Childhood neighbour

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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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Taking a friend on the tube to Heathrow from Kings Cross (where I now live) a week ago, I held open the lift door for a couple with heavy luggage. As soon as they spoke, I could hear that they came from East Yorkshire. When I mentioned the village where I was brought up until I was 18, & where my father was one of 3 single practice doctors, the wife told me which 2 houses I had lived in! She had lived in the village all her life & as a child I had played with 2 close friends who had lived 2 houses away on either side of her home. She was about my age (72) & went to a different school, but we spent the hour-long journey to Heathrow talking non-stop & discovering how our paths must have crossed numerous times with many mutual family contacts etc. for several years in our youth.
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Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:27:47 +0000Coincidence ID:4209