Chance Meeting

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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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Hi, My Name is Mark Smyth. On 5th July 2008 I was at Twickenham for the Iron Maiden Somewhere Back In Time Tour (According to wikipedia 44,672 tickets were sold). The 4 of us attending (Myself, my mate Kevin and 2 guys we'd met at our digs) were standing and decided to pick a spot the the left of the sound stage in the centre of the pitch as this gave us an excellent view on the stage. About halfway through the gig I spotted a familiar face walking towards me through the crowd from the stage. As he got closer I shouted him over. His name is Paul Crossley and we had served together both at home and abroad in the Army for many years. I had not seen him since he left in approximatley 1992/1993. He and I used to travel home together as I am from Bury and he is from Burnley. We both grabbed a pint together had a quick catch up and then went our separate ways. I have not seen him since. Paul told me that he was at the gig with his girlfriend and had actually thought that if he bumped into anyone that day it was likely to be me. I hope you find this interesting, Thanks Mark
Total votes: 1378
Date submitted:Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:19:20 +0000Coincidence ID:3279

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I live in Durham, was staying in Edinburgh with wife, crowded restaraunt, asked to share table with two women - mother and daughter from NW Scotland mother was cousin of my ex's wife, daughter went to school with ex's children. On another occasion I parked my bike in an office doorway in Kinlochbervie to shelter from rain and sort out a problem withbike, it was a Sunday so didn't think it was a problem, it turned out to office of same ex-girlfriend's husband. Ended up having dinner at their house.