Joseph is walking . . .

Joseph is walking!!!! . . . well almost . . . He’ll happily walk a couple of metres unaided, taking up to 30-40 steps at times. He’s still his usually smiley giggling self. If there’s a choice between inside and out, then it’s out, and if it’s between natural landscapes and a main busy roads, he’ll almost forcibly drag us to the main road. His repertoire has increased to telling us when he sees a tuk-tuks, bikes and buses.

Grandad Mike will be pleased to hear that he even loves boats now and the sea . . . a sailor in the making.

Sarah is doing well. She’s interviewed a few Sinhala language teachers, one of whom didn’t really speak English, which is encouraging . . .
It’s still tricky entertaining Joseph for hours on end, but he’s now enjoying the sea and beach

She’s pleased to have found a house for us – ideally located close to my office and the best place in town to buy coffee

Sarah has also got us a good deal on membership of a local leisure club and keeps pointing out all the different activities I can do to get fit . . . just what can she mean???

I was chuffed to buy my first ever pair of Rayban sunglasses this week – they promised they were not fakes, and at £7.50 complete with a guarantee, I was convinced. I am currently composing a bewildered letter to Rayban asking why they designed glasses that dye my face black whenever I wear them . . .

Work has been very good. I’ve been busy writing contracts, issuing invitations to tender, assessing returned tenders, awarding contracts, and instructing poor performing contractors and consultants to get their acts together

This has meant travelling to different parts of the country each day, and has meant I’ve hardly seen Sarah and Joseph all week. I am keen to get more authority delegated to the field. Until recently, there’s been a shortage of top quality regional engineers due to the brain drain to western countries, so head office have vetted most regional work. However, with quite a number of recent recruits, I’m looking to change this, making life easier for all of us.

We’re working hard to be more efficient and innovative as a significant amount of pledged donors money has been withdrawn due to the Los Angeles Hurricane Katrina and Pakistan earthquake disasters

All staff in the southern offices gained a much needed rest on Wednesday afternoon with an inter-office cricket match, and with great thanks to me (for not participating) . . . my office won!

Amusing news of the weekend is that a group of us went in pursuit of an elephant ride that came with high commendation. After a long trip, with much searching to find the right location, and many stories of how exciting and excellent the trip would be . . . we finally got to the booking desk to be told . . . the elephant had just died . . .





1700 people died on this train as many boarded thinking they would be safe from the tsunami















There were over 10 houses on this plot before the tsunami. Hardly a trace remains.





There's more photos of our earlier weeks on the posts below if you want to see them

A lot's happened in a week . . .

We have so far in Galle:
observed some of the utter destruction caused by the tsunami – whole fields full just of the floors of the houses (no walls at all), where towns used to be – and people living in tents or temporary houses

• heard awful stories – people are suffering a lot still

mastered Tuk-Tuks and adopted some safer and more reliable drivers as our regular drivers (they are great and know most of what we need to know to get by here, including where to find a house or just about anything)

tried out a couple of hotel pools, one of which is Geoffrey Bawa architect-designed and the most heavenly pool in which we have ever swum

eaten at restaurants in idyllic locations (and all got funny tummies)

discovered fairly basic shops which have a limited selection of what we’ll need

visited about 10 houses to rent and narrowed it down to 2 and it is REALLY hard deciding between them. Some of the houses had grottos and water features on several levels INSIDE the house. Really suitable for Joe-Joe . . . .

hung out with the 2 families and 1 couple who are colleagues and ex-pats – they are great and we can learn a lot from them all, only one family has been here much longer than us, they have a 2 year old but we’re gutted they are leaving soon. One family lived in Laos, (where we have recently visited) and know our friends there. They have 4 children and Joe loves them!

walked around the ramparts of the Fort area of Galle

gone on a river trip to an island with a temple (where 12 year old boys were becoming Buddhist monks that day and were being left there by their parents) and to another island where they show you how they produce cinnamon.

Mike’s been getting to grips with his job, including travelling round three districts, meeting hoards of people, observing more devastation, participating in boat and fishing equipment distribution, and starting to get a perspective on the substantial need. World Vision have already done absolutely loads, it’s really impressive, but there’s still a ton of work to do.

