Axel Hacke / Michael Sowa
When a stranger pushes a man off a park bench seconds before a heavy glass globe with a solid metal stand crashes down there, that man can be forgiven for wondering. Did the old man intend to save him? (Otherwise he’d most certainly be dead… the weight of the world and all that.) And who is this old guy in the grey coat who keeps popping up everywhere, trying to get close to people in general and especially the narrator? He opens drawers in the walls of buildings that were never there before and reveals worlds that no-one ever suspected. He has the monumental lions in front of the Feldherrnhalle jumping through rings and conjures up little rain clouds in otherwise clear blue skies. And that’s just the beginning of a glorious, crazy story full of the strangest events. The melancholy old man who likes a glass of champagne: is this God grown weary of the solitude of the universe? Is it possible that for once humanity is not seeking consolation in God, but he in them? Now, of all days? And more besides: forgiveness and reconciliation in the light of an imperfect creation? God as gambler, artist, rueful man? In that case, there’s a lot to discuss and marvel at in these days with God.