Friday 20th February 2026

There was no great rush today, as my first lesson observation wasn't until 09:30, so I had a late breakfast, then made my way to the sports field to take a few photographs of the Grades 5 and 6 Sports Meet, which looked to be going well. Madam Sandra was addressing the parents as I arrived. Events at the Royal International School seem to be extremely well done, and they go to much greater lengths than we would for our Sports Days in UK schools.

It felt like a very relaxed day today, as my commitments in school were very light, with just a couple of lesson observations in Grades 5 and 6, where the classes were small because of students involved in the Sports Meet. I then had a couple more lesson observations in Grades 7 and 8, although the second one of those got cancelled, as Nilanga arrived rather early to take me away for the weekend, and it was an ICT lesson that wasn't a high priority for me.

Nilanga arrived, and Radha, his wife, was with him, as she is from Kurunegala, so they had arranged to have lunch with her parents. She is 7-months pregnant - due to give birth in April - and she was looking rather radiant. I think she was also rather tired, as she had a nap on the journey to Sigiriya. I chatted a bit with Nilanga, and we also listened to a great playlist of UK popular music. It was a pleasant journey, and we arrived in Sigiriya around 15:30 this afternoon.

Nilanga and Radha are renting a very nice place on the edge of the jungle - very close to Sigiriya. They have two rooms to rent out to tourists, both with air conditioning, and they have a very pleasant veranda to sit out on. They have a young Tamil lad called Bawan staying with them, and he took me on a walk to see views of the famous Lion Rock, and we also saw the Sigiriya Buddhist Temple, which has an incredibly tall statue of Buddha. We will climb the Lion Rock tomorrow.

Today's photographs show a few from this morning's Sports Meet for Grades 5 and 6, plus a few from my first afternoon/evening here in Sigiriya.











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