Beasties & Things That Go Bump In The Night

Well just when I thought I had exhausted the tales of Sri Lankan fauna endeavouring to strike up a symbiotic relationship with us...........

One day we drew the curtains back we saw two monkeys running along our garden wall. One was about 3 ft high so quite big fellas. They sat in two of our palm trees, jumped on another roof and hung around for a while. A trifle disconcerting. They are now regular visitors. They dance on our roof, play kiss chase, and scream at each other. I wish there were ASBOs for monkeys.

Now our water monitor is a very civilised visitor by comparison. He just suns himself on our wall, takes a sedate stroll round the garden looking for insects. Our two yr old thinks he is the greatest. On Saturday she asked me to put him on the trampoline so he could bounce with her.

We also get lots of birds nesting in our garden , and because they are purple sun birds or woodpeckers or kingfishers, it seems more interesting.

What isn't so good is our rodent vistors.......

We were sitting eating supper with a colleague who was staying with us again, and at 9.30 a mouse appeared walking down our stairs and disappeared under the stairs where we keep lots of junk (yes we brought it with us just so we wd still have 'under the stairs' junk to make us feel at home.) The following evening at 9.25 the mouse just appeared again. (It's obviously a Swiss mouse- impeccable time keeping) Will try and find some Emmental to put in the trap..........

Another night M got up to go to the loo, and as he was heading back to bed a cane squirrel shot across his path IN OUR BEDROOM, and disappeared under the eaves. What is bothering me is how it got in the room in the first place.......... Fortunately the RAT he encountered on another nocturnal trip to the loo across the bedroom, was when he was there alone.

A friend has told me she keeps her bathroom door shut and bolted. She hears the loo seat bang as a rat comes up the loo at night......Doesn't really bear thinking about, particularly not when one is on the loo.

Our 6 yr old came home from school today saying he had seen a cobra at school. AAAAAAGH! It was in a hole in the wall of their play area. One teacher confirmed he thought it was a cobra evidently. I asked A what colour it was and he said "cobra coloured" so I guess that proves it. Sri Lanka only has 5 poisonous snakes, but unfortunately these, 2 types of viper, 2 kraits and cobra are quite common...........

I am never going to get used to the wild life here, especailly as so much of it seems to be in our house! Apart from the spiders (ok and the rats) most of it isn't stuff I REALLY mind about but you are never fully relaxed when drawing curtains, opening cupboards, moving things etc. And it certainly doesn't have a cosy feel. It's beginning to feel crowded.......

I met a chap from the Swedish Embassy at a children's party and he said he had played golf at the local leisure club in Battaramulla where we live, which is built on a swamp, and while he was playing he saw a 3m crocodile. I joked that at least it was in the swamp not on the green. He said "No it was ON THE GREEN!!" He threw a stone at it and it got angry! He lost 8 balls that day, didn't dare go and look for them in the bushes etc as the course is surrounded by croc infested swamp...!! Ho hum well it makes for interesting small talk at parties.

And for the really wild finale to this vignette of wild life in Colombo, M and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary and went out for a meal, ON OUR OWN, in Colombo. Wild things eh?? Our 1st night out since arriving in Sri Lanka.