Nepali Curry
Sunday 30th May
A hot and spicy Nepali lamb curry and a medium hot potato curry both courtesy of my friend Rajeev. Both delicious and enjoyed for lunch on the balcony with his company and that of a few Lions!
Steve
Time in Krnov
Wednesday 2nd June 2021
Krnov and it’s surroundings are getting greener, the sun is shining and hopefully the days will be warmer and the kids will not be wrapped in blankets all day.
Online schooling is ongoing till 18th June, so kids are on computers and of course playing games and watching YouTube as well. I use my free time to run errands, shopping, cooking and doing other jobs, however I find time to go for a coffee with friends and family members.
The Czech Republic has relaxed Covid rules and most establishments have opened their doors on Monday 31st May which gives people freedom of movements and after a year or so, finally space for enjoyment.
Emilka found herself at a stables to spend time and do some riding. When the sun is out, days outdoors like this are marvellous.
Time is ticking, and Wednesday 30th June when we will be travelling to Prague to fly to the UK, will be here very quickly so I am planning some outings with my long standing friends and family members.
Rennie
Monsoon sea
When it rains in Sri Lanka, it can really rain – especially in the monsoon season as now. The picture above was taken on Sunday 23rd May just before 10am and is of an incredible wall of rain about to make landfall. So dense, it looked like fog until it arrived with bewildering intensity and wind so strong that I thought the balcony door lock had failed; it had not, but the wind was so strong that it took very much force on the frame to push the door open – and then needed a very strong grip to stop it slamming open and breaking its hinges.
The picture below was taken on Tuesday 25th May just before sunset and shows an angry sea being driven by an incoming storm. There was no chance of seeing the sun though; just grey clouds everywhere.
Steve
A blog post surprise for Rennie
Sharing Rennie\’s pure happiness at being home-home expressed in her blog posts and in our WhatsApp video calls, and seeing the photos she has just posted from a walk up Cvilin hill, I thought I would post a surprise from 7,500km / 4,600 miles away; a photo taken on our wedding day of 15th April 2000 at the bottom of the grass bank in the left hand image.
I love you my Girl! Legend has it that there is a pot of gold at each end of a rainbow, but I don\’t need legend to tell me where the real gold is. Enjoy your well-earned trip and time with Mum, soaking up everything of which you are so familiar and making new memories with our nearly-adult children.
Steve
Day 5 PCR tests
Tuesday 25th May 2021
On Tuesday morning at 8.30am we had our PCR tests taken in the local hospital and waited patiently for our results. The text message came just as we reached Cvilin Hill, so perfect timing to feel on “top of the world”.
My brother George and his wife Jane brought my mum home at about 6pm so we could give her the biggest hug ever. I made vanilla cream puffs to celebrate with a cup of coffee.
That evening we were pinching ourselves we were home with my mummy – all together. My mummy was very emotional having us back after nearly 2 years. We will be with her for whole 6 weeks until 1st July, we will talk, play games and if weather permits, we will go for walks. We may go for trips if Covid allows.
Rennie
Isolation in Czech Republic
Thursday 20th – Tuesday 24th May 2021
My mum’s house was the perfect place to self-isolate. All that space for us three, for only 5 days, fridge and freezer full, big garden to go to. I admire people/families with kids, isolating for 14 days in just one or two hotel rooms. My mum went to my brother’s family for the 5 days to minimise the risk of her getting Covid-19 if we had brought it from our travels.
I was back home-home. Nothing seemed to have physically changed. We are just older, hopefully wiser and kids have grown.
The temperature is the biggest change, we being constantly cold after being 2 years in a tropical country, so the kids are wrapped in a blanket with the heating on – in May! My friend Magda came to drop off some warm clothes (they have only have one pair of trousers and a couple of tops as we live in shorts and T-shirts normally) and brought a cappuccino from her coffee machine so she sat outside in the garden while we were inside the hall, chatting away.
