Lhasa and Essex

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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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My wife and I went to Tibet about 30 years ago very soon after China permitted visitors. Earlier visitors had been few in number. We were a group of 10. When we arrived in Lhasa we visited the main temple, the Jokhang. A monk approached us, spoke no English, but smiled and from out of his robe drew a postcard with a sepia photograph of a village green in Essex. On the green was a group of Morris dancers. One of our group, then in his 60s, recognised himself in the group about 30 years earlier. When he exclaimed in surprise, and told us it was him, the monk inclined his head and smiled as if to him it was no surprise.
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Date submitted:Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:32:18 +0000Coincidence ID:5083