it's a small, small world?

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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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I was flying back to Switzerland from Singapore on the latter's flag carrier some years ago, upgraded to first, wow, couldn't sleep so went aft to have a drink and chat to the cabin girls. Only one other passenger was awake and he joined me for a beer- tall Australian. Got chatting - he was a banker on his way to Geneva. He said he was going on to the UK to see an old retired colleague who always spent three monthsin the UK during summer. I asked "are you going to Surrey?" he replied yes, so I told him the name of his colleague, where he was staying and the name of the guy's wife. First time I've seen an Australian dumbstruck, and all because I used todrink in the same pub as the Old Colleague - is this a coincidence?
Total votes: 334
Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:18:13 +0000Coincidence ID:3919

Comments

FerndenPat

Sat, 14/01/2012 - 11:25am

My husband & are were on a cycling holiday in France in 2001, organised by a company called Headwater, who provided the bikes, booked the hotels & carried our luggage. We got friendly with a married couple, and also with 2 single ladies, and eventually started sharing the same table for dinner each evening. On the first evening we discovered that the married couple knew a good friend of mine, and knew her very wel, not just an acquaintance. On the 2nd evening we discovered that one of the single ladies knew another good friend of ours! And on the 3rd evening we discovered that my husband and one of the single ladies had gone to the same Primary School!!! Three coincidences in one holiday - is this a record?!

FerndenPat

Sat, 14/01/2012 - 11:31am

We moved to Haslemere 11 years ago, and are living halfway between Haslemere and the village of Fernhurst. First of all it turns out that almost every one of our close friends has a connection with Haslemere or Fernhurst - e.g. one friend came here during the War to have her baby, away from the bombs of London. Another friend found a Care Home for his mother in the road next to ours, some 20 years ago. Another friend lived in Fernhurst in her early married years, because her husband was stationed there for his national service. The list goes on and on. When we said goodbye to the lady in the laundry in our old home town, she told us that her sister ran a laundry in Fernhurst! And to add to these coincidences, whenever we go on holiday anywhere in the world and get chatting to someone & they ask where we live, it nearly always turns out that they have a sister or brother or friend or parent living in or near Haslemere or Fernhurst!!! This even happened when we were on a birdwatching walk in the forests of New Zealand - our guide had a sister in Liphook, 10 mins drive from Haslemere! Whenever we meet new people now, say at a party, and we mention where we live, we wait for them to say "Oh Haslemere!" and to explain their connection with the town.