Each afternoon we walked up the 219 steps to the top of Cvilin hill – my favourite place in my home town. I see the forest and the surroundings I grew up in differently now and appreciated it then in a different way. All seems to be more healing, relaxing, peaceful and energizing now. Perhaps it was like that before, but as a small kid you don’t see the beauty of it.
Our family friend Nikolka and her 2 year old son Adamek came to visit us too (she has been vaccinated and he had Covid) and Emilka instantly fell in love with him. Perhaps she will love kids the way I and my mum did, as well as ponies.
Misa has been our entertainer keeping us laughing all the time, especially when he calls me “Renco” (Rencho) sounding like a real Czech – yet saying “I am British!” wearing his shorts, being cold and never admitting it!
Kid’s favourite rolls (rohliky) with ham have been eaten on numerous times and the fridge, freezer and the goodie jar have been slowly emptied. I have been looking after the kids and believe me, plenty of cups of coffee for me just to sit in solace of my own peace and just being. The never-stopping ticking of the kitchen clock I have known since my youth (I used to study for exams in the kitchen at night when the house was silent) transports me to the past of my study years.
Since Monday, the kids are doing their online schooling. Due to the 3.5 hours time difference I have arranged with the school a timetable for them to better manage. They are starting online at 7am, joining the 3rd period live with their class in Sri Lanka and then when live school finishes, they complete on their own all the requirements for the two first lessons they missed in the morning. As it is Vesak Full Moon this week, their school is having only a 2 day week (Monday and Tuesday) so the kids will have enough time to catch up with work and prepare for their exams in the next few weeks – and of course, some online gaming.
We are lucky to have space to stay for our isolation, it feels like a staycation.
Rennie
Journey home-home
Thursday 20th May 2021
Our journey to the airport at midnight took about 40mins as the roads were empty. We sat quietly the whole journey soaking up what is going to happen for the next 3 months. Steve was looking a little sad though we know he was delighted for us, and we were full of mixed emotions too – happiness, anxiety, excitement, stress, anticipation, hopes, love, sadness, optimism, fear…….
We checked all paperwork and passports about 4 times.
Check in at Qatar airlines took 90 minutes standing in a queue. We tried to keep social distancing as much as we could. The was a good, slick and thorough process, but not enough staff. All computers systems were working togethers with tickets, health card bar codes and our passports – including the permission for us to board that had been granted by Czech immigration as described in an earlier blog post.
The plane from Colombo to Doha was pretty full. We sat in the middle of the plane in row 24 departing at 4am Sri Lanka time. Masks to be worn all the time apart from eating. No visors were given, but we had our own – and have left one for Steve when he travels to the UK.
Pillows & blankets given.
Sanitizing kits given.
Entertainment and headphones on.
Nice hot breakfast with drinks.
Super service.
Emi felt sick on take off, so I gave her a pill, she ate her home made ham sandwich (the ham in which was the last from when Steve returned from the UK in January 2020), she slept and was ok . Misa ate, slept and watched TV. I ate, slept and watched one movie.
Transfer in Doha was painless at 2 hours and 15 mins; just perfect. Lots of people at the airport, but able to maintain social distancing. It was only crowded when going through the x-ray area, but you could keep distance if you wanted to let other people do their own thing. We didn’t stop in any of the beautiful coffee shops unfortunately; even if I wanted to, I would not enjoy it.
The plane from Doha to Prague was barely 10% full. Very little obviously Czech people, mostly Asian. I wonder why and who they were, and if in fact they were Czech citizens given the challenge Steve had getting us permission to enter? I sat on my own by the window behind the kids, Misa by the window and Emi on the aisle. We each had a lovely lunch (R&M beef casserole and mashed potatoes, E vegetarian cheesy cannelloni). I even had a glass of red wine. Steve would be proud. We had little sleep. Kids had chicken wrap later on with juice.
The whole journey I was in disbelief I am actually flying home-home.
