Negombo beach

Beginning my holiday in Sri Lanka was like reaching the top of a very stressful crescendo after which it was easier to breathe and relax. Holiday times are essential to enable me to keep energy up for being at work - such is the size of the workload at the minute. They're also wonderful to avoid cracking up.

The night before travelling to Sri Lanka I had to pull an all-nighter to get everything done, and after that, two weeks of blissful travelling stretched ahead.

First evening stroll along Negombo beach, north of Colombo. I walked past two shops imitating Asda and Tesco Express (their trading standards departments take note) and saw these bright food stalls on the beach. A first impression of Sri Lanka, which persisted, was the friendliness of the people and the fact that it's a more sedate, quieter and tidier version of India.

15 hours of sleep followed. Unprecedented.