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Strange co-incidences


Monkfish

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Well here I am moved over from the welcome lounge. As a newbie there are things I won't know as well as things I might need to pick up as I go along so please be gentle.

I know from other forums how daunting great paragraphs of print can be, so I'll try to keep it simple. I'd appreciate your comments and any similar experiences you might be able to draw on.

I'll start with a really simple one. I hope to amaze you a bit at a time.

My oldest friend has just turned 70. We have know each other for over 50 years, always keeping in touch despite being often living thousands of miles apart. He lived in South and North America for some years and these days lives in Barcelona which is a long way from the Giants Causeway which is near where I live.

He shares the same birthday as my older sister. Nothing too odd in that.

His father had a dance band after the war. It was called "Reg Williams and his Music" and they played many gigs in and around Newport Shropshire.

My father had a dance band after the war it was called "Freddie Evans and his Music" and he played many gigs in and around Newport Monmouthshire.

Have a think about that and I hope if the interest is here to post some even more startling revelations next.

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That is a little strange. Almost like twins seperated at birth who both marry women named Kate. Do you share anything else unusual?

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I don't think so. We've enjoyed a very long friendship, he's been my best man twice, he married very late in life probably because he enjoyed the freedom to move about and finally married a Spanish lady and they have a daughter the same age as my youngest son from my second marriage. We've always enjoyed the same interests, motor cycles, cars, water skiing, never had a cross word. I saw him a couple of times recently once when I stayed in his house in England and then again to attend a funeral of a mutual friend. We often speak these days on Skype. It's a bit of a strange relationship and to a degree we are a bit like brothers. I have three brothers who I hardly ever speak with. As they say you can chose your friends but you can't chose your relatives.

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Interesting Monkfish. I'd like to share one of mine if I may.

During high school my three closest friends were all named Douglas. My middle name is Douglas. At one time, Doug Couldwell was dating Joanne West and Doug Cousins was dating Joanne Eastman. It was a confusing time.

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Synchronicity has been an interest of mine for the past several years. I find it difficult, for me, to exempt mere coincidences from what are apparently synchronous events. At the same time I am immersed (via my wife) in a household which declares, "There are no coincidences."

Just yesterday I was wondering how a good friend of mine was doing and the phone rang within seconds of that thought--it was him, just checking on how I was doing.

Several days ago I was typing/word processing at home and typed the word "seven" just as that same word was sung in a popular song on the radio station to which I was listening.

Mathematicians usually make hash out of my synchronicities, but I find them fascinating nonetheless.

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OK that's got me started. But now how about this one.

I met my first wife and we were married in six months. The marriage lasted for 13 + years and we had two children.

She had an older brother and an older sister. I had two younger brothers. I was eight years older when we met. (still am !) We had never met before the night we met. Does that make sense.

However all of us went to the same school. I left before she started. I spent 5 years in the same school class as her older sister. She spent 5 years in the same class as my youngest brother. My younger brother spent 5 years in the same class as her older brother. I was friendly for a long time with her brother, we went to football matches together all over the country. We even went to Spain on holiday a couple of times with friends. Throughout the whole of this time 17 or so years we never ever even so much as saw each other until that night when we began a relationship ending in marriage then divorce.

It goes without saying that when I first attended grammar school at the age of 11 with her sister she would have been 3. Hmmmm. don't say it please.

We all went to the same school, we all knew each other at different levels, both my brothers knew her yet our paths never crossed.

.

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Interesting! My best friend's name is Savannah Norton, she is dating Brandon Peterson, and has a dog named panda. My other best friends name is Savannah Jamerson, she Is dating Brandon (not sure of his last name unfortunately) and also has a dog named Panda. Savannah N.'s birthday is May 23rd, she is the younger of the two, and Savannah J.'s birthday is May 6th, she is the eldest. Kinda strange stuff.

Edited by BNDGK
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I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and moved away in 1976. I lived in several different states, and finally landed in Colorado in 1989. My oldest sister worked in a hospital in Des Moines, and sometimes became good friends with the patients she worked with. We rarely spoke on the phone, but one day when I was talking to her she told me that she was going with another nurse to visit a former patient who had been transferred to a nursing home.

Later, I was in the apartment complex laundry room (in Colorado) and met an elderly guy named Joe. He asked where I was from, and I told him Des Moines. He said, "I have a sister who lives in a nursing home in Des Moines." Then, without any prompting, he said, "She's expecting some visitors today." I told him, "Hold on a minute", and I went upstairs to my apartment and called my sister. You guessed it: my sister in Des Moines was going to visit Joe's sister. I had just met Joe that day, and our sisters were 800 miles away having a visit.

That experience gave me an eerie feeling that I'll probably never experience again.

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OK here's another one. (By the way Newport County are in Newport Gwent / Monmouthshire).

