End of the pier.
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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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One day in 1972 I woke up having spent the night with an American fellow student from my university in London. We were in our early 20s, in the same friendship group, which included our current partners. It was a beautiful day and we were falling in love so instead of going to lectures in London, and facing the inevitable break up conversation with our girl/boyfriend, I suggested we escaped and took a day trip to Brighton. We drove down there with another American student who owned a red sports car. Neither of these two knew Brighton, it was my idea.
First stop was the pier. At the end of the pier, with the water swirling beneath us all, we came round the corner and there walking towards us was his girlfriend and my boyfriend and another friend. We should all have been in London at lectures at university. They had also chosen to come here on a whim, knowing nothing about us. There was no need to explain, it was obvious what had happened with us and we were all in shock. We went to someone's house to recover, I have no idea whose. Fifty years later we stay in touch. Brighton is a fairly popular place for a day trip, but the end of the pier, made it very bizarre.
Date submitted:Sat, 20 Sep 2014 16:31:46 +0000Coincidence ID:7778
