Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Open by Christmas

I had been driving past a scrap of land for weeks in the city centre that had been flattened ready for some sort of development. I had always wondered what One day I found myself walking past and saw two isolated workmen - motionless, leaning on their spades. As I walked the remaining 100 yards or so along the path to the point closest to them, I became frustrated by the lack effort going into the project. It bothered me that I didn't know what the land was to be used for or when the building work would be completed and vowed to find out some how.

I thought it was a joke!

I was a pro footballer for Rangers FC. In June 1980 I was sold to Brighton for £440k, I put my house on the market. After a couple of days I got a call from a gentleman with a very polite accent asking if he could come and see my house. He then said his nane was Brighton. I even asked him to spell it and then was firmly of the belief it was one of my Rangers teammates taking the mickey. He asked if he could come the next night to view the property.

random shopping

On checking my bank statement I noticed that ASDA BEARSDEN near Glasgow had deducted the sum of £43.36 from my bank on two consectutve days, as I normally shop each day and spend about £10 I thought that I had been charged twice I challeged the shop and on investigation it was found to be correct. I found it amazing that two days in a row I had higher than normal spend exact to the penny. This happened in 2010 prior to October which is as far as I can access my bank statements so I cannot supply the exact dates.

Baby Song

My daughter was born late at night in hospital by Cesarean. I was alone, with my stunning new born daughter in my arms, for what was a serene and special hour whilst my wife was in recovery. Come the time of departure it was perhaps 2:00 in the morning of a freezing cold day in March. After scraping the ice from the car windows, I sat in the cold car, waiting for it to warm up and decided I'd listen to the radio instead of a CD.

Unlikely encounter

Between 1966 and 1968 I was a post-graduate student in the psychology Dept. of Bristol University. Also working there was Jim (I forget his surname), a negro post doctoral fellow from Washington State, USA. I left the University and went to work at Kamuli College, in Namasagali, Busoga District, Uganda. The school had about 400 students; Africans other than 3 0r 4 Gujarati immigrants. I introduced British A Level English into the school. Rehana Minhas was one of my initial students. Rehana was a good student. In 1970 Idi Amin came to power in Uganda.

Bus Stop Meet Up

My (NOW) wife Tracy and I were waiting for a bus in a village in Scotland, we had only been there a few minutes, the bus was just coming round the corner, when a family came down a track, they were passing through on a long-distance hike . My wife had met the same family the year earlier when she was on a long distance hike with her ex. We said a quick hello and all went on our way.

Ed Sheeran Left and Right

On the tube this morning, I looked left and there was a lady listening to Ed Sheeran (I glanced at her phone to see her selecting songs from his album on her phone). I looked right, immediately, and saw a guy reading the Metro newspaper and on the page that I could see I saw an article about..Ed Sheeran and his nominations in the Brits…bizarre.

Halfway round the world - for us both.

My husband & I were on holiday from Scotland in 1991 travelling in the Far East and when in Hong Kong took an evening cruise around the bay. I was chatting to others on board and in particular to one Australian. When it transpired he was in Hong Kong attending a medical conference, I asked which part of medicine he was involved in and he told me Haematology. I said I had great respect for the work they do, as my son had been diagnosed with leukaemia in 1974 and in particular was so grateful for the care and attention he's received from his consultant.

Cambridge Coincidence Coincidence

I noticed a gravestone in Newry, County Down that shows that of a mother, a father and a son who had all died on the same date - but years apart. I can submit a photo if required. Michael Toal 13th May 1940 his wife Margaret 13th May 1965 their son Patrick 13th May 1930. COINCIDENTLY............. when looking for the photo on my iPhone, (that has an application to show exactly in the world where a photo has been taken) the world map indicated that I had taken a photo in Nanjing, China (near Shanghai) - I've never been close and it's 5600 miles away.

Timing is our strong suit.

Some nine years ago I began a long-distance correspondence with a student living (at the time) in London; while we have never met, we shared plenty of 'chats' that usually took place during my early morning hours (her afternoons). One evening I was surprised to find her online - she was up early getting ready for school - and we fell into one of our long conversations. We'd never spoken at that hour before (or since) - and it was strange that it happened that particular morning: July 7, 2005. As a result of our chat, she missed her train to school.

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