Have Wheels, Will Travel

Yesterday I bought my first car!

I've never owned a car in my life, so it's quite strange that it should be here in Sri Lanka that I buy my first car, but I decided that given the lack of a reliable public transport system in Kandy and the approach of the rainy season that if I was going to buy one, it should be now. So parked in the garage is a white Nissan Sunny. It's a 1991 model, so is not exactly the lastest model, but it's in very good condition and, most importantly, was within my price range. Car's are not cheap here, but because of the high duties that the government imposes on new and imported cars second-hand cars don't lose their value either, so as long as it's still in good condition I should be able to sell the car for the same price - or more!

This morning I took Dhanushka into town as it was pouring with rain. Driving conditions are not great here given the state of the roads and the horrendously bad driving, but as long as I'm aware at all times I should be ok. It'll definitely make getting to Dhanushka's village a lot easier this weekend and will save me a lot of time getting to and from work. The traffic can be very bad in Kandy, but I'm usually at work quite early and heading home I can take the back way. Up until now I've been taking the bus into work in the morning and coming home by three-wheeler. The bus is very unreliable though and the nearest bus stop is a 15-minute walk from the house. Three-wheelers are pretty dangerous as well and not exactly cheap, so I think having a car will work out more economical. There's virtually no public transport at night in Kandy either, so now if we do want to go out won't have to worry about how we're going to get home. Environmentally I have reservations about using a car, but what to do...

This coming Saturday is the Sri Lankan New Year, so Dhanushka and I are planning on heading to his family's place on Friday. I can't say that I'm exactly looking forward to having to eat lots of sweets, but it'll be good to see everyone again.

Since I last wrote it's been raining quite a lot and yesterday afternoon was torrential. I was actually having a nap when it started raining and by the time I got downstairs to close the doors the floor (tiled luckily) was already covered in water. It's not raining quite so heavily today, but it does look like the rain is here to stay.

Am off work this week. Last week I had 3 days of placement testing - testing new students - but it wasn't too bad and actually we were only really busy on 1 of the 3 days. I've applied for a Sri Lankan driving licence. The process is very bureaucratic (as will be transferring the ownership of the car into my name) but as always things get done. I have to sit a written test next week, but hopefully not a practical one. After all I have been driving for 17 years!!!