We touched down in Prague at 12.30, 60mins early. The airport was empty. We stood in the Czech Citizens queue despite having English passports. The immigration officer was very nice and he even knew where Krnov is. Luggage was waiting for us on the carousel. We exited into the arrivals hall and waited for our friend Martin about 45 mins to pick us up. In the meantime we spoke to Steve and my mummy on the phone using airport WiFi. 14C outside, we could feel the cold.
Journey in the car took 5hours with one stop to get fuel and a coffee. Our lovely friend Nikolka (Martin’s fiancé) prepared us a beautiful bag of goodies with personalized messages and rolls with ham. So sweet; it felt so special. Kids slept a little bit. The sun was shining.
We reached my mum’s house to self isolate at 19.30 Czech time. Lovely messages with cakes from my mummy and chicken noodle soup for dinner in the fridge. Rooms with beds and nicely ironed cotton beddings prepared. We felt very loved. Shame my mummy was not at home. She will live for 5 days with my brother’s family to minimize risk of us giving her Covid if we brought any. We had a warm bath and went to bed at 22.00 and slept like a log. I was home-home, after nearly 2 years of not being there.
It felt nice to be back.
New skills over a curfew weekend
As a curfew was announced from Thursday evening 13th May through to Monday morning 17th we thought we would take the opportunity to learn new skills. We baked doughnuts for the first time ever (as opposed to frying them) and learned the basics of paper quilling.
Our next door neighbor showed us the core techniques and we were hooked. It was so satisfying making such beautiful art, perhaps using it in making greeting cards on another day.
Rennie
Surprise #5
I wrote last night of running out of gas just gone midnight and of learning that a replacement bottle would unlikely be available before the beginning of June due to curfew.
Wrong.
A very responsive properties manager and his contact with one of the local gas suppliers had a new bottle delivered today within half an hour of me calling the number I was given.
Life is full of surprises. As I have seen over the past few days, sometimes nice ones.
Steve
Surprise #4
Following the Saturday evening gym and sauna session mentioned previously we felt that we really ought to have some dinner, despite it by then being gone midnight. A prawn curry was the decision so we set about making it from scratch.
It was some minutes later when Rajeev noticed the water wasn’t boiling because the gas had gone out – so he tried to relight it without success. The reason was quickly found; there is no mains gas in Colombo so every home that uses gas has a propane cylinder and mine was empty. At this point it was about 00:20am but I decided to call the security guard anyway because the team here is pretty good at taking care of things.
The intercom rang, and rang. No answer – so I decided to take the elevator down to the lobby where I found heavily distorted local music playing at full volume on a mobile phone and a “security” guard slumped back in his chair fast asleep.
“HELLOOOO”
No response.
“HELLLLLOOOOO”
Still no response, so I went round his counter and gently shook his shoulders but still to no avail.
Eventually, he woke up, gave me a strange grin as his eyes glazed over, folded his arms on his desk and went back to deep sleep – all with the deafening and distorted music still playing.
I switched his phone off, at which point he woke up – of sorts.
“Please can I have some gas?”
“Yes”
“Do you understand me?”
“Yes”
“What did I ask?”
“Yes”
Oh Lord.
“Please can I have some G-A-S?”
“Yes”
Repeat of the above, so I gestured to show an empty gas bottle and asked him to call his supervisor, which he did. After telling the guard my apartment number he said “Go wait”, so I did. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and there outside in the hallway was a member of the maintenance team with a torch in his hand – but no gas bottle. I took him to the cupboard where the bottle is kept and showed him the problem.
“Ahhhh, gas”
“Yes, gas. Actually, no gas”
“No gas, Sir”
“Yes, no gas. Where can I buy?”
“Outside, Sir”
“When?”
“After curfew”
“You mean after 31st May? Today is 23rd”
“Yes, no gas until then” – and off he went.
I resisted the temptation to borrow the gas cylinder from our neighbours even though they would unlikely be cooking at what was then 00:35am, and instead we had a simple meal of curried potato done in the microwave, and a tasty salad.
Let’s see what the daytime brings, it now being 04:39am on Sunday 23rd (despite what the blog date says as the server is in the USA).
Steve