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Newsletter aus Sri Lanka von Royston Ellis

Hallo Premasiri,

Royston schrieb:
The best that could be said about the hotel then is that it looked, and smelled, its age; yet that was its charm.
Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

Genau das macht für mich auch den Charme dieser Hotels aus. Es hat einfach was!

Zu dem Dish of the week muss man ja wohl nicht viel schreiben... lecker :smilhech:

Danke und liebe Grüsse in den Süden, Biggi
 
Liebe auch die alten Häuser genau wegen dem Charme....

Liebe Grüsse in den Norden

Premasiri
 
Wild horizon

ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 248
Sunday 29 March 2015.


Welcome to readers around the world to this insight into life in Serendipity.


Wild Horizon
A shout from Kumara to come quickly while I was working made me guess he had seen yet another snake in the garden. “Bring the camera,” he shouted.
It wasn’t a snake but Sri Lanka’s national bird, the Ceylon Jungle Fowl (Gallus lafayettii or weli-kukkula in Sinhala). In his entertaining Guide to the Birds of Ceylon, G M Henry states: “In the neighbourhood of villages and roads it is shy and wary, but in remote jungles it is sometimes very tame and will strut about and crow in full view, like a village fowl. A slight acquaintance with man and his ways, however, quickly changes it into the embodiment of caution.”
It certainly moved away swiftly into the neighbouring wilderness when Kumara tried to get close enough for a photograph by our renowned wall of bottles.


Sri Lanka’s national bird
​

By sheer coincidence, as I was typing this entry in my attic studio, I heard a familiar noise on the roof of my cottage: the sounds of a jolly purple faced langur monkey about to tear up the roof tiles out of exuberant curiosity. Since only the day before we had employed a tile man to relay misplaced tiles, I rushed down stairs and out into the garden to remonstrate with the monkey. They are endangered, but so is my roof.
However, it wasn’t a monkey but a trio of peacocks dancing on the roof. By the time I got the camera they had flown off into the coconut trees. The ever reliable G M Henry, writing in 1955, says of the peafowl (Pavo cristatus; monara in Sinhala) is “a very wary bird, endowed with keen sight and hearing; it is not easily approached.” Since it delights in “a mixture of jungle with open country” perhaps that’s why three of them paid me a visit.


Visiting peafowl
​

And then the next day as I glanced out of my attic studio window at Horizon Cottage, there was my neighbour, the Western Purple Faced Langur, listed among the 25 most endangered primates in the world, enjoying hibiscus for lunch.


Hibiscus for lunch
​

Food as Art
As a change from the usual trencherman fare I favour, here’s a dish that’s pretty as well as palate pleasing. I had it at the beginning of an ambitious seven course dinner with four different wines organised by Trekurious (http://www.trekurious.com). This is a new Sri Lankan company intent on improving one’s lifestyle. On the back of the menu at the dinner, Trekurious states: “…we are essentially democratising access to amazing experiences so that no one gets left behind.”
The dinner was prepared by Alfred Prasad, the youngest Indian chef ever to receive a Michelin star who, until December 2104, was the Executive Chef at The Tamarind, London. It was held at Aditya hotel about an hour’s drive from my cottage on the coast near Galle. The drive was short compared with friends who had driven for over five hours from their hotel north of Dambulla especially for the event. “See how far we’ll travel for good food,” said one.
It was the promise of an unusual eating experience plus wines that lured me, even though the fee was a Michelin-style price of Rs10,000 (£ 49.50; $ 76.92) per person.
After lashings of enjoyable Prosecco (I wanted my money’s worth!), 55 guests sat down to start the feast with a beautifully created Amuse Bouche of thinly sliced beetroot studded with chilli peanuts. My dish of the week.


Pretty amusing
​


Galle Flea Market




This is held on the first Sunday of every month in the cobbled square in front of the Court in Galle Fort, so enter 5 April in your diary if you’re in Sri Lanka.


Trendsetting art at the Galle monthly market
​

Vendors of everything from home-made feta cheese to aspirational art and antique brass, boldly display their wares.


A front parlour that’s become a coffee shop
​

There’s music too. It’s great to catch a train to Galle and spend the day in the Fort, which has becometrès trendy with lots of cosy cafés, picturesque nooks, and secret retreats.



One of Galle Fort’s charming alleyways
​

Card Slot
I’ve been lucky enough to obtain a complete set of 24 pictorial cards featuring Ceylon published in England over 50 years ago by “The Grocers for Quality” – Seymour Mead & Co Ltd and Burgons Ltd. I plan to reproduce one, together with explanatory text, every week.


Pearl of the East
​

Ceylon lies immediately south of India, separated from it by the narrow Palk Strait. It is shaped like a pear or pearl-drop and is sometimes referred to as “The Pearl of the East”. Ceylon is 271 miles long and 140 miles broad – about half the size of England. Its ancient name was Lanka, when it was ruled by Sinhalese kings. Today Ceylon is a member of the British Commonwealth. The population of 9 million comprises a diversity of races, with the Sinhalese as the majority community, but all people who come from Ceylon are known as “Ceylonese”. The chief products are tea, rubber, coconuts and rice. On this map the main tea regions are shown.”


Book of the Week


A rollicking good read
​

The Maldives Adventure. It’s not a holiday, it’s my new paperback (yes, a real book) historical novel published by Kicks Books of the USA and available through all the amazons (even in India and Canada). It’s a rollicking swashbuckling read about how a Maldivian hero led a seaborne guerrilla revolt to oust the Portuguese occupiers of the islands in the 16[SUP]th[/SUP] century.



Happy reading
Royston

Wünsche allen eine schöne Karwoche Premasiri
 
Danke, Premasiri, für den immer interessanten Newsletter.:smil_dankä:

Der Coffeeshop ist wirklich ein Unikat und da er im Fort ist, steht er auf meiner
to do Liste für nächstes Jahr. Da hat sich jemand viel Mühe gegeben bei der
Dekoration. sm9:
 
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 249


Sunday 5 April 2015.
Greetings from Sri Lanka at Easter, with New Year coming up next. (True! See next week’s newsletter!)


