A VIEW FROM SRI LANKA, Number 59
Greetings to readers, near and far.
Going, going, gone
Horizon Cottage, my home in Sri Lanka, is 105 years old and I prefer to have old furniture in it to create that comfortable, homely atmosphere – not antiques but cherished, second hand wooden furniture, made in Sri Lanka.
Fortunately, Sri Lanka has an enterprising firm of auctioneers, Schokman & Samerawickreme (www.sandslanka.com) from whom such furniture can be bought. The firm is run by Navinda & Anuja Samerawickreme, two brothers who are the grandsons of the company’s founder, Edwin de Alwis Samerawickreme.
It was founded in 1892 and has been brought up to date through the talent and vision of the two brothers. Auctioneering is certainly in their genes as they both have superb, deep voices that can be heard above the hubbub of excited bidders, as well as indefatigable energy, and eyes like a cat’s that see the slightest sign of a bid.
I’ve been going to their auctions for about 20 years and feel proud at being accepted by the regular bidders, many of whom are dealers. The atmosphere is always one of camaraderie with losing bidders happy to commiserate with each other.
Here is Navinda, with his brother, Anuja, beside him, announcing the terms of the auction when the furniture and fittings of a 25-year old hotel, Club Palm Garden, were being sold off over four days last week. There was no buyer’s premium charged, just an entrance fee of Rs 500 (£ 2.85, $ 4.54) per person per day.
I love auctions as they are safer than playing in a casino because when I bid for something and Iose, I don’t lose my money, but the thrill is still there. And when I win, I end up with something unusual and the satisfaction of outwitting other bidders. It’s not just a matter of spending the most money but of finding something worthwhile that other people have missed, or being so quick off the mark in the bidding that others can’t keep up.
I went to the auction as I wanted to buy the hotel’s garden chess set so I could paint up the pieces and have them dotted around the lawn as garden ornaments.
Perhaps because it’s so competitive, a kind of fever grips bidders. How else to explain why usually astute people bid more than an item is worth just to secure it, or buy something they don’t really need. That’s probably why I finished up with a job lot of golfing umbrellas plus three luggage racks, a rickety kitchen table and 192 brand new unbreakable pool glasses. And the chess set? Alas, it was sold when I slipped off for a beer: did I miss a bargain at Rs 6,000 (£ 34.28, $ 54.54)?
Well, there’s another auction next week…
Cheers
Possibly my favourite “watering hole” in Sri Lanka is the Beer Shop in Nuwara Eliya. It is all that remains in that popular hill station of the Ceylon Brewery that used to be in Nuwara Eliya. Lion Lager was originally brewed there but now the production takes place at the Biyagama Industrial Park close to Colombo.
Getting to Nuwara Eliya (170km from Colombo) is part of the fun because the scenery changes so dramatically, from the paddy fields of the lowlands, to the shaded rubber plantations of the mid-country to the broad panorama of rolling hills carpeted with plucked tea bushes. Nuwara Eliya is 1,868m (6,128ft) above sea level and is cold at night; old guesthouses have log fires to warm the bedrooms.
The Beer Shop is in the centre of town, an unprepossessing place with a murderous flight of concrete steps to scale to gain entrance to a long hall. The walls are decorated with split bamboo and the tables and chairs, on concrete legs, are slabs of polished rare timber. It’s always packed with denizens of Nuwara Eliya, many wearing cotton sarongs, woollen jackets and woolly hats. Smoking is rife.
The pleasure is the excellence of the draft beer, served in mugs (Rs 75), pitchers (Rs 225) or towers (R s657 – £ 3.75, US$ 5.97), one of which was my choice for the evening.
The snacks at the beer shop are listed on a blackboard and are some of the best served in the island. French Frice (Rs 90) are made with crisply fried Nuwara Eliya potatoes, while the Fried Beef (Rs 280 – £ 1.60, US $ 2.54) is tender, succulent, and also from Nuwara Eliya.
Cheese news
On 31 May, Chris Worthington is due to deliver the chilli cheese he has made especially for me as part of his monthly production of cheese at his farm in the hills, near Nuwara Eliya. So check next week’s newsletter for a review.
Not me
In April 2010 I registered a website, www.roystonellisebooks.com, to sell some short, self-help ebooks I had compiled. A year later, since not one ebook had sold, I decided not to renew the domain and to abandon the project. Lo and behold, I discover that someone in Oregan, USA, has paid the registration fee until April 2012 and is using the site to promote education!
I don’t know whether to be worried that someone is using my identity or flattered that someone seems to think my name is useful. Anyway, it’s not me.
For my Collected Poems and other ebooks by me under various names, click on www.wordsmanbooks.co.uk
Beat regards
Royston
8 Responses to “A VIEW FROM SRI LANKA, Number 59”Leave a Reply |
I’ve been enjoying reading your Report each weekend and like the mix of topics you include – for instance you’ve had me pondering whether rice cakes or oatcakes are gluten-free… but if small spoonfuls of porridge were baked to form cocktail-sized snacks they’d definitely need enlivening with chilli-cheese, spicy chutney or somesuch!!
Thanks Royston…The Beer outlet nice..prices as well…
O dear – lost the chess set did you, Royston? Never mind – it was never meant to be yours and you made me quite peckish with your talk of Fried Beef – Yummy!!
Hope you enjoy your chilli cheese on my birthday! (At least that’s when you are expecting it.) Tommy Coulthard always said in Dominca that no woman got older than 29 and no man got older than 39 so on 31st I have my umpteenth 29th.
Below the Stansted flight path it is growing dark,The first star is out, the moths, too but the wind of today has dropped so the candles in the garden can flicker happily.
On reading your account of Schokman and Samarawickreme, a bit of nostalgia seemed to seep into my cranium!
My dad, particularly after he and my mother parted, picked up quite a bit of furniture – not antiques but of good quality – from S& S’s Auctions and perhaps from those conducted by Piggford and Pritchard who were their competition in Kandy where both started in business.
I attended S & S’s auctions very occasionally and, on one occasion, my wife (at the time) and I were in opposite corners of the room and Lloyd Samarawickreme who was conducting proceedings was kind enough to let us know that we were bidding against each other! A different time, for sure and one in which pretty well all the bourgeoisie in the Kandy district knew each other by their first names!
Couldn’t resist the temptation of letting you in on this bit of genuine trivia!
Regards and I do enjoy your unpretentious and entertaining newsletter!
I hope you are well. It’s a real shame you missed getting the chess set. I would have looked forward to a game when we next come over to Sri Lanka!
Actually, I occasionally play chess via e-mail with a friend of mine in Spain using standard notation (P-K4, etc). So, if you fancy a game sometime via e-mail, do let me know!
Lovely!!
I read your newsletter and noted with interest the piece about my Grandfather’s and Father’s firm of auctioneers – Shockman & Samarawickreme. You may wish to note that it was the Vision and Inspiration of my late Father Derrick and his beloved elder brother Lloyd that has made Shockman and Samarawickreme what they are today. They were also the team that were instrumental in bringing this firm of auctioneers from the margins in Kandy to the mainstream in Colombo.