Penultimate blog

Thoughts for the day.

Flies all look the same no matter where you are in the World, they also irritate you as much

Public transport is good in Sri Lanka, so many buses and they are cheap fares , three wheel (taxis) tuctucs too. Another hazard is cyclists carrying umbrellas in strong winds.

Dogs always cross the road in pairs or sometimes more.

Was stopped recently by the Traffic Police and asked whether I wanted to buy a lottery ticket.

Road side stalls all sell exactly the same products as their neighbour in a collective madness, whether its pottery, wooden gods, fruit, yogurt, there may be 10 to 20 stalls on a road side next to each other, but not a single customer, I have heard of "stacking high and selling cheap". Here it is "spreading wide and selling nothing".

What is the thin cusp of water that laps up and back on a beach after a wave has broken?

Saturday's Natural History corner.

3ft  monitor lizard crosses in front of my path to my bedroom and disappears through a 6inch wide drain pipe.
A brown eagle glides on thermals all the way along the beach it takes 5 mins without a single flap.

Spend Saturday hanging out, chilling, doing nothing, laying on the beach reading swimming, there is a cloudy sky, but the water is hot.

I hang out at "Babi's Seaside" shack and wait for Manuel, Babi gives me a present of a carved baby elephant,
because he says I have good heart. I was over whelmed by his comment,. They call me "Bob" after the previous evening explaining the Bob Marley story, I tell them that the elephant will be called "Bob" too.

Manuel arrives, we have soft drinks, and order food. Vegetable Rice for him, Deviled Calamari for me. We get into a good discussion about India vs Sri Lanka. Cheeki plays "Sleng Ten Rhythm" a dub style from the early 80's, its amazing how its stood the test of time. Food arrives mine is a brilliant mix of onions, leeks, peppers, chilli's and squid. Babi is a natural cook, also a good fisherman. Great Food. We leave to go, we said that we are off to the Large Beach Shack at the end of the West beach, the Seaside Shack guys decide to close up for the night and join us.

They sea is black, but so warm to our toes. its a warm night,  fireflies fly above our heads. We walk along the beach its hard to imagine that I will be leaving all this soon.

At the shack there is a nice atmosphere, Israeli, Dutch, German travellers sit at tables by the lapping tide, drinking laughing and relaxing. A young Sri Lankan man twirls flaming oil lampson 3ft chains around his head and to his sides in time to the music, its very impressive. Suddenly all the tourists jump up, the last wave came much further up the beach and whetted all their seated bums. Much laughing in many languages. Its late and I decide to leave, big hugs all round.

I lift the broken picket fence off so that I can climb back into the hotel property. Go to bed and fall asleep immediately.

Sunday.

Woken by crashing of waves, its 5.45am, there is no water to shower and the rest of the list beginning with "S". I leave in a bad mood. By 6.00am I am on the road. There is little traffic, the sea looks angry too.

I forget to pop in and say goodbye to Babi, I am pissed off at not having showered.

Its raining hard, I cancel stopping off at Galle, its a pity, but site seeing in pouring rain is not an option. I drive past glorious beaches, but they are just so wet. Colombo is an unflattering city, smoothered in Police and Army checkpoints. I head out fast.

I get to Ngombo, 10 ks south of Kochikarde. The roads are all flooded, its been raining here fro 2 days non stop. I pass a cemetery, it too is flooded. On a beach hummock there are thousands of crosses with names on them, reminding all of Boxing Day 2004's tsunami and its toll on local families. Its a very sad but an evocative sight. I get to Angela and Nina's by 11.30. We head out early for last minute shopping, a few beers and a meal at the King Coconut.

 I say goodbye to Angela, she is flying back to England via Kuwait at 5.30am next morning.

Monday

Angela, phones from Kuwait, she waiting for her connection. I half pack and take the car back. Nina and I take a tuctuc to Ngombo for some shopping. Its sunny for the first time in 10 days, there has been much local flooding.

I chill out for the day. Preparing for my 11.30pm taxi, and a trip back to England.

PHOTOS WILL BE POSTED ON THE LAST BLOG.