MY VERSION OF EVENTS....

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Between Lefkas Island and the Greek mainland is a lagoon that embraces an archipelago of small green jewels, including, among others, Skorpios, the legendary idyll of Aristotle Onassis. Cruising those waters two summers ago, my geology student son and I were less concerned with the yachts of the super-rich than we were with the rock formations of the coastline. As he began his treatise on the bands of geological history gliding past our boat, I interrupted him to correct his assessment: "no, that is marine sediment," I said, "not volcanic. This is a discordant coastline". Stunned, he just looked at me, annoyed too, no doubt. This may not strike you as terribly astounding, that I should know a bit about geology, but I work in opera and I left school with two just 'O''levels. My son knows all this, hence his surprise, and I haven't studied geography for thirty-four years, yet I could tell you all about screes, coastal erosion and urban conurbations ...