For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 8
By ROG
#1885694
I was chatting to a friend recently ref coincidences.
In my case -goes as follows.
Many years ago when working I went to Guyana to sort a problem.
During the visit I was invited to a dinner party by a local businessman that I had met.
At the dinner , amongst other guests was his daughter.

Some years later I was chatting to a friend at the flying club and talk went to South America.
He told me that one of his friends had married a girl from Guyana.
It transpired that it was the girl at the dinner party.
What are the chances of that.?
StratoTramp liked this
By Loco parentis
#1885727
I was walking through a very crowded fruit market in Colombo, Ceylon/Sri Lanka, when I heard a screech of my name above the bellowing of car horns and all the myriad noise to be found in such. I turned and saw a fella I hadn't seen in umpteen years and who lived about 100 yards from me on the London/Surrey border.
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
By Paultheparaglider
#1885745
When I cycled from Lands End to John O Groats, a car stopped on the Erskine Bridge and the driver got out and approached me. It was my next door neighbour from Bradley Stoke who recognised my bright red top and yellow helmet. He was on a short trip for a business meeting.

That we were both on that bridge hundreds of miles from home at precisely the same time was a pretty amazing coincidence.
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
User avatar
By Jim Jones
#1885749
Paultheparaglider wrote:When I cycled from Lands End to John O Groats, a car stopped on the Erskine Bridge and the driver got out and approached me. It was my next door neighbour from Bradley Stoke who recognised my bright red top and yellow helmet. He was on a short trip for a business meeting.

That we were both on that bridge hundreds of miles from home at precisely the same time was a pretty amazing coincidence.



If you were to bet on encountering someone you know on that bridge, they’d be lower than the odds of encountering that particular person.

But you’d have been just as amazed.
User avatar
By Miscellaneous
#1885757
It seems inevitable to me that the chances of these coincidences being identified are much lower than them occurring. Personally I believe such coincidences, such as being in the same place, or having a common link with others are not as rare as we think. The 'making the connection' for my money is the real long shot. Recognising the bright red top and yellow helmet, or not being head down buying bananas in a fruit market when Loco passes, are the true '1 in several million'.

I reckon that for every coincidence identified there are numerous that forever go unknown. There has to be. Maybe there were another 2, or n, known people on the bridge that did not recognise Paul's attire? Maybe there were another n people known to Loco, head down buying bananas as he passed? :D
Dave W liked this
By Paultheparaglider
#1885764
Point taken by Jim and Misc, but it wasn't just someone I knew - it was my next door neighbour. And we were over 300 miles from home. There must be a small outside chance that I knew someone who crossed the bridge that day, but my next door neighbour who had no idea of the route I was taking crossing at exactly the same time?

We should have both bought lottery tickets that week - I'm sure the odds of hitting the jackpot would have been far greater.
By romille
#1885772
During the early 1950’s my uncle emigrated to Australia, he derived part of his income from playing semi professional football.
During the late 1980’s I emigrated to West Yorkshire. My new boss was an Australian. While chatting one day I told him about my uncle who was quite distinctive as he had alopecia, I was amazed when my boss told me his name, they had previously been team mates.
User avatar
By Miscellaneous
#1885773
Paultheparaglider wrote:There must be a small outside chance that I knew someone who crossed the bridge that day, but my next door neighbour who had no idea of the route I was taking crossing at exactly the same time?

But then the chances of your next door neighbour recognising your cycling kit, having presumably seen you cycling previously, is much higher than someone from work, or the next street, or the flying club... :wink: And although he didn't know the route, I'm guessing he did know you were in Scotland at that time and hence may have been on the lookout? :D

Conclusion; the chances of your next door neighbour seeing you are higher. :wink:
By Boxkite
#1885776
We met a couple in the 'restaurant in the dark' in London one evening, and the next day we (literally) bumped into them in another part of London.

My FiL met someone he knew while he was waiting to watch a shuttle launch near Cocoa Beach, Florida.
User avatar
By Propwash
#1885781
My wife and I were trying to recall the name of a shop we had visited in Brisbane and I thought about checking the street view on Google Earth. Not only did we find it, but we were pictured emerging from the doorway of it. The camera car must have passed unseen by us at that exact moment. There was something a bit surreal about that.

My own theory is that we are all part of a reality TV show and these coincidences are just part of the script. :wink: (I think I got that idea from a film I saw but can’t remember the name of :lol: )

PW
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1885783
Last time I flew by easyJet, the Captain was one of the people I own an aircraft with.

When i was in secondary school, on holiday with family, we ended up on the same beach as my biology teacher.

When on family holidays through Eurocamp, we would bump into the same people at different sites all over Europe.

Some things are more likely than others!
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 8