I had enough to do now to need a house of my own, which I now requested and which Somasundara duly allocated in time, with a room at the back for Kithsiri too. And I note too the great convenience of having morning coffee delivered there through my bedroom window. The pictures are of the front entrance to the house, ...

I describe here my settling in to my new responsibilities, and the new work I embarked on. The pictures are of Shan and David on their wedding day, Shan in later life, and also the family. Sara who is in the middle accompanied her parents on this visit and was given the highest accolade Kithsiri could imagine, when he called ...

I describe here how the UGC decided to decentralize the GELT programme, which led to it being killed dead in time. But with an increasing load of work at Sabaragamuwa I could not insist on the old system continuing. I also begin on the book publications programme I instituted for the university with funding from the Canadians, who continued to ...

I describe here the continuation of my previous lifestyle, with travel round the country on the GELT programme, and stays at Resthouses I loved. But Somasundara was determined to make full use of me, and before I had been two months at the university he had appointed me Head of Department so that I could then be elected Dean of ...

After ten posts about the British Council I return to travels with Kithsiri, and now those I undertook after joining Sabaragamuwa University. The pictures are of Prof I K Perera and Prof Somasundara, with the Kataragama Resthouse in between, and then the Tangalle Resthouse and the view from there, earnests that my travel continued. Taking up the Languages Chair at ...

Lots of changes were happening at this time in my life and in the lives of people I knew. In London John Keleher told me he had decided to take early retirement, no longer finding the Council fulfilling, while David Gladstone had to pay the penalty for what was seen as his indiscretion in Sri Lanka. In Colombo one of ...

I talk here about how I worked on continuity for what I had been doing, in which I succeeded, both with regard to the production of materials and developing better systems of training for potential English teachers. Within the Council it was only David who cared about taking further what he and Rex and John and the others had achieved ...

I go on to explain the imperative I felt to help with what Arjuna Aluwihare had proposed, not least because the English academic establishment had rejected this and the University that took up the challenge, Sri Jayewardenepura, had no senior staff who could not only devise a good programme but carry it through successfully, without criticism from those who felt ...

I begin here to describe the new programme which took me over in the following year. But before that I note the most dramatic event which the Brits had to face in Sri Lanka, the expulsion of their High Commissioner, David Gladstone, who had become a good friend, not least because of our mutual admiration for Ena. The pictures are ...

I describe here my first inklings of an initiative by the University Grants Commission that was to change my life. At the same time we heard that the thrust of British educational work in Sri Lanka was going to change, at the behest of a new Minister. The ODA expert on education, with whom David Woolger and I got on ...

I describe here the visit of one of my best friends at Oxford, Bruce Balden, while Scott’s partner was also here, along with a most distinguished dancer they knew called Lloyd Newsom. And in addition the Liberal Party and its think tank the Council for Liberal Democracy hosted a grand event, to launch the seminal book on Constitutional Reform which ...

By this time I was doing a vast amount of work for the Ministry of Education, following Lalith Athulathmudali’s efforts to revitalize English Teaching, but this of course upset Gail the more, for she herself was not capable of such support. I recall then Mrs Baker telling me, soon after she met me, that Rex had told her I was ...

I am fascinated, going through this, at the amount of work in music we continued with, something that was in short supply afterwards. But in these dying days of the Council showcasing British culture, there was a wonderful lady in the London Music Department, Marion Glazebrook, who much appreciated an enthusiasm that matched with hers, and she helped us to ...

I had forgotten to note yesterday that I was returning to the British Council, and my travels in the early nineties, having completed ten posts about travels with Kithsiri half a decade later. This post too continues with a range of work, though by now it was clear that the Brits at the Council were determined to stop much of ...

I relate here how, after I had shown up how deceitful Neil Kemp was, he went back to London. I thought there might be some sort of a connection, in that it was clear the vast majority of senior staff found him appalling, but of course nothing overt was said, and it was only recently that I heard that Council ...

This is a longer post than usual, for it takes me through to the end of May, after which I once more took on a permanent position at Sabaragamuwa. The pictures are of the Hanwella and Puttalam Resthouses with the Bandarawela Resort in between. Last days as a freelance It was on the following Wednesday March 19th that I travelled ...

This post describes the death of my mother in England, at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. My mother’s death My parents left for England the evening after that last dinner at my sister’s, to relax before she entered the hospital the following week, and I set off the next day with Kithsiri to leave books at Kurunagala and with ...

I describe here my selection to the post of Professor of Languages at Sabaragamuwa University but this was overshadowed by my mother going to England for her operation, for which I accompanied her and my father since my brother could not make it as had been initially anticipated. The pictures are of the fabulous tree at the Belihuloya Resthouse, and ...

There was much travel over the next few months, but I did manage a few trips with Kithsiri. I had also by now decided to apply to Sabaragamuwa and worked well with Nirekha Weeratunge whom I knew from long ago, and whom Somasundara had put in charge of a new curriculum. The pictures are of the view from the rock ...

This post describes a tragic death which was totally unexpected. The pictures are of Chanaka, the first capturing the closeness between us. Chanaka Amaratunga’s death After that long weekend at Aluwihare I went with another Codipilly driver to the Ibbagamuwa and Lakdasa and St. Anne’s GELTS, the second one being closed. Back in Colombo I was woken early on August ...