the title alones makes one feel like i might have been attacked in London. Contrary to that, i have been touched by the life story of a greek man in my hostel. While listening to his story, i could not help but cry and smile at the same time.

You could tell that age and the weather has not been to kind to him. Wrinkles gathered around his tanned face and just from his clothes, you could smell that he had a hard day out in London. London is pretty windy now so sweating is really optional. Turns out he had worked on construction in the morning and in a greek tavern in the evening. From his firm handshake, it left me guessing for the next minute the number of calluses that he had on his hand from sheer hard labour. Nevertheless, he was proud of his life. He took great pride in himself and he would try to moisturize his skin and make sure his nails were clean and neat. Coming from Thessaloniki, he shared that the economy is driven by construction but is on a decline just like the economy. At the end of each sentence, he ends of with “you understand?” i wish i did. It’s not the language that i’m talking about but the plight that he was in. Looking for a job in london is tedious especially when you don’t speak the language. He knows this, i know this but that smile on his face never left and he showed a spirit that would not be detered even if the dinosaurs came back and faced extinction again. I’m guessing if the world ends and we became fossils, his would have a big smile on it.

It’s weird that i would meet someone like that in a hostel. What you usually see when you go to a hostel is young students or just younger people hanging out. the brief conversation he had when we decided to go downstairs was interrupted by 2 girls that could probably not tell what the time was if you gave them a watch(a digital one). They completely ignored my new friend and asked if i would like to join them to go shopping. Of course i love shopping. I’m not going to deny it but i turned them down. Returning back to my new friend, i could see that his face looked a little blank so i had to ask him what was wrong. His hand motioned in to the crazy sign where your finger draws circles at the temple of your head and added that these young people have their priorities wrong. I infered that from the 100 word vocabulary that he had. i wish i had my dslr, i would like to take a picture of him.