Mrs

Stoupa Coincidences For some years we have been holidaying in Stoupa, a small village in the Mani, Peloponnese. Our favourite cafe/bar, Patriko, is run by Christina (same name as me), who is also the organiser of the local volunteer Fire and Rescue Service. Last year she introduced us to an English volunteer, who invited us to the fire station, which is in the next village. In the store-room were some helmets which, we were told, were a donation from the Notts (where we live) Fire Service. Why? Because another volunteer came from there. When we met Tony, he said he had in fact grown up in Retford (our small market town). "Where do you live?" he asked. "Pennington Walk." "What number?" "Number 9." "That's my house." Spooky! His wife, Elaine, then suggested that I join the wives, who have a weekly fund-raising "Stitch and Bitch" session at Patriko. There I met a woman whose daughter went to the same London school as I did, and a son who was at the same school as my ex-husband. This year I went again to "Stitch and Bitch" and the regular group was joined by another English visitor, who sat next to me. After some desultory chat, she looked at me more closely, and said, "You taught me A Level English more than 30 years ago." Susan had then become a speech therapist, and Elaine, also a speech therapist, realised that they had met professionally many times. There have been other, less remarkable coincidences, all because of going to Patriko - Christina calls it my "Karmic Home". I look forward to next year!