Quail pickles
A basket of eggs every day
​

I’m in a pickle with my quails as they sometimes lay as many as ten eggs a day - far more than we want to eat every day, even though I’ve discovered that five quail eggs are equivalent in good and bad qualities to one chicken egg. So what to do? I decided to try pickling them.
None of the recipes I found online seemed quite right for Sri Lankan ingredients, so I boiled a mixture of toddy vinegar and kitul honey, with a little sea salt, bay leaves and chunk of cinnamon. When it cooled, I put boiled, de-shelled quail eggs in a jar, poured the liquid over them, screwed on the top tightly and put them in the fridge for a week.
The result? Amazing! The eggs have tanned and toughened in the pickling liquid, and have an enticing taste of cinnamon.


Quail eggs before & after pickling
​

However, I am wondering if any reader has a real recipe for pickling quail eggs, using ingredients easily sourced in Sri Lanka.

Affordable Hotels
The column I started in the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on “Affordable Hotels” did not put in an appearance during March because of space problems. So here’s a look at a hotel that didn’t feature, as it’s a great place to stay in Colombo.
But what’s affordable? It depends where you are. In Haputale in the hills, you can stay well for Rs2,500 [£ 12.38; $ 18.94]. In Bentota, expect to pay around Rs8,000 [£ 39.60; $ 60.60] for two for desirable accommodation. In Colombo, you’ll be lucky to find a respectable hotel that charges less than US$100.




Enter Cinnamon Red. I’ve no idea why the John Keells hotel group, Cinnamon, should decide to call their new 242-room “no-frills: lean luxury” Colombo 3 property: “Red”. Does that mean your bank account goes in the red if you stay there?
Not really. It’s advertised on the hotel’s website as having rooms for US$80. It does, and the rooms are easily equal in comfort, if not size, to Colombo hotels charging twice as much. It also has a restaurant, cornily called FlavouRED, but that serves lacklustre buffets so best to eat out.
It might be “no frills” but not “no thrills.” At the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] floor reception area, clerks stand by desks created out of imitation suitcases, reminiscent of campaign furniture of colonial days.


Cinnamon Red check in desk
​

The thrilling touch when I checked in was the cheerful window cleaner swinging on a line outside, high above the city.


Cinnamon Red cleaning windows
​

The bedroom was very much “in yer face” – bold and brash with a gob-smacking view over the city’s roof tops.


Cinnamon Red bedroom
​

The stay went well until I tried to check out and the cashier’s printer broke down. I saw red then, as I had a train to catch and was in a hurry. But I’ll go back, as it’s probably the best value hotel in Colombo.http://www.cinnamonhotels.com

Windfall
It’s usually thrilling to receive an unexpected windfall in the form of money. So when I received an envelope bearing the address of the sender as National Savings & Investments, I tore it open eagerly, hoping one of my premium bonds had finally hit the jackpot.
Inside was a warrant accompanying a letter referring to the National Savings Account that I had when I left England in 1960, leaving an amount of 1s.3d to my credit. I tried to calculate how much interest even that small sum would have earned in 55 years, as I slowly turned the warrant face side up.


Windfall cheque
​

My windfall? Just £ 0.08 pence, the modern equivalent of my original investment, without interest. As it will cost me much more than that amount to cash the warrant, I shall frame it.

Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by UK grocers, Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)
Number 2. Kandy Dancers


Kandy Dancers
​

The city of Kandy, last capital and stronghold of the Singhalese kings, lies roughly in the centre of Ceylon, and in the heart of the great upland tea-growing areas. It is famous for the octagonal-shaped Temple of the Tooth, which houses sacred Buddhist relics, and for its dancers. Mostly the traditional Kandyan dances are performed by trained professional dancers. The boys are taught at special schools. On occasions like the annual Perahera (or Festival) they turn out in jewelled headdresses, breastplates and white baggy trousers, and dance to the intricate rhythm of drums.

Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Whenever I meet a Russian in Sri Lanka I bore them with an account of my visit to Moscow (in May 1961) when I read poems on stage with Russia’s poet, the equivalent of Mick Jagger in looks, dynamism and popularity.


Yevgeni Yevtushenko
​

Yevgeni Yevtushenko niftily trod the literary tightrope between the Russian establishment and his passionate young, articulate followers. At our performance together, he had the audience of more than 1,000 howling for more, with girls throwing flowers and swooning. Afterwards we drank vodka at the airport and Yevgeni waxed lyrical about Yuri Gagarin, who’d just become the first man in Space.
I haven’t heard from Yevgeni since the 1960s when he sent me a message from Cuba asking me to join him there for a performance. Now I hear he is unwell (he’s 82) so – if he ever sees this – I wish him speedy recovery – and in return invite him to Sri Lanka!


There’s a poem dedicated to Yevgeni Yevtushenko in Gone Man Squared, my collected beat poems published by Kicks Books of the USA and available through all the amazons in paperback or as a kindle. (I’ll be reading poems from that book at London’s Poetry Café on 29 May 2015; more details in subsequent newsletters.)

Best selling beat poems
​

Beat regards
Royston

wünsche allen Usern noch einen schönen Ostermontag Premasiri
 
Happy New Year!


ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 250
Sunday 12 April, 2015.

Best wishes to all our readers who celebrate the Sinhalese & Tamil New Year on Monday & Tuesday 13 & 14 April.

Oil cakes
Easter came before New Year in Sri Lanka (and in several other Asian countries) this year. Instead of the hot cross buns of last week, one of the delicacies enjoyed this week is known as konda kavum or oil cake. These are deep fried rice flour cakes that are irresistible when eaten fresh from the hearth.


Freshly fried kavum (oil cakes)
​

By chance, when I visited Kumara’s home, his mother was preparing kavum to send for his son, Sasindu, as a school New Year treat. I watched in awe as she sat on her haunches and prepared over a fire of twigs each kavum individually to make sure it was shaped properly.


Making kavum, the mix, the fire, the oil
​

To the Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book, first published in 1929, I am grateful for this recipe and explanation of the skill of cooking kavum. “Put finely sieved rice flour into a basin, add coconut syrup (or honey) and mix well together, adding a little salt and a little hot water if the batter is too thick. Have ready a deep, round-bottom pan of boiling coconut oil.” (Kumara’s mother put a small circular mould into the bottom of the pan, but that’s not mentioned in this recipe.)


Pouring the kavum mix into the oil
​

“Pour in a spoonful of the batter [into the mould] and as it begins to fry and the centre rises, pour in a little more batter into the centre and insert an ekel (dried palm frond) in the middle of the fritter, not allowing it to go through. Keep twisting the ekel round and round and at the same time splash the boiling oil on the fritter with an oil spoon. This is to produce the konde [top knob]. Press around the base of thekonde with the spoon to get it into the proper shape. Remove form oil and drain well.”


