That Jesus seemed like a great guy. With his heavy facial hair and strong attachment to his mother, he could just as easily have been Sri Lankan as Israeli. Whatever his ethnic origin, his golden rules of Do Unto Others and Love Thy Neighbour etc seem like outstanding principles to live one’s life by. And he […]
I should say that watching Spooks from Australia makes me miss London. Spooks will give you a slightly misleading view of London. In Spooks, it never rains, the Northern Line is always working, it is possible to cross the city and diffuse a bomb in 8 minutes, the A&E wards are never overcrowded and budget […]
Warning: this post is as long as the book, and not nearly as interesting. The Sri Lankan High Commission is holding a food fair today. With my mouth watering at the thought of freshly cooked hoppers (try to imagine a crepe cooked with coconut milk and palm sugar), I asked my father if he was […]
On Saturday night, the CTU and I took husband out to dinner for his birthday. By “CTU” I mean my Control Top Underwear. It seems only fair that I refer to the CTU when I refer to myself as it has become an integral and ever-present part of my life. And calling it the CTU makes […]
My father taught us to pray, and so as children, we prayed for the big, global concepts (an end to poverty and hunger, peace in Sri Lanka, more Smurf figurines for children everywhere). We were not encouraged to pray for material things for ourselves but asking for qualities (such as courage and determination) was acceptable. […]
I am a very bad Mummy. Today I let my children (Prima, aged 6 and Secundo, aged 5) go to see a movie called Diary of a Wimpy Kid with their grandma. It is the school holidays and they have been asking to see this movie for weeks. The advertisements about it on TV looked […]
My husband has just set off with Prima (aged 6) and Secundo (aged 5) for the last ski of the season. I like saying “the last ski of the season” because it makes us seem like some Austrian family whose children could ski before they could talk. Actually, we are a Sri Lankan family and […]
Last week I had coffee with my cousin who has just had a baby. The conversation turned to “Helpful things people say that drive me insane.” She recalled how when her newborn cried, her mother, mother-in-law and husband all responded with a “He must be hungry.” or the more subtle “Is it time for a […]
When I was a teenager, my father once tried to explain and extol the virtues of the arranged marriage. He said that when people fall in love, they are acting on an emotional, physical and hormonal impulse. The behaviour is not necessarily rational or reasonable. When the feeling fades or dissipates, if certain “fundamentals” are […]
Ten days ago, I lost the will to blog. I blame Stieg Larsson and his infuriatingly addictive book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which unfortunately for my children was the first in a trilogy (I am now part way through book 3). I don’t want to do anything but read. I have lost the […]