Coincidence from the Caribbean

In 1961 was seconded to the West Indies by ICI to help with the setting-up of a local paint factory in Trinidad. As part of my duties, I was sent to British Guiana (as it then was) for a couple of weeks and, while there, attended the round of parties which was then the accepted way of welcoming the occasional visitor. While at one such party I heard someone standing behind me say something is a voice which I instantly recognised. Turning round, I faced a complete stranger and, on apologising for what must have seemed my odd behaviour, I explained that I was convinced that I had heard the voice of a colleague, one John B, who sat at the desk next to mine back home at ICI. "Oh" he said, "that would be my brother John -I am Pat B!” On my return some months later, I chided John for not telling me that he had a brother in the West Indies. "Oh, well", he said, "I didn't tell you because I never thought you would meet him; he's a Geologist who spends all but a couple of weeks a year deep in the interior hacking chunks off mountains. Actually he's only in Georgetown (which is where I met him) for a few days". At that same party, I met someone quite unrelated, whose name coincidentally was also Pat B. When he told me that his daughter was coming to the UK later in the year and could I help in finding her accommodation in London, I volunteered to help as I knew a lady who ran a hostel in Hampstead for students at Bedford College and who I was sure could help. He promised to be in touch. Meanwhile, back in Trinidad, I had become quite friendly with the daughter of a Chinese doctor - one Marjorie L. Some months later, after I had returned to the UK, I was at a party in London when who should I spy but the same Marjorie L! When I enquired why she hadn't let me know she was coming, she replied that it had all been arranged rather hurriedly and she hadn't had time to write to me. Exchanging addresses, she promised to get in touch but when I rang her a week or so later I was told that she had gone off to France for a while. Shortly afterwards I went to the Motor Show at Earls Court and was going up an escalator when who should I spy going down the other one but Marjorie! No, she explained, she hadn't been in touch because she had only returned from France the previous day. A week or so later, one of our Guianese Agent's staff came to the UK for a technical training course in the ICI factory. Having been to his home country and met him there, it fell to me to show young Randolph F a F (yes, that really was his name) around London. Amongst other places we went to the Tower of London and started our return journey by catching an underground train from Tower Hill. As we jumped into a carriage that we caught by the skin of our teeth, who should we find sitting opposite but Marjorie L! At that time I was still a batchelor gay and shared a cottage in Windsor with 3 others. Not long after the above happened, one of my colleagues asked if he could bring two young ladies he had met down for dinner one weekend (our weekend dinner parties were very popular!). A couple of weeks later he arrived with two very presentable females and, recognising their accents when they were introduced, I asked if they were from British Guiana. When they told me that they came from Georgetown, I immediately told them that I was expecting to hear from a young lady quite soon, for whom I had volunteered to find some accommodation. "What was her name?" asked one of the girls and when I said the name of Pat B's daughter she looked at me in astonishment. "But that's me!" she exclaimed. "Your father was going to let me know if you wanted any help in finding accommodation", I said. "Yes, I know," she replied, "But in the end it all worked out fine; a friend of mine from Trinidad was coming over and it was arranged that I would share a flat with her. Her name's Marjorie L! The oddest thing of all is that I never saw either of them again! This sequence of events is absolutely true. Derek C Kintbury, Berks.