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Γκραντίβα, μία φαντασία #1
What I remember most clearly is that I was in Sheffield, the city I spent I year at as a post-graduate student back in 2005-6.
I got there with some family members and some people I don't remember clearly right now.
We stayed at a two-storey house. We stayed at the ground floor, while the house owner occupied the first floor.
What is rather strange is that the house didn't resemble any place I have stayed at till now. It was a detached house, in the middle of a piece of land; rather like american suburban houses we see in films.
What is also strange is that the house owner was a guy that had rented me a room in his flat when I was in London, a quite common practise there.
He is not a person I have fond memories of; rather anti-social, intrusive and quite strange. I remember him staring to us from his window while arriving, as he would probably do when I was renting in his house. I also urged my flatmates to keep quiet so to avoid problems, since there were very noisy. I tried to avoid contact with him, although my mother was quite sympathetic towards him.
I remember going through the city with my family by car, and showing them around the strong medieval fortifications of the city. This is rather strange too; Sheffield is a post-industrial city with poor, if any, medieval roots.
In the midst of all that I remember being in London, in a huge store full of children's games.
I also remember walking around Sheffield with another dark-skinned guy, not a familiar face. The sky was blue, and at some point we arrived at an archaeological site. There was a label at the corner of that fenced piece of land, bearing ancient Greek/ Byzantine alphabet.
I got quite excited, and I said to my co-walker and a group of other people standing next to me that this was evidence of the reach of the Roman Empire and Hellenism, at the point when Constantine the Great transfered the capital from Rome to Constantinople (when I was in York, I remember coming across Constantine's statue outside the huge Cathendral of York, evidence for me of the reach of Hellenism in so distant lands).
Another chapter of my dreams follows.
I was in a multistorey building, presummably in Sheffield. I met there another girl, I remember her being rather obese. She said she was from Slovakia. We were about to sleep together, but for some unspecified reson we didn't go on. I think her flatmate came around.
Anyway, next thing I remember is her crying about life in the UK. What she was complaining for was that she could not get a proper house where she could have a family, as I do remember rents were too expensive in the UK.
Next thing was UK police arresting me. A policeman first approached me, hit me and stole 300 euros I had on me -oh, I just remembered I had got these money from a customer, an old schoolmate living down the road in Athens. When I got to his house to get the money, I met a huge, noisy family. I was surprised and told him that that was rather unusual for me.
Anyway, the policeman was rather brutal. Another policeman, more civilised, came over. I remember being still at the multistorey building I was with that girl. The policemen for some reason knocked the door of the next flat, where a group of dark-skinned Asians lived. I didn't approve of their behaivour but didn't say anything.
Anyway, the arrest and interrogation was probably related to a girl living next door that my brother dated. I told them I was sure about my brother's innocence and that it was probably the girl that got him into trouble. It should have been somethng related to drugs I think.
Anyway, I remember I didn't want to stay in the UK for much longer, and asked my mom to leave as soon as possible. However, my mom had a good time, and didn't look like she would be leaving any time soon.
