Keep Track of Julia: July 2023

No posts in a while as nothing out of the ordinary is really happening.

Mahjong continues apace. As does Film Club, despite my best efforts to get out of it. Judith keeps pulling me in as she really needs my help with the tech side and collecting the money. So I guess that I am doomed to continue going even though I am thoroughly bored with it. Breakfasts at the Grand Kandyan also continue. We are now joined by some old friends, Marlise and Jayantha who fell off the radar for about 3 years. Nice to see them again. Dinners at the Lake Avenue also continue as does the occasional hopper night at the Kandy Club.

I had some friends over for lunch; 2 sets actually. I owed people for meals and parties, so I finally organized myself and did lunch. One with a Mexican theme: guacamole, Chili Sans Carne, cornbread and a rhubarb and rose apple (jumbu) galette for desert (not Mexican, but I like it) with real whipping cream. We have been having real trouble getting cream here. Butter is sometimes scarce as well. The second was an Italian theme: zucchini/eggplant lasagna, Caesar salad and the same galette for desert. Now I can relax for a few months.

The other big event was watching the coronation of King Charles. I am not a royalist, but I love the pomp and circumstance. However, by the end, I was a bit sickened by the huge expenditure when the money could have been spent on something that is really necessary. Two good things did come out of the event: he is no longer Defender of the Faith. That role has fallen to the Archbishop of Canterbury where it belongs. He also included some reference to the protection of the environment in his oath. The world changes very slowly.

The event was marked by a potluck party at George and Yvonne Cooper's. A short pre-lunch dip in their pool is always a nice feature. The only down side was that I got a lift out to George and Yvonne's with Douglas who missed the turning to my place on the way home in the dark and abandoned me at a location some distance from home in the dark. Not a good idea for a white woman to be standing alone on a Sri Lankan street at night. Thankfully my tuktuk man was there in less than 15 minutes. It was also Vesak Poya which is a festival of light celebrating the birth and death of the Buddha. The temple across the road from where Douglas dropped me off was lit up like a Christmas tree which afforded some protection.

From left to right: Douglas (my tennis partner), Liz, Pauline, George (mein host), me, Gerry and Bill (who came down for Jaffna)

I really wanted to try the breakfast at Lake Avenue so on the Sunday after the coronation, a group of us went. The choices were good, although they had no idea about the timing for the dishes. The eggs started coming out before the fruit, etc. They also did not how to do eggs easy-over. So I went into the kitchen and showed them.

In the end, the breakfast was good but not worth the LKR.3500 each we paid. They also have eggs benedict on the menu and eggs royale which replaces the meat with smoked salmon as an all day breakfast. Not having tried the eggs royale at breakfast, I had them the next time we went for dinner. Really good. They may not know eggs over easy but they know how to poach them.

I am back on the dental treadmill. My two front teeth have been replaced with a bridge. I am still waiting for the permanent one as my dentist is currently on a trip to Europe. Then there will be another extraction and another bridge there and finally a sinus lift and implant closer to the end of the year. Oh joy!

One of the Thirsty Club members threw a party on a Thirsty Club day to repay everyone for their invites throughout the year. It was at a local hotel. The place was hard to find and when we finally got there, it turned into a big booze up for Nico, the host, and his drinking buddies. No food other than meaty finger food had appeared by 1430. I thought I was going to faint. Finally, I got some oily fried rice that did not really agree with me. Will give it a miss if he does it again next year.

After a few false starts, Simon, Pauline and I finally made it out to a dairy farm about 45 minutes east of Kandy called Tamarind Garden Farms. They have a dozen cows and a couple of goats. They make cream, butter and cheese. Nice products. We have now set up to order monthly from them with delivery to my house. Looking forward to enjoying scones with clotted cream and excellent chèvre.

This is as close to the cows as I got as I had totally unsuitable shoes on to go trekking around a farm.

There were some painful exchanges with CIBC/Wood Gundy with whom I have some worthless stock. I had been advised that the account had been closed and then within a week, I get a call from some green desk jockey in Toronto asking me to delist the stock. Then it turned out that it could not be delisted unless I could show that the company is defunct. That meant doing a corporate registry search which costs C$100. Something I wasn't prepared to do when the stock is worth C$0. Then they wanted me to deregister it or something like that. That involved getting a lawyer from Lex Mundis to notarize the papers. The only one in Sri Lanka is in Colombo. Another thing I was not prepared to do.

In the end, I asked what would happen if I did nothing. Mr. Newbie said he couldn't tell me as that would encourage me to do nothing. So I told him that I would do nothing. Two phone calls later, he finally got the message and I haven't heard from him since.

The only other piece of news is that I now have a French student. She is a cousin of my friend Jez. I met her when I first came to Sri Lanka and have had little contact with her since. She rang up one day and asked if I would be willing to speak French with her every day. We started with 1 hour and are up to 1.5 hours/day now. It is great as it is helping me get my French back. I had not spoken French in over 20 years. It is amazing how quickly it comes back to you. We are reading Antoine Saint- Exupéry's Le Petit Prince. I still have my copy from when I was in high school. It is so nostalgic to see my notations in the book from more than 50 years ago.

Amra (that is her name) is now married and is a charming young woman. We have become friends and have started doing things together other than French. She wants me to teach her how to swim which I will be happy to do if we can ever get to the swimming pool. My swimming plans have been thwarted recently by either the hotel; guests using the pool, an algae infestation, and now the weather which is torrentially rainy with huge wind gusts.

My friends the Kawasakis finally allowed me into their house. They have not allowed anyone in since COVID. Nice to finally see their faces and not just talk on the phone.

We finally had a quasi-cultural event in Kandy. The newly accredited Ambassador for Peru came down from Delhi to present his credentials to the President. In conjunction with his visit, the Honorary Consul for Peru and the Honorary Consul for France. organized a photo exhibit, cocktail party and film festival in Kandy. As I am friends with the French Consul, I got an invitation.

Having forwarded the invitation to various and sundry, in the end, Simon, Pauline, Amra, Farees (her husband) and I attended. Overall, it was a bit lame with just a few photos of the Nazca lines as the exhibit. The food, however, was great.

Left to right: Amra, me, Mr. De Silva the Honorary Consul for Peru to Sri Lanka, Farees

Listening to the speeches which were mercifully short except the guy from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Never give a Sri Lankan a microphone.

The buffet which was great.

Left to right: Ravana, the Honorary Consul for France in Kandy, ?, Farees and Amra

More great food

Amra and me.

Amra and Farees had given me a lift to the event. We had decided not to stay for the first film which was showing right after the cocktail party, so they took me a new to me coffee shop called Java. Good coffee and nice atmosphere. We didn't eat, but the food looks good too.

Amra is part of the selfie generation.

It had been great hot and sunny weather until about a week ago. The only critters of interest were a huge snail and a lovely frog. Both seeking shelter from the sun.

The snails on Île des Pins in New Caledonia where they say they have the largest snails in the world, have nothing on these guys.