I record here a trip without Kithsiri, which made clear how comparatively reliable he was. The pictures are all of the New Oriental Hotel, now and long ago, the courtyard with its pool and the dining room and the verandah. Done up rather well now, but alas beyond my purse unlike in the nineties when I revelled in staying there. ...

We get into our stride as it were now, with intense work in the mornings as well as at GELT Centres. The pictures are of my favourite Ranthaliya Resthouse in Kurunagala, Percy Samaraweera and his Science College, a waterfall in Meegahakiula though perhaps not the one I remember, and then Brown’s Beach Hotel. A waterfall Next morning I went to ...

This describes a gap of some months, and then the resumption of work with Kithsiri, during the April New Year. These were my last journeys with Jayantha, the driver at home, though I note here an unexpected meeting with Codipilly and his driver Palitha, which was most fortunate since I found shelter when I needed it. The pictures are of ...

After ten posts about travel in the penultimate decade of the last century, while I worked for the British Council, I move back to the record of travels with Kithsiri, now in 1994 when the first GELT programme I coordinated was well on its way. The English Association had also now started a new project, to teach English to the ...

This post describes the resumption of activity in a big way, though it begins with a lunch with Yolande Abeywira, sad given how much she and Richard and I had done together, days that could not be renewed. Then I talk about plunging myself again into publications and the archaeological project and the ASSETs, though I note also the sadness ...

This post considers the approach of Lalith Athulathmudali at the Ministry of Education. He was a man of immense ability, and tried to do a lot, but he was diffident given his relationship with President Premadasa, and he was not helped by the hyper-conservative Ministry staff, who also resented the influence I had with him. I go on then to ...

In addition to the collapse of the British Council in the first few months of 1990, while I was away on the university ship, there had been tragedy of a different sort too for Richard had been abducted and murdered by government forces. His mother Manorani fought bravely for the case to remain in the public eye, but it was ...

It was a very different world to which I returned in the middle of 1990 after my round the world trip on the university ship and visits before and after to Peru and Mexico, and then a long stay in Thailand with Robert Scoble during which I went up to Chiang Mai and also visited Bangladesh. The British Council had ...

I describe here the last days of 1989, when we were all saddened because Rex Baker, who had done so much for both Sri Lanka and the British Council, was going to leave us after well over five years as Representative. In addition to pictures of the Bakers, I have here a picture of Glen Perera, the only one sadly ...

This post describes my last days together with Richard, when I realized how worrying his situation was following the revelation that the security forces had him in their sights. I trace here the history of his involvement with the Royal College scholarship students he brought to our drama workshops, which led to greater involvement with the JVP. By December we ...

This post describes one of the last major tours we presented through the Council, an exciting performance of an adaptation of a Dickens novel, innovative but not quite in the league of the Cheek-by-Jowl ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ which I look upon as the height of large scale theatre as Geraldine McEwan was of small shows during my eight years at ...

There was a transition of a very different sort later in 1989 when the leaders of the JVP were killed, which also made me being to understand Richard de Zoysa’s involvement with them. Meanwhile work in music and literature continued, and my acquaintance with our consultants developed, not just David Woolger whom I had known for years now but also ...

I mention here the launch of the first volume of Channels which the English Writers Cooperative I had started managed to produce four times a year over the next couple of years. And work at the Council intensified, during these last days when Rex Baker was in charge, when he encouraged so many new initiatives. I was working in music ...

After ten posts about travel with Kithsiri in the nineties, I go back to earlier work, when I was still at the British Council. Towards the latter part of 1989 I started yet another exciting programme there, training that brought together youngsters who had done English for their Advanced Levels with teacher trainees from less sophisticated backgrounds. Many of our ...

This post describes my first journey in 1994 when we went along with Dinali Fernando and Rapti de Silva who had agreed to work on project in Girandurukotte. The pictures are of Dinali and Rapti and then St. Joseph’s Kegalle and Mrs Ratnayake, in retirement, and then Hindu College Trincomalee, schools that grew very familiar over the next few years. ...

This describes one of the most exciting trips I did with Kithsiri, and that he should have stuck it so early in our time together is a mark of his dedication. Going to Mutur was not something many people would have done, in those days of grave LTTE threats, and the sound of gunfire that could be heard at night ...

This account moves from a visit southward to our first trip together to Trincomalee. The pictures are of the walauwe at Getamanna, the first with Kithsiri though at a later date, along with Jinadasa who has served there for many years. From South to North After lunch at the old family house in Getamanna, I went to the Centres at ...

This is about my second GELT trip with Kithsiri, beginning with a visit to an out of the way centre, the sort of area where the course could achieve wonders. The pictures are of Sacred Heart Convent and the Tangalle Resthouse. A second GELT adventure Next morning, Monday November 22nd, I set off with Kithsiri, first to the Eheliyagoda RESC ...

I describe here a complicated return after that first GELT trip, when a lot of time was wasted, reinforcing my desire to have a vehicle of my own for such journeys. The pictures are of Poramadulla MV Rikilligaskada, the Kandalama Hotel and the main hall at the Buttala AUC which was originally a Gam Udawa site. A long return From ...

Writing up these travels brings back to me the sheer joy of my work on the GELT, the long drives all over the country and the intensity of my afternoon schedule, trying to cram in as much as possible. That first trip epitomized the range I covered, for though I tried to see three centres near each other, in between ...