The King of Greek Carnivals

It was noon and I was wandering the streets of Patras when I saw a crowd of people. It was the season of carnivals. A time of year with a lot of festivities. I walked towards the crowd and saw that it was a street theatre and the play The Trail about the British King Edward, was about to start. I looked around to find a place to sit and saw a sign with the text: Warning: Children left unattended will be sold to the circus, which I found funny. I then found a seat next to a local boy and asked if I could sit. He introduced himself and asked if it was my first carnival.

“Nice to meet you Kostas, My name is Helmuth Kohl, and yeah it’s my first carnival”. 

When the curtains dropped he turned to me and said

“I’m hungry, do you want to go get some food? Then I can tell you some more about the carnival”.

We went to a café called Jupter. I looked at the menu and the meal of the day was turkey shot with rifle, served with a Greek salad with spring onion and red onion, which we both ordered together with the café’s signature drink Spice orange. It was lovely. The only thing I eat at the moment is Uncle Ben’s and Kraft Foods. He started telling me about the traditions of the carnival, which lasts for months though out the country. In this period people celebrate and eat lots of food before the fast of Easter. In the city of Patras the carnival is called The King of Greek Carnivals and it turns the city into one gigantic party with parades, balls, and street theatre. He further told be that tomorrow is the last day of the carnival which ends with a walking parade and a big party. We agreed to meet tomorrow and Kostas offered to follow me to the bus stop. On our way I noticed a mocking bird flying in circles around a man on a ladder who was trying to fasten a screw in the weathervane on the roof. Kostas started asking me about my home country and if I missed home.
“I want to take a break from this country" I said.
“It’s been a while?”

“Yeah since last I was in Germany”.

“Yeah I understand”.

We then talked about how Kostas had never been in another country and it seemed as if he didn’t really understand that I missed being home. However, due to financial problems Kostas’ family didn’t have the money to send him abroad like my family did to me.
"If I was to do it, I would work a lot and then travel” he said.

"Right, the traditional way”.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't know where to go. And I'm not old when I'm done here anyway”.

"Nope, then you're still under thirty".

The bus arrived and we said goodbye.