A Spanish Coincidence

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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 the early 1970's my wife and I were driving down to Spain in my (British Leyland) Triumph GT6 car and we were within a few hours of reaching our destination on the Costa Brava. Suddenly the car engine started stuttering and lurched along intermittently.We were tired by this time and quite worried about the car.It was a Sunday and we found ourselves going through a small spanish village and being the weekend all the locals were out on the village square. The car had virtually stopped by this time and i decided to pulled over. We sat there tired and worried looking at the locals who were enjoying their weekend . i noticed in the corner of the square a local of peasant appearance who kept looking over at us furtively and then looked away again. Eventually he decided to wander over and introduced himself and asked if he could help.He said he was the Chief Mechanic for British Leyland in nearby Gerona. !! unbelievable we thought ...He soon spotted our engine problem and fixed it on the spot.At first he had been reluctant to disturb his time off but in the end he had kindly decided to help us.
Total votes: 160
Date submitted:Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:57:27 +0000Coincidence ID:5349