To Always

I remember the 19th of July in 2017 like it was yesterday, you said yes, to a life that I was certain I’d never get to live. Fast forward and we’re here, 8 years later, 8 years of days filled with love and understanding, a life I never thought would be possible.

8 years later and I still pinch myself wondering how you can be real, and you’re there every time to remind me I’m not dreaming. ❤️

Happy 8 Years together, and here’s to ♾️, and sharing it with you.

Cheers to us, always!

♥️♥️♥️

A rare sight at Jaffna Int'l Airport

There’s a viral TikTok going around in Sri Lanka where people are anonymously or not sharing their experiences with public figures, cricketers, singers, influencers. While it may have started off lighthearted, it’s quickly turned into something more serious, with stories of infidelity, emotional harm, and broken trust.

While I cannot say anything in terms of the legitimacy of these comments or claims, it’s a lot to take in, and it’s clear that many people are using this space to speak about things they haven’t felt safe enough to share before. That in itself shows just how important honesty, accountability, and safety are in relationships.

This is exactly why I think it’s time to start a conversation about something like Clare’s Law for Sri Lanka.

Clare’s Law - formally known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, gives individuals the legal right to ask if their partner has a history of abuse, violence, or other serious crimes that could put them or their children at risk. It exists in countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia and has helped protect people before harm happens.

You can read more here:
https://clares-law.com/what-is-clares-law/

I’ve seen a lot of different takes on this, some people are finding it entertaining, especially with Avurudu around the corner, while others are uncomfortable with how personal and public it’s all become.

While it’s common to laugh at the chaos when it feels far removed from us, but it’s also important to recognize that these stories involve real people, real relationships, and real consequences. When conversations like this go viral, we need to think about how to find balance between accountability and empathy.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මේ දිනවල ටික්ටොක් එකේ වයිරල් වෙලා තියෙන වීඩියෝ එකක් තියෙනවා. ඒකේ ජනප්‍රිය පුද්ගලයන්, ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩකයන්, ගායකයන්, සන්නිවේදකයන් වගේ පුද්ගලයින් ගැන (නිර්නාමිකව හෝ නොවී) තමන්ගේ අත්දැකීම් බෙදාගන්නවා.

මුලදී ඒක තරමක් සරළ හෝ විනෝදජනක වුනත්, දැන් ඒක ටිකක් serious turn එකක් අරගෙන තියෙනවා. මොකද මෙතන share කරල තියන කතා අනියම් සම්බන්ධතා, emotions harm, විශ්වාසය කඩ කිරීම් වගේ දේවල් නිසා.

මේ කතා වල සත්‍යභාවය ගැන මට කිසි දෙයක් කියන්න බැරිවුණත්, මට පේන විදියට මේක ගොඩක් අය අවස්ථාවක් කරගෙන තියනවා කලින් කිසි තැනක කියන්න බැරිවුන දේවල් share කරන්න.
ඕනම relationship එකකට අවංකත්වය, ආරක්ෂාව, වගේම තමංගේ හැසිරීම් වලට වගකීම ගැනීම වගේ දේවල් කොච්චර වැදගත්ද කියලා මේකෙන් පැහැදිලි වෙනවා.

මට හිතෙනවා මේක හොඳ අවස්ථාවක්
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවටත් Clare’s Law වගේ නීති ගැන කතාබහක් ඇරඹිය යුතු වෙලාව කියලා.

Clare’s Law – නැත්තම් Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme කියන්නේ පුද්ගලයකුට තමන්ගේ ආදර සම්බන්ධතාවයේ සහකරු/සහකාරියට ගෘහස්ත හිංසනය, හෝ වෙන අපරාධ හා සම්බන්ධ ඉතිහාසයක් තියෙනවාද කියලා පරීක්ෂා කරගන්න නීත්‍යානුකූල අයිතියක් ලබා දෙන ක්‍රමයක්. මේ නීතිය එක්සත් රාජධානිය, කැනඩාව සහ ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව වැනි රටවල්වල දැනටමත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. සහ එය බොහෝ අවස්ථාවල කරදරයක් වෙන්න කලින් මිනිස්සුන්ව ආරක්ෂා කරන්න උදව් වෙලා තියෙනවා.

