Friday 17th January 2025

For regular followers of my blog, you may be wondering why I haven't mentioned The Grand Hotel yet, as you will know that on previous visits it has been a favourite haunt of mine. Although I have already been here for 10 days, I haven't been yet as I have had a very full timetable so far, so reduced opportunity, especially as Sky Heaven is actually an extremely lovely place to work from. The other reason is that it has become extremely expensive since I first went there in 2019.

Immediately after a very good online meeting with Jesmin this morning, where we talked around various aspects of my role as Volunteer Coordinator, there was a power cut! I really needed to continue working online, so I finally succumbed to the temptation to visit The Grand Hotel, as they have their own generator there, and you are guaranteed internet access. I must admit I was looking forward to seeing everyone again, as I have spent many happy hours there.

I duly arrived at The Grand Hotel, and I settled down to work in a little corner of the new tea room area, which only opened last month. I hadn't been there too long before my good friend Kamal appeared, and it was lovely to see him again. I will try to catch up a bit more with him over lunch next Saturday. I got quite a lot of work done, but I was a bit frustrated by my increasingly poor knowledge of how to work online, and I must access some sort of IT course soon to help me!

The regular saxophonist, Mahinda, whom I have known since 2019, appeared and I always enjoy his playing. He encouraged me to sing with him, which I duly did from where I was sitting, but I did also get up to sing 'Imagine' with him at one point, which was fun, and Kamal recorded it on my phone. As evening fell, I left The Grand Hotel and walked to Da Silva's, where I was having dinner with Isabelle, before walking back in the darkness up the hill to Sky Heaven.

Today's photos show the lovely new tea room at The Grand Hotel, with the little corner table where I worked all afternoon, plus one of me with Mahinda, a couple of the huge dining hall, and views looking back into the tea room and out again as I left. Fortunately for you, the video of me singing 'Imagine' exceeds the 100MB limit allowed on Blogger!










Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2025 at 12:35 PM

    Wonderful eloquent description of the country, people and life in Sri Lanka. Greatly appreciated.

    ReplyDelete

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