Goodfellas in Athens
Table of Contents
College in Athens 1
The Principal 1
His Favourite Restaurant 2
The Conclusion 2
College in Athens
At some point at the college, I got involved with a possible twinning with an FE college in Athens. They wanted help in getting working placements in the UK for their third-year final Business Studies students and getting accepted onto the last year of a UK degree. The UK degrees being of greater value than a Greek equivalent.
My Head of Department and I (in my role as – as the college’s Mr. EU) visited and spent about three days in Athens discussing possibilities.
The Principal
Our host was the Principal of the college – sort of!
Perhaps, it’s quicker to give you examples of the few facts we somehow, picked up about him over the visit – none of them from him.
was obviously self-employed – at something – and it wasn’t the college.
He was not an academic – he was married to the daughter of the minister of Education – the government official who had arranged for the initial financing of the college and was supporting this potential expansion.
He travelled around in limousines – he had two Limos – one with an even number plate and one with an odd number.
At the time – Athens was so congested that odd and even plates could only use alternate days to enter the city.
He actually had a driver who doubled up as his bodyguard (ex-Greek – Internal Security Services.
His Favourite Restaurant
He realised, after the first day’s meetings – which included a presentation on Central Manchester College (as it was called then) – that we were the real thing and were in a position to deliver.
obviously, hadn’t done any homework!
second day – he took us for lunch at his ‘favourite’ restaurant. We walk in and he is immediately welcomed by the maître and staff and led to ‘his table he takes his coat off – a Camel coat – always worn just over the shoulders. – even in the Athens’s. heat.
I am starting to think that we are in a scene from Goodfellas – particularly when his ‘driver’ returns from parking the car and just nods and sits in an empty chair about 15 m away – with a view of the door and our table and doesn’t eat or drink anything!
Our host (I should point out that I actually can’t remember his name – it was a long one – and even if I could remember -then I wouldn’t publish it anyway– blogs have ears!
We don’t get a menu – he gets up, gestures for us to follow him and waltzes through the service doors into the kitchen and says –‘Choose what you like the look of’ – and we wander round – like he owns the place – which, of course. He does’
I couldn’t spot sausage and mash – so went for what, I guessed was Moussaka.
It was excellent – of course.
Limo back to hotel -Deal apparently done i.e. we never saw him again.
I could live with that – the emphasis on the beginning of the sentence!
The Conclusion
we got two students visiting Manchester – one -male and- one female – my wife and I put them up for about five days -then other staff took over. – They sat in on a few of my lectures – she had already arranged a placement with Granada television, in Manchester – he- was a waste of space – I eventually got him a project through a mate at the World Trade Centre.
She decided to go back to the job she had in Athens – after the Granada placement – and I got him onto the third year of a degree in Central Lancashire University.
I have no idea if he even turned up – no feedback or even contact at all. I washed my hands of it.
But I did walk away from the Goodfella!