I live in the largest Greek city outside Greece. And today it�s a pretty great place to be, regardless of whether you have any actual connection to the Greek community.

I have only a tenuous one, with my recently inducted cousin-in-law, but I, like most people in this city, have a long history of eating much Greek food. Not sure that counts though.

But today everyone can�t help but get swept up in the joy of Greece�s win of Euro2004. On so many levels, really.

First, there�s the fact that several streets in the centre of the city, around the Greek precinct, were shut from the early hours of the morning and may well need to be shut again now, at lunch time, to accommodate all the celebrating fans. They gathered in the restaurants and cake shops and Greek music store and on the street itself from 4am to watch the match. They let off flares as soon as the goal was scored and again when the match was won and then long into the morning. They sang and danced and hung banners from the store fronts and verandas.

Next there�s the fun that comes with walking into work and being passed every two minutes by either a car honking its horn with Greek flags and scarves streaming out the windows, or people draped in blue and white with painted faces making their weary but happy way home from the �match�.

Finally there�s the sheer fairy-tale nature of the victory.

Here in Australia we�re used to against the odds victories by Australians in obscure non-Australian sports like skiing or speed skating, but I think we�re so used to the professionalism of our international cricket and rugby and swimming teams that we�ve become a bit more likely to expect a win than we used to be. But that doesn�t mean that we don�t continue to have that fundamental affiliation with the underdog which I think is really part of the national psyche � if there is such a thing.

So we can truly appreciate how sweet it is for 150-1 outsiders, who had never even won a game at a major tournament before, to win the championship. And to do it in style. Greece didn�t fall over the line. They didn�t scrape through. They beat the host nation, Portugal, twice. They beat the reigning champions, France, and the tournament favourites, the Czech Republic. And they did it out of absolutely nowhere.

As a result there were 30,000 people on the streets of my city this morning, dancing, singing, waving the flag and lining up for souvlaki for breakfast.

My regular radio station broadcast the breakfast show live from the front of the Greek music store and so I awoke, as I had on Friday after the semi-final, to the sounds of cheering and singing and general pandemonium which immediately telegraphed a win.

I�ve got to say that it�s so much nicer waking up to that � even if it is only because of a sporting event � than to the usual litany of who has been blown up or kidnapped in Iraq, or who�s been shot here at home.

And in honour of the day, I think I�ll have to go out and get a souvlaki for lunch.