My coincindence "diary"

First coincidence – that I’ve been thinking a lot about coincidences recently and the link to this webpage pops up on my twitter feed via Evan D – I wasn’t looking for it. Recently I have become aware of lots of strange little coincidences in my life and so I’ve been keeping a “coincidence diary”. So here’s my selection. Owls I recently moved house and on the first night in my new house I was woken by the sound of an owl. A few days later I went shopping and walked past a shop and in the window was a cushion in the shape of an owl – so I went in and bought it. I turned the corner and there was a person from a local bird of prey centre standing with an Indian Eagle owl. Then I went into M&S to buy socks and at the checkout there were some little lights in the shape of owls – so I bought a couple. My son came home later that evening – he’d been out shopping with friends – and he showed me his new sweatshirt – which had an owl design on the front. Later that evening I started reading a new book on philosophy, and opened the next chapter - the title was “The Owl of Minerva”. I’ve never collected owls and wasn’t seeking them out when shopping – the first one was in the window of a shop I rarely go in and the second was at the checkout when I was buying something else entirely. Cat For Christmas my son bought me a cushion in the shape of a cat. I said “what shall we call him?” and he replied “Geoffrey”. Then I opened a book of poetry I’d just received and the page opened at a poem called “My Cat Geoffrey”. The name Geoffrey was chosen at random by my son – we don’t know anyone called Geoffrey and have never had a cat called Geoffrey and my son wouldn’t have read the book. Parallel life I recently started an evening class. The teacher was taking the register and noticing my surname he said “Do you know xxx?”. Turns out he went to school with my ex brother in law. Then we were chatting later about the worst jobs we’d ever had. He said he once had a temporary job opening post, but got sacked when he opened a letter bearing the address “Bell Avenue” because he started to laugh because he couldn’t help thinking of “bell end”. I used to live in Bell Avenue and my house was at the end of the road – so I used to call it “bell end”. Then I said my worst job was a temporary job I had many years ago at a company in Manchester – then he said “That’s where I work now” – in the same office. Greyhound I was sat at my computer one day and a woman I’d never met before knocked at my door. She explained that she was thinking of moving to the area and wanted to know if it was quiet. She explained that she wanted to move because she’d wanted somewhere more suitable for a greyhound that she’d recently adopted. I have also been thinking of adopting a greyhound recently and just before she knocked at my door I’d been researching greyhound adoption on the internet. Song Last week I turned the radio on and the first song playing was “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads. I used to have that record as a teenager, but since lost it – so I downloaded it onto my MP3 player. Later that day I was visiting a friend and she lent me a book she’d just finished reading. I opened the book and first page quotes four lines from that song.