Strangers on a train.

In February 2004 I was travelling eastward on a District Line (London underground) train to my home in Dagenham. It was 3pm and the train (about 6 carriages) was relatively empty. At Barking a passenger entered my carriage and sat opposite me (there were only 2 others in my carriage). I was engrossed in my book, "This Game of Ghosts" an autobiography by Joe Simpson, the mountaineer (see Touching the Void book and film) and did not immediately notice the stranger opposite me. When I did look up I saw that he was reading the same book (not the most popular best seller - sorry, Joe). We laughed and acknowledged the coincidence and then discovered that not only were we were reading the same edition but we had both reached the same page - 120! I love the coincidences of his choosing my carriage out of 6 relatively empty ones, choosing the seat opposite me, etc etc. I read nothing into these coincidences but it was a happy moment and makes me smile every time I think about it.