Animal House

Am watching a couple of palm squirrels and a small flock of yellow billed babblers out on the lawn - feating on insects no doubt. The bird life in the garden is amazing - especially early morning and late afternoon. I love the palm squirrels. They're so cute - especially the way they bound around as if on perpetual fast-forward, they're bushy tails bobbing behind them. Noisy buggers though - was ages before I realised that the shrill chatter I often hear was palm squirrels and not birds!

Have had a fairly lazy day - well deserved in my opinion after spending all day at work yesterday examining. Went for an early morning walk then spent the morning at home catching up on e-mails and drinking tea out on the balcony. Was supposed to be having lunch with Maggie and a teacher from Colombo who's in Kandy for the week, but when we got to the place where Maggie had decided to go for lunch I decided that it was seriously overpriced and decided to go to the Citadel instead as the set lunches there are amazing value. It's been pretty hot today as well, so a swim after lunch was definitely in order.

Am still finding it hard to settle back into a routine as my mind is definitely still in holiday mode. Although I'm happy here in Sri Lanka, after such a wonderful holiday I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't try and get work somewhere in Europe. The big problem of course is the woeful salaries in Europe. Here I'm managing to save a lot and have a great lifestyle. Don't think I'd be able to save much on the salaries that EFL teachers get in Europe. Shame really.

As usual I don't have much planned of this evening, apart from chatting to Jiří if he's online. Last night I was in bed by 10, which is very unusual for me. Was exhausted yesterday though and could hardly keep my eyes open.

Have posted a photo of the delicious rice and curry lunch I had today. The cucumber curry with mustard and the egg plant were particularly good...