I believe the funniest moment in my life was the phrase “Lesbos had been burned!”
This happened and was said many years ago, when I was young and innocent minded. However, the mention of it in the present always brings fits of laughter amongst my friends.
It all started with a power cut. Years ago, while my older brother was still in primary school, he used to have a map of Greece in his room, right above his bed. It helped him with his geography studies at school. It had been stuck to the wall with some old blue tack, which was actually not that sticky any more, and had the tendency to fall. The map was nothing special, just a plain old paper one found inside a cheap atlas. One day, while he was in his room, the power was cut and everything sank into darkness. He brought a small candle in his room so he could see and put it on his bed stand. Suddenly, the top right corner of the map of Greece unstuck from the wall and fell on the candle. The flame managed to burn a small hole into the map, burning a small area of Greece.
When my brother grew older, he no longer needed the map in his room, so we transferred it to the dining room, which was sort of a study, for common use. But then came a day when my teacher at school asked us to search for information about an island in Greece called Lesbos, assuming we all had a map at home. But when it came to search for what she had asked, I found myself in front of a map with a hole on the island Lesbos. Poor me, I didn’t know much about the internet then, and I was oblivious to the miracles it could make. So, the next day, I went to school without doing anything.
The hour of Geography came and our teacher asked us to hand in our research. She went from desk to desk, gathering papers or notebooks and phrasing or scolding accordingly. When she stopped by my desk, she asked me where my work was, I gave my best pout and innocent look and said, “But Mrs. Sarah! Lesvos has been burned!” That always brings tears of laughter to my eyes.
