Aristotelis Koutlemanis was born in 1937 in Argos Orestiko and moved to Kastoria, where he grew up working in a bakery. He has memories of his father’s work as a livestock trader. Koutlemanis migrated to Canada in 1957 and initially worked in Toronto in the fur industry. He later moved to New York, where he continued working in the fur business. Koutlemanis became actively involved in Greek community activities, participating in dance groups, including one that performed for the Queen. He was also involved in the Pan-Macedonian Association.
Translation: Lia Karokis
Alexandros: Well, Mr. Aristotle, good morning. I amAlexandros Balasis. We are in Toronto today. It is February 6, 2025, and so tobegin, I want you to tell me your first name, your last name, and when you wereborn.
Aristotle: My name is Aristotle Koutlemanis. I was born in Argos, Orestiko, in 1937. After Argos, I finished primary school and started working in a bakery temporarily in Argos. At the bakery, we carried the water to make the dough, the bread, everything from there...
AB: Was it the family bakery? Did a relative own it?
AK: Yes, they were, not relatives, but they were exclusive acquaintances, and someone was needed to bring water... to work... so... I did this job for quite some time in Argos, Orestiko... then I left, went to Kastoria, and again went to a bakery to work at first and after the bakery, a friend of mine, he says to me, would you like me to teach you how to make fur?
AB: Great. In Kastoria, at what age did you go? At what age did you go? How old?
AK: I was in Kastoria when I went, I would have been 17 years old.
AB: Yes
AK: I would have been 17 years old then.
AB: And let me ask you something else, before we go to Kastoria.
AK: Yes.
AB: I want you to describe it to me... You grew up during the period with the Germans, with the Civil War... What do you remember of that? Do you remember anything specific?
AK: Yes. When the war started, the Germans, we were in Argos. After that, we saw the things, the bombings, we left and went to a village outside Argos. After there, we returned. As soon as the war ended, we returned to Argos, and we saw that there was great destruction, the houses burned down, everything... Our house was fine, we didn’t have any problems. But, others in the area, in the neighbourhood were destroyed, so, and after that we left, we left there, I left, I went to Kastoria for a better life, because I couldn’t stay in a job in Argos, which my father was a livestock dealer. He would go to Albania, buy animals, bring them, come back, sell them, and I couldn’t stay with the same job. And I went to Kastoria and worked in a bakery again.
AB: Why couldn’t you stay in the same job?
AK: Pardon me?
AB: Why couldn’t you stay in the same job?
AK: Because, the job that my father did as a livestock trader, I wasn’t into it, I didn’t have the passion to become this, as a livestock trader with my father. But my father, he took me everywhere he went, he took me close and then I went to Kastoria, at 17.
AB: And what animals did your father trade? What did he have?
AK: My father bought animals, horses, oxen… That was the job because at that time the Turkish people who were there, bought the oxen that plowed, they bought the horses that plowed, and my father did this job, because he also knew the language. My father knew seven languages.
AB: Which languages do you mean?
AK: Pardon me?
AB: Which languages? Which ones?
AK: My father knew Turkish fluently. He spoke French. From those years, he was an interpreter for the French Army in Thessaloniki, specifically for the Commander-in-Chief. What was his name? My father was an interpreter for the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army in Thessaloniki. When the revolution took place in Turkey, my father left Thessaloniki and went to Constantinople, and there he notified all the Greeks to leave quickly and get on the ships because the Turk’s order was that those who got on the ships would have their hands cut off, be careful. And immediately our people... Our people all got on the ships immediately, they gathered and then my father saw his brother was missing. They went for a walk and saw him there dancing with the girls, the Turkish girls. They took him, went on the ships... And they went down to Piraeus, to Athens. They went down to Piraeus, great, everyone was waiting, their people, everyone in Piraeus came out, they praised the return of Hellenism from the war and for this reason I couldn’t do this job because I didn’t know the languages that my father knew.
AB: Let me ask one more question, because it’s a very interesting story... Your father, how did he describe all these people to you, the refugees who came, the locals over there, the relations with the Slavic speakers, what were they like? How did he describe all this to you? What do you remember?
