The previous weekend had seen the largest celebrations ever known in world history.
It was a two thousand year celebration of Christ's birth. An amazing time. Churches all over Europe had joined for a common ceremony. The Pope, having successfully recovered from his broken leg suffered in 1994, jointly led the celebrations with the archbishop of Canterbury and the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church. Ecclesiastical differences were put aside to welcome the new millennium. All the churches were joined by video conference and millions prayed together for a new and peaceful time.
Most communities in Europe now had twins elsewhere. After the religious ceremonies, celebrations moved to the village, community, town and concert halls. Pan European and even Global concerts were the order of the day. Aberystwyth's Great Hall had linked to the Mangualde village hall in the hills of Portugal and to the towns of Kuusamo (Northern Finland), Aarhus (Denmark), Requista (Tarn, France) and the island of North Andros in Greece. The latter location was an important milestone as it represented the first broadband network connection ever established to the people of that area. The old folk did not really understand the foreign languages, but most of those under thirty now spoke at least three languages. Everyone joined in, even the children danced and sang. It was truly a people's celebration. The sound and picture quality was now quite stunning. A screen 32 feet wide by 18 feet high had been erected in the Great Hall and with 24 bit sound the tonal quality was really quite unbelievable.