Shaping the kavum as it cooks
​

The kavum must have a nice brown colour when fried. “It needs,” says the book’s author, “considerable practice to produce a well-shaped kavum.”

Affordable beach stay.
Another hotel that didn’t make it into my Sunday Times column on affordable places to stay in Sri Lanka, because of lack of space in March, is Bansei by Hotel J in the centre of Hikkaduwa. It’s squashed between the road and the beach, a 15 minute walk along the Galle Road south from the railway station.


Bansei by Hotel J, Hikkaduwa
​

The hotel’s exterior that makes it look like an elongated trellis with green and orange shutters instead of creeping flowers, proclaims its rise above the dross of Hikkaduwa’s ancient hippy style establishments. In other words, here is a bold attempt at creating a comfortable holiday atmosphere.


Bansei by J beachside pool
​

This is evident in the dress and attitude of the 36 members of staff who are each trained to help out in all departments. There are no buffets, not even for breakfast; all menu items are freshly prepared on demand. There are just 30 rooms and mine, number 206, overlooked the sea and the immediate impression as I entered and saw the ocean framed by the room’s brilliant white walls, was “Wow!”


Bansei by J bedroom
​

The room has a balcony with two wooden chairs and a table, and I switched off the air conditioning and flung open the glass doors to the balcony to enjoy the fresh air. The room’s floor is polished cement, the bed huge and comfortable and there were actually four pillows (whereas most low cost hotels only have two). The linen is top quality and the towels in the compact bathroom, plentiful and fluffy. There is even a rain shower as well as a handheld one.
The mirror-fronted closet had shelves and hanging space and a safe large enough for storing a laptop. There was a luggage rack and a work desk (with a flat screen television balanced on it) and, another rarity in a hotel of this price, there were plenty of power points. There was no mini bar and the room door isn’t self-locking so guests have to remember to lock the door when leaving the room.
Rates from US$60. http://www.hotelj.lk/hikkaduwa/

Plantation Adventure
For a holiday retreat in a different style (and a fascinating monthly newsletter), click on:
http://www.halgollaplantationhome.com/Newsletters/2015/15.04_HPH_Newsletter_April_2015.pdf

Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)
Number 3. Flowers




“A vast variety of flowers bloom with tropical splendour in Ceylon. In the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, on the outskirts of Kandy, a glorious collection may be seen of exotic orchids, hibiscus, bougainvillaeas, crotons, cannas, frangipani etc. Palm trees are, of course, a feature of the Ceylon scene and in Peradeniya the famous Palm Avenue contains such specimens as the Kitul, Royal, Cabbage and the giant Talipot Palms. Shown is the national flower (*) of Ceylon, the frangipani known as the Temple Flower. Nearly two thirds of Ceylon’s people are Buddhists and on the day of the full moon they take flowers to the Temples as an offering.”
(*) In February 1986 the Nil Manel (Nymphaea stellata), Blue Water Lily was decreed the National Flower.

Another Novel
I was thrilled to see that amazon.co.uk and amazon.com are selling my latest Kicks Books paperback, Big Time, the fictitious autobiography of a raunchy young pop star. I didn’t know it is already available and haven’t even seen it yet. Looking forward to hearing what readers think of it.


Big Time at last!
​

I shall be signing copies at two places in London in the evening of Friday 29 May 2015. More details in subsequent newsletters, but please keep the date free if you’ll be in London then. Big time indeed!
Beat regards
Royston
I apologise for the late circulation of last week’s newsletter. (Technical glitch.) If the newsletter doesn’t arrive on time, you can read it on my website at: [url]http://www.roystonellis.com/blog[/URL]

Einen schönen Frühling wünscht allen Usern Premasiri

 
Cuckolding koel


ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 251
Sunday 19 April 2015.


In Sri Lanka we’re recovering from the New Year celebrations and it’s taking a few days for people to get into the mood for work


The beach is back
A couple of Sundays ago I was invited for lunch at the Calamander Unawatuna Beach Resort (CUBR). The occasion was to celebrate the return of the beach at Unawatuna. Only last month I wrote about the disaster that had befallen what was once acclaimed as “one of the ten best beaches in the world.” However good Unawatuna’s after-beach party life is (and it’s very good indeed), a beach needs sand, and Unawatuna’s sand had slipped away almost overnight.


The restored beach at Calamander Unawatuna
​

The cause of the beach’s disappearance was not natural; an artificial breakwater of rocks was built at the western end of the bay. This disturbed the tidal flow and the sea sucked away the sand. The return of the beach is not a natural phenomenon either. Sand was hoovered up from deep in the ocean, delivered to Unawatuna by ship and pumped out on to the exposed rocks of the bay.
Now there is a broad expanse of sand and a calm, shallow ocean. The sand is coarse and has lots of crushed shells, but nevertheless the beach is back, and people have been flocking to Unawatuna every day, to relive the holiday times of yore. How long it will last, no one knows.


Dish of the week
​

For lunch, Christopher, the new executive chef of CUBR, produced a traditional European meal: Bacon-wrapped Filet of Beef with pepper and brandy sauce and double-baked potato. It was a change from sea food, rice and curry or the mix from the buffet. However, the buffet counter did yield some delightful morsels for dessert.


Tempting dessert morsels
​

Cuckolding Koel
Koel in full cry
​

This bird, in open-mouth vocal mode, is commonly heard in coastal gardens (and where crows are found) in Sri Lanka at this time of the year, its breeding season. Its full-throated twoop-twoop-twoop call repeated incessantly to growing crescendo heralds the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year holiday time in April, in the manner that a cuckoo announces Spring is coming.
The Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus scolopaceus; in Sinhala known as koha and in Tamil kuyil) is similar to the cuckoo in other respects; the female cuckolds crow couples by laying its eggs in their nests when the crows are distracted by the male koel shrieking at them and leading them off on a wild koel chase. Here’s a better photograph of the wily male in my garden.


Koel listening for reply
​

Snakes of the east
A kind reader has sent me this photo and comment:
“After reading more about your interest in snakes I thought you might like this one from my father’s collection taken in the 1950s! This python was found near Monkey Bridge near Trincomalee.”