AK: He knew the people who loved him, and everyone approached him because he knew the language. And from there, my father began this work with his people, as all the Greeks who were there knew that Nikolakis would help us with what to do. From there, this collaboration with our people started. Then, later, my father, after we came to Piraeus from the ships, wanted to visit Argos. He visited Argos, and there my father gave his word to marry a girl from Argos. However, when Mademoiselle came back, she was called the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army. Mademoiselle was... Mademoiselle loved him very much and wanted to marry him. But as soon as she heard that he had given his word and got married, she sent him to the front line. She sent him to the front line, and from there, I started the rest. When things calmed down, we received a notice from the Greek Consulate that my father had been sent a notice... to go if we wanted to make a donation in memory of Mademoiselle who is buried with Commander-in-Chief DeGaulle, in such and such a place in France, but my father did not accept it at that time because he was not of the age that he had passed, and all these things...
AB: So, tell me, when did you go to Kastoria? So what did you do?
AK: When I went to Kastoria, I worked in a bakery again, for a short time. Then, later, I got into fur, I started working with fur, but not for long because I left, I had my sister, my brother-in-law, in Canada here, and they invited me and I came here to Canada. I came to Canada, and I worked directly with the Greek Consulate because there was not a Greek Consulate here in Toronto, there was one from Montreal. After a while, the Consul came to us, Mr... I remember his last name... Who after about two or three months left and became Ambassador to Albania... And another Consul came here, who was the Commander of the Police of Thessaloniki.
AB: Okay, then. You had a sister. How many siblings were you in total? How many siblings were you in total?
AK: When I came here, I only had my sister. Later, the rest came.
AB: How many are you in total? In total, the family, how many siblings did he have?
AK: We had seven siblings.
AB: Good.
AK: We were seven siblings in total. Five brothers and two sisters.
AB: And your sister here in Toronto, how did she come? Your sister?
AK: My sister came here with her husband.
AB: Why?
AK: Her husband was a soldier in those years, and he was a nurse, and when they notified him from America to come to America, her husband didn’t want to come to America. He wanted to come here to Canada because his brother was here –Alexandros Markos, his name was also – and his brother brought him by invitation, my son-in-law and my sister together.
AB: He was involved with furs?
AK: Yes, and then when I came here with the furs, we started...
AB: And what did your sister say to you when she left? What do you remember about that day that your sister left? How do you remember that? When she came here later, what did she say to you?
AK: My sister told me one thing. “Here,” she tells me, “You have to be a little careful” she says, “Because Hellenism is very smal,” we didn’t have much Hellenism here. We didn’t even have a million there wasn’t any Hellenism here, and from there on I started in the fur industry as the saying goes, because I liked to work, I didn’t want to, I didn’t care what job I would do, and I worked, during the day I would learn the fur and in the evening I would take a cart I had, I would go from the bakery, I would take the loaves and distribute them to the restaurants and the houses that wanted bread and I would distribute them and I would get paid a little extra for all this work, and then I would go to... I was getting bread, he tells me you’re going to stop working, he says you’re going to take bread to houses, you’re going to come here so I can teach you, you’re not going anywhere, he says. And that’s where I started the fur trade and I moved on.
AB: Well, let’s go back one more time. I want you to tell me about the trip. How did you get here? Did you come by ship?
AK: Yes, we came by ship.
AB: When? How do you remember the trip?
AK: Yes, I remember the trip. In 1954... Let me tell you from the beginning how I started... In 1954 I had completed my paperwork to become a Permanent Non-Commissioned Officer. At that time, the kids were 17 years old to become a Permanent Non-Commissioned Officer. They notified me to go down to Thebes as a Permanent Non-Commissioned Officer. When I went to Athens, I didn’t show up in Thebes. I took the train and went to Patras. I went to Patras and I was waiting outside the port for the platform to pick us up to take us to the ship to come to Canada. At that moment, the conscription captain calls me and says, Mr. Koutlemanis, Mr. Koutlemanis, one minute... And I go back, I thought he would tell me about the military. I understood immediately. Well, I go into the office and he says, “Congratulations,” he says, “You served for two years. Permanent Non-Commissioned Officer,” he says “I congratulate you,” he says “For what you have done for the two years.” And I answered him, I say, “Captain, I didn’t served as a soldier,” I tell him, “I did the paperwork,” I tell him, “But I didn’t show up in Thebes.” I say. “I see the papers here,” he says “I don’t see anything else…That you served two years in the Greek Army.” I say thank you very much. He says, “Have a good trip” and I always want him to remember us. And so we got on the ship and I came from, it was an Italian ship, 28 tons, the largest ship at that time, we came to Halifax. We got out there in Halifax, we got out. We went, we got some money, they gave us 10 dollars that we had from deposits before they left, we went, we got the money and there was a gentleman there who, when we were going to take our suitcases, was drawing with chalk to indicate they were ok to leave. And this man was a Greek of ours, without me knowing him, they put marks on all the suitcases and as soon as the suitcases were marked, they put marks on the train. We took the train and got off in Montreal. On the way back, a black man came and brought us toast and bacon. As soon as I saw the hands, I didn’t want to eat, but the boy on the ship told me, “Take some bread and some eggs so you can eat on the way,” and in this way we each took an egg and bread and had something to eat on the way to Toronto. Anyway, from Montreal we came from Halifax, the trains carry the animals, we came on those trains. And we came to Montreal. From Montreal we then came here to Toronto and there my sister and my brother-in-law joined me.
