Cambridge Coincidences Collection

I don't believe in fate or destiny or anything like that, and I see all these things as just amusing happenings of probability and large numbers, but there are quite a few. No1. So my girlfriend and I booked a holiday in Malta. We get to the hotel, and while booking in someone behind says "Adrian?". I turn round and my two friends who I haven't seen in years are there. Wierd, same hotel, same country, same time for a holiday? But then it turned out we were on the same plane over, going back on the same plane and their room the one directly above ours, we could hear them stamping.... among other things.... We'd booked with different companies and paid different prices so it wasn't like we both just grabbed the same deal. (Ours was cheaper... awww yeah). The flights were to/from Leeds Bradford, Me and my girlfreind went there because it was the cheapest flight there. They flew from there because they live in bradford and it was only a few quid more than the cheapest somewhere else. ALSO!!!! My name is Adrian... The guys name is Aiden.... that sort of increases the wierdness a bit .... right?

Emailing a colleague about Wikipedia editing training, I mentioned that a few months ago I'd met a director of Wikimedia UK, and that we should contact him to find out more about training. The very second I pressed the Send button, an email came in from this same director making the first contact since that meeting, asking if we'd thought about Wikipedia editing training...

I am asking for coincidence stories, but they don't seem to happen to me! The only one I can remember is checking into a run-down hotel in Vienna about 25 years ago, and seeing the name of a friend from my schooldays as the previous entry in the register. I was amazed, but when he walked in the door a minute later I could be very cool and greet him with a casual 'hi Phil', while he was speechless.

When travelling in NZ in 1996 I stayed at a remote and near empty backpacking hostel. Bored one evening I begged the landlord to open up the outdoor spa for a soak, supported by another lonely traveler. We got to talking under the stars and we began to discuss whom and what really annoyed us. I began to talk about one person I found unbearable at school, who'd ended up following me to uni. I'd never much thought of him since leaving college but began to really warm to my topic, describing how he may be the only person I've ever met I'd happily push under a bus. It turned out that my bathing companion, at 2 in the morning on the other side of the world, was his girlfriend's cousin.