Tourism
There’s an exhibition that will be of interest not just to tourist professionals, but also to professional tourists calledSancharaka Udawa taking place in Colombo next weekend. The Sinhala phrase loosely translates into English as “The Rise of Tourism.”
It’s a gathering of all kinds of service providers to the tourism industry, ranging from camp site operators to luxury boutique hotel owners, from white water rafters to nature and heritage site promoters, from events organisers to night club managers.




It is organised by the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) together with Sri Lanka Tourism and with participation and support from the Western Province Tourist Board and Srilankan Airlines. It takes place in Colombo on Friday and Saturday 24 and 25 April 2015 at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Centre (at the BMICH) and
is open to the general public as well as to all those connected with Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.

Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)
No. 4. The Ruined Cities




“The history of the Sinhalese in Ceylon goes back to the year 504BC when the Aryan Prince, Vijaya, landed from India, married a Princess of Ceylon and, in time, became King of the whole Island. Under successive kings beautiful cities were founded, among them the first capital, Anuradhapura. Through wars, invasions and disease the cities fell into ruin, but their remains pay tribute to the glories of Ceylon’s past. The buildings of Anuradhapura are mostly religious, but there are palaces too. Polonnaruwa has a recumbent stone Buddha 44ft long, besides many impressive Dagobas – conical temples built of brick and finished in dazzling white cement.”

Diary Date
I shall be making a farewell visit to England next month and have been booked to make two appearances (open to the public) in London on Friday 29 May, 2015.
The first is organised by Tales From The Woods magazine (http://www.tftw.org.uk) from 5.00pm at Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmorland Street, near London’s Oxford Circus, when I shall be speaking about my days as a beat poet with Cliff Richard’s Shadows, The Beatles and Jimmy Page, and signing copies of my paperback books. This is billed asThe Return of the Paperback Writer, which is a reference to the Beatles’ song of that name that I inspired.


Inspired by the Beatles, painting by Segar
​

I shall also be reading from my Kicks Books collection of poems, Gone Man Squared, on Friday 29 May 2015 at8.30pm at The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BX, admission £8.00


Rehearse or bust
​
fifth friday special
poetry & music at the poetry café
hosted by hylda sims & dix schofield-___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
may 29 *fifth friday
ROYSTON ELLIS
we are pleased to present this 60’s British beat poet, who put the ‘a’ into BeAtles, for his first performance since leaving England 54 years ago. Royston will be reading from his 2013 Kicks Books collection Gone Man Squared
http://www.roystonellis.com
PRAGER, STENSON & SIMS
ofCity Ramblers Revival
provide blues/skiffle/rock’n’roll ‘n’ more
voices from the floor welcome as always
this event starts at 8.30pm
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX
booked poets & musicians and voices from the floor
fourth fridays | 8pm | £8 (£6) | licenced bar | disabled access
0208 299 2767 | details: fourthfriday.wordpress.com

See you there!
Beat regards
Royston

Habe bis jetzt noch kein e mail von Royston bekommen darum ging ich auf seine Homepage www.roystonellis.com/blog/ und habe den Newsletter von dort hierhin kopiert...
LG Premasiri

 
Hallo Premasiri,

danke für die weiteren Newsletter! :danke:

Die Kavum sind ja schon mal lecker anzuschauen, aber das hier:



Dish of the week
​

For lunch, Christopher, the new executive chef of CUBR, produced a traditional European meal: Bacon-wrapped Filet of Beef with pepper and brandy sauce and double-baked potato.
Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

allein bei der gebackenen Kartoffel läuft mir schon das Wasser im Mund zusammen.

Liebe Grüsse, Biggi
 
Appearing in London

ROYSTON REPORTS Number 252
Sunday 26 April 2015.


Greetings to readers, especially to those who can join me in London on Friday 29 May.


London appearance
My US publisher, Kicks Books, has sent out a bold flyer to promote my appearances in London next month. 5pm-7.30pm Friday 29 May
THE RETURN OF THE PAPERBACK WRITER
at the Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmorland Street, Off New Cavendish Street. Nearest Tube Station: Oxford Circus (10 min walk).
This is a Tales From The Woods function: http://www.tftw.org.uk
I’ll be talking about being the paperback writer of the Beatles’ hit; my Cliff Richard & The Shadows rock and roll memoir; and will be happy to sign copies of that and of the new edition of my 1960 bestseller:The Big Beat Scene, both available from UK bookshops or www.amazon.co.uk. I shall also have some copies of my Kicks Books hip pocket paperbacks imported from the USA to sell and sign.


From 8.30pm Friday 29 May
THE FIRST BRITISH BEAT POET
reads at The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX. Admission £8.00 (http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/). I shall be reading from my Kicks Books collection: Gone Man Squared.


Kicks Books flyer
​


Vesak
Next Sunday, 3 May, is the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day, a holiday in Sri Lanka. The next day, Monday 4 May, is also a holiday and the whole week is being set aside for Vesak celebrations. It’s an important time in predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka as Vesak marks the birth, enlightenment and the demise of Gautama Buddha.
Streets in towns throughout the country are bright with colourful paper lanterns and electrically-enhanced pandals (structures depicting Buddhist scenes) while religious activities as well as the distribution of alms in the form of free food and drink from stalls, termed dansalas, take place.
Children and adults alike wear white, the colour of purity, as they attend prayer ceremonies at their neighbourhood temples. Most Buddhist homes show off their Vesak lantern-making skills by hanging up a vibrant display of homemade contraptions.


Flying Vesak lantern
​


Eggciting
One of my favourite newsletters (http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com)took a look at Scotch Eggs recently from which I learned that instead of originating from Scotland as the name suggests, the word “scotch” originates from “scotched”, meaning processed.
“Luxury London store Fortnum & Mason lays claim to having created the Scotch egg in 1738 for hungry travellers seeking portable nourishment before a long journey from Piccadilly.The earliest printed recipe appears in the 1809 edition of Mrs. Rundell’s A New System of Domestic Cookery using a hen’s egg and served with gravy. Soon after, the humble Scotch egg’s popularity soared and it went on to become a popular picnic snack among wealthy Victorians.”
According to the findings of the website’s team who scoffed Scotch eggs throughout London, Fulham seems to be the place for Good Eggs. “The Sands End, 135-137 Stephendale Road, London SW6 2PR, is an unassuming pub that was one of the first to champion gourmet Scotch eggs and has gained a reputation for them.
“Cooked to perfection, the sunshine yellow yolks are pleasingly oozy, while the sausage meat is moist and tender. The best part? They come with homemade spicy tomato sauce. £ 5.”


