Saturday 1st March 2025

I was up very early this morning to say goodbye to Daya, as he was catching an early bus to Kandy, on his way to Hatton, and finally his family home in Norwood. It has been lovely spending some quality time with him over the past couple of days, and a little tough saying goodbye, as it could be a long time before I come back again to Sri Lanka. I feel ready to go home now, but a part of me longs to stay here, and I know that something of me remains each time I go back to the UK.

I rested for a lot of the day, enjoying quite a big drop in temperature, and experiencing a tremendous thunderstorm, with the loudest clap of thunder that I have ever heard in my life! The extremes of weather here are quite extraordinary, and after day upon day of intense heat, it felt very overcast and quite dark and gloomy for most of the day. I was going to do a last load of washing, but I have put that off until tomorrow, hoping that the sun will be back then.

Sandra called me in the afternoon, inviting me to go over to her house for tea, before going on to her brother Hilary's house to celebrate his birthday. We were able to sit outside in a patioed area of her garden that is covered by a roof, so we were sheltered from the incessant rain. She was relaxing whilst making necklaces, so I had a go as well, just making up one, which might be made up for me properly at the factory before I go, if they have time to fit it in!

It was a very relaxed evening at Hilary's, with his wife Seemanthani making some lovely pasta dishes, a prawn dish, and a salad for dinner. One of their cousins, who lives in Toronto, Canada, was there with his mother-in-law, which made it all the more enjoyable. Sri Lankans in general seem to be such hospitable people, and Sandra's family are no exception, as I have received such a warm welcome from them from the first time I met Sandra, just over a year ago now.

I only took one photograph today - of Hilary's birthday cake - so I have again included a few favourite photographs that you may or may not have seen before.






Comments

  1. CharlesMarch 2, 2025 at 11:42 PM

    It is lovely that you treasure Sri Lanka so much you leave part of yourself behind when you return home to the UK.

    ReplyDelete

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