Idiots with Wings

One cold Sunday morning in 1965, when I was a theological student in Leeds and preaching 30 miles north of my college, my fiancee and I were travelling on my Honda 90.

We were inadequately attired for a particularly cold morning. Somewhere up the A1 the bike ran out of petrol.

We stood at the side of road shaking with cold and not sure what to do.

Suddenly a passing car stopped just past us. The driver got out, popped his boot, took out a gallon can of petrol and poured it in my tank without saying a single word. He put the tank back in his boot and drove off.

We stood there open-mouthed and stunned with gratitude.

To this day we're tempted to think it was an angel.

I get it - it's hyperbole. And I get that you were already a paid-up subscriber. But angels?