Well, my 2020 started well. My Greek Airbnb hosts invited me to their home for their New Year’s Eve party.
I was astonished, and was not sure if they were just making a gesture, but decided to go. Their home is only 2 minutes walk from their Airbnb apartment.
There were about 20 people there divided evenly between my generation – 50s and 60s – and youngsters in their teens and early 20s. I speak no Greek, so all the conversations were in French or English.
Arriving about 9.30pm, very soon we sat down to a massive dinner which needed a full 2 hours to finish – all kinds of Greek home cooking goodies, with as much local wine as you felt like drinking. The youngsters were all going out right after midnight, so that was my cue to leave as well on account of my lunchtime flight home on 1st January.
One interesting thing is that my hosts’ two children are both at university in Paris, and speak perfect English as well as French. Their cousins are at university in Cambridge and Birmingham. The first person I got talking to after I arrived does the same work as I do, but for a Greek MEP.
It was a lot of fun and a lovely experience.
ⓒ iain taylor, 2020
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