Meeting on a train journey

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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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Paddington Station the evening commute - the train to Penzance was delayed by 2 hours due to a fatality. Suddenly, we had the go ahead to get on a train the line was now open. There were hundreds of people on the concourse and it was a race to get a seat on the train. I travel second class but when there is a delay and hundreds of people boarding the train with no prospect of a seat I just plonk myself down in first class, as I did this evening. In the four seats facing each other there was me (a woman) and three men. Of course, there was a half hour delay before the train began its journey so we four got talking. One was a barrister, one an IT executive and the man sitting next to me said he was Sir ***'s right hand man. Sir *** started and owns a very large worldwide company. "Fancy that", I said. "Well the next time you see Sir *** can you tell him that you sat next to his ex-secretary on a delayed train from Paddington? I was secretary to Sir *** when he and his brother had a smallish accounting firm in Sydney, Australia". The gentleman was amazed and thus we had a very interesting conversation about his work and my work. I have had many coincidences in my life and it is rather alarming. But it could be that I am just a chatterbox.
Total votes: 309
Date submitted:Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:49:55 +0000Coincidence ID:10369