Sands End scotch egg
​

However, declares the author of the survey, “there could only be one winner. These bad boys from the Fulham gastropub, Harwood Arms, Walham Grove, London, SW6 1QPK, co-owned by The Ledbury’s head chef, Brett Graham, as so divine, I could happily scoff three in one sitting. The secret to their success is the use of venison in place of sausage meat, which adds a rich, gamey element. The Veuve Clicquot yellow yolks are bursting with flavour, and their coats of armour are fantastically crunchy. You owe it to yourself to try one, or three for that matter. £ 4.”


Harwood Arms scotch eggs
​

I’ve only found Scotch Eggs on a menu in Sri Lanka at the Villa Café in Bentota at Rs750 [£ 4.05; $ 6.11] for one. They certainly look heavier than the Fulham versions and this one was a bit dry to eat; more expensive, too!


Sri Lankan scotch egg
​


Quotch Egg
Regular readers will know I have a daily supply of quail eggs so I wondered about trying Scotch Quail Eggs at home. The recipe I found in Mrs Beeton’s huge Household Management book (dated 1948) seemed simple enough, but I had to make changes in the ingredients to cater for my gluten-free diet. Instead of sausage meat (which would have cereal filler), I used minced beef and for breadcrumbs, I crumbled a hopper (a crisp crepe made with rice flour).
Since boiled quail eggs are difficult to peel, I hard boiled them rather than trying to replicate the “Veuve Clicquot yellow yolk.” I mixed the mince with seasoning and a quail egg to bind it, flattened the mix on the palm of my hand and then coated each peeled boiled egg with rice flour before enveloping it with the mince mixture.


Ready to roll
​

Next, I dipped the coated creation into beaten quail egg before rolling it in hopper crumbs. Then I wrapped each egg in cling foil and left them to firm and set in the fridge for four hours. In the evening, I popped them into a pan of hot sunflower oil for a few minutes and served them straight from the pan with sundowners. They emerged a little charred, but still smashing.


Scotch quail eggs at sunset
​

Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)




No. 5 Fishing
“The waters around Ceylon have been called “the deep-sea fisherman’s paradise.” Game fish abound – barracuda, albacore, sailfish and swordfish, and the singing fish of Batticaloa. The village fishermen use outrigger canoes. They go out at night and their tiny lights may be seen for miles. When they return in the morning, the catch is sold from the beach. Another variation is stilt fishing. A crude fence is driven into the sea-bed offshore and from this “pier” the hardy fishermen try to earn a livelihood. Pearl fishing is less important than it used to be, but still takes place from time to time near Trincomalee.”

Apologies
Gremlins attacked again, so my apologies for the late delivery (and odd layout) of last week’s newsletter. Strange that, after five years of writing and circulating these newsletters, we still can’t get it right every time!


Beat regards
Royston

Es grüsst Euch alle bevor ich arbeiten gehe Premasiri
 
Wieder ein interessanter Newsletter :smil_dankä:

Die scotch eggs sehen ja mal lecker aus!!!
 
Beatles in Colombo

ROYSTON REPORTS Number 253
Sunday 3 May 2015.


The Beatles and classic cars feature in Colombo this week.


Local Coffee
There is a renaissance in Sri Lanka coffee. Coffee was the island’s main export in the mid-19[SUP]th[/SUP] century until a blight wiped out the crop on hundreds of plantations, bankrupting many planters and investors. Then planters turned to tea and, with the arrival of the marketing genius, Thomas Lipton, in 1890, the tea export industry took off, helped by Lipton’s purchase of major estates so he became a producer as well as a merchant.
Coffee was forgotten for export and what was produced locally was pretty dour. No wonder liquid Camp coffee and instant coffee became popular in the country instead. However, coffee is still grown and, with improved knowledge and production techniques, a cup of pure Sri Lankan coffee has become an inspiring and pleasant beverage.
I wrote (No. 212) about the boutique coffee producer, Whight & Company, and their café with roasting room on Marine Drive, Colombo, and their superb local signature blend. Local supermarkets also stock ground pure local coffee, with the Hansa Ceylon Coffee Ltd (www.srilankacoffee.com) producing speciality coffees from Nuwara Eliya including the one I like: “Espresso Ceylon Coffee.”


Espresso coffee at home
​

The 200g packet (price Rs650 [£ 3.33; $4.81]) carries bags of detail about the company’s products, including the ‘feel-good’ information that: “The coffee you are drinking encourages Sri Lankan Farmers to look after and enrich the biodiversity of plants and creatures in their forest gardens. Our company strives towards a fair trade relation with these small scale coffee growers.”



Seventy of these make one cup
​

From the packet I learn that “it takes about 70 roasted coffee beans to make one cup” and that “a coffee bush starts bearing after three to four years” and “a mature Sri Lankan coffee bush yields one to three kilos of coffee cherries.”


Roasted beans
​
We add crushed cardamoms or flecks of cinnamon stick to the brew in the cafetière to make our morning kick-start espresso.


Classic Cars
Keen on classic cars? Sri Lanka has some fascinating vintage cars which are defined as those with a registration number preceded by a letter of the alphabet from A to Z. The letter indicates where the car was registered, not the year. The system was changed in the 1930s.


Classic jeep
​

Classic cars used to be defined as those registered under the system using a pair of letters such as CE, CY or EN, derived from Sri Lanka’s colonial name of Ceylon, was used in front of numbers. That system changed in 1950.


A grand rally
​

The Classic Car Club of Ceylon, founded in 1992, saw fit to expand the definition of a classic car to include models at least 25 years old at its foundation, as well as cars considered as classics if approved by the club’s committee.
You’ll be able to see dozens of these beauties on display at The Ceylon Motor Show being held at the BMICH in Colombo on 8, 9 & 10 May.


Unexpected Beatles
Unexpectedly, I have been asked to open the exhibition of Paintings of the Beatles by Sri Lanka’s famous artist, Raja Segar. This is being held at the Art Gallery at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel, Colombo, from Thursday 7 May to Thursday 14 May.
On show will be Segar’s bold and distinctive interpretations in watercolours and oils featuring imagined moments in the lives of the fab four. One of them even includes me with the Beatles backstage in Guernsey, 1963.