Some years ago I was working for a manufacturer in England and we were seeking some representation in Germany. An English man who had a company in Essen approached us and after a while we did business together. He and I even travelled to Indonesia together to buy various items. He had a reputation for being a bit of a difficult person to deal with but I seemed to get on with him fine.

One evening after a barbecue at his house and some copious amounts of German beer we got to talking. He was originally from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. It turned out that we had actually met three times before over the last 25 years. With neither of us having any recollection. We met on a beach after a big fight between Mods and Rockers just outside Weston Super Mare in the early sixties. In 1969 I was working on the M5 Motorway around Gloucester for 2 years and he worked for another contractor as well as driving the cafe wagon which supplies food and drink to the workers. In 1979 I was running a restaurant in Devon and a girl from Gloucester who worked for me entertained her ex boyfriend one weekend. He was trying to get her to come back to him. They spent quite a lot of time in the corner of the restaurant but he left empty handed. That was him again.

Of course when we discussed this it all came flooding back but I've always felt it to be a bit spookey.

Edited by Monkfish
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Well I was hoping to hear of some similar experiences, guess I'm as weird as I thought I might be.

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Interesting Monkfish. I'd like to share one of mine if I may.

During high school my three closest friends were all named Douglas. My middle name is Douglas. At one time, Doug Couldwell was dating Joanne West and Doug Cousins was dating Joanne Eastman. It was a confusing time.

That's mad mate!! My names Alan, My dads name is Alan, My first serious girlfriend's dad & brother were Alans, my last serious girlfriend's dads name was Alan & I've got an uncle called Bob. How weird is that!!!

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This is an incredible thread & these stories just keep getting weirder & weirder!

I have had a lot of strange things happen to me too like dreams that turn into real life experiences &

I'll be singing a song & then I hear it playing but the weirdest lately is my last 3 ring tones (which have been proper songs that I downloaded) have been used in adverts on TV within weeks of me using them even though they are old songs that are hardly ever played anywhere at anytime??

This is one crazy world we live in folks!!

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His father had a dance band after the war. It was called "Reg Williams and his Music" and they played many gigs in and around Newport Shropshire.

My father had a dance band after the war it was called "Freddie Evans and his Music" and he played many gigs in and around Newport Monmouthshire.

Have a think about that and I hope if the interest is here to post some even more startling revelations next.

WHOA! Dejavu, almost. The bands titles and the city names don't match.

Edited by AZDZ
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Today I was doing laundry and 4 pair of socks came out of the dryer together, all laying on top of the pile, touching or almost touching each other, ready for folding.

Mind you this is laundry and the dryer---the DRYER which normally eats stuff, socks especially--the dryer delivered stuff right next to each other, for the first time in my 45 years of doing laundry.

Usually I lose a sock (never a pair, only one, leaving a mismatch) in the dryer. Today four pair emerged adjacent to one another---is that weird, or what?

Edited by DeWitz
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"I'll be singing a song & then I hear it playing but the weirdest lately is my last 3 ring tones (which have been proper songs that I downloaded) have been used in adverts on TV within weeks of me using them even though they are old songs that are hardly ever played anywhere at anytime??"

Obviously someone is watching you. Or your phone is tapped.

Today I was doing laundry and 4 pair of socks came out of the dryer together

I kinda get the feeling that one or two people are missing the point. Nothing spookey about socks. However if the dryer can turn out that sort of regularity try writing down all the lottery numbers on separate handkerchiefs then take the first 6 out as your lottery numbers. I bet you'll have a winner.

Edited by Monkfish
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If people actively sought other strangers while in public looking for coincidences (names,birth dates,where they were born...) the laws of probability will come up with coincidences.Sharing same names might be out of that name's certain popularity with why their parents named them.

Looking at the laws of probility shows coincidences do happen, because it's in the math.

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Mine probably doesn't sound too weird but I feel like someone out there is copying me or answering my question for me.

Someone on the TV will "echo" a word that I've just spoken after a chat.

If I become interested in a topic, it's followed by tons of references to the same thing on TV, books, magazines and shop windows.

If I choose to wear a particular item of clothing, it's followed by people and celebrities doing the same thing.

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Today I was doing laundry and 4 pair of socks came out of the dryer together, all laying on top of the pile, touching or almost touching each other, ready for folding.

Mind you this is laundry and the dryer---the DRYER which normally eats stuff, socks especially--the dryer delivered stuff right next to each other, for the first time in my 45 years of doing laundry.

Usually I lose a sock (never a pair, only one, leaving a mismatch) in the dryer. Today four pair emerged adjacent to one another---is that weird, or what?

I kinda get the feeling that one or two people are missing the point. Nothing spookey about socks. However if the dryer can turn out that sort of regularity try writing down all the lottery numbers on separate handkerchiefs then take the first 6 out as your lottery numbers. I bet you'll have a winner.

Monkfish - Though I understand how it may not fit well in this particular forum, I found DeWitz' sock story quite entertaining. I was reminded of a sock phenomenon that I was involved in, but I will save that story for the spinoff thread, "Strange Paranormal Sock Encounters."

