Sunday 8th May 2022

It was Mother's Day today in Sri Lanka, and my favourite mother here at the moment is Lasanthi, who looks after me very well at Ananda's, so I surprised her with a cake. The Sri Lankan word for mother is 'Amma', and with four children, I hear that word constantly, and often say 'Isthuti Amma!' myself - as a very affectionate 'Thanks Ma', because she is a lovely lady, and a great mother to her four children.

I went into school to help Mr. Chan today, and a man (Mr. Aruchunan I later found out) came up to me on the bridge and quite randomly I thought said: 'Do you know James?' I quickly realised that he meant James Houston, who used to work for me, and is a leading light in Tea Leaf Vision, so we had a chat about James and his wife Beth, and he then insisted on having his photograph taken with me!

Mr. Chan had asked me if I would like to support him with some private teaching of 6 estate workers, so of course I said 'yes' (what else am I doing on a Sunday morning really?). I enjoyed it very much, spending a lot of time chatting to them, and then hearing them read - not so much to check their reading level, as to check their English pronunciation. There were, inevitably, more photos after the session!

It was generally a very relaxing afternoon after that, and I had a traditional pot of tea around 4p.m., with my good friend Laura joining me. I do love dogs, but I could never have one, as it simply wouldn't suit our lifestyle at home. As we spend so much time in Cres, Croatia (and me in Sri Lanka), it would be very restricting to have to look after a dog, so I end up, like today, just enjoying other peoples!