A week has seven days! Each day has a different schedule but other the schedule can be a little different week to week.
Monday is usually the day I pack the cab with my produce and take it to Colombo to the 25 or more homes I deliver. Then after a hard days work I get back to the farm in Godagama, Homagama about 7.30 pm. Once the plastic containers are emptied and the cab repacked with the emptly containers, I leave around 9pm for Polonnaruwa. Amila has his dinner along the way, normally at the pit stop at Ambepussa. We get to Hingurakgoda around 2am and as Gamini and Sudath are sleeping we creep quietly into our beds on the verandah.
Tuesday and Wednesday are days that can have a combination of the following:
a) Taking a few bags of paddy to the mill and getting the rice milled
b) Taking a few bags of paddy to 89 Baas to parboil and pick up the following week
c) Going to Ratmale and giving 4 plastic crates to Papaya farmer along with old newspaper for pick up on the Thursday
d) Checking the state of construction of the Forest Lodge in Ratmale.
e) Going to the Hardware store to buy whatever the Baas wanted to me get for the Ratmale house, like cement, iron rods, roof tiles or door hinges.
f) Going to Boss Mama field to meet him and discuss what he has to sell me to take on Thursday, or go with him to get some fertilizer at discount prices.
g) Go to the timber merchant to see if they have rafters in the size I want for the roof and buy the rafters if he has them and take them to Ratmale.
h) Go to the Minneriya town to get lunch for the boys.
i) Request the rice bran be collected so I have some to take on Thursday. If Gunesekera does not have it I would have to go to Anura in Rotawewa to get it.
j) Get Diesel and Kerosene and Petrol for the water pumping taking the cans to the shed.
k) Go to the brick kiln and pick up 200 bricks needed for construction work at thuduwa to finish of the well.
l) Get the cab greased and washed at Dawasa Baas garage.
m) Go to Hingurakgoda and buy the provisions for the week for the boys at the shops or if on a Sunday, go to the Pola to buy the weekly provisions.
n) Investigate and search for paddy type to mill and take to kade in Godagama.
So when it comes to Thursday it becomes a rush to get the coconuts plucked and then transported and husked and packed to take. That takes quite a while especially if there are 200 nuts. Then I have to collect all the produce that I have already ordered, Pick up the rice bran and then the Papaya or aubergine or what ever else the folks at Ratmale or Rotawewa have.
Then the whole process of packing the cab and covering it with the plastic sheeting and tying it down.
Then it is bathing in the river, or well or tank and then having a meal and a brief nap before leaving for Godagama. Sometimes it is 7pm when we leave meaning after Amila eats his dinner in Ambepussa we get back to the farm at about mid night.
So this is the reality of the three days a week at the Polonnaruwa end. It is very tiring as I have not mentioned the work done on the land, like watering , weeding, fertilizing, and anyother agricultural activity.
