Slough August 2020 “A Tent Revival and a Farewell”
22/11/20 04:34
In the Summer of 2020 the UK was partially free from the corvid virus restrictions that had shut down most activities that Spring. You could move around but had to keep 2m away from people who were not from your household. In the evenings I would watch and listen to videos from my favourite Evangelists and Preachers and one of these is Daniel Chand. Now Daniel is one that my wife had recommended I listen to and he is good at what he does. An evangelist is one who preaches the gospel, the good news and is unafraid of doing so in public. I send a small sum of money to his ministry each month. One evening he had a special announcement, there was going to be a tent revival meeting in Slough and I was immediately interested.
I have a friend who calls me every Sunday evening at 1900hrs and we talk about the old times on the railways, what I know about those we knew in the 80s and what the football transfer news is. Knowing that he will call me means that I am prepared with the BBC football gossip internet page loaded and ready to read out to him. What precedes that is always the same. What have I done this week and for him where have you been on the buses? Our conversation will last less than five minutes but I know it is of value to him in the same way it is of value to me. We share our lives and his love for Manchester United. A year or so earlier he would talk at length about the 'new' buses he had caught this week from the plethora of companies that serve Greater London. (I should point out that 'new' means a bus that he has not travelled on before akin to our shared hobby of traveling on trains that we have never been on before). A recent illness had stopped him doing that and so we would simply talk about the old times and the footballing present. But there was always one more thing he would add, when are you coming to Slough to see me again?
My friend knew that I spent half the year in Malaysia and half in the UK. Our phone calls would stop when I went abroad and start again on the Sunday I had told him that I would be back in the UK. I knew our friendship meant a lot to him because we had been having these conversations for over twenty five years. I would visit him in Slough, maybe once every three years, sometimes driving there and other times by train. Each time we would go to the same local Wetherspoon's pub for our lunch and a chat but the last time it was the coffee shop right outside Slough station because he had difficulty walking. Now this year I was in the UK with restrictions on travel and a friend who wanted to see me.
The Tent Revival meeting sounded interesting. It would be an evening event and would run for a week. To go to that would require me to stay in Slough overnight as driving back to Birmingham in the dark didn't appeal to me. I had no idea what to expect or whether I should go to it or just arrange to visit my friend after the UK virus problem had been overcome. Daniel's programme went out on YouTube and Facebook twice a week and started with him acknowledging those people who were watching. Whenever I typed my name and location in I would get a namecheck but this particular evening it was a little different. Straight after I typed my name on the Facebook page the very next message to appear was an invitation to the Tent Revival meeting and the link to sign up to it. Now that message would appear several times amongst the dozens of people who submitted their names and from memory it was once every 25 names or so. It was the coincidence that caught my eye, it was right next to my name. Whatever doubt there might have been in my mind went at that point and I took it as an instruction. I booked a three night stay in Slough and when my friend called me that Sunday I said that I was coming to see him.
I have a friend who calls me every Sunday evening at 1900hrs and we talk about the old times on the railways, what I know about those we knew in the 80s and what the football transfer news is. Knowing that he will call me means that I am prepared with the BBC football gossip internet page loaded and ready to read out to him. What precedes that is always the same. What have I done this week and for him where have you been on the buses? Our conversation will last less than five minutes but I know it is of value to him in the same way it is of value to me. We share our lives and his love for Manchester United. A year or so earlier he would talk at length about the 'new' buses he had caught this week from the plethora of companies that serve Greater London. (I should point out that 'new' means a bus that he has not travelled on before akin to our shared hobby of traveling on trains that we have never been on before). A recent illness had stopped him doing that and so we would simply talk about the old times and the footballing present. But there was always one more thing he would add, when are you coming to Slough to see me again?
My friend knew that I spent half the year in Malaysia and half in the UK. Our phone calls would stop when I went abroad and start again on the Sunday I had told him that I would be back in the UK. I knew our friendship meant a lot to him because we had been having these conversations for over twenty five years. I would visit him in Slough, maybe once every three years, sometimes driving there and other times by train. Each time we would go to the same local Wetherspoon's pub for our lunch and a chat but the last time it was the coffee shop right outside Slough station because he had difficulty walking. Now this year I was in the UK with restrictions on travel and a friend who wanted to see me.
The Tent Revival meeting sounded interesting. It would be an evening event and would run for a week. To go to that would require me to stay in Slough overnight as driving back to Birmingham in the dark didn't appeal to me. I had no idea what to expect or whether I should go to it or just arrange to visit my friend after the UK virus problem had been overcome. Daniel's programme went out on YouTube and Facebook twice a week and started with him acknowledging those people who were watching. Whenever I typed my name and location in I would get a namecheck but this particular evening it was a little different. Straight after I typed my name on the Facebook page the very next message to appear was an invitation to the Tent Revival meeting and the link to sign up to it. Now that message would appear several times amongst the dozens of people who submitted their names and from memory it was once every 25 names or so. It was the coincidence that caught my eye, it was right next to my name. Whatever doubt there might have been in my mind went at that point and I took it as an instruction. I booked a three night stay in Slough and when my friend called me that Sunday I said that I was coming to see him.