Picture this: It's a busy lunchtime rush hour in Athens. I have just arrived with my fiancee (English, first time abroad) at the main railway station, and we jump into a taxi to get to our final destination. On the roads it's mayhem, horns blaring, drivers "cutting" each other, and our driver seems as tense as any, gas pedal floored and braking at the last possible moment several times a minute.

She turns to me after a while and asks quietly "Why is the driver crossing himself every few seconds?". I observe him to make sure, and then confidently explain to her that in Greece many people cross themselves when they pass a church - even when driving.

"Thank God for that" she says, "I thought it was every time he had narrowly escaped a crash!".

She was right in her mistake - it could well have been that!

Thankfully she survived the shock, and 31 years later we are still together.