I met Kosmas, a Greek guy who supports Olympiacos Football Club, in a restaurant in Basil on Friday at lunchtime.
We might never have met or connected, but because of a single word, we spoke, and none of our connection would ever have happened had we not had the courage, will, or interest even to have a short conversation.
It starts with me going to the toilet in the restaurant where I'm meeting with people from the ITI and Straumann.
One of the reasons I was meeting was to do with the CODE project (centres of dental education).
We've been invited to be the only centre of dental education accredited by Straumann on this project in the United Kingdom—big news.
As I walked to the toilet, there was a sign for men's and women's toilets downstairs with the word code underneath it.
That seemed funny because that was the purpose of the meeting that we were in until I got to the toilet and realised I needed a four-digit code to get into the bathroom.
I walked back up the stairs to find someone in the restaurant (a lovely place on the corner beside the station in Basil in the sunshine), and a young waiter walked towards me.
I asked him for the code, and he responded in German. I said, "No, I'm sorry, English".
He told me the code was four 1's in case you ever needed the men's toilet in that restaurant.
I turned to walk away, and he said, "Where are you from?". I said Scotland, a standard conversation that never goes any further, to which he replied, "Slange".
Slangevar is the long word, and slange is the abbreviation.
It means cheers to good health in Gaelic, in Scotland and Ireland.
It would only be someone that understood Scottish people and what that means to Scottish people that would say it, but he wasn't Scottish.
So, I turned back and said, "Explain?" and he said, "Ahh, I have great friends in Scotland that I go drinking with; Scottish people always drink".
I asked him where they were from, and he told me that one of them was from Kintyre.
He got his Google Maps out to show me where Kintyre was (I know where it is).
He then said that this other friend was from somewhere near where they make whiskey.
I asked him if it was Campbeltown, and his eyes lit up as he said yes.
I told him my name and his eyes lit up again.
I showed him where I was from on Google Maps, and his eyes lit up even further.
He closed his phone down, and there was a picture of a football stadium on his phone.
I asked him where that was, and he told me it was Olympiacos.
I then told him that I lived in Nottingham, and his eyes lit up even further again (the owner of Olympiacos also owns Nottingham Forest).
We had a beautiful and wonderful interchange, and then we parted ways, but my day was better and brighter just because we'd spoken to each other, just because we were interested.
Am I the only one that gets that?
Blog Post Number - 3535
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