The rainbow never sets

and higher each day, up to 36° and as our cabins were not air conditioned, it reached over 40°in them. The constant heat in the Indian Ocean caused a great deal of discontent on board, as I heard from the Padre. Marriages seemed to be breaking up and occasionally fights broke out. The boredom was not even alleviated by the announcement that the Queen of Britain would be sailing by our ship on the GOTHIC with two escorting destroyers, on her way home from a royal visit to Australia. The ships passed fairly close, one could have seen the Queen waving, had she been up on deck!

The evenings were balmy, and there was only a soft breeze caused by the ship's speed. I loved to stand on a spot right behind the bow of the ship, leaning over the side and looking into the water. Often I would see the glimmer of phosphorescence as the waves beat against the bow, sparkling like thousand sparklers. Then I turned around and leaning backwards against the ship's side, I looked at the stars. They were so brilliant and sparkling just like the sea. I noticed different constellations appearing. The Orion was much higher in the sky than in Europe. Suddenly I saw what I had been looking for: the Southern Cross, very low on the horizon, but unmistakable. It was the one constellation I had read about, and the only one I knew in the southern sky. I felt goose pimples covering my body, although it was not cold. It was an emotional moment for me. We were approaching the Southern hemisphere, the other side of the globe, a new and exciting world, altogether different from the known world of Europe. I looked at the Southern Cross and thought to myself, 'from now on you will be my guide. If I see you I will know where south is, and I will not be lost. Because of you, the new world is not going to be threatening to me.' From that moment the Southern Cross became my most favoured constellation.

On 29 April we arrived in Colombo. Joachim Jaeck and Erich Dehn, the two ship's doctors, the two nurses and I squeezed into a large taxi for Kandy. We had the occasional tropical showers, and the air was warm and humid. It was great to see a tropical vegetation, plenty of banana trees and dense jungle further inland. I noticed that our driver was in bare feet. I had not realised that one 'could' drive a car without shoes. He stopped near a bridge where we could see some elephants bathing in the river below. The driver of one was sitting on his elephant, while it was wallowing in the water, with his umbrella up against the rain. It looked most idyllic. Then our driver picked up a stone and threw it into a nearby tree. What had looked like hanging bee hives or birds nests, suddenly became alive and made a lot of noise. They were flying foxes, which none of us had ever seen before. The road took us also past rice paddies, and I marvelled at a farmer who ploughed it with his buffalo whilst it was still very muddy. No one in Europe would ever plough such wet soil! Then our driver stopped in a village where a market was in full swing. Apart from the large crowds, there were also elephants milling around, which

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