ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 269 Sunday 23 August 2015. Welcome to this week’s newsletter about Sri Lanka where school children – as well as tourists – are on holiday this month. Day out Since he’s on holiday from school I decided to give Sasindu, my house manager Kumara’s six-year-old son, a treat. We took him on a safari cruise on the ...
Original gin ROYSTON REPORTS Number 268 Sunday 16 August 2015 Greetings to this week’s review from Sri Lanka with notes on loopholes and a chicken problem. Loopholes I attended a fascinating property seminar in Galle recently held under the auspices of the British High Commission conducted by one of Sri Lanka’s most respected lawyers, Dr Swaminathan, the senior partner of ...
Fruity ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 287 Tropical Topics, Sunday 3 January 2016. Welcome to this, the first newsletter of the New Year. If you’ve made any New Year Resolutions, good luck in keeping them! Market Driven When the colonial agency house, Darley, Butler & Co opened the Colombo Spinning and Weaving Mills in Wellawatte, a suburb of Colombo by the sea, ...
Bondage ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 281 Tropical Topics, Sunday 15 November 2015. Welcome to this week’s topics ranging from SPECTRE to toothpaste and 20 facts. On Bondage The new British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, His Excellency James Dauris and Mrs Helen Dauris made a great impression on hundreds of guests by hosting in wonderful style a launch party for the ...
Old Money ROYSTON REPORTS Number 280 Tropical Topics, Sunday 8 November 2015. Greetings to readers around the world from my beach view cottage in glorious Sri Lanka. Souperstitious Ever on the search for new Sri Lankan products to try, I have found another one from Ma’s Tropical Food Processing (http://www.mas.kitchen). This is sold under the brand name of Happy Home. ...
Big in New Orleans ROYSTON REPORTS, NUMBER 279 Sunday 1 November 2015. Greetings from Sri Lanka as the countdown to the Holiday Season begins. Tree for Me? Roystonea regia For me to see, as I walked to my bedroom at Calamansi Cove Hotel, a tree apparently named after me – Roystonea Regia - made me wonder why the hotel had ...
Mallung passion ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 275 Sunday 4 October 2015. Greetings to readers old and new with this week’s look at the fun side of life in Sri Lanka Mallung Passion During my visit to The Yala Adventure wilderness retreat (see last week’s newsletter) I had mallung made with passion fruit leaves. It’s a salad-style side dish of semi stir-fried ...
Walking Tree House ROYSTON REPORTS Number 288 Tropical Topics, Sunday 10 January 2016. Welcome to readers from around the world to the latest edition of my weekly report on topics tropical. Quick? This packet intrigued me when I spotted it on the shelves of my local supermarket hunting ground: “Quick Dosai Mix.” Dosai (or thosai) is a type of pancake ...
First Flush ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 282 Tropical Topics, Sunday 22 November 2015. Greetings. Here’s a mixed bag of items to intrigue you this newsletter. Veranda gossip We’ve had a lot of rain in Sri Lanka lately so instead of sitting in the garden for sun-downers we retreat to the cottage’s broad veranda, or Verandah as it seems more appropriately spelt. ...
Ferry well ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 265 Sunday 26 July 2015 Welcome to this week’s news from Sri Lanka. Ferry Good Last week I drove down the east coast of the island from Trincomalee to Passikudah. There might not seem anything remarkable in that statement but it’s only recently been possible to drive on a road (the A15) for the entire ...
Farewell ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 293 TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 14 February, 2016. Welcome lovers and others to this St Valentine’s Day edition of my newsletter, which is also the last one. Dish of the Week Beef in Sri Lanka has the unfortunate reputation of being tough and lacking flavour. It isn’t: it’s the lack of traditional knowledge of young chefs (and ...
A prince’s bed. ROYSTON REPORTS Number 285 Tropical Topics, Sunday 13 December 2015. Welcome to this week’s newsletter with more tropical travels. Traditions Ever one for keeping up with tradition, I was delighted to see this notice outside the bar of the Strand Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar (think: Rangoon, Burma), saying that smoking is traditional (not banned!) in the bar. ...
Tea with me ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 260 Sunday 21 June 2015 Greetings from Sri Lanka’s latest tourist attraction: me! Come for tea? Railway Mystery In my pursuit of unusual items connected with the railways of Sri Lanka, I acquired this curiosity: a match box label bearing the phrase “Made in Ceylon” and depicting steam locomotive and carriages. Plainly shown is ...
Camping! ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 274 Sunday 27 September 2015 Welcome to this week’s potpourri with Sri Lankan connections. Bravo ABR Last Saturday I attended the dinner and dance at the Mount Lavinia Hotel commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Association of British Residents. The association began informally in 1915, a momentous year for the British in the ...
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 262 Sunday 5 July 2015. Welcome to this week’s newsletter with a quest for animals and, as usual, good food. Zoo Search I have started to read a book recently acquired about Ceylon and am fascinated to discover that it details the unknown origins of the National Zoological Gardens at Dehiwala, Colombo’s zoo. Misplaced tiger It’s called ...
Milk Churning ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 243 Sunday 22 February 2015. Greetings to readers everywhere with this week’s low-down on Sri Lanka. Dish of the week Shanth Fernando is one Sri Lankan who has made a difference to his country. He has created the availability of a lifestyle that didn’t exist in Sri Lanka before he opened his first store, Paradise ...
Snorkelling jumbo ROYSTON REPORTS Number 263 Sunday 12 July 2015 Welcome to this week’s roundup of information for Sri Lanka fans. Snorkelling jumbo Snorkelling elephant logo If I seem to be writing a lot about sea food in recent issues, that’s because it’s so good at this time of the year, especially when eaten fresh on the beach on the ...
Heart & sole ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 240 Sunday 1 February 2015. Greetings to readers around the world to this subscriber-only, insider’s report on scintillating Sri Lanka. Dosa Heaven Having made such a hapless hash of my attempts to cook thosai (also known as dosa) pancakes made from gram flour, I was yearning for the real thing. So on a recent ...
Christmas Cheers ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 286 Tropical Topics, Sunday 20 December 2015. Season’s Greetings to readers around the world to this last newsletter for 2015, with timely news of how to buy my books on line. Christmas Cheers How better to celebrate sunny (or chilly) mornings this Festive Season than with a jolly juice at breakfast: a Bloody Mary or ...
Natural Sun Cure ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 267 Sunday, 9 August 2015. Welcome to this week’s newsletter with a report on overdoing it in Bangkok as well as natural beauty aids in Sri Lanka. Cheap Charlie’s I popped over to Bangkok last weekend for a change of scene and, apart from the shabby looking European men of a certain age trussed ...