AB: And the first day you went, did you sleep there at your sister’s? The first day you came, did you sleep at your sister’s, I imagine? At your sister’s house?
AK: Yes, yes, yes, from the first day.
AB: And how do you remember? Was it cold when you came? When exactly was that?
AK: It was, let me tell you...it was neither winter nor summer. Towards Montreal, the places had a lot of snow. Here in Toronto, we didn’t have that much snow but it was just cold...Very cold, and in that way...
AB: When did you come here? You told me you came here in 1958?
AK: I came in 1957. In 1957, I came. Of course.
AB: And so, you told me you started working by sharing the bread.
AK: Yes, yes.
AB: That was in Kastoria.
AK: I was distributing bread in Kastoria.
AB: It was in Kastoria. When you came here, what did you do?
AK: When I came here, at first I worked in a bakery, then I worked again, then I worked in a bakery for a while, but there in the bakery where I worked, Mrs. Statena, they called her, she says to me, Aristotelis, come here, she says to me, I want to teach you, she tells me to make pies, because she says the King and his family are coming tomorrow here in Greece where we were in Kastoria... The King and his family are coming, she says. Okay. And when we went, we made the pies, then we put two trays of grivadi fish, which the King always preferred. Grivadi and from Kastoria, they sent it to him to Athens. The King’s grivadi. We made two sheets of grivadi. Well, this grivadi, the old man who worked for (inaudible name) took one and there was one grivadi missing, so they could eat, and the policeman says, because we always had the police with us, we are not alone, we had the police. The policeman says, “There is one missing,” I say, “I don’t know,” I tell him. The old man says to me, “How?” He had taken the fish and disappeared, we never saw him again, and from then on, the things we started and worked on with the authorities.
AB: Well, I want you to tell me when you came here to Toronto. Did you get involved directly with fur?
AK: Yes.
AB: So what did you do? Where did you work? Who did you work for?
AK: I worked here for, I don’t remember what his name was, my son-in-law had a store, and that’s when I started working in my son-in-law’s store with my brother.
AB: What store? Furs?
AK: They had a store and I started working there.
AB: What store was that?
AK: Fur store.
AB: What was your son-in-law’s name?
AK: My son-in-law Markos was called –Konstantinos Markos– and his brother was called Alexandros Markos.
AB: Great.
AK: They owned the shop together. In the meantime, when I saw them closing the coats, I said, I know how to close these. And my son-in-law came back and said to me, and how do you know that he tells me to close coats? I said to him, I know. Sit down, he said to me. I sat down and took the coat and closed it better than them.
AB: What do you mean by closing the coat? How do you mean?
AK: To do it, because all the sleeves were taken off, the body, everything... they were closing them, there I had the idea that they had told me in Kastoria that here the shoulders always have a little more like this... When my brother-in-law saw me closing he said to me, you will be one of the best here at work, okay. In the meantime, when my little brother came, I brought him, so I put him there in a bakery where they worked, they were Scots, and, two old men, they also gave up the bakery. My brother and I bought it, partners. In the meantime, we didn’t go out, I left the bakery to them and left. I was going to America. I was going to work there. They were some patriots from my wife’s village and I was working in New York.
AB: When are you talking about now? So, when did you bring your brother? How long after you came did your brother come here?
AK: Yes.
AB: Okay.
