Athens Olympic Torch Relay "The Request"

My colleague had started a dialogue with the CEO of the “mobile events company” that had been tasked with taking the Athens Olympic Flame to every city that had held the Modern Olympics the candidate cities for the 2012 Olympics and a few of Athens’s Neighbours. The proposal seemed so outlandish that we had difficulty believing that it was not a scam and, if it was a real request, that it was “winnable”, Normally high profile events like this use the national carrier who offers their aircraft at a non commercial rate for the publicity. So it was decided by our CEO that we should go and see them in Athens to assess the seriousness of the request. So on the 8^th October 2003 I found myself at Heathrow Airport with my colleague for our flight to Athens. On arrival in Athens we took a taxi downtown. The journey from Athens Airport to the city allows a spectacular view of one of my favourite cities, as you come down from the mountains Athens is laid out in front of you as a huge white city. It seems that all the buildings are low rise and white. We arrived at the Hotel and set about finding a local restaurant. The one we found inspired the “Lost in Translation” feature of this blog. Amongst others it offered “chefs special sausage” as an appetiser and “grilled lamp”. “Leg of lamp” and “Lamp Chops”. The next morning we called our contact who told us he was busy in meetings and would not be able to see us at the agreed time due to meetings but had arranged for us to take a city tour with his driver until he could fit us in. This turned out to be a fantastic tour that took in the Plaka, the Acropolis and the Evzones. Then the phone call came and we were taken to the meeting in the ATHOC headquarters. It was clear from this meeting that the request was not a scam and that the national airline was not involved and in any case was not prepared to release its aircraft for the project. Having established this and following another lamp dinner we returned to London the next morning. I had no further involvement in the project whilst my colleague sourced the possible solutions for the provision of the aircraft. In late December the mobile events company confirmed we had been the successful bidder and invited us to their headquarters outside Denver Colorado early in the New Year.