My Week in Athens… April 19

Crisis or not, Easter means one thing for sure: food. And although many tables were undoubtedly ‘leaner’ than in the past, I think most of us will admit to taking a second helping of lamb, or an extra koulouri… in any case, sitting around a table crowded with family, friends and neighbours, felt really great. A blur of faces, voices, arms, bumps and hugs. Wonderful.

Wandering around an empty Athens on Monday morning made me think about day-to-day life in a modern metropolis. And the blur of faces, voices, arms, bumps and, well, hugs. So many faces, so many voices, so many stories – everyone so different. Who really knows what the taxi driver’s life is like, or the lady at the supermarket. Surely different than yours or mine – or is it?

Sitting around the table at Easter, participating in simple traditions that date back centuries, I realized that we aren’t so different. Here is a country that, on days like Sunday, join together in some great unspoken agreement to be together, to observe the same traditions, in more or less the same way, in more or less every corner of the country. It’s powerful.

See you next week.

Jack

In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…