The curious incident of the waiter with OCD

I write this on a shady veranda of the Palm Villa hotel in Mirissa surrounded by Palm trees, frangipani trees and the sound of the Indian Ocean. The smells are the usual holiday cocktail of Nivea sunscreen, DEET and sweaty bodies. These are sights and smells which I am more than happy with - and things feel a hell of a lot better than they did last Friday night when I reached the new low in my life when after 4 hours grappling with the joy that is holiday traffic I missed my flight. What a difference a week makes.

So better late than never Sri Lanka has been making up for lost time. The fort town of Galle was a delight and we spent an easy few days exploring the city walls, avoidng the numerous flash floods and trying out some new foods. The Hopper was a total delight, a cute bowl shaped thin crispy pancake which can be filled with whatever you like. We went for egg and tomato. Spicy as hell but also a very cute breakfast dish. It was Sri Lankan new year when we arrived so our shopping opportunities were limited, probably a good thing.

Our next destination was Mirissa and the owner of the fabulous hotel in Galle ' seagreen' drove us while teaching us some Sri Lankan language essentials like that's too expensive and another beer. The Palm Villa is in a gorgeous spot away from all the beach bars on a corner spot between two bays. A beer soaked afternoon was followed with an easy dinner right on the seafront. Or at least we thought it was going to be easy. The staff at Palm Villa, while lovely, don't seem to go with the customer is always right mantra. They do however go with the do what we tell you philosophy. Which is how we found ourselves moving from a gorgeous beach side table to an undercover 8 person table so there was enough room for our fish. Our waiter then proceeded to move all of our possessions ( phones, keys, purses, sunglasses) away from us to a particular edge of the table. When the fish eventually turned up they had to face a particular way........

We had dinner somewhere else the following evening.........

We stayed at:

Galle: Seagreen Guest House

Mirissa: Palm Villa

We ate at:

Galle: Fort Printers ( ask for a spot by the pool), crepeology, drinks at the lovely Amangalla, hoppers at Spoons on Pedlar Street, amazing ice creams at Pedlars, and gorgeous banana pancakes at the Pelars Inn