Still in Sri Lanka and it’s Jenny’s birthday

I was joined here in Sri Lanka by my wife Jenny and son Tom on Thursday, late afternoon. As a promise to Jenny I haven’t been using my camera much since, in fact not at all but I have still been enjoying the birds and wildlife. The weather continues to be hot and humid with some rain here and there and today, Sunday its been very hot and then suddenly we were hit by a heavy storm with thunder and lightening flashing all around us. It is Jenny’s birthday and I had planned to take her for late afternoon tea at the Ranwelli Hotel but the rain spoilt the treat somewhat. This morning we started the day with traditional dancers and firecrackers to celebrate the big birthday for Jenny. We enjoyed a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast treat with milk rice cakes and honey as well as other delicacies. The dancers were agile and acrobatic with traditional drums beating wildly. If you are reading this and know of the Royal Marine’s band then you will think the same as I did, it was very much like a Sri Lankan Corp of Drums!

Jenny and her dancers.

Anyway, it was a lovely birthday treat for Jenny even with possibly the strangest rendition of happy Birthday that I have ever heard. All of us were singing in different languages and keys with the sun beating down to tip the thermometer to around 28 degrees at 9 o’clock.

Yesterday I took Jenny and Tom to Negombo and inevitably to the fish market where the sights, sounds and smells are simply over – powering and this, coupled with the heat can be almost too much to bear. Tom immediately gagged and was almost sick. On the beach though, the workers were processing the whitebait as always, egrets were numerous and the terns were diving for fish close in to shore, just as I remembered it. We returned to the Railway Station ready for the journey back on the rickety train but decided to take a Tuk tuk instead which was like an Alton Towers ride, no crash this time but all the time knowing that there was a reasonable possibility! The highlight of this journey was the avoidance of cow and calf crossing the main road as busses, lorries and of course us and the many other tuk-tuks did the same. Miracles do happen…….. every second of the day here on the roads of Sri Lanka, accidents do not happen constantly which you would imagine they should. But who knows why not.