AK: Yes, yes. I told you.
AB: Your brother, I ask, after how long did you bring your brother here?
AK: I..
AB: Did he come soon? One year later?
AK: Yes, so that he wouldn’t go to the, army. I brought him after me.
AB: And he also worked for you for a while, he also worked with you.
AK: Yes, yes, yes
AB: You told me he probably worked in the bakery... Great, and I want you to tell me, here in Toronto, the shops where the Greeks who dealt in fur, who were from Kastoria, were crowded, did you know many people with such insolence?
AK: Not much.
AB: Yes.
AK: There were a few shops back then, there weren’t many, a few Kastoria residents who owned them, but truth be told, I can’t remember it now... But I can’t remember... A job that we were talking about, here, from here... Anyway, I left for New York, I went and worked there for 1 week, two weeks and came back. I was making good money, but here the fur was a bit slow. The tickets were very cheap back then because it cost $70 from here to New York and back and I paid for the ticket both going and coming. In the meantime, when I was making enough money, I would go and buy what I wanted. I went to a store where all the sailors went. That’s where I got this vase. Yes. And where all the sailors were coming out, you buy this vase. As soon as I saw it and I told the man who owned the shop who knew me already, I told him that “You would come, it will be mine,” he said okay. After a few days the sailors came again the next week, they came to the port, they brought this vase, this small vase. They brought it and he had it... But this vase, they used to go and sell it, and I went there to the old ones I used to see. I saw this vase, and there was a black man. I said to him, “I don’t have any money.” I asked him, “How much do you want for it?” He says, “Give it to me,” he says “$20.” “No,” I say to him, “I have $17,” “Do you want it,” I say to him, “Yes or no,” “No.” “Give it to him,” he says. I got $17 and I got this vase, because this vase had this one in front, what do they call it...
AB: The Trojan War
AB: I want you to tell me...when we were here at the beginning, you were showing me some photos of you doing dance. So, you got involved, you got involved in the Community.
AK: Yes, when I went here to the Community, they wanted, Mrs. Bonidou was a teacher, she wanted to teach dance in classes and immediately, we who knew a little about dance, I knew it from Greece, since I was a child, I had been dancing since I was little, and we formed dance groups there. We went to many different places that invited us to dance and they gave a lot of money to the Community. So, after that we went to Ottawa. We gave a dance, there were 800 Greeks there alone who had their own hotels, their own restaurants, everything. And they took us in, put us up in their hotels to sleep, went to restaurants to eat for free, everything, and we did the dance in Ottawa. We danced and there we started for the rest of the places we danced. Then we came here where we said that with the Ambassador we did this job
AB: Say it again, so we remember it. Can you say that again with the Ambassador?
AK: Yes, when after the dance groups that were there, I talked to Thomas Sara, and I said to him, Thomas, let’s have a big celebration. We have October 28, I said to him, I want to invite the Ambassador to come here so we can have the biggest celebration of the Greeks for the first time in the ever in the old city hall. I tell him, I want a letter. He says yes. Thomas and the Ambassador Mr. Kalergis, sent it, I remember his name very well. He came, we held the first celebration on March 25 at the old City Hall. There we raised the flag for the first time in history, the Greek flag for 1 month, at the old City Hall. And that’s where we started. But today I don’t see that.
AB: Yes.
AK: Because it had to continue and stay…We passed... Another Ambassador came, and the second Ambassador, and we invited him. We also held a second grand opening. Every October 28. But today, I don’t see these things because the community is not like we were in those years, to enter. Now it’s the Pan-Macedonian. When I came, I found the Pan-Macedonian in a Hunter store, it was rented out. And I talked to the president of the Pan-Macedonian. The president of the Pan-Macedonian was the director of Thessaloniki, of the Pan-Macedonian. I said, “We have to make a decision to buy something.” Well, we made the decision and we found this building with someone from the prefecture of Florina, he had it, we found it with Thomas. We discussed it and he said, “Since it’s for an Organization,” he says, “I’ll let you have it,” he says. From 80, what he wanted, “I’ll let you have it,” he says “for $65,000.” Okay. What do we do now? Thomas notified the Consul and I, Thomas and the Consul, called the people, the Presidents from the Associations, we called people who had money and we knew they would deposit something. Indeed, that’s what happened. We all got together, and we gathered up $65,000, that night. In the meantime, when I went down to leave, Biangas, I don’t remember his name, took away the $1,000 he gave and then I met Christos Stanos there. Christos Stanos was the man who had his own dance group from Florina. Well, and we talked about it. As soon as he saw Bianga raise his hand to hit me, who couldn’t do that, but Christos accepted the other and grabbed him away. And he says, whoever bothers Aristotle, he says, will have to do with me, he says.
