Thursday 19th February 2026

It was just another day at the office for me today, although I have rarely actually been in the office that was allocated to me here, as I have mainly been in lesson observations, Priyani's office, or Lalanga's office. A few more lesson observations again today, followed by a meeting with Lalanga and his two Grade 7 and Grade 8 Coordinators with Madam Sandra and Managing Director Ravi in his office. Only a few key tasks left for me out here now.

I went back to the apartment this afternoon to find that I had no electricity at all, so my immediate assumption was that there had been a power cut. I checked in with Chandika, and there didn't seem to be a power cut, so eventually, after spending more than an hour melting in the heat, a couple of maintenance guys came round to check, only to discover that the trip switch in the main fuse box had blown, and simply needed to be switched back on again!

It was both frustrating, and a little embarrassing, to find that the solution to my electricity problem was such a simple one but now that I know where the fuse box is, it will be the first place I look if it happens again. I was hoping to get a load of washing done this afternoon, and fortunately I still had time to do that and to hopefully get it all dry before nightfall. As you can imagine washing takes very little time to dry with the climate as it is out here.

It's a sign of my countdown that this was my penultimate wash, with just one final one at some point next week, as I leave here a week on Saturday. I will need to finish off stuff in the fridge, but there isn't much of that, and Razeena next door is already keenly anticipating the rest of the jar of coffee that I brought out with me. Tomorrow I will head off for my last weekend away before my final 4 nights, which are already booked at The Swimming Club in Colombo.

Today's photographs are one I took showing the new building, which is well on its way to completion now, plus another photograph showing you just how close the school is to the junction where you get on the motorway. There are also two random photographs that Vino sent me last night which were taken at the wedding reception, which I had not seen before.