"It went off in my head like a light bulb," said Mr. Lombardi, who, it seems, cannot wander too far without a greeting from a tenant.
For Americans of an earlier day, and maybe even now, Niagara Falls was a scenic destination, a national pilgrimage site, certainly a place to send a greeting from.
On his 75th birthday, he received an American flag from the senior senator from New York, a greeting from a cardinal, and a flowering amaryllis from the wife of Carmine (the Snake) Persico.
After the company of Mr de Botton, your next flying experience will be different.He theorises about the common objection to shopping malls at airports, and the universal hopes of a greeting from "someone significant" at arrivals.
The program began with a greeting from John Jay Iselin, the president of Channel 13, ended five hours later with the Rockettes and included James Levine conducting the American Symphony Orchestra, Beverly Sills, James McCracken, Samuel Ramey, Natalia Makarrova, Itzhak Perlman, Gary Chryst, Cornell MacNeil, Roberta Peters, Renata Scotto and Martina Arroyo.
Returning to the Colorado College booth, I tried to initiate a chat in response to a greeting from a representative: "Rep anna jaquez-herron whispers hi michelle do you have any questions".
But, for me, the most telling image of the race was Dan Chung's portrait in the Guardian this week of Nick Clegg turning round to meet a greeting from a passenger on a train.
They have featured singing kindergartners, a greeting from the Oakland Raiders and messages of thanks from Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, two American relief workers detained by the Taliban for three months on charges of spreading Christianity.
He does not mind displaying an eccentric side: his answering machine offers a greeting from the apostle of network news extremism, Howard Beale, the unhinged anchorman of the film, "Network".
It began with another small but memorable touch, a greeting from the Queen in Irish.
