AN AMAZING DAY

GEORGE VAPHOPOULOS

It was a year ago when I had the most amazing day of my entire life. I work for a big company that has a lot of branches around Europe. So I travel by airplane very often. The previous year, I had had to go to London for a very important meeting. The fact that I had to be " perfect " at this meeting made me more anxious. You see, I really wanted to get promotion.

When the " big " day came, I set the alarm clock to seven o’clock and I went to bed. I fell asleep immediately. The next day in the morning, I was taken aback when I realized that the alarm clock hadn’t been working properly. It was eight o’clock! My flight was at half past eight. I didn’t have any time at all. It would take at least half an hour to reach the airport. At 8:10 I was in my car ready to go, when I remembered that I didn’t have my ticket with me. So I rushed upstairs and got it. And then the race began.

I was going at 200 km/h when I suddenly realised that my car had a mechanical problem. This series of unlucky incidents made me absolutely furious. I got out of my car and tried to find a taxi. Luckily I found one and I was finally on my way to the airport. I arrived there just in the nick of time, and when I asked the lady in the "departures" about the flight to London, she kindly responded. "Sorry sir, but it has just taken off". I stood there with my eyes looking at her in total despair. When I returned home I was ready to commit suicide. I had missed the most important meeting of my life, my car was broken down in the middle of the road, and most important of all, I had lost the promotion. What else could happen to prove how unlucky I was?

I turned on the television to see my favourite programme, and to my surprise I saw that my plane had crashed and 112 people had been killed. I didn’t know how to react. I felt happy and depressed at the same time. I felt happy for not being on that plane, but regret and sadness for the loss of those people. One thing was certain, I would never ever talk about my luck again.

This was one of the most exciting moments in my life. Remember, if, sometimes, everything is going wrong......leave it! That’s my advice.

George Vaphopoulos is a sixteen year old student at the Fourth Lykeio in Katerini. He is an outstanding basketball player, being a member of “Pieria 90”, the league champion team. He has played for the Greek National Junior team. His other interests include art and music, and he passed the Cambridge FCE exam in 1999. He is currently waiting for the results of the Michigan Proficiency Final. He started learning English with John Foss when he was at the Fourth Primary School in Katerini.