Don’t you just love it when you meet new people?

I just had a chance encounter with a guy called “John Michael Barratt”. An elderly and retired electrician from South East London who was trying to find his way to Kingsthorpe.

Between swigs of his 300ml bottle of Poland’s finest purified Vodka, carefully stored in his back pocket, he told me he used to be in the army and was recruited for the S.A.S after harsh training as a flight squad commander. He said he fought “Real wars, not the jester wars they fight today.”. He then went on to speak of his empathy for the families of soldiers who have died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq “…for no go0d reason.”.

He stopped for a moment and asked me to hold his bottle of milk. Rolled a cigarette and said “You’re a go0d man. A Man who holds a stranger’s milk whilst they roll out a cigarette is a man you can trust.” He rolled his cigarette and offered me one, I declined of course and said “You shouldn’t smoke.”. He told me “Yeah, and I shouldn’t work in a Nuclear Power Station. I shouldn’t eat burgers and I shouldn’t drink cola… What a load of nonsense.”. He took out his vodka, offered me some showing no lo0k of astonishment at my decline, I smiled and we continued walking.

He told a joke:

“My Granddaughter, tiny little thing she is, she said to me “Grandpa will you buy me a rabbit?”. “Of course I will darling, when?” I said. “Now Grandpa, let’s go to the pet shop now.”. “Alright my lovely, let’s go now.” And off we went. We got the the pet shop and she told the owner she wanted a rabbit. He walked us over to the hutches and opened them up, she lo0ked so excited. The pet shop owner said “What colour do you want? Brown? Black? White?. Then my Granddaughter turns to me and says “Daddy says the Anaconda won’t care what colour it is.”.

The man asked what my name was, and I told him. He told me there was a Swiss place called Marly which is keen on planets and astronomy. I asked his name and he held out his hand and said said “John Michael Barratt, Guvna’.”.

We came to the end of the street and were to head separate ways. He to0k one last swig of his vodka and told me something which was both upsetting and ironic.

“I’ve just been told I’ve got something. I’m an old man. I’m dying. Cancer my friend.”.
He spat on his hand, sho0k mine once again and walked away.

Maybe New Wine is about “equipping and refreshing the church” while Greenbelt is perhaps about “celebrating the creativity of all God’s people.” But you can do that innovatively, and with a conscious attempt to make provision for, and include the excluded.

The surprise was to find, in this blogger’s view anyway, that New Wine seemed to be doing that better than Greenbelt.