Saturday 30th April 2022

There was no school for the students, but the staff were in doing their own TKT English training, and I worked in Chan's office upstairs. There were panicked cries mid-morning, as a swarm of bees appeared at the school. All doors and windows were closed, and fires lit to create smoke to deter the bees, who eventually settled in a nearby tree (you can just make out an oval black blob in the picture I hope!).

I was speaking to my wife, Val, on Messenger, and about to speak to my daughter, Hannah, who was with her, when there was yet another power cut! I managed to catch up later (and got my son Ben as well), but Hannah had left to go back to London by then, so I was sorry to miss her. You can imagine the huge disruption these regular power cuts - often twice a day - are causing to people's lives here.

I took a tuk-tuk into Maskeliya whilst the power was out and wandered round the town taking photographs of the buildings, which I find quite astonishing. They are a muddled concoction of random shapes and sizes, leaving you to wonder if there are any planning regulations here at all! Many buildings remain unfinished, with their owners waiting to be able to afford to complete the next storey.

I was settled in my room after I got back when there was an enormous crash! I looked outside and, as a large coach had stopped just outside the garage to pick up a passenger, a smaller coach had run into the back of it. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but complete mayhem ensued, as people got out of both buses and traffic behind had to swerve round the buses to continue their journeys. It was all quite dramatic!

N.B. I have changed the settings on the 'Comments', so anyone can comment now. Please do look back, and ask me any questions you might have (I will make sure I reply back to you) or comment on anything you feel like commenting on! Feel free to email  me at kjledbury@hotmail.com if you would prefer to do that instead! Thanks, Keith