AB: So, you were involved with the Pan-Macedonian. What did you do at the Pan-Macedonian? Can you describe it to someone who doesn’t know? What did you do attending the Pan-Macedonian?
AK: When we bought the building in Pan-Macedoniki, we took it and, let me tell you, since there was a President, there were people, I remember at the time that I had left with my family, I think we had gone to New York, we had gone with my family there, and after months we didn’t like it, we came back again. But we bought another house here and we stayed here.
AK: Oh, yes.
AK: I wanted to say it earlier, but it escaped me.
AB: Tell me about the Queen and we’ll go back to the Pan-Macedonian.
AK: I was a dancer. I was a dancer and when the Queen came here and the family, the Queen...
AB: Now when are you telling me? When the Queen and the King came in 1967, at that time?
AK: I was single then.
AB: Which Queen are you telling me about?
AB: Ah, Frederica, nice.
AK: I was 21 years old at the time... I would have been 22. He wanted to visit Casa Loma. Now we, the tsoliades, dressed up, went to Casa Loma and the Queen of England, a young girl, came by and wanted to dance a dance with a tsolia. Meanwhile, the others didn’t know how to dance Tango. But I knew these dances very well, and I took the Queen and danced.
AB: How did you know Tango?
AK I was a dancer since I was a child. I knew all the dances. I danced tsamika, I danced all the dances since I was a child. Of course. And I danced with the Queen, Ana Maria, but they didn’t allow me to take a picture when I was dancing.
AK: Yes, and for that, I tell you I have a long story to this day.
AB: So at that event, the Pan-Macedonians were there, who were they? Why were you all gathered there, the tsoliades? How did you go? Do you remember that? Why did you go to that event with the Queen at the event?
AK: With the Queen at the event? They were tsoliades, were they…
AB: Yes, the Pan-Macedonians were the tsoliades? Who were they?
AK: Yes, they were from the Pan-Macedonian. Yes, we had two brothers who were in, tsoliades, in Athens, in the Royal Palace, they were there and they were, I always had them with me. But then they got sick and left. But when we danced with the Queen, they didn’t allow us to take pictures and all that and so we went back inside and saw the animals, how they were doing, the stables, in a few words. The barn where the animals lived, all of them, and then we left. Now from there on I don’t remember much.
AB: Who else did you dance with? So, do you remember other people? Who were they? Were they from Kastoria? Were those you danced with in the dance class from other places?
AK: In the dance, yes, we had, it was Alekos Dimitropoulos, I had taken him with me, he found out, he was with me. It was Kostas, I don’t remember the last name, a Kostas, Stathis, who got married in Germany and the poor guy died there… Stathis. Another Konstantinos again, he sent me a group from the Greek Community and from the Pan-Macedonian.
AB: And what dances did you dance? Do you remember the dances you danced?
AK: Yes, we danced the Hasaposervika, we danced the Tsamiko, we danced the Sirto, we danced the Zeibekeiko, we danced for the world to see. These were the dances that we were used to in our homeland. And that’s why we had a great time. Anyway, my story is long, it’s because I have photos, I have everything to show even if someone hesitates.
AB: Well, I want you to tell me, and this is the last time so I don’t tire you out any more.
AK: No, it’s okay.
AB: I want you to tell me, then, what you did. You told me that you worked with fur, you told me that you went to New York. Then what did you do?
AK: Here again with fur.
AB: Again with fur? Did you open your own shop?
