BLOG - mainly about my (forthcoming) trip to Sri Lanka.

Tuesday 25 October 2005. Yesterday was a great day! Culminating in me going to Stanfords (the Maps and Travel books shop) surreptitiously moving the high-shelf stool into a quiet corner by the Sri Lanka section and sitting on it for half an hour while I ploughed through all the guides to S.L. First I arranged them in cost order. Several were excellent picture books, coffee table stuff, with paper so fine as to make the volume much too heavy. In the end I chose what I thought was the most expensive but then to my delight found it wasn’t –I’d looked at the dollar price. It was the Lonely Planet guide, at £12.99. A good guide book like this (e.g. also the Rough Guides) is absolutely invaluable when travelling independently – and it must be up to date. I make sure it has a good section on budget accommodation for each town, also good maps. However I also bought a big map. There were two which seemed equally detailed (I checked if they showed a small road near the Monastery in which I stayed last time – they both did) then found one cost half the other - £4.95. I cycled home (hoping to stop for a quick pray at St Mary Redcliffe, but it was shut) feeling really great, really happy, and after two days of Atkin’s diet, really fit and lean!

I break off this to look at the post. Yippee! A cheque from Barbara Harris, who runs the Save Frenchay Hospital campaign. She doesn’t know that I wrote yet another letter to the local paper yesterday slagging off those who made the crass decision to downgrade it. She sends it with a pretty card depicting a sweet old English country cottage, with bright green lawn and masses of flowers. Normally I’d dismiss it as being too soppy-sentimental, but on this trip I’ll keep it to hold my papers and be a reminder of this lovely country. Maybe to give away; I think it would be appreciated by an Anglophile Sri Lankan, of which there are many.

Oh My Gosh! A huge cheque from someone who I think wants to be anon! Now I have all I asked for, £555 the air fare, plus £100 from James – to be spent on incidentals. (And another huge cheque said I was to use any spare from it on, in effect, luxuries.

How Great Thou Art, How Great Thou Art!

Now I must to town, to find a working photo machine for passport photos (the two I found yesterday were not working) and get cash for my Indian Visa. Plus other shopping including boots.

When I get back I’ll explain what all this is about.

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Less than two weeks ago a friend passed me an email (see below) calling for volunteers to be International Observers during the Sri Lankan Presidential Elections – 10 to 20 November. Expenses while in SL would be met but volunteers from wealthy countries were to pay to get there and back. They said the job could be dangerous, which I think is probably an exaggeration. I applied (see below) and was accepted. The only problem – I hadn’t got the air fare. So, with some trepidation as I’d never done it before* I wrote and email (see begging letter, below) to all my friends and relations, with very few exceptions, asking if they’d contribute. Within a couple of days I had promises of all I needed. I spent Monday morning on the phone and internet seeking the cheapest flights. I had already been suggesting to my school in India charity that we needed to get someone who was going out there to see a certain man in Delhi, so I struggled to fit Delhi into the itinerary. I just about gave up – telling Eleanor (the founder and Chair or Clerk of the charity) I’d failed, but then had a brainwave and was able to get a ticket with Srilankan Air which purports to be a return to Delhi with a stop-over in SL, though I’ll only be a day in Delhi, and 10 days in SL.

I’m really grateful to those who’ve sent me cheques, or said they would. They are Keith and Pauline Wiltshire (Green Party, Methodists, former overseas workers (missionaries?); Barbara Harris (Campaigner), Heather Lister (member of my Quaker Meeting, Dr of English, poet, playwright); Tom Poole (Quaker, Cambridge Jesus Lane Meeting, Man of Property, Harpisicord dealer/restorer); Eleanor Nesbitt (Quaker Coventry Meeting, Swarthmore lecturer, lecturer at Warwick University, writes books etc on other Faiths); Margaret Burtt (Quaker at Westminster Meeting, Administrator of a medical College, a great friend); Simon and Freya, Simon is my cousin, retired vicar, Freya is also a Quaker); Bristol Area Quakers.

This is the begging letter:

And this was my original information

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