Inspired by the Beatles, painting by Segar
​

I’m delighted to invite any readers who will be in Colombo on Thursday 7 May to come along to the gallery, between 7pm & 9pm, to view Segar’s unique paintings of the now-legendary group, and to hear my account of our days together in Liverpool in 1960. Over 20 paintings will be available for purchase, including this one.


Paul in Ringo’s bedroom by Segar.
​

Affordable Hotels
Boutique simplicty in Jaffna
​

My column for the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka reviewing affordable hotels has resumed. Of course, it depends on the one who’s paying (and the holiday budget) to decide if a hotel/guesthouse is “affordable.” I have set the benchmark at US$100, but the place must be comfortable and fun to stay in. For my latest review, click on:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150419/plus/lotus-inn-a-rare-bloom-in-jaffna-145026.html


Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)




No. 6. Elephants
“There is nothing an elephant loves more than a bath. And in Ceylon it is almost a daily ritual, in a river or waterfall, or just a rippling stream, where the elephants are scrubbed down by the mahouts who look after them. These working elephants of Ceylon have sometimes helped in clearing land on the great tea estates. They are smaller than the African elephants, but very strong and intelligent. When they take part in a procession they are beautifully decorated. The wild elephants of Ceylon are becoming fewer. Other animals in the island include bears, leopards, elks, deer, boars, buffalo and sambhurs.”

London visit
Thanks to the many readers who have sent good wishes and even plan to attend one of the events where I shall be talking about the “good old days of rock and roll,” signing copies of my books, and giving a reading of beat poems from my book, Gone Man Squared, available fromhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=Gone+Man+Squared+by+Royston+Ellis


Signed cover & paperback editions of GONE MAN SQUARED
​

5pm-7.30pm Friday 29 May 2015
THE RETURN OF THE PAPERBACK WRITER
at the Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmorland Street, Off New Cavendish Street. Nearest Tube Station: Oxford Circus (10 min walk).
This is a Tales From The Woods function: http://www.tftw.org.uk
From 8.30pm Friday 29 May 2015
THE FIRST BRITISH BEAT POET
reads at The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BX. Admission £8.00 (http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/).




Beat regards
Royston

auch aus der im Moment sonnigen Schweiz nach dem starken Regen liebe Grüsse
Premasiri
 
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 254
Sunday 10 May 2015.


Welcome to this week’s news about life in Sri Lanka.
Labelled




Galle Face Hotel (GFH) in Colombo is one of those venerable institutions (like Raffles in Singapore or the Oriental in Bangkok) that exude the essence of the grand days of travel. It’s currently undergoing a complete revamp while the upmarket Regency Wing remains open. Like all great hotels, the GFH used to have its own luggage labels to slap on to suitcases.




Here are some from my collection, to make you nostalgic for the days when travellers arrived by sea and not as packaged tourists.





This one is more modern and was in use in 2000.





Butter’s better
There are various kinds of imported butters available in Sri Lanka, as well as local ones. I’ve recently found a butter that’s new to me, called Ambewela. It is produced and packed at 1,884m (6,160ft) above sea level at a farm in Ambewela. This is a small town in the hill country, off the A5 road linking Nuwara Eliya with Keppitipola via Hakgala (where there’s a fine botanical garden).




The butter comes neatly packed in a plastic 200g tub with a plastic top. The version I bought (it cost Rs 300 [£ 1.50; $ 2.30]) is salted, but – unlike a lot of Sri Lankan food – is not over-salted and so it blends well on gluten free crackers with local cheese or even local marmalade.


Contented cows at Ambewela
​

There are actually two major farms at Ambewela, some seven kilometres apart: the Ambewela Farm and the New Zealand Farm. The altitude and the cool, rainy climate remind visitors of New Zealand and the cows seem healthy and content, much better than the cattle that roam roads in the south. The farms also raise rabbits, pigs, goats and vegetables. I hope to visit there soon for an up-to-date report (and perhaps a cheese tasting?)


Gemuine
Sri Lanka is famous for its sapphires and precious gems, as well as semi-precious ones. Near Beruwala on the west coast is an enclave known as China Fort.


China Fort behind Beruwala
​

There, some 5,000 gem dealers, gem cutters and gem polishers transform rough stones sourced in Sri Lanka and Africa into precious gems. Usually these are snapped up by international jewellers for export and the streets of China Fort, on Wednesday and Saturdays 10am-3pm, are thronged with Sri Lankans opening palms to reveal gems worth thousands of dollars.


Gem trading in the street
​

Later this month, 16-19 May, gem enthusiasts and experts have a chance to compare precious stones, as well as buy bargains, out of the hot sun at the congress of the International Coloured Gemstone Association (ICGA) being held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo. The ICGA has a membership of 500 from 42 countries representing 75 per cent of the purchasing power of the international market for coloured gem stones.


Gemuine gems
​

Gems are wonderful souvenirs of Sri Lanka and, by purchasing from recognised dealers, tourists can buy stones that will increase in value when set professionally by the talented goldsmiths of Sri Lanka.





Segart
For my article on artist Segar and his paintings of the Beatles go to:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150503/plus/segar-imagine-all-the-beatles-147159.html

Cycling to Sri Lanka
In September last year I reported that an enthusiastic young couple were riding their bicycles from England to Sri Lanka. The object was not to save on the airfare but to raise money for the charity Kick Start, which supports Sri Lankan children left without parents or family protection because of the devastating civil war.




I wondered at the time if they would ever make it, given their proposed route. It seems they had to abandon their plan to cycle from Athens to Bombay, and instead flew, then bicycled through India from Mumbai. They did manage to reach Sri Lanka, not only making their dream come true, but also helping to make dreams come true for children. There are details of their activities in Sri Lanka on their websitehttp://www.biketrip12000km.com .

Card slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)
No. 7. The Village




“Many villages in Ceylon are built below the retaining wall of a “tank” or artificial lake, so that they are certain of their water supply. The homes are mud-walled, with a thatched roof of straw or plaited coconut leaves, a wooden door and no glass windows. There is usually a verandah running along the front. Each house stands in its own ground and is attractively white-washed and looked after. Coconut, lime, orange, tamarind and areca palms make a picturesque background. Most villages provide a “maduwa” – a resting place for strangers – and, of course, there is a village shop.”

