Of all the basilicas on all the mountains in all the world...

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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 October 2010 Bradford Cathedral Choir undertook a short tour of Catalonia, singing in and around Barcelona. My son and I have been singing in this choir for a few years and went on the tour. One of the events on the tour was to be a 15minute slot singing in the Basilica at Montserrat, where visiting choirs are permitted to do a short session at lunchtime on Mondays. We duly arrived at the top of the mountain and were waiting outside the Basilica to put our robes on and warm up our voices. Our choir director had been inside and came out to say we would be going on after "some choir from Nottingham, I've never heard of them". At hearing this, I got a funny feeling and thought "I need to see this choir" as I used to live and sing in Nottingham for several years before moving to Yorkshire. I went in and sat quietly to one side of the church and listened to my old friends the Sinfonia Chorale, of whom I was a member for 10 years previously! None of them spotted me whilst I was listening to them, but when we then went on to sing they were unable to leave the building and had to sit in a side chapel near where we were singing - and gradually I saw the light (and incredulity) dawning on several familiar faces as I sang! It was wonderful to see them and we had further random meetings throughout the day as we all walked up and down the mountain paths. It turned out we were all singing in the same churches in the region, following each other around! A further musical connection came to light when I got a Christmas card this year from some friends who were really friends of my parents before they died. This couple had been to a music festival in the southeast of England as they are patrons of it, and whilst there met my father's youngest brother and his wife - they must have spotted him as he bears a very strong resemblance to my father as he gets older - who turn out also to be patrons of the same festival. They had never met previously despite family connections going back over 50 years.
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Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:49:33 +0000Coincidence ID:3740