DeWitz - I enjoy your writing style. I actually felt as though I was standing there beside you, staring incredulously into the dryer.

Edited by simplybill
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Well there you go. A sock fetish spin off.

No doubt there are odds for and against this happening. And one might assume that within the laws of probability this would at some point happen. I'm not a mathematician or a magician but the odds must be calculable.

Now here this. Calculate these odds. I once worked with a man for 3 years, we'll call him Woody. I didn't like him and he didn't like me but we had no control over that. I last saw him when I left the company in 1974. He later went into business with another friend of mine but they fell out in a big way.

In 1994, 20 years later I went on holiday to Rhodes with my second wife. That's important because Woody only knew my first wife. We took one of those late deals that they paint on the window of the travel shop. We were miles from anywhere in a tiny flat in a tatty block outside a tatty town. We were about half a mile from the beach. Each evening we walked the half mile to a tatty bar and restaurant on the beach at the end of this road in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere. The second night there in walked Woody with Mrs Woody. He didn't recognise me I think the new wife threw him off the scent. I talked to him and let him buy me beer for 3 nights before I revealed who I was.

What are the odds for that coincidence then.

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We took one of those late deals that they paint on the window of the travel shop. We were miles from anywhere in a tiny flat in a tatty block outside a tatty town. We were about half a mile from the beach. Each evening we walked the half mile to a tatty bar and restaurant on the beach at the end of this road in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere.

I talked to him and let him buy me beer for 3 nights before I revealed who I was.

That whole scenario paints a funny word-picture in my mind.

But yes, that is an interesting coincidence. The "small world" stories are some of my favorites.

Years ago, I was on a family vacation with my parents and siblings, including my sister who worked at a hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. We were sight-seeing in downtown San Francisco, California. As we stood on a street corner waiting to cross the street, one of the famous Cable Cars came up the hill. Two women inside the cable car waved at us, and my sister waved back at them. I looked at my sister and asked, "Who was that??" She said, "They work at the hospital."

What're the odds, right?

Edited by simplybill
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This is my 'small world' story.

Twelve or thirteen years ago I holidayed around Cancun for two weeks. Arriving back at the airport we found out that the flight was cancelled because of a mechanical problem. While we were standing in line waiting to find out what the airline was going to do, to break the boredom someone starting asking everyone where the were from. The answers came back, "Nanaimo", "Vancouver", "Kelowna"... etc, until it got to me.

"Likely", I said, convinced that most had never heard of it (it's a town of about 300 at the end of the road).

A younger woman who was standing directly behind me said, "Hey, my aunt lives in Likely." I found out that I worked with her aunt for about five years.

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Here's another small world story. I got the job as a Director for this company and we were starting business with one of the biggest DIY groups in the UK. It was an important meeting to meet and get to know the buyer from the group. Business at that level is just as much about relationships as prices. Well, almost as much. The buyer arrived, we got some coffee, chatted and started to sound each other out.

He said to me "have we met before" I got this eerie French thing, (Deja Vu) and said "do you know I think we have", Now at this point you are on slippery ground, if it goes wrong then you look as if you are just trying to creep your way in.

After a few false starts I said where have you lived. He said he had been at university in Plymouth, Devon. I said I had a resturant in Devon near Plymouth and my kitchen porter had studied oceanography at Plymouth before having a bit of a breakdown and dropping out. Oh he said that was "Tony X" I said right did you know him. He then said one evening I came to pick him up and you and I had a really good conversation in the porch of your restaurant for an hour or so. I remember that you were very friendly and it stayed with me for a very long time.

Again that was a 20 year gap. Well we hit it off again and he developed a brilliant working relationship which lasted a number of years and brought us millions of pounds of business.

Now what are the odds on that one.

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Here's my 'small world' story.

I met my husband to be in 1989 through a colleague of mine. We only went out less than a year before marrying in early 1990 and moved into our first home together. We had only been in the house a few days, still unpacking our respective belongings that we had brought from our parent's homes when I came across a huge box of photographs from my childhood. We began going through all the pictures and suddenly my husband's mouth dropped open, he was holding a picture of me aged 5 yrs in 1977.

In 1977 my family had very briefly moved back to live with my paternal grandparent's after a pub tenancy had gone badly wrong and we found ourselves homeless. For a period of 3 months I had been enrolled in a primary school in Liverpool while my folks found us somewhere permanent to live. During my brief time at that school there were celebrations for the Queen's Silver Jubilee and my class made a crown - I was chosen to wear said crown and have my photograph taken for the Liverpool Echo Jubilee Edition (front page jobby) - this was the picture my husband was holding.

He asked me to take a closer look at it - in the background of the picture was a Maypole with about 20 other pupils holding ribbons and dancing around it.

One of them just happened to be my husband ...aged 7.

Maybe we were 'just meant to be' :yes:

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