Sunday 26th February 2023

Today was a lovely day, and more than made up for my disappointing day yesterday. I was up early and got a tuk-tuk to GROW, where I had been asked to help Donald and Ladushan promote their 9-month English / ICT / Business Studies Course. It was a pleasure to do this, but also a bit sad, as they had hoped up to 30 potential students would turn up, whereas they only ended up with 12.

Unfortunately, Donald and Ladushan started up their business through Bookbridge at the worst possible time, with COVID19 having a devastating impact, only to be followed by the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka that has made everyone's lives more difficult, apart from the super-rich .The tight squeeze on middle-class budgets has made it difficult for parents to afford to send their youngsters on GROW's courses.

Having done my best, and then chatted to Ladushan about possible ways to attract more students, I went to The Grand Hotel, where Jana, Yad, and Daya were joining me for a 'thank-you' treat from me - 'High Tea at The Grand Hotel' - accompanied by live music for the third day running from Manethree Walpola. It was a wonderful afternoon, and one which will stay in my memory for a very long time to come.

Jana and Yad went home on their moped, and Daya and I did a bit of shopping, including getting some kottu for dinner, before getting a tuk-tuk back to Blackpool. We stopped on the way to take pictures of the sunset, which photographs simply cannot do full justice of. There is an indescribable beauty about this area of Sri Lanka, and I feel quite overwhelmed sometimes that I have got to experience this in my retirement years. 

Today's photographs show the promotion event at GROW, the High Tea at The Grand Hotel, and the beautiful sunset on the way home.












Comments

  1. CharlesFebruary 26, 2023 at 1:54 PM

    The sun is also setting on your third visit to the beautiful hill country of Sri Lanka. Wishing you a productive final few days in Nuwara Eliya...

    ReplyDelete
  2. AdrianFebruary 27, 2023 at 4:21 AM

    Hello again Keith, sounds as if you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was dominated by watching the 6 Nations rugby games. The starter was Italy versus Ireland which was a far closer game than I had anticipated. Ireland won but Italy have grown into a solid team at long last (23 years in the 6 Nations!). The main course was Wales versus England. I was joined at home for this by a Welsh friend. he thought England would win, I feared Wales might and thankfully, England were victorious. It was a poor game though. Sunday saw another epic, France versus Scotland. Both teams had a man sent off early in the game which mean it wasn't a one-sided affair and France ran out winners. I can't remember much else of the weekend :)
    I'm looking forward to hearing about your latest trip face-to-face. When are you back? Take care, Adrian

    ReplyDelete

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