Big Time perfume




The publisher of my Kicks Books range of hip pocket paperbacks has produced a line of perfumes inspired by my upbeat novels: Sweet Ebony and Big Time and also by my collection of beat poems, Gone Man Squared. I haven’t tried them yet as I am awaiting shipment, but I may have some bottles (and books) to offer for sale when I appear at these venues in London on Friday 29 May. (http://www.kicksbooks.com)
The Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmorland Street, Off New Cavendish Street. Nearest Tube Station: Oxford Circus (10 min walk). 5pm-7.30pm. THE RETURN OF THE PAPERBACK WRITER is aTales From The Woods function: http://www.tftw.org.uk


Rehearse or bust
​

The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BX. From 8.30pm


THE FIRST BRITISH BEAT POET Royston reads. Admission £8.00 (http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/).
Beat regards
Royston

Wünsche allen Userinnen einen schönen Muttertag
 
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Gerade ebend wieder hier gelandet...
Danke nochmals an Premasiri für das Einstellen der NL von Royston!

Im letzten Brief ging es u.a um das Galle Face Hotel. Wir haben dort zwar noch nie übernachtet, aber in den letzten Jahren gehörte bei jedem Aufenthalt in Colombo ein Besuch auf einen Cafe, Mocktail oder auch Cocktail 8-) einfach dazu. Ein Sundowning in diesen alten Mauern in Ruhe aus dem Restaurant zu geniessen, einfach herrlich.
Apropos, weiss jemand, wie es mit der Renovierung oder auch Restaurierung dort vorwärts geht?

Liebe Grüsse, Biggi
 
In meinem ersten SL-Urlaub 2006 war ich im Galle Face Hotel. Am Eingang gibt es eine Tafel mit berühmten Persönlichkeiten, die schon dort waren.

Mein Name fehlt leider :-)

In allen anderen SL-Urlauben an der Westküste bin ich mindestens einmal in Colombo.
 
@ Marco, meiner fehlt auch....

@Biggi, mache ich doch gerne....

LG Premasiri
 
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Naked Beatles


ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 255
Sunday 17 May 2015.


Welcome to this week’s roundup of happenings in Sri Lanka.


A Classic
Classic SS Jaguar 100
​

This restored SS Jaguar 100 car was on exhibition with some 140 other classic cars at the Motor Show held in Colombo last weekend. It is one of the two-seat sports cars built in England between 1936 and 1949 by SS Cars Ltd of Coventry. It was named “100” to reflect the hoped for maximum speed (100 mph) of the vehicle. It was the fashion then to name cars after animals, hence Jaguar. However, following the Second World War, because of the connotations attached to the initials “SS” (vide: Waffen SS), the company was itself renamed as Jaguar in 1945.


SS insignia close up
​

This model sports the original “SS” and it predates the iconic leaping Jaguar on the bonnet that has become the company’s signature trademark.



Rolls Royce awaits
​

Other cars on show included some magnificent American monsters, a gaudy Rolls Royce and a line up of classic MGs.


MGs in line
​

I was intrigued by the new four-wheeler Baja vehicle, which is a cross between a car and a tuk-tuk. It looked spacious and, with seat belts as standard, could be useful as our shopping transport at Horizon Cottage.


For shopping trips?
​


Curd cheese
Curd in Sri Lanka refers to a milk product similar to yoghurt made in a clay pot with buffalo milk. We don’t often see cheese curd here, which is why I grabbed a plastic cup of Cottage Cheese I found in the fridge of K-Zone, the large (for Sri Lanka) supermarket by the Galle Road in Moratuwa.
The label gave the ingredients as “fresh cow milk, acetic acid & salt.” Cottage cheese is actually drained, not pressed, so some whey remains and individual curds remain loose. It’s good as a protein source and makes a filling breakfast, served with tomatoes or perhaps strawberries.
I found that out when I checked with Wikipedia to see just what I had bought and how to serve it. This particular cup contained 100g of mild tasting cheese (mercifully not much salt), which I shall have with spring onions or sprinkled on rocket salad, or perhaps with seeni sambol, the sweet onion relish. It is made by a small local producer at Wennappuwa, on the west coast, 50km north of Colombo. This plateful cost Rs135 [£ 0.65; $ 1.00].


Curds & whey
​

Kandy’s Best Pub
For many, especially tourists and expat residents, Kandy’s best pub is Slightly Chilled for cool evenings. But my recommendation is Royal Inn for convenience (it’s in King Street behind the Queen’s Hotel and a five minute walk from the Temple of the Tooth) and a Somerset Maugham ambience with the original arrack tavern retained as a coffee bar and a courtyard with beer barrels as tables for alfresco drinking and eating.
I was flattered when I popped in there last week to see that this Report’s recommendation is featured on the backboard on its entrance veranda.


Top Kandy pub
​


Not the dish of the week
Kumara had this very strange looking (and tasting) Mixed Grill at what was formerly the colonial style Peradeniya Resthouse but has been ruthlessly dragged upmarket with glass walls and an upstairs rice-and-curry buffet – to which all lunching foreigners are banished. I protested that I wanted to eat and drink on the veranda as we used to do, but instead we were corralled into a side restaurant by a pushy waiter.
I feel sorry for tourists when they encounter staff who consider they know what a guest wants, and their usual good manners have been trampled through dealing with coachloads of exhausted sightseers in search of a loo.


Nixed Mixed Grill
​

This dish was billed as “Mixed Grill Kandy” and comprised chicken sausages, chicken ham, chicken bacon and a chicken leg doused in sauce of doubtful provenance. It cost Rs1,250 (£ 6.09; US$ 9.25) with service and tax included. Nixed.


Card Slot


(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)
No. 8. VILLAGE WOMAN
‘The Ceylonese villager by nature is gentle, generous and of a happy disposition. The men, however, are inclined to be easy-going so the women have to work hard. Their day begins before dawn, when the coconuts are scraped, rice husked, millet ground and rice-milk squeezed for the day’s needs. They collect the firewood to stack in the garden. A Sinhalese woman is light brown in colour, graceful and often beautiful. Her dress, or ‘sari’ usually consists of two pieces: a bodice with short sleeves and a cloth wound around the waist, hanging to the feet. Two or three inches of bare skin show between.”

