Pizza delivery

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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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In 1993 I was a Staff Sergeant in the British Army, based in Herford and living in Detmold. Quite late one evening after a long day at work, I told my wife that what I most wanted to eat was a salami pizza. She wasn't particularly pleased as she was in the middle of preparing a late dinner, and anyway the normal pizza taxi places would be closed. About ten minutes later the doorbell rang and when I answered it there was pizza delivery woman asking if knew where number 114 was. We lived at number 112 which was the last house on the street. Frustrated, short of time and clearly looking to end her shift, she offered me the pizza for half price, of course I accepted. It wasn't a salami pizza but that was pretty amazing anyway. At first my wife thought that I had ordered it, but we checked the last number called on the house phone, and established that it was still from her call to her mother earlier in the day, so it would have been impossible for me to have done so. Of course in 1993 there were no mobiles, e-mail or internet so there was no way I could have done that. That is quite simply the most remarkable coincidence in my life, although there have been many others, which were also memorable but not quite so fantastic.
Total votes: 271
Date submitted:Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:44:25 +0000Coincidence ID:4919