A repeat post, since no pictures appeared! Back home after a fortnight away, I find that it had rained horrendously while I was away, and it still continues to rain. So my morning ventures to the balcony, to feed and admire the fish, have to be short, for even if the rain has stopped the seats are all wet. The ...

My comments on the ridiculous expansion of the Cabinet were carried in the Leader today, expressively edited by the sensible Camela Nathaniel. Ironically they were juxtaposed with those of Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, who was initially responsible for the unwarranted interference by the Prime Minister in my work which led to my resignation. But I don’t suppose he can understand his ...

Back after three weeks to the lotuses on the balcony, this week those in the big pond, which began to blossom after there had been four, one after another in the little one. But the first, which had been a beautifully developing bud when I last wrote, was damaged, and the morning I expected it to blossom I went up ...

These letters are from the beginning of my third summer vacation, and record how I finally tried to get to grips with work. Unfortunately my grandmother did not visit this summer as we had hoped, coming instead four years later. The pictures are of Robert Scoble, the Australian I mention, with Benazir Bhutto in Karachi many years later, of him ...

This post reiterates the failure of the President to follow through with a few positive measures he took immediately the Darusman report appeared. But the pictures include some of more positive aspects, of early visits to the North after the war, including a meeting with female former combatants plus a classroom, since my touchstone for seeing whether things were going ...

In discussing, as suggested, recent American moves on Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan reaction, I am struck most of all by the failure of those in theory responsible for foreign policy to understand those moves. After the recent visit by Bob Blake, who had been ambassador here during the conflict period, and had a relatively positive if patronizing approach, ...

Dinner with John Harrison was like dinner with Leslie Mitchell, for he could only do ready made food which he heated up. But like Leslie he also made excellent selections, and the wine was excellent, so we did very well. And then it was early to bed, though not to sleep, for I was carried away by the reading I ...

Chanaka Amaratunga died 20 years ago on August 1st, 1996. He died a very disappointed man, for he had not been put into Parliament at the previous election. Those of us who have been in Parliament can vouch that that is no panacea for disappointment, given how sadly our Parliamentary traditions have been traduced. But Chanaka was a passionate believer ...

Today’s travel pictures are of an idyllic few days spent on the Kei islands, at the end of 2013. These are the easternmost practically of the Moluccas, which I explored with the equally adventurous John Pike. But we had parted by the last few days for he was determined to get to the Bandas, to which we could find neither ...

Berlin in 1977 and Bonn in 1978 My last stop in Germany was Hamburg, but by then I was tired, so I had a relaxing time and did not see much. From there I went to Copenhagen, and could not then stop on my return to England for the month of Inter-Rail Travel was running out. I don’t think I ...

From the City of Aquatint 11 A couple of interesting figures here, Richard Gombrich who had done much work on Sri Lanka and Fr Cornelius Ernst, sister of my grandmother’s friend Joan. Sadly he died quite young, a few years later. I could not find a picture of him though there is much about his books and his life on ...

With Lakmahal slowly folding up as it were, and the country in decline, my principal solace in 2014 was travel. Asia and Europe I knew well, and I had been to enough of South America to feel I had seen enough of it for the moment. The Middle East too I had seen a fair amount of, Iran in 2008 ...

Three of the pictures I mentioned in my description of the day in San Marino did not upload, so here they are, the tower and two items in the state museum. Then I add the entrance tower from outside and the stairs of the Public Palace, the place of the Crossbowmen, an old quarry where public performances are now held, ...

This second account of days at SCOPP deals with interactions with different foreigners, amongst whom the most principled I found were the Norwegian diplomats. Some of those involved in aid work were a bit shifty, and indulged the terrorism of the LTTE. The risk I had taken on became clear when I was told I needed to have security, for ...

Today’s pictures are of the Lebanon, where I spent a week in 2012. I wanted most of all to see Baalbek, which was wonderful in a snow covered landscape. But it was also good to see the ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon, the one with extensive Roman remains, the other with a prehistoric site as well as a delightful sea castle just across from our hotel.

The group of first years who came to Cornwall in 1973 included Michael Soole, the principal protégé I had been promoting in the Union. He had overtaken me in the elections that summer, because the then President changed the election system to ensure he got elected, and had no qualms about the fact that, whereas I would definitely have been ...

Something happened to the pictures I had intended to include with the last post. Only two appear on the blog, though when you click on them others also emerge, though not all seven I had tried to upload. Here are the two that do not appear, the house at Getamanna and the garden at Kandy, and then the three that ...

Back after two weeks to the Roof Garden, which has continued to flourish. I was away for ten days, and when I got back it was to find another host of roses, with blossoms aplenty visible from the balcony yesterday morning, in the pots and the beds of the eastern edge by the stairway. The first picture here shows the ...

The last letter before my last term ends with a note about Benazir, with whom I had discussed driving home overland, along with John Pike, though that proved impracticable. I note also a forum on literature at the Union which my great friend Robert Scoble allowed me to chair. And then I include the introduction to the letters of my ...

I failed to post here on Saturday since I was travelling, and we started earlier than I had thought we would and arrived later. But since on Mondays I do not post usually on either this or the literary blog, I thought I would make up for Saturday by talking today here about my ponds. I did not want to ...