AWOL

Well, it sure is nice to be back again.

I got bored of blogging. Bored of everything I have to say. Reduced to writing about football, which I am now also bored of. So I stopped.

We went home for a couple of weeks, racing around England trying to make sure we spent enough time with two families and two groups of friends, as well as sorting out visa issues and doing some work on the side. It wasn’t a holiday, but it was a well-needed catch up with the nearest and dearest. Hello, all you lovely people.

Someone told me they’d been reading the blog and wished that I’d stop writing about bloody Arsenal, and wrote some more about Sri Lanka. I often don’t feel l’m qualified to talk about the situation in Sri Lanka, and the couple of times I’ve tried it hasn’t come up to expectations.  Which is why the blog ground to a halt. I know I should write more about what it’s like to be here for the benefit of those back home but the problem is, there are desperately important things going on. 200,000 people trapped and isolated between bloodthirsty armies and no-one looking out for them, for example. In that context, writing about what I had for breakfast just seems rude.

But the trip home has reminded me not to be so bloody precious. It’s a blog: it’s supposed to be inaccurate, opinionated, frivolous and stupid. And so here we go again.

C had to go on to New York and Washington for another two weeks of work. I arrived back here yesterday on my own, for some reason preferring to slip back into Colombo unannounced, even forgetting to turn my mobile back on.

I love foreign cities at night, they all sound different. They all have their own note, the frequency at which they resonate. Colombo’s is so dim you can barely hear it. I stood on the balcony and for a while I felt very distant from everything and everyone. It’s a feeling that comes and goes but I don’t remember it being that strong since a night in Jakarta 13 years ago, only this time I was missing one person in particular.

This morning the sun is out and the traffic is lively. Through the windows there are concrete apartment blocks and shattered, orange-tiled roofs under a boiling blue sea. If you half close your eyes you can make it look like Benidorm.

Work, but first breakfast. I feel like french toast this morning, in case you’re interested.