Dear Children,

It is indeed nice to be back with all of you this week too.

Do you know that bicycle riding is fun, healthy, and is a great way to be independent? But it is important to remember that a bicycle is not a toy; it’s a vehicle! Be cool - follow these basic safety tips when you ride: Before using your bicycle, make sure it is ready to ride. You should always inspect your bike to make sure all parts are secure and working properly.

Adjust your bicycle to fit. Stand over your bicycle. There should be 1 to 2 inches between you and the top tube (bar) if using a road bike and 3 to 4 inches if a mountain bicycle.

The seat should be level front to back. The seat height should be adjusted to allow a slight bend at the knee when the leg is fully extended. The handlebar height should be at the same level with the seat.

Check your equipment. Before riding, inflate tires properly and check that your brakes work.

See and be seen. Whether daytime, dawn, dusk, foul weather, or at night, you need to be seen by others. Wearing white has not been shown to make you more visible. Rather, always wear neon, fluorescent, or other bright colours when riding day or night.

Also wear something that reflects light, such as reflective tape or markings, or flashing lights. Remember, just because you can see a driver, it doesn’t mean the driver can see you.

Control your bicycle. Always ride with at least one hand on the handlebars. Carry books and other items in a bicycle carrier or backpack. Watch for and avoid road hazards. Be on the lookout for hazards such as potholes, broken glass, gravel, puddles, leaves, and dogs.

All these hazards can cause a crash. If you are riding with friends and you are in the lead, yell out and point to the hazard to alert the riders behind you.

Avoid riding at night. It is far more dangerous to ride at night than during the day because you are harder for others to see. If you have to ride at night, wear something that makes you more easily seen by others.

Make sure you have reflectors on the front and rear of your bicycle (white lights on the front and red rear reflectors are required by law in Sri Lanka), in addition to reflectors on your tires, so others can see you. Many bicycle-related crashes resulting in injury or death are associated with the cyclist’s behaviour, including such things as not wearing a bicycle helmet, riding into a street without stopping, turning right or swerving into traffic coming from behind, running a stop sign, and riding the wrong way in traffic.

To maximise your safety, always wear a helmet AND follow the rules of the road, which I will explain next week.

Take care and be safe while you ride your bicycle.

Uncle Les

Folk tales of Sri Lanka:

How the tortoise got his ‘house’

Retold by R. S. Karunaratne

One day the Lion - the King of the Animal Kingdom - summoned all the animals for a royal banquet. As soon as they got the invitations all the animals, except one, made a beeline for the palace.

The King made discreet inquiries to find out whether all the animals had attended the royal banquet.

“Your Majesty, all the animals, except one, have come,” a palace guard reported to the king.

“What? Who’s that subject who defied my orders?”

“Your Majesty, it’s the tortoise who is missing among the invitees,” the guard said meekly.

“Ok. I’ll deal with him later. Now let’s enjoy the meals,” the King said.

While the invitees were enjoying their meals with the King at head table, the tortoise made his appearance.

“Why didn’t you come on time?” the King questioned the late comer.

“Sire, my house was flooded and I couldn’t get out of it for many hours.”

“I know, you are living in that canal which is polluted throughout the year.”

“Sire, that’s my home. When it is flooded I can’t get out of it,” the tortoise said.

“Now take this. You are going to live in this house until you die. You have to take the house wherever you go,” said the King while giving a shell.

“Your Majesty, I am grateful to you for giving me a permanent house,” said the tortoise accepting the shell and creeping into it immediately. From that day onwards the tortoise lives in his permanent house and he takes it wherever he goes.

Two well-designed stamps issued to mark the World Cup Cricket Tournament

Francis P. Gunasekera

Two well-designed stamps were issued by the Postal Department on February 23, 2007 to mark the current world cup cricket tournament in which Sri Lanka together with 15 other countries are participating. We wish to quote from the stamp bulletin issued on the occasion.

It states inter-alia “So far, various countries have reached the World Champion Status which is mentioned here chronologically - West Indies in 1975, West Indies again in 1979, India in 1983, Australia in 1987, Pakistan in 1992, Sri Lanka in 1996, Australia in 1999, Australia again in 2003, Sri Lanka became the World Champion in 1996 under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga (Captain) when held in Pakistan.”

Fifteen of our players are now in West Indies to participate in the tournament. The Cricket-crazy fans the world-over have turned their attention towards the proceedings in the matches. Everyone’s desire will be to know who the 2007 Cricket Champions will be.

For the first round of the schedule, there will be 16 countries participating. They are Australia, South Africa, Scotland, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bermuda, New Zealand, England, Kenya, Canada, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland. Matches will be played in four different islands of West Indies and they are St. Kitts, Trinidad, St. Lucia and Jamaica.

In the first round of the schedule these countries are facing each other: Australia Vs Scotland, the Netherlands Vs South Africa, Australia Vs the Netherlands, Scotland Vs South Africa.

The Netherlands Vs Scotland, Australia Vs South Africa, Bermuda Vs Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Vs India, Bermuda Vs India, Bangladesh Vs Sri Lanka India Vs Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Vs Bermuda, Canada Vs Kenya, England Vs New Zealand, Canada Vs England, Kenya Vs New Zealand, Canada Vs New Zealand, England Vs Kenya, West Indies Vs Pakistan, Ireland Vs Zimbabwe, Ireland Vs Pakistan, West Indies Vs Zimbabwe and Ireland Vs West indies.

The two stamps of Rs. 5.00 and Rs. 50.00 have been well designed and the credit should go to their designer D.G. Sugath Jayawardena and the Philatelic Bureau. The two stamps are shown as the first two stamps in the top row on page 34. We have also shown eight other Sri Lanka Cricket stamps.

The latest two cricket stamps have been printed at the Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka. In the illustrated stamps we have shown also the following: 1992 World Cup Pakistan champions, one of the cricket teams of Kent, players of St. Vincent, Malaysia and Guyana in action. We will not forget that Sri Lanka has issued as much as 10 stamps in honour of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Let us also extend our best wishes to all the players who are in the West Indies participating in the matches. We are sure that they will bring honour and glory to their motherland.