AK: No, I didn’t open a shop. I worked for my brother. My brother opened a shop. I worked for my brother, but I was working for my brother, because he left very regularly for Greece, I kept the place, and I was paid the same amount of money. In the meantime, when he came back, I told him I’ll leave, okay. I sat down, I went home, I told my wife, I’m going to lie down, I told her, to rest a little. At the same time, I received a call from a Hungarian whom I had helped with the language. I sent him to a Hungarian-speaking company to work. Well, he calls me and says, “Aris,” now he tells me, “You’re going to so-and-so,” he wants you, “A Jew wants to see you.” Now I tell him? Could I go on Monday? No, he says, go now. On Saturday, I got up and got it. I don’t know if I had a car then, but I didn’t. I went down to the store and then went upstairs. I went upstairs, and the manager was a 60-year-old German. Well, he tells me, “I’m the manager,” he tells me, “I want you to...” I tell him, “I don’t talk to managers,” I tell him... “I want the boss directly.” “If I’m accepted…” I say, “Great, otherwise I’ll leave.” He says okay. He goes, the boss tells him, so and so, he says, “He doesn’t want to talk to me, he wants to talk to you.” Okay. I went inside, the Jew tells me, “We’re here…” he says, “It’s 10 o’clock now…” he says, “We stop at one o’clock,” he says. He says, “You’ll sit and work until one o’clock,” and then adds, “I’ll tell you.” I tell him, “How much?” He says, “I’m not saying anything.” He says, “I’ll tell you later.” Okay. I sat at the machine, this job that I did right away until one, the Jews couldn’t do out for a week. I put these in the patterns, everything is fine, cleaned, I’ll close them and leave. He says, “I’ll see you on Monday”. Okay. I went on Monday and as soon as we got there he says sit, “Down and work.” I started working. We didn’t discuss money, and when it came time on Friday to get paid, I saw that my daily wage was $600. After a while, he raised it by another $100. It made it $700. In the meantime, the manager got angry with the boss and kicked him out. And he comes and says to me, “Aristotle, take the keys; you open the door, and I’ll close it.” Okay, “What will happen when I open it?” He says, “Things are in order, don’t be afraid. Your name is there.” And in the morning, I went. The workers were waiting, so, as soon as I opened the door, I rang the bell and the workers said, oh, we have a new boss now. Yes, we have a new boss. And that’s where we started. A good man. A very good man and so everything around me was very nice. No matter what I did, I never had to say that, oh, someone doesn’t want me. The Jews asked me to go, even for a little while, to help them. I would go after my work. I would go there too. People would give me a little extra money. But they loved me. I don’t know, in my life I’ve had, I’ve been so happy, but my greatest happiness, Alexander, was my marriage. I got a good wife.
AB: So, will you tell us how you got married? That was the last thing I had to ask you. How did you get married? How did you find your wife?
AK: Here, we had a custom to throw the cross on September 15, the cross into the sea and we would go to Brampton, we would go there and throw the cross and I would swim, I would throw myself to catch the cross and when I threw myself with the kids to catch the cross, we were arguing with a kid from Hamilton, I had the cross, he had the cross from there. He had grabbed the whole cross. The cross took him, we went up. We went up, in the meantime, as soon as we came out, they had some sheets for us to lie down on for the heat. In the meantime, they brought me a bottle of ouzo, and I drank all the ouzo, and I got used to it. When we went out, I knew a friend of mine who worked in Kastoria at the agencies, the gas stations, and his son-in-law and his sister were there. And he tells me… Her brother says, “Soula,” he tells you, “Is he a good kid?’ he says, I see him, he says good. He says he knows us, he says. If you want, I’ll have a chat. Yes. And from there, it started. I would go on weekends to a restaurant where the lady worked, and I would sit and drink coffee. There was a cook; I don’t know what his race was. Was he Greek? Yes, a cook and I would go and sit, and they would bring me coffee one, two, three times, and then the consulates happened. I said, “Let’s see.” “Why not?” he said. Let’s go home. Let’s go. And so, we went home. We sat down, talked, and then gave the speech. Afterward, we did our own thing at home, the doxology, and exchanged rings. We got engaged, and after a month or two, in winter weather, we got married. Well, we got married, freezing, and my wife was frozen from the cold. Then we went to church.
AB: To Saint George
AK: To Saint George. We didn’t have another church. To Saint George. Well, and then, later, we got married and settled things. And from there we started for a good family and how we achieved everything.
AB: Well, Mr. Aristotle, that’s what I had, I wanted to ask you. I want you to add, if you want to tell me something. You can tell me anything you want.
AK: I have something to tell you. Now you can do exactly what you’re trying to sort out. Free from me.
AB: Okay.
AK: I don’t mind a thing, as the saying goes....
AB: Well, thank you very much. Be well.