Egypt /Clocks

Coincidence 1 I was born in Egypt. I heard Julian Fellows on Dessert Island Discs - He was born in Egypt. I had a DVD of an episode of Downton Abbey I had been unable to watch when broadcast. I had moved equipment into our large old country kitchen to be 'green' by cutting the house heating and relying on the AGA. I was disappointed to find the TV seemed to give the Downton cast jaundice, as everything looked rather yellow. I checked the Sony website for a phone number for technical advice - was it worth having the TV fixed or should I get another set? I phoned the help line. Was told that the problem was likely to be the Scart plug. (I remembered the cats had been having fun the day before at the back of the TV - The technician was right). Before ending the conversation I asked the technician where he was from. "Why?" I replied, because I thought he had a familiar sounding accent. "Oh no. I am from Egypt." I told him that I had been correct, and that I had been born and lived in Egypt. He was amazed. "Where did you live in Egypt?" He asked. I told him our home was in what in the 1950s was a smallish village near the Nile outside Cairo. It was called Maadi. He then amazed me by telling me that he was actually in that very village - which is now part of Cairo - at that moment - The Sony help line technicians were based in Maadi, Egypt. Coincidence 2 I have a holiday home in Malta. I was driving my (then) 97 year old mother from the UK to Malta in the spring. We stopped for a night in Orvieto at the Cathedral Hotel. A nearby restaurant was recommended for supper. During an excellent meal, I asked the manager where he came from - he had a familiar accent. "Egypt" was the answer. After a very long chat the manager's nephew arrived. He too was delighted to hear that my mother and I had lived in Egypt. He asked, "where?". I replied. Maadi. Not only was his home in Maadi, but it was also in the same street of the village. Coincidence 3 I taught at a school in Dorset. A colleague, for whom I had the greatest respect, had retired and lived in a cottage in the village. From time to time I would drop in after lunch for a chat and a coffee. He had several hobbies and interests, and had discovered that an ancient ancestor had made long case clocks in Dorchester. He was not short of cash, and whenever a Spinney clock was up for sale, he would try to buy it. He collected information about a number of these clocks. One day, while sipping his coffee, I could tell he was dying to tell me something. I did not have to wait long. He had heard of another clock- Number 14. It had turned up in the USA! I teased him a little and he chucked a lengthy letter over towards me - "Read the bloody letter then". I began to read the letter. The new owner had lived in the UK for a couple of years. She and her husband had bought the Spinney clock in a local antique shop and had taken it back to New York with them. She had wanted to "research the history" of the clock. She had contacted the Dorchester Museum for help and information. The curator of Dorchester Museum knew Spinney well and had passed on his address. Before getting to the end of the letter, I checked the signature on the last page. It was my cousin's wife! The American Spinney clock belonged to my own cousin! Later in the year, my cousin's eldest son visited us in Somerset before starting his college courses. I was able to take him to meet the descendent of the clock maker.