Tuesday 3rd May 2022

I appear to have acquired a rather nice four-legged friend, as when I open the door of my room in the morning, the neighbour's dog, Gundu, is outside in the corridor guarding my door. I am already very fond of Laura and Lily, Ananda's family's dogs, so I shall just have to add Gundu to the list. He is a very docile, harmless creature, who seems to hang around the garage with Laura and Lily all the time.

It was yet another holiday in Sri Lanka today, as it was Eid Mubarak, the Muslim festival at the end of Ramadan. All religions festivals are catered for here - Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Muslim, not to mention Poya Days (when there is a full moon). A big plus was that, in order not to upset the Muslims on Eid Mubarak, there were no power cuts today, although they may impose worse ones tomorrow!

I made the most of another free day by going to visit Donald and his extended family who live on the Wanarajah Estate near Hatton. I endured another sensational roller-coaster-ride bus journey down the hills to Wanarajah (even more exciting on the way back in the dark!) and had the most pleasant of days with Donald and his family, which I discovered, as we had a walk round the houses, is huge!

We stopped by his aunt's house, where a group of ladies were learning to bake cakes, to be able to set up their own small businesses. After lunch, we had a good chat about how to develop his business (GROW) in Nuwara Eliya, then went to visit his sister Yuprishya and her husband Martin, who have a 7-month-old baby girl called Sheleena Ivency, and live the other side of Hatton, but not too far away.