Cambridge Coincidences Collection

I was reading Leslie Thomas's book "Kensington Heights" at home one evening while listening to a CD of Beethoven symphonies. One of the characters in the book was going to hear "The Pastoral" played at the Wigmore Hall. I was listening to "The Pastoral" myself which felt spooky - but then it got stranger. The character in the book explained that he couldn't take his wife to the concert as she always joined in the "cuckoos" loudly and embarrassed him. I was reading this sentence at exactly the same moment that the "cuckoo" played on my CD.

My parents, my three brothers and I had arrived at a camping site in the small town of Visp, near Brig in Switzerland sometime in the mid 1960s. As an avid trainspotter, my eldest brother decided that the four of us should walk over to the nearest level crossing out on the valley floor to see some trains going by. We'd just crossed the line when the warning siren sounded and the barriers came down. There was no-one else about but, as we waited, a lady and gentleman walked up to the barrier and stopped. Within a second or two of hearing us chatting, the gentleman turned to my eldest brother and said in Welsh 'You speak Welsh?' 'Yes', replied my brother ... There followed the usual Welsh uestions: 'Where are you from?' 'What does your father do?' etc. It transpired that he, a Mr Bartholomew, had been the Latin teacher in at the school, some miles north of Bridgend, where my father had taught Welsh several years previously. They'd known each other well and a happy reunion followed.

We emigrated to South Africa in 1983, eventually we lived in the Weltevreden Park area of Roodeport in Jo'berg. My wife shopped at the Hyperama, which is located there. One day, a lady waiting at the checkout ran the trolly into my wife's heel. After much apology, they ended up chatting and went back to the house for coffee. Both families ended up great friends, and the couple became God parents to our daughter in 1987. They were originally from Kidlington in Oxford, and there surname was G. Meanwhile, on one of my wife's trip's back to the UK to visit family in 1986, (we are from Greater Manchester), she called to visit her sister, who lived in Worsley. They ended up chatting to her sisters next door neighbour, who had relatives in the Kidlington area of Oxford. An elderly relative had recently died and left a ring to his nephew, who had emigrated to South Africa a few years before. The neighbour asked my wife, if she knew anyone with the surname of G, who were originally from Kidlington. Now that's a co-incidence.

I am interested in genealogy and was researching my son's partner's tree when I came across a person in that tree that was also connected to my family tree ! A first, I thought that I was on my family tree. I emailed her and it turns out that she is my 4th cousin on my tree, but ALSO my son's partner's 4th cousin on her fathers side of the family !!!! What a co-incidence that is !!!! Also, when I found a new sister I didn't know I had 11 years ago, her son's birthdate was same date (different year) to my son.