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!