Freaky coincidence stuff...

[Lady Whistledown]

I'm sorry did I read that right?

You used your PHONE during a PUB QUIZ?

I was waiting for someone to say that!

In fairness it's a photo taken with an iPhone 3Gs so even if I'd wanted to cheat It wouldn't have been nearly good enough quality to read inscriptions on a statue I just wanted to show one of the others what statue we were talking about (I'm fondling a delicate part of the giant player's anatomy in it). But I can see how that might LOOK dodgy. To the uninitiated

 

[butchy]

I have had *so* many of these moments in my life that sometimes I find it a little difficult to just put them all down to coincidence.

Not that I'm advocating the 'higher power' line, but maybe we're all a little more connected than we think we are.

Exactly. Like when I was in Laos last Summer i got chatting to an English girl on the bus and it turns out she was in my year at primary school (there were only 30 of us in the class). Or in Australia when I bumped into another person from my year at Cardinal Newman in a nightclub in Surfers Paradise. Or when I was on a bus in Thailand last Summer when I got chatting to another English girl, and it turned out she had a photo of me on her camera from where we had met at a club in Manchester 9 months before.

It's not the case of the world being small, everyone just goes to the same places.

 

[thejackal]

One of my more interesting recent ones:

About 6 years ago my boiler broke down so I rang a number on the back page of the friday-ad. The guy who answered was in hospital but recommended a great heating engineer that had just moved down from London. I rang this other dude, who came round at the end of his day as he lived near me in the east brighton area. He was basically doing me a favour to get my hot water on that same day so I offered him a beer and he charged me f*** all for the job. We ended having a few beers and became mates. Nice bloke.

Then, about 3 years later, we were chatting about our early lives when he said, "my first best mate Paul [surname removed] moved to LA in 1985 and ended up living there. You lived in LA for a while, right? He was a skater."

Which is a bit like being asked by a random in New York, "Do you know Bob Smith in Birmingham?" There's 15 million people in the San Antonio basin!

So I said, "Did he come from Chingford and have 3 brothers?", whereupon his face dropped as if to say "you're having a laugh".

Turns out I knew this guy Paul very well, he had lived with my mates in HB pretty much since he moved there in 85.

Not only that, one of Paul's brothers married a girl I was sharing a house with in Huntington Beach in 2003, and the wedding reception was held in the house they all grew up in in Chingford.

I got some of my snaps from the wedding out and he confirmed that it was the same family, same house. Put em back in touch on farcebook. Small feckin world indeed!

Oh, and a shameless plug for my mate's excellent plumbing services!

Gas Boilers and Central Heating | Sussex | Brighton Hove Based JMP Heating

 

[Lord Bracknell]

... the millions of people we encounter daily ...

You need to get out less.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

There's a word for it - Syncronicity

 

[Easy 10]

I work at Gatwick and whilst waiting for the last passengers to board I starting talking to an old lady who needed help with her bags.
She told me she lives in the U.S but used to live with her husband in Beverley, Yorkshire. I told her this is where I was born. She then says she moved to Hull with him, I tell her this is where I lived for 10 years.
She then tells me she has been staying with friends in Shoreham (Buci Crescent).. I tell her this is very strange as my house is next to Buci Crescent near the Royal George pub.... "Oh, I was in there last night" she says...
Guess where I had a few beers that night?

I was also born in Beverley, Yorkshire.
Thats moderately coincidental isn't it ?

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Not quite sure if its the same but how about three direct relatives within one generation being born within 11 days of each other.

Me - April 7th
My first daughter - April 18th
Second daughter - April 15th.

Then how about...

My sister - April 13th

and if want to go the other way, both my uncle and my grandad - April 2nd.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Which reminds me of another

My first daughter was concieved during an earthquake (YES; REALLY!) and this leads to the joke about the earth really moving for you etc.

At a conference a few weeks ago I told this anecdote to someone..... who turned round and said 'My god! I was concieved during an earthquake too!'

 

[The Maharajah of Sydney]

1983 in Brisbane .
Been in Oz a few months and work was hard to find .
Had $500 left to my name .
Headed to the Par 3 , 17th hole at Pacific Golf Club .
Figured I'd be able to make a nice easy $8 - $12 an hour
offering 500-1 odds about a hole-in-one .
After about 10 mins I'd snared my 1st punter of the day - or so I thought ...
He handed me his dollar , but before letting go had a change of mind .
" I've been playing for over 27 years and never really been close to getting one " , he states .
And with that he withdraws his cash and puts it back into his pocket .
Well , thank god for that , as his sweetly struck 5 iron never looked like missing !!!

 

[Acker79]

I was once reading an autobiography where the author wrote about compiling lists for his book and how his son was a fountain of knowledge, he would ask about an event and his son would be able to tell him the date and location (his son was about 9 at the time, I think).

He wrote about how he had asked him on one occasion how he knew and the son replied "I read it in a magazine",

I happened to be listening to an Elton John album while reading the book, and while reading that page was listening to Bennie and the Jets, which contains the line "I read it in a magazine", the coincidence bit is that I happened to read the sons response at exactly the same time as Elton sang the line. It freaked me out for a moment.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

A famous example of Synchronicity is:

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both their wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both were shot in the head in the presence of their wives.

The Secretary of each President warned them not to go to the theatre and Dallas, respectively.

