Tuesday 4th March 2025

I finally got to my last day here which started very early, as I was up at the crack of dawn to sort out a few things in the apartment, then get my last few bits of packing done. Razeena once again brought me breakfast, which was a great start to my day. After breakfast, I popped a present for Sandra in Ravi's office, just in case I didn't see her to say goodbye to her but then met her at the Junior School on my way back and said a fond farewell to her there.

I left at 08:30, with Liyanage driving me to the airport - not that I was aware of that journey, because I had got up so early this morning that I nodded off for most of it. I hardly had to queue at all for either the security checks or for check-in, so I had quite a bit of time before my flight was due to take off at 12:50. I had a delicious, filled croissant for lunch, with a latte, then went to Gate 9, where I didn't have to wait too long before boarding the plane, which thankfully took off on time.

It was an 11-hour flight to London Heathrow, but I much prefer direct flights now. I was sat next to a young Sri Lankan woman, who turned out to be from Kurunegala! She had been back home to visit her family, as she now lives in Vancouver, Canada. She was due to have an 18-hour wait at Heathrow before catching a second flight of just over 9 hours to Vancouver, so I decided that my 11-hour journey was nothing really compared to that rather extraordinary one.

I was lucky enough to be able to sleep for much of the flight, although I did watch one movie - Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney - which I hadn't seen before, and rather enjoyed. The flight landed around 19:00 and I was quickly through customs and being met by my good friend Ahmed, who drove me back to Bath. I arrived in Bath almost smack on 22:00, so allowing for the time difference, it was a 19-hour journey in total from door-to-door!

There's an extra final paragraph in this last blog entry of my sixth trip to Sri Lanka, as I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has made an effort to follow my blog. A few of you have done so on a regular basis, with many more just popping in and out over the past couple of months. It has been another quite extraordinary journey for the past 2 months of my life and I count it a privilege that so many of you have accompanied me on that journey through this blog.

Obviously, there are no photographs today, so I include 10 of my favourite photographs from this latest amazing 58 days in this beautiful country of Sri Lanka. I could have picked so many more!











Comments

  1. CharlesMarch 9, 2025 at 12:45 AM

    Great selection - is the last one of the girl Daya hopes to marry, I wonder?

    ReplyDelete

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