for 10 years. However, I am looking forward to the change. Of course, I have to outfit the kitchen and get a TV for the bedroom. That will all be done in December in time for the change over. The rains have really brought out the flowers in the garden.
        As always finishing up with my furry babies.          |
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