Back home in the UK

I am now back in the UK, my trip from Sri Lanka on Emirates Air was wonderful, smooth, well organised and incident free. Back in my homeland a few problems have already emerged. Firstly having decided to use the train because I don't like the bus I am told that the train will terminate at Yeovil and then we bus it down to Exeter. If you don't know the region, thats not a very convenient journey at the best of times and its going to be a big chore. You will know more about the weather here in the UK than I do but pretty typical, its not like it never rains and then suddenly it does and mayhem ensues.

Yours truly with the wonderful aircrew on my journey from Sri Lanka to the UK on Emirates.

Back in Sri Lanka this morning, I was up at well before 6 and got myself sorted and sat outside Ravi's shop drinking coffee. As the sun came up I was ready to depart for the airport. The wildlife was already active and breakfast was interrupted by a big rat that ran under my chair. My comment to Ravi that this was the first I had seen at his shop made me smile because he was almost put out that I hadn't seen more. The rat caused much excitement between Ravi and the female members of his family who chased it with a broom, like they had a chance of catching it. This early morning encounter was accompanied by loud laughter and giggles from everyone, even the early morning shop customers who joined in with lots of loud comments and again more laughing and joking.

Ravi's Dream House, my 3 bedroomed air-con accomodation from a spot just in front of the shop.

A laugh and a joke is pretty much the standard reaction to most situations in Sri Lanka. I had a small injury to my toe nail the other day, this was about the only time that the joking stopped. Indera (Mrs Ravi) was particularly concerned and had a worried look on her face as Ravi tenderly bathed the bleeding toe with surgical spirit and then iodine. It seems that Ravi is also the local first aid man in keeping with his status in the village as jack of all trades.

Natashia serves a customer at just after 6 am. The bread piled up on the counter.

Eventually the excitement of the rat faded and we said our goodbyes with a look of real sadness on the face of Mrs Ravi who had genuine tears in her eyes, I climbed in to Ravi's taxi….. another string to his bow by the way….. waved at the mum and girls and we pulled away. The trip in to Colombo on the main road past Nogombo was the usual frantic dodgem drive, made all the more exciting by the early morning commuters who, although in a hurry haven't thought about actually getting the cattle out of the road.

I had experienced a real adventure in Sri Lanka. Not even once was I concerned about safety of any kind, (apart from the perilous journey on the back of Ravi's moped). I photographed just a few more than 50 species, around a 5th of the species in the country. I am slightly disappointed in this number, it could have been more and would have been if I had travelled further afield looking for particular species. However, I made a conscious decision to stay near to my chosen base and then try to get better and better shots of the common birds around that area. Of these 50 birds, most I hadn't photographed before and at least 30 were new species to me. My accommodation was perfect, made all the better because of the close proximity to the luxury hotel at the end of the street. This was a bolt hole and I enjoyed the late evening drinks with the "all inclusive" residents who treated me as though I were a guest in the hotel with numerous new friendships made. I learned a few lessons about quality of life by mixing so closely with the community. I will definitely return again.

Looking over the wall from the front of the shop and in to the "garden" the new pig called Onya waits for breakfast. I couldn't find out what happened to the old sow that was there when I first arrived but it's not hard to guess. This waste land area was brilliant for birds with a dozen or so exotics seen every day. You could do a lot worse than just sit there all day.

PS to this post. In the end it took me longer to get from Gatwick to Exeter than it did from Dubai to Gatwick. Having been in the company of some of the nicest and kindest people that I have ever met it was a rude shock to be greeted by the absolutely appalling rudeness and lack of care by the bus driver on the replacement service from Yeovil. I suppose if he was unemployed and then couldn't feed himself as would be the case in Sri Lanka, then he might approach his job with a bit more enthusiasm.