Tuesday 28 March and all is back to normal; Lesley,Clare and Victor having flown to London on Saturday. They seemed to enjoy the holiday and the highlight, especially for Lesley, was obviously the trip to Ampara to visit with Jaya.
On Saturday I moved into my new guesthouse, MidumVilla. I’m in the penthouse suite (!) – two balconies one of which is equipped with furniture and a punkah fan such that it is effectively a conservatory lounge. It’s in a rural location (ethnic) away from the tourists and the wildlife is extensive. Gunga (yes really) and Janath, my hosts, feed me breakfast and dinner and for bbem I am paying £9 per night.
The last few days in Una have been affected by the closure of its only road (I use the term loosely), to facilitate the construction of a stormwater drain. No half and half measures here to enable traffic still to flow, they just closed it. This resulted in many vehicles being hemmed in as the only other route out is over the peninsular and through the boondocks to Galle. My particular difficulty was that I had to move my large suitcase from the hotel (which was on one side of the closure) to my guesthouse, which was on the other side and half a mile away. No tuk-tuks on the closed side to help so I ended up balancing the case on the front footrest well, dangling my feet and driving the half-mile (as well as crossing the footbridge at the closure) to my residence. Quite a feat I thought.
Tamil Tiger activity seems to be increasing despite the cease-fire agreement. On Saturday a fishing boat laden with explosives was steered into a Naval ship. Nine sailors dead and a number of Tigers. Some who know about these things tells me that it’s shaping up for the Tigers to withdraw from the cease-fire agreement and for hostilities to re-commence in May. So very sad and such a waste of lives and resources.
Sunday I spent settling in and also preparing an outline design for a sports pavilion for which PG06 have arranged funding. Versatile or what? We want to come up with something that is a bit different from the usual clinker block structure and one that will set a pattern for how the locals may construct similarly in the future.
Yesterday, Monday, I was to Colombo on a visa extension run. 0645 train going up and 1600 train coming back – dumped me in Galle at 1900. A very long day I can tell you in this temperature and humidity. The passport / visa office was chaotic. Anyone who has experience trying to get visas in a TWC will know exactly what I mean. Little ole me, who is used to having a Mr Fixit alongside to ease me through the minefield, was left to my own devices. I must have learned something over the years as I emerged 3 hours later hot and frustrated but successful as, stamped in my passport, is a visa extension of 60 days.
I’ve completed my trawl through the Livelihhood Project database searching for a suitable beneficiary for the framing project. I have discovered three men who are jewellery box makers, who all but lost their businesses but were helped by PG05 through the supply of tools and materials to get started again. They are now just surviving whereas previously they had viable businesses and two even employed others. To my mind, jewellery box manufacture must provide a good basis for framing so, giving one of them the equipment and training, will give him another string to his bow and perhaps allow him to employ others in the medium to long term. I still have the Salvation Army idea to explore but I thought I’d start with this idea and see how it develops before approaching them.
Contract day 2 of my playground project. I visited my contractor today and was delighted to see that he has already precast all the concrete bases for the seating. Tomorrow we have a ‘sod-cutting ceremony’ at the park (or at least ‘sand scraping ceremony’), as he is to commence the bases for the shading columns.
On Saturday I moved into my new guesthouse, MidumVilla. I’m in the penthouse suite (!) – two balconies one of which is equipped with furniture and a punkah fan such that it is effectively a conservatory lounge. It’s in a rural location (ethnic) away from the tourists and the wildlife is extensive. Gunga (yes really) and Janath, my hosts, feed me breakfast and dinner and for bbem I am paying £9 per night.
The last few days in Una have been affected by the closure of its only road (I use the term loosely), to facilitate the construction of a stormwater drain. No half and half measures here to enable traffic still to flow, they just closed it. This resulted in many vehicles being hemmed in as the only other route out is over the peninsular and through the boondocks to Galle. My particular difficulty was that I had to move my large suitcase from the hotel (which was on one side of the closure) to my guesthouse, which was on the other side and half a mile away. No tuk-tuks on the closed side to help so I ended up balancing the case on the front footrest well, dangling my feet and driving the half-mile (as well as crossing the footbridge at the closure) to my residence. Quite a feat I thought.
Tamil Tiger activity seems to be increasing despite the cease-fire agreement. On Saturday a fishing boat laden with explosives was steered into a Naval ship. Nine sailors dead and a number of Tigers. Some who know about these things tells me that it’s shaping up for the Tigers to withdraw from the cease-fire agreement and for hostilities to re-commence in May. So very sad and such a waste of lives and resources.
Sunday I spent settling in and also preparing an outline design for a sports pavilion for which PG06 have arranged funding. Versatile or what? We want to come up with something that is a bit different from the usual clinker block structure and one that will set a pattern for how the locals may construct similarly in the future.
Yesterday, Monday, I was to Colombo on a visa extension run. 0645 train going up and 1600 train coming back – dumped me in Galle at 1900. A very long day I can tell you in this temperature and humidity. The passport / visa office was chaotic. Anyone who has experience trying to get visas in a TWC will know exactly what I mean. Little ole me, who is used to having a Mr Fixit alongside to ease me through the minefield, was left to my own devices. I must have learned something over the years as I emerged 3 hours later hot and frustrated but successful as, stamped in my passport, is a visa extension of 60 days.
I’ve completed my trawl through the Livelihhood Project database searching for a suitable beneficiary for the framing project. I have discovered three men who are jewellery box makers, who all but lost their businesses but were helped by PG05 through the supply of tools and materials to get started again. They are now just surviving whereas previously they had viable businesses and two even employed others. To my mind, jewellery box manufacture must provide a good basis for framing so, giving one of them the equipment and training, will give him another string to his bow and perhaps allow him to employ others in the medium to long term. I still have the Salvation Army idea to explore but I thought I’d start with this idea and see how it develops before approaching them.
Contract day 2 of my playground project. I visited my contractor today and was delighted to see that he has already precast all the concrete bases for the seating. Tomorrow we have a ‘sod-cutting ceremony’ at the park (or at least ‘sand scraping ceremony’), as he is to commence the bases for the shading columns.
posted by Colin HARMAN at 11:58 PM
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