Chance meeting in a fog.

One night in November, in the early sixties, Belfast and the surrounding area was blanketed in thick fog. About 7.30 that night I was queueing for a bus in the city centre to take me to my home in Dudonald, a suburb five miles from Belfast city centre. A bus company inspector came along and informed the queue that, due to the fog, buses would not be operating in the city centre that night. There is a rural bus company which operates from Belfast and has a service which passes through Dundonald. I decided to walk to their Belfast station, which was about half a mile away. I mentioned this to another man beside me in the queue. He said "I live in Dundonald too.....I will go with you". On arrival at this station there was a queue for our bus, so we joined it. The fog became thicker, and soon a bus inspector informed us, "No more buses will be leaving this station tonight". Since Dundonald is only five miles away the pair of us decided to walk there. Another man in the queue overheard us and said "I live in Dundonald too so I will join you". Off we went into the fog: three complete strangers together. On our way we chatted about all sorts of things; the weather, football women etc. After walking for about three miles I said "We have been together all this time and we do not know each others names.....my name is Patterson". One of the other men stopped in his tracks and said " My name is Patterson too!" The third member of the trio laughed and said "You will not believe this: my name is also Patterson !" We were amazed and wondered "What are the chances of this happening?" Perhaps you can tell me. We were not related in any way, and I have not met nor seen either of my companions since. Footnote, One of the Pattersons informed us that, in the distant past, the Pattersons were SHEEP STEALERS.