first impressions.

Well, I've never written a blog before, so not entirely sure what I'm supposed to say on it. For those of you reading it I will assume you either know me, and therefore have a passing interest in what I'm up to, or maybe you have an interest in the wonderful country of Sri Lanka. Or maybe you are just incredibly bored and surfing the net when you should be doing something better. Either way, I hope my thoughts and pictures will be of some interest.

My main reason for writing it is to let a few people back home know what I'm doing, particularly with regard to my photography (I'm a photographer) and partly for my own benefit; to help me understand the stream of non sensical thoughts rattling around my brain. Rather like talking to myself I suppose (and everyone knows that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness) except that I'm doing it publicly.

So, on that worrying note, let me begin. We've been here a month now, so I'll explain in this, and the next few posts what we've been doing;

The first few weeks here were spent finding somewhere to live for the next few months. Britta's research into rural use of solar panels is in different parts of the country so we needed a base. A friend and colleague in Bradford has a house in Negombo (near the airport), which he kindly said we were welcome to stay in...unfortunately (as he'd only just bought it) it had nothing in it except a bed and a table. OK for the first week, but without a fridge we couldn't stay there for long;

My son Noah is scared of having a shower so we had to buy him his own bath...

Coconut and mango trees in the garden, and some interesting wildlife, plus lots of gecko's in the house. Neighbours very friendly; Kamal (a tuk tuk driver) always smiling, and his daughter kept bring us some fruit off her grandad's tree (who lives further up on same rd). Just before we moved they invited us for Sunday dinner...(no yorkshire puds in sight). I asked if I could do a portrait of them;

So then we moved house, so we could have a house with kitchen etc...also to be closer to the sea;

5 mins walk from the beach...with big posh balcony, and all mod cons. Really nice house, although the roof leeks when it rains (which it does sometimes...heavy tropical rain), and the water, electricity and/or internet go off regularly...

Again we have really nice neighbours, and whenever we leave the house all the kids on the street shout and wave hello to Noah. Being cute and blond seems to be be something special here...it's like walking around with a celebrity! Even if he is only 3!

So, Negombo has become our home for the next few months...just north of Colombo, on the West coast. The beaches are like a post card, sandy with palm trees along the edge. And lots of hotels! Oh, and loads of churches! Sri Lanka is a mostly Buddhist country, but also lots of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Negombo has lots of fishermen, and they are mostly Catholic. The town seems to have two main industries; fishing and tourism, More about this later...

I'll end this first post with a few pics of Negombo during one of it's church festivals...not really sure what the festival was all about, but it was all paid for by the fishermen, apparently!

And, finally...Britta and Noah.