Not all doom and gloom in Greece

Once again I've saved by the kindness of strangers and once again the truth is that no matter tough things get there are still plenty of Greeks willing to go out of their way to help others. I've just got back my netbook from a kind woman who found it in the street in the centre of Thessaloniki after it had dropped out of my backpack while I was leaving a cinema yesterday afternoon (went to see Prometheus). In my rush to get home I'd forgotten to zip the bag up and it was only when I got home that I discovered to my horror that my computer and three teaching books were missing.

My first reaction was to retrace my steps and luckily I did manage to find one of the books after it had been run over several times. Later I went back to the cinema and searched to see, hope against hope that my stuff had been left there.

Later I kicked myself for my stupidity and the fact that a simple trip to the movies was going to cost me over 350 euros. But thankfully, fate intervened and I got a message via Facebook that my computer had been found and could I call the woman to pick it up, which is exactly what I did today. Not before going to the city's leading patisserie and picking up a bumper box of their finest pasteries, a traditional way of celebrating/saying thanks here in Greece. It was my, very inadequate way of expressing my gratitude for what she had done and for taking the time and effort to find me.