Joe has also made friends with other families staying at our hotel (they come and go) and with all the Tuk Tuk drivers outside the hotel – he plays with their Tuk Tuks for ages, and they just chuck him out when they get a passenger.

We also appeared in the Liverpool Echo last Wednesday and were on Radio Merseyside on Saturday. What fame. It’s coming up to a year since the tsunami, so we’re all expecting an influx of journalists here soon.

There’re tough things and great things about living here, and we’re glad we’ve come.

BUT – the icing on the cake . . . our friend Rick (from London – one of Joe’s Godfathers) got engaged to Henrietta! Hooray and congratulations.

The great arrival

Well, here we are. We've arrived! News in brief:

• We all caught colds on the flight over
• We've had non-stop torrential rain since we arrived, as a spin off from the Pakistan/ India cyclone
• Our freight was completely lost. Now it's found it's stuck in customs and they want to charge us 20% VAT on absolutely everything
• Someone else has my job

When you've all stopped laughing, read on . . .

• Everyone here is so completely lovely. They can't do enough for us . . .
• In truth the first day was sunny, but we were too tired to take photos . . .
• Our hotel is gorgeous (see below) and we feel guilty for being somewhere so nice . . .
• The food is great . . .
• It's easy to get a nice cup of tea!!!
• There is loads of work on, so much to do, but they're doing an excellent job here. It's a priviledge to be part of it
• The truth about my job is that the workload has increased considerably, so they have taken on someone else as well as me, and we now have to workout how our roles overlap
• They won't really charge us 20% VAT on our freight - it was delivered to the commercial depot in error, so I'm getting it transferred today
• Sarah and Joseph are doing really well, except for being a little bored as they can't get out in the rain
• We've met a few people here with young kids, but strangely they're the shy people so it's taking a little time to get to know them
• The traffic is completely mad
• 
• We should be moving to Galle on Friday or Tuesday (Monday is a bank holiday - they have 1 - 4 per month! Sarah will then find us a house, whilst I'll come back to Colombo for 1-2 weeks to get to know the Colombo Shelter team and the local contractors and designers
• They have progressed things very well here - I've seen good standard contract documents (similar to UK documents), and well developed housing designs (a lot more basic than the UK, but solid robust designs). The tender process is similar to the UK, with a list of preferred contractors and designers in place for some time now

The unimpressive looking restaurant in this view from our hotel window allegedly serves such good sea food that Richard Branson, Elton John and other celebs eat here!

Last day in England

With just 10 hours to go before we head off, we're spending the day with family.

We've been enjoying our final taste of Enlgand for a while . . . here's a selection:

• Croissants (o.k. they're French)
• Cream teas
• Mountain biking in Devon
• Walks in the home counties countryside
• Childrens playgrounds (and we even let Joseph have a go!)
• The M25
• Cadburys chocolate
• Fairtrade tea
• English petrol prices
• And best of all - our great families and friends

Thanks for all the support and friendship so many of you have shown. And we're looking forward to seeing many of you out there. Our first visitors are in just 6 weeks! - Hope we've found a house by then.

We've just found out that we'll be staying in Colombo for our first few days whilst receiving some orientation. I'm glad to not be thrown straight in at the deep end.

If you're interested, you can listen to a good programme about Sri Lanka on Radio 4 Listen Again, at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/excessbaggage/

7 days to go

We've had an excellent, and busy week in Liverpool, saying good bye to many friends and colleagues, and feeling very supported by so many people.

We had a great send-off and our church have been excellent in supporting us too.

In just 7 days time we'll be in Sri Lanka. It feels a bit unreal at the moment, but we're really looking forward to seeing what we find there.

Photos below of a few friends and family we're saying "au-revoir" to, we didn't manage to get photos of most of you . . . so great if you can email some.




Left is Sarah's cousin Richard, wife Tanya, and our gorgeous Joseph.

Right are Graham, Katy, Zoya, Cameron and Bobby.

Left: Radcliffe, Paula and Nathaniel

Below: Rich

Amy and Josh having a bubbly time