1988

With the “Mesologgitisses” show we did a show in central London and then went to the NEC Arena in Birmingham. On the coach trip on the way back I sat next to Katerina and we had a lovely long chat…

April 88

Handed in my notice at the school without a job to go to. Decided to take a term off and try something different. Selling medical insurance, selling adverts for London ‘88 and doing radio shows!

In the spring of 1988 I had decided to take a break from teaching. My brother Chris started a new venture, the first Greek cable tv station in the UK. He was looking to train some tv presenters for the station and organised a course at Mountview Theatre School. I enrolled on the course and I was enjoying it. At the same time Chris also put together an “experimental” radio station for the Greek community in North London. ”Londino 88” was unlicensed but an exciting project. Around the same time some guy who met me at my sister Nitsa’s dry cleaners in Edmonton persuaded me that I could be good at selling Health Insurance. This was a very new thing in 1988. All these reasons made me give up teaching at the end of the Spring Term of that year at Coopers School. Selling insurance didn’t go so well. I tried one family near St Ann’s Road as my first possible clients. It didn’t work. The radio station was relying on some advertising and I tried my hand in recording and selling advertising on the radio. At the same time I started doing radio shows from a tiny little back corridor of a shop in Green Lanes in Haringey. It was obvious that there would be no income coming my way from these ventures. I decided to look for another teaching job and went to at least one interview somewhere in Norfolk. I didn’t get the job.

In order to make some money I decided to try being a mini cab driver for a while. I lived in the front room of Myroula’s house at the time in Newbury Avenue, Enfield Lock. Near there was a mini cab firm, Prompt Cars. I became cabbie #13 (no one else would take that number; they were superstitious)

I soon realised that I needed to go back to teaching. I had an unsuccessful interview at a school somewhere in Norfolk but then I got better luck at a school in Bromyard Avenue in East Acton.

The post was for a teacher of Maths with some Physics. I also ended up looking after the post of PE teacher while they waited to employ a specialist.

I got myself a tiny bedsit above a cafe in East Acton which was only a 5 minute walk to the school. Conveniently located but very small and had no cooking facilities.

In November I decided to move to a shared house in Northolt. It took me many house trips to move stuff from East Acton to Northolt. I remember it was around Firework Night as there were fireworks going off everywhere. I think it was around this time I sold the Nissan Stanza which I bought a couple of years earlier on finance, and still had money to pay for it. At the same time, I was counting my pennies…

The house sharing didn’t last long, it just didn’t work out. Sharing a kitchen just didn’t agree with me. Katerina did come to visit me there though 😉

1989

I sold the Nissan Stanza and paid off whatever was left on the loan.

I bought a Renault turbo, black car and at some stage I moved from Northolt to a flat on the 3rd floor off Blackstock Road in Highbury, not far from the Arsenal ground.

I found a local garage and had the car re-sprayed.

Not soon did I get my nicely re-sprayed car out of the garage and one night as I was driving from Katerina’s house towards my flat in Highbury I had a head on collision with a car spinning out of control and coming towards me in Wightman Road, just south of the church of St John the Baptist.

1990

The years at KFA

In the summer of 1990 Dave Barnes and I took a minibus-load of school kids to Bideford in North Devon for a few days of outdoor activities by the estuary. This was around the time of the Italia 90 World Cup.

19 July 1990

One evening we watched as a last minute goal gave England a semifinal against West Germany.

We were watching the game unfold back at Belmont Road and the penalty misses before getting on a bus to go to Gatwick for a flight to Portugal !

1991

1992

In the summer of 1992 Katerina and I went to Cyprus for a few days and stayed in a hotel in Larnaca. Katerina was unwell after the flight for a few days. One of our visits was to see my godmother. It turned out to be the last time I saw her. She died a few months later. The girl in the picture is an old neighbour of mine from Zodhia in Cyprus.

1993

20 March 1993

The big day! Katerina and I got married in the Haringey Registry office!

In the evening we had a reception at Apollo restaurant in Seven Sisters Road!

We then went for a couple of days to Bath, returning via the South Coast.

23 July 1993

The church wedding at St Paul’s church in Corinth at around 9pm!

The wedding reception was then held at “Ta varellakia” on the promenade of Kalamia beach.

We then travelled for a few days to Spetses island then on the way back we went to the mountain village of Paos.