Back on duty again !!

Hi everyone....

So.... Back in dreary and cold UK now, after another fabulous holiday to my favourite destination for me, yes i really did have a great time down in Sri Lanka once again, as many of you would expect !, AND arrived back rather early too, hmmm, now maybe Sri Lankan Airlines have shed that “Usually Late” name at last??, flight departed Colombo bang on time, and arrived at Heathrow 45 minutes EARLY !!, despite some rather bumpy moments over the Middle East and Turkey !, good job seat next to me was empty so one of the crew on board could sit down and strap in, or heaven knows what would have happened to that poor girl (Rochelle) in a VERY bumpy moment, VERY worried look on her face i can tell you!,

Of course more than a little sad to be leaving behind so many great friends down there, but as i am sure you will know it won’t be long before i am back down there once more, hmmm, to be honest already there are dates in my mind when i will be winging my way back down there again, and i do hope to be there for the Sinhalese/ Tamil New Year celebrations, so maybe a little pointer for all of you who know when this would be?

Great to meat as usual some TA members down there during my stay, including Andy and his wife Lorraine, who seemed to have brought some rather lousy weather with them from the UK !!, well come on it did seem to rain at some time or other everyday during your stay at Heritance Ahungalla right, including your first night’s Special Dinner on the beach to celebrate Lorraine’s birthday !!!, also of course a great pleasure to meet up with Hans too, and share a Lion beer one afternoon, nice to meet you at last Hans, and hope you are enjoying your long stay !, hope to share another Lion or three soon.

Andy, Lorraine, you will of course be happy to know that the weather really did turn for the worst an hour after you left HA, even the boss there was heard to say “maybe it wasn’t them after all “, all of course due to Cyclone Nisha that went into the east coast of India, so apologies from me and everyone who blamed you ok !

Another TA couple i met during breakfast one morning too, sorry but right now your names escape me, but do remember well our little chat over breakfast, and sorry that Sumali did not bring yours to the table like mine, but the girls in restaurant at Heritance Ahungalla do seem to know my regular habits some what !!, but great to meet with you and have a chat anyway., hope you enjoyed your stay like i did.

Very sad of course to see that tourist arrivals were WELL down, in this Sri Lanka’s peak season, and if it were not for large groups from Russia, Poland and Lithuania then this will surely have spelt disaster for tourism in Sri Lanka, the next few months, as i am sure you will all be aware will be very crucial due to the financial situation here in UK and other European countries not being good, hopefully of course it won’t last, but right now things are not looking good for these people, so come on, let’s all jump on planes and get down there to Sri Lanka, the land of GENUINE smiles and welcomes too, they will be VERY happy to see us all.

Regards as usual......

Dave

Back on duty again !!

Hi Dave,

It was indeed nice to meet you and Treshi. I also hope we can repeat it.

Another cyclone has been building up east of SL, so weather has been pretty overcast and the sea rough for the last couple of days, but only little rain compared to cyclone Nisha. This morning it has changing from blue sky to total overcast with dark clouds, but so far no rain. Right now the sun is shining.

Going on a 5 day trip to Mahiyangana tomorrow morning. Let%26#39;s see if I can find a computer up there.

Hans

Back on duty again !!

Hi Dave, good to hear you got back OK. We really enjoyed your company during our stay and it was good to meet Treshi as well. Yeah sorry about the weather, it did get a bit damp on occasions. At least it was warm rain and cold beer! The girls at the Heritance certainly spoil you (and us!) , rumour has it the wing on the third floor is going to be renamed the Stockwell wing and the bar will be known as Dave%26#39;s corner. :-)

We are also thinking of going back for Sri Lankan new year so better pack your waterproofs and brollie just in case.

Totally agree with you that we should all be encouraging tourists to try Sri Lanka. It%26#39;s a wonderful country with great people and is somewhere everyone should try at least once.

Thanks again for your company and advice.

Andy and Lorraine

Hi Andy %26amp; Lorraine

Glad you both enjoyed your stay at my ';second home'; down there in Sri Lanka, and yes was a pleasure to have met you both too.

Not got round to downloading photos from cameras yet (600 plus of them!), but will do so in couple of days time and send you the ones of ';Cheeky %26amp; Dancing Queen'; Chathuri and Ayesha in thier gorgeous Saris, also have Cheeky Chat%26#39;s e-mail address too, so will forward that to you at same time ok, she was still missing her ';Chef Andy'; when i left !!, must have been your coaching that made her do so well in Flambe competition!, she still has that VERY wide smile after that, and everyone at hotel is soooo proud of her too.

Not sure about hotel renaming the 3rd floor tho, although quite possible about the bar tho !, have requested room change from 333 next time, and look forward to testing out 305 !

Hope to see you again down there of course, but PLEASE leave rain behind next time ok !! ha ha.

Regards

Dave

Hi Dave,

Welcome back to the Forum!!!! I m sure most of them missed your advises here .... and sure most people back here miss you already....specially all your lovely angels at Heritance....

Hi Hans, Andy %26amp; Lorraine,

It was great meeting all of you at the hotel and hope to meet up with you people once again sometime....

Well, the weather hasnt been all that great since of late...it rains most evenings but lovely christmas breeze althrought the day..specially the mornings...

Regards,

Treshi, Colombo, Sri Lanka.