මේ නීතිය ගැන වැඩිපුර කියවන්න මේ link එකේ:
https://clares-law.com/what-is-clares-law/

මේ video එක ගැන විවිධ අදහස් මම දැක්‍කා – සමහර අය මේක හරි fun කියලා දකිනවා, මේ දවස්වල අවුරුදු නිවාඩුත්නේ. අනික් අය මේක හින්දා hurt වෙන ගොඩක් අය වෙන ඉන්නවා නේද කියලා දුක් වෙනවා.

අපිට වාඩිවෙලා, මේ කතා කියවලා, සිනහවෙන්න පුළුවන් වෙයි, ඒත් මේ කතා හැම එකකම පිටුපසින් ඉන්නෙ සත්‍ය පුද්ගලයින්, සත්‍ය සම්බන්ධතා, සහ සත්‍ය ප්‍රතිවිපාක.

ඉතිං, මේ වගේ කතා සමාජ මාධ්‍යයේ viral යනකොට, අපි ඇත්තටම හිතන්න ඕනෙ වගකීම සහ කරුණාව අතර balance එකක් ඇති කරන්නෙ කොහොමද කියලා..

So around a week ago, we got sent this lovely package from apaylanka.com and the first thing we would like to say is we didn’t expect a whole basket so thank you! As adults, we find ourselves obsessed with the strangest things and I personally (Ursula) love a good rattan basket!

We wanted to make the most of it, so we decided on a spur-of-the-moment picnic because the sun was out and if you’re living in the UK, you take and make the most of the Sun while it’s there.

Going to be brutally honest here, we knew it would be good, but we didn’t genuinely expect it to taste so nostalgic and also it took us back to very specific memories, which was crazy.

💰 Pricing & Delivery

The Lunu Miris jar for example is priced at £4.00 flat on the Apay website, We’ve checked the prices for everything we received and we found nothing over £5 in the pantry section of the site. So price point-wise we think it's solid, it is affordable, it can be had with multiple different meals, and it's quick. Delivery seems to stay at £3.99 which is great, considering it comes right to your door and they pack it so safely as well.

They deliver all across the UK and shared a code with us so you can get 10% off any order

PROMO CODE - TOALWAYS_10OFF

Lunu Miris 🧅 🌶️

It was easily everyone’s favourite. And we kid you not, everyone individually tied it back to that memory of going on a trip in Sri Lanka and stopping by a roadside shop for the classic combo of Pol Roti, Lunumiris and a nice Plain Tea, luckily we made Cononut (Pol) Rotti also and that combo took us back.

Pol Sambol (Coconut Sambol) 🥥 🌶️ 🍋‍🟩

Again we were pleasantly extra surprised when we tasted the Pol Sambol (Red Coconut Sambol. It was somehow soft and moist, it had that perfect limey zesty kick, it was spicy too and it didn't have that hideous oily aftertaste that you get with some of the Pol Sambols you find in Jars. I know you know what I mean!

Seeni Sambol (Sri Lankan Onion Relish) 🧅 🌶️

This took us back as well. Some of my best memories are eating a Seeni Sambol Paang with Tea in the morning before work, or eating a nice hot Seeni Sambola and Egg Pastry. Taste-wise, it hit all the right points, the tangy hint, the sweetness, the spice. Kiss Kiss!

‼️ Things you should know ‼️

Now we liked their stuff, and if you’re looking for something that tastes Lankan, tastes great, we recommend this 100%.

We’re not going to get any commissions from sales, the 10% off is just a gift from Apay to potential new customers because they’re sweet like that.

You don’t have to take our word for it, order for yourself, taste it yourself, and try it yourself. But just saying, we bet you’ll feel the same way we did.