Angus Aagaard...
Vicar 'on the bins'

On the phone I am greeted with, 'Hello Team Lambeth how can I help you?' 'I am the new vicar in North Lambeth and would like to help as a dustman for a couple of days'.

Silence. then 'Pardon could you repeat that? It wasn't going to be easy to explain I was new to the area and I wanted to get to know it - I also wanted to introduce myself to a parish of many different communities and make it obvious that I am here to serve everybody. After a few takes, back came the reply, 'O.K. - no problem, come on down and get trained first'.

I put the phone down and thought well there is no turning back now.

Day 1

I arrive for training - 'O you're the vicar' - I realise the word has spread! On the notice board there is a headline 'Trainee dustman killed', he had climbed on the back of the cart and fallen. I make a mental note, no climbing!

I am welcomed, issued with steel toe capped boots, gloves and bright green top, informed about health and safety and introduced to the technique of attaching wheelie bins to the hoist that lifts them into the hopper where the blade takes over and crushes. It is not easy, at first a few of my bins go crashing to the floor.

Day 2

My alarm clock goes off at 4.30 am, and I wonder if this was such a good idea. A quick cup of tea and I'm on my bike down to the HQ at Brixton.

It is surprising how busy it is at 5 a.m. The first four to five hours we work at top speed, clearing streets before they get jammed with cars. It is amazing the amount of road rage a dustie has to encounter from drivers stuck behind the wagon. The team I'm with, Derrick, Ken and Micky, take it all with good grace. They are great to be with, chatty and fun and prepared to help me out, introducing me to the area and giving me a few new jokes I probably can't share with readers of the Bridge!

I think about the people asleep behind the closed curtains, about the week they have had that has led them to have such heavy bins!

In a way I find it a good time to be prayerful, to be thoughtful. There are many connections to be made between the role of clergy and dustie -Team Lambeth and the Diocese.

After a while we head for Nine Elms to off-load our rubbish, which is taken down the Thames by barge to a landfill site. We stop for breakfast and a discussion of who will win the 2 o'clock at Newmarket and we talk a bit more about our respective jobs and how we view them.

Cycling home I am tired, my muscles ache and I look forward to a bath. My overalls could do with a wash but I'm due back on duty soon so no time for that.

A good idea?

Was it such a good idea being a 'dustie'? Well I am getting to know the area thanks to the kindness of Team Lambeth and it has aroused interest amongst the parishioners. We laugh and that's not a bad start. Mind you, a few are threatening to shout 'rubbish' during one of my sermons!