A little farm house in Carinthia

I plucked a peach from a tree in the garden and bit into its fresh juicy succulence. It was the first time I have eaten a peach which was not from a tin. As the flavours tantalised my tongue I looked around and absorbed my surroundings. I am in a quaint farmhouse in Worthersee; an alpine Lake in Carinthia Austria. 

The name of the farm

The wooden structure

It is as if I have been transported into the pages of a story book. The weather is nice and cool. There are fruits growing everywhere. Grapes, pears, apricots all you need to do is reach out and pluck them. Beautiful flowers are sprouting all over the place. 

The flowers that bloom are amazing

...even from the trees

The Gardens of the farm 

Everything is spotlessly clean including the roads. The farmhouse is a beautiful wooden structure and my hosts have given me a comfortable apartment to use for the next three nights. As all apartments in this part of Europe its tiny and compact but has everything one needs. And wow what a magnificent view of the lake from its balcony.

The view from my Balcony

My Tiny Balcony but it was cute

 I couldn't wait to open a bottle of wine sit on the balcony and sip it whilst admiring the view and ruminating on how wonderful the title of this post would be as a title of a book. And of course thanking the lord above for showing me a little bit of heaven on earth.

What an enjoyable glass of wine it was...

The Story of us – The only redeeming scene of Californication series 07

The longer a TV series runs the more diluted (and stale) it becomes. Truer words could not have been said of the series 07 of Californication which I finished watching recently. Somehow it has lost its edge. It was like seeing your beautiful sexy aunt who always appeared in your naughty dreams after many years. All faded and wrinkled up. A shadow of what she used to be. This time they even managed to do something which I thought would hear on the script of this program. Bring in a cheesy line “what happens at the dentists stays at the dentists”. I writhed in pain when I heard this line and wondered what happened to the ballsy lines such as “I wont go down in history but I will go down on your sister”? Fortunately this is the final season of which to me is a blessing in disguise.
Yet with all its flaws it was good to see good old Hank Moody once more. He still had charm though the plot did not. Generally I would have three or four “OMFG I wish I could write like this” scenes with every new series of Californication. But this time there was none worthy of mention except this.

This is how it goes though the last and the best line has been left out in the video which is real sad.
"I've been thinking about Us, the story of us. How the fuck do I sum it up? Has it been perfect? Hardly. Any story with me at the center of it will never be anything less than a big smiling mess. But here's what I know for sure—our time in the sun has been a thing of absolute fucking beauty. The nightmares, the hangovers, the fucking and the punching. The gorgeous shimmering insanity of the city of ours. Where for years I woke up, fucked up, said I was sorry, passed out and did it all over again. As a writer, I'm a sucker for happy endings. The guy gets the girl, she saves him from himself, fade to fucking black. As a guy who loves a girl, I realize there's no such thing. There's no sunset. There's just now, and there's just the two of us, which can be scary fucking ugly sometimes.
But if you close your eyes and listen for the whisper of your heart—if you simply keep trying and never ever give up, no matter how many times you get it wrong, until the beginning and the end blur into something called until we meet again -- and that's it. I didn't know how to finish it, because it's not over. It'll never be over, as longs as there's you, and there's me, and there's hope, and grace."

The mother of all auto correct messups

I have seen many text fail messages on the web but to me this one takes the cake or the grand trophy.