Naked Beatles
I made two public appearances in Colombo last week. At his Cinnamon Lakeside Gallery, the popular Sri Lankan artist, Segar, opened his exhibition of paintings of the Beatles, including an imagined one of them naked. I was honoured that many of the paintings have been captioned by Segar using poems from my book Gone Man Squared.




Segar’s art is bold, even brash, and perfectly reflects the chaotic lifestyle of the early Beatles in paintings that have more meaning than is at first apparent. They are sure to become collector’s items.
A couple of nights later I was again at Cinnamon Lakeside addressing the Ceylon College of Physicians as part of their “Beyond Medicine” lecture programme.




These were both opportunities for me to revive my oratory skills in preparation for my appearances in London on 29 May (at The Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmoreland Street from 5.30pm) and at The Poetry Café (22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden from 8.30pm) – with Skiffle!
If you’re in London then, come along to the Poetry Café for some old time fun.


Beat regards
Royston

an alle User viel Vergnügen beim lesen....LG Premasiri
 
Big Time

ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 256
Sunday 24 May 2015.


Greetings to readers; hope to meet some of you in London on Friday 29 May.


Big Time
At the dawn of the Swinging Sixties, every hot-blooded boy wanted to make the big time by becoming a pop star. Since I couldn’t sing or play an instrument, I took to poetry and was lucky enough to link up with Cliff Richard’s group, the Drifters who soon became The Shadows who backed me on stage and TV shows. The story of how, in Liverpool, I met by chance four boys (John, George, Paul & Stuart) who backed my poetry reading at the Jacaranda Club in Slater Street, is well known. When discussing what we wanted to do in life, I told them “I want to be a paperback writer.” Cue for song.
Back in London I appeared at the Mermaid Theatre in 1961 accompanied on guitar by Jimmy Page who later found fame and fortune and a sensational career as a Yardbird and founder of Led Zeppelin.
Age 20, I retired from being a professional teenager and pop poet and set out on a life of writing and travel. My first stop was Guernsey, in the (British) Channel Islands where I became a licenced ferryboat engineer by day and moonlighted as a television interviewer. There exists on you tube an interview I did with Jimmy Page in Guernsey in 1963. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc8VJXrpmtU)


With Jimmy Page, Guernsey 1963
​

I also become a paperback writer and my first novel, the fictitious autobiography of a British pop star, which I wrote while in Guernsey, was published in England in 1964. Thanks to the dynamic publishing house, Kicks Books, a division of Norton Records of the USA, the unexpurgated version of that book (Big Time) is being released in London on 29 May as a hip pocket paperback available through amazon.co.uk (£9.68) or amazon.com ($14.95.) (ISBN: 978 1940157122)
It “savagely rips apart the fabric of the life of pop music make believe. Revealed are the sometimes cruel methods by which an individual is manipulated into an alluring image demanded by screaming fans.”


Available through amazon
​


Slippery Nipple
This is the intriguing name of a cocktail I was not brave enough to try, offered in the bar of the Amagi Lagoon Hotel at Kudana, off the A3 road from Colombo to Negombo. I found myself there when I was investigating an affordable hotel close to the airport so I could stay there when I have to check in for an early flight next month.
I stayed in a cheapie (the name of which luckily I can’t remember) when I had to check in at 5am one day last year for a flight to Bangkok. It was just a single bed (that I hoped was clean) in a grim room without windows. There was no one around to unlatch the front door when I left at 4.30am (I’d paid in advance) and the experience put me in a miserable mood for the flight.
So I’ve decided, as Neel always says, “we can’t afford to live cheaply” and will stay in a better hotel next time. The Amagi Lagoon Hotel, just 7km from the airport and overlooking the 35sq km Negombo lagoon, is the likely candidate.


Amagi Lagoon Hotel main block as seen from tree house
​

It’s clean and efficient and comfortable, and even has a tree house. I sampled this delicious dish there: Prawn Satay with garlic butter sauce and salad for Rs1,200 [£ 5.85; $ 8.88] nett. Next time, that Slippery Nipple (Rs950)?



Prawn satay starter
​


A Date to Remember (Colombo)
The Lanka Alzheimer’s Foundation will present a public lecture on ‘Helping People with Alzheimer’s Disease Communicate Successfully: Techniques and Tools’ by Dr Barbara B Shadden on Friday 29 May at 6 pm at 110 Ketawalamulla Lane, Colombo 10.
“Caregivers often list communication problems as one of the greatest challenges of interacting with persons with Alzheimer’s Disease. While each individual is unique, there are a number of communication strategies that are known to be effective and a number of memory aids that support communication and orientation and help reduce challenging behaviours.
“This lecture provides an overview of both strategies and memory aids, particularly as they enhance communicative interactions. Emphasis will be placed on practical tips that can be implemented by attendees.
“Dr Shadden is Co-Director of the Office for Studies on Ageing and University Professor Emeritus of Communication Disorders at the University of Arkansas. She is the author/editor of multiple textbooks and has championed the inclusion of academic training in normal aspects of ageing for all clinical disciplines, as well as contact and clinical experiences with persons with dementia.”
The organisers request people interested in attending to register by telephone on 011 2667082/2667084 or by email: alzheimers@alzlanka.org


Card Slot
(From 50 years ago. Issued by British grocers Seymour Mead & Co Ltd)




No. 9. RICE
“Ceylon’s staple food is rice, but even with 900,000 acres of paddy (rice on the stem) quantities still have to imported, chiefly from Burma and China. The rice seeds are planted in muddy ground, very often on terraced hillside as in our picture. In a few days, when the plants are about 3”, the land is flooded and left until harvesting time. A field of paddy is a wonderful sight – a rich, bright green. It is cut with hand sickles and threshed in the open by buffalo teams trampling over it. After this the women pound it to remove the husk. Rice and curry makes the main meal of the day.”

A Date To Remember (London)
I fly (with Neel to keep me out of trouble) from Sri Lanka on Wednesday 27 May for a few days in London, to speak on Friday 29 May at The Kings Head Private Theatre Bar, Westmoreland Street from 5.30pm and at The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden from 8.30pm. I’m looking forward to meeting readers of this newsletter at one (or both!) of the events – I’ll also have copies of my latest books for sale.




Beat regards
Royston

wünsche allen Usern schöne Pfingsten.....LG Premasiri

Stelle hier noch das Interview ein....weil ich konnte es nicht öffnen im Newsletter von Royston

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