Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Before my wife and I were to be married, we went on our "grand tour" of Europe. It was the autumn of 2002. We went for six weeks. We loved the U.K. and Ireland so much we didn't make it to the continent until week four. The first stop when we went to France was Bayeux and the D-Day beaches in Normandy. Being Americans, whose grandfathers and great uncles fought to make Europe free, we of course needed to see the beaches and cemetaries of those lost. So, we decided to take a guided tour of the area in a large van. There were four other tourists with us, but we only remember two of them. Brownyn and Jane from Australia. Everybody enjoyed the tour and said our casual goodbyes. Our next stop on our adventure was Paris. We stayed only a couple nights. We are "country people", and enjoy a more laid back atmosphere. Armed with our tour books we saw the usual tourist sights. At the Place de la Concorde there are fountains. My wife had her camera, and we needed somebody to take our picture in front of the gaudy fountains. Looking around, we see Brownyn and Jane. So we all took pictures of each other.

While at university, on impulse I took a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. One day walking through a market, I heard my name being called and turned to see my housemate from University who had also took a trip to St. Petersburg. Neither of us knew the other was going there, and we met in a random market. The funny thing was that as soon as I heard my name, I thought, "Oh, that'll be Ed, I thought there was a good chance I'd bump into him". Weird.

My husband & I were in Ireland 2 weeks ago and went to visit his seriously ill cousin who had been transferred from Limerick Hsp to the Mater Hsp in Dublin. When we arrived at the ward we were told he had gone for a an MRI scan and therefore couldn't see him. Walking towards us was smiling Nigerian woman in some sort of nurse uniform, who approached me saying 'Margaret's sister'? It turned out she was Mitchelle one of my late sister Margaret's home carers. Margaret died nearly 2 years ago and Mitchelle was the last person to see her at home before she died. My sister lived in Dundalk 60 miles from Dublin. My husbands cousin and my siater have never met. I had met Mitchelle only once before, just after Margaret's death when she came to the house to tearfully related my sister's decline. Hugging her, we were able to ask her to give my husband's cousin our love and good wishes. She became our ambassador.

My father was dining with friends when the telephone rang. His hostess answered the phone, and returned to the table to tell my father 'Stef, it's for you.' He exchused himself from the table, and spoke to the friend who had called, asking 'How did you know I was here?' The friend replied 'What do you mean, I dialed your home number.' The call was somehow misconnected and the 'wrong number' was that of the people with whom he was dining. My father's telephone number and that of his hosts bore no resemblance to each other.