A new definition of BC and AC

"well if I don't know anything then I can always turn to google" this was the phrase which got me thinking. It was from a conversation I was having with my friend BP from the USA who had just given birth to a beautiful baby boy less than two weeks ago. We were talking about how tips and tricks of looking after children were passed down from mother to daughter in the Sri Lankan culture by the daughter staying with  with the mother at her house for the first three months after birth. Her bemused reaction got me thinking of how important google has become in our life. And actually we can divide time into two sectors. Before google and after google. Maybe it is time that it replaced Before Christ (BC) and After Christ (AC)

Dawning of the truth through darkenss

The worst thing about being a dad is the pain of seeing your darling daughter shed tears because of the hurt caused by another male. That is exactly what happened to me last night and I am still trying to come to grips with how I feel. All her life I have done my best to protect her. Doing my best to shield her from the vagaries of life and keep her out of harm’s way. Sadly it seems that I could not put a shield around her heart. I feel impotent and angry because there is nothing I can do but just look on as she sobs her heart away. I wish I could be angry with the boy who caused those tears to fall down those cheeks. Punch him in the face maybe and kick him till he falls to the ground. But I can’t. It is really not his fault. It is just circumstance. I don’t think it was even young love but a little crush which might have blossomed into something more. So here I am paralyzed by not knowing what to do. Crushed by the dawning of the truth that as she grows older there will be certain voids which I cannot fill. Just hoping and praying to God that time will heal all wounds. And she will know that I will be always their for her when she needs me.

The momentous Ceylon Tea Moments!!!

I have already witnessed at least a couple of posts about this place already. And I doubt you will find anything new and useful in this post but other than the fact that I am screaming out that “I AGREE!!!” with all the good things which people keep on saying about Ceylon Tea Moments at the Race Course. Firstly the food as well as the ambiance is great. Secondly it is amazingly reasonably priced. In fact I think the tea is far more expensive than the food. Anyway I have been there a couple of times already and thought I will share what I ate and what I thought of the food. 

The Crab Roti if you are visiting for the first time then this is a must have.

                                         

and its virtually over flowing with crab

Stir fried lamb and vegetables was the most expensive at 1100/-

This dessert was ok

The ice cream was nothing much

However this Yara they made with condensed milk is amazing

This vegetable salad is tasty and serves two easily and comes with four bread buns for 400/-

This beef burger was delicious

                                        

The breakfast deal is amazing it starts with kola kenda

choice of spicy omelette 

or Kiribath, pol roti or chick peas

followed by curd and honey, fruit or lavariya all for 550/-

 Just in case you did not know it this place is done by Sri Lankan catering the same people who do Semondu. That is the reason the food is so reasonably priced and so good. Firstly because they can buy their supplies at the same discounts they get for the Sri Lankan catering operation and they have access to the same great chefs. Also since it is a duty free operation they don't charge any of the taxes. Which is great news for you and me though I cannot say is the same for their competition.

A sick way to treat the sick…

Recently I had the misfortune of taking a patient to see a neurosurgeon at a centrally located private hospital. Sadly I cannot mention the name due to personal reasons. However it is considered one of the most modern and leading hospitals in Sri Lanka. The appointment was at six. Since generally this doctor see patients on time we arrived at the location at 5.30. When we went to his usual consulting room on the 03rd floor there was a sign on the door wanting us to go to the fifth floor. We realized that the 5th floor is where the Operating Theatre and the ICU are located. Apparently the doctor was seeing his patients’ in between carrying out Surgeries. Or vice versa. However the sad thing is that this floor has been designed to ensure minimal access to outsiders. It had none of the facilities for outpatients who visit the hospitals to see their doctors. Facilities like comfortable chairs; toilets or air conditioning. Over 60 of us were packed like sardines into an access passage connecting the floor to the stairway. There was only one measly fan turning slowly and hardly any ventilation. Since this was neurosurgeon most of the people who were there were seniors or small babies and some mentally unstable people on wheel chairs. It was absolutely hell for them. To add insult to injury the doctor had to carry out an urgent surgery and slipped into the surgery whilst all of us were waiting outside. We waited and waited and waited for nearly three hours along with our fellow sufferers. These nerve operations not only are they costly but they are extremely long. By the time the patient I was with had been attended too it was 9.45 in the night meaning we had been in this hospital for over 4 hours.
You know what the most amazing thing was though? No one complained. No one raised their voices in frustration. They just waited quietly… quietly suffering.