Lincoln’s Secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both Presidents were assassinated by Southerners.
Both Presidents were succeeded by Southerners.

Both successors were named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins:
Were known by their three names.
Have fifteen letters in their names.
Were murdered by men who pleaded insanity.
Were thought to be involved in a conspiracy.

John Wilkes Booth ran from the theatre and was captured in a warehouse.
Lee Harvey Oswald ran from a warehouse and was captured in a theatre.

 

[beorhthelm]

Not quite sure if its the same but how about three direct relatives within one generation being born within 11 days of each other.

along these lines, three generations of my family across two branches, the males are mostly born in July. no pattern what so ever to the females.

A famous example of Synchronicity is:

thats not synchronicity, thats due to diligent planning on behalf of the lizard people overlords, who's sadistic sence of humour makes them to leave us little clues to findout what they've been upto, coordinating directing our world since they landed in ancient Egypt. we're all just playthings in their grand scheme i tell you!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I just remembered, a few years back we were on a family holiday in the Tyrol region of Austria. One afternoon we ended up walking up a particular mountain, probably having lunch at the top or something like that.

As we walked back down one of the dozens of footpaths afterwards, I noticed something familiar about two people walking up the mountain towards us. Sure enough, it was the couple who lived about six door up from my folks. We had no idea they were in Austria. Of all the days, months, times, countries, towns, mountains, and even footpaths we could have chosen, we all ended up converging on that path, a thousand or so miles from home.

Still not as cool as meeting a random face in the background of your photo, but still unlikely.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I was born on 20th March 1987.
My great uncle was born on 21st March 1927.
My grandfather was born on 22nd March 1917.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

A famous example of Synchronicity is:

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both their wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both were shot in the head in the presence of their wives.

The Secretary of each President warned them not to go to the theatre and Dallas, respectively.

Lincoln’s Secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both Presidents were assassinated by Southerners.
Both Presidents were succeeded by Southerners.

Both successors were named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins:
Were known by their three names.
Have fifteen letters in their names.
Were murdered by men who pleaded insanity.
Were thought to be involved in a conspiracy.

John Wilkes Booth ran from the theatre and was captured in a warehouse.
Lee Harvey Oswald ran from a warehouse and was captured in a theatre.

Interesting (but not original), but you've not mentioned the several thousand facts about these people that they don't have in common. I would be willing to bet you could pick and two people and 8 times out of 10 find something slightly out of the ordinary about them that they have in common. No, I'd definitely go with the Lizard overlord theory.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

My Great Grandmother died at the exact moment moment I was born.

March 17, 1973 at 8:32pm

My grandmother always said, into the world one came and from the world another departed.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Interesting (but not original), but you've not mentioned the several thousand facts about these people that they don't have in common. I would be willing to bet you could pick and two people and 8 times out of 10 find something slightly out of the ordinary about them that they have in common. No, I'd definitely go with the Lizard overlord theory.

Another well-known example of synchronicity involves the true story of French writer Emile Deschamps. In 1805 he was treated to some plum pudding by Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, he encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turns out to be Monsieur de Fontgibu. In 1832 Emile Deschamps visited a restaurant with a friend and is once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friend that only Monsieur de Fontgibu is missing to make the setting complete. At that moment a senile Monsieur de Fontgibu enters the room by mistake.

Not sure Lizards like plum pudding, cheesecake maybe as they inhabit the moon which is, in fact, an artifical hollow construct.

 

[sten_super]

Interesting (but not original), but you've not mentioned the several thousand facts about these people that they don't have in common. I would be willing to bet you could pick and two people and 8 times out of 10 find something slightly out of the ordinary about them that they have in common. No, I'd definitely go with the Lizard overlord theory.

This is the crux of it, of course. Given the hundreds (thousands in most peoples cases, I'd imagine) of people that we see on a day to day basis, pure chance dictates that we are bound to have much more overlap with some of them than we're aware of. Then every so often we suddenly become acutely aware of these overlaps.

Having said that, edna's is an absolutely cracking example.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Another well-known example of synchronicity involves the true story of French writer Emile Deschamps. In 1805 he was treated to some plum pudding by Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, he encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turns out to be Monsieur de Fontgibu. In 1832 Emile Deschamps visited a restaurant with a friend and is once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friend that only Monsieur de Fontgibu is missing to make the setting complete. At that moment a senile Monsieur de Fontgibu enters the room by mistake.

Not sure Lizards like plum pudding, cheesecake maybe as they inhabit the moon which is, in fact, an artifical hollow construct.

I was playing golf one day at Rustington and saw one of the funniest things ever. The two young guys in front of me, one of them tee'd off with a driver, managed to hit an electricity pylon about 100 yards down, and the ball came straight back towards him and rolled passed his feet, as he just watched it go passed him. Several years later, someone brought up golf on an NSC thread, and I posted this story, to which the OP replied that the young man in question had actually been him (which we verified with timings/ dated etc.). Co-incidence ? definitely. Lizard people ? possibly. Anything "deeper" ? absolutely not.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Another coincidence connected to my birthday involves my Mother's best friend having her first child on March 17th.

Knowing my mother's family were of Irish extraction she skoffed to my mother I bet you can't do that(have a baby born on St Patricks day).

12 months later to the day she did.