Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

After reading about the uncanny coincidence that happened to Todger and 7779311 on another thread, it reminded me of a coincidence that happened to me;

It was back in 1980 on our first family holiday abroad. We were spending ten days in sunny Majorca and it was so exciting to have flown for the first time. I was just a practicing runner then, and although I'd done a few fell races I had never run in a proper road race. Even so, I was so dedicated and trained most mornings. It was while out training one morning that I met Terry, he was staying at the same hotel, and like me, loved running. We ran together every morning for the duration of the holiday and became good friends, our families even spent time together visiting places of interest through the day, and enjoying a drink together in the evenings.

Terry lived in London and I lived up north, and although we enjoyed each others company, at the end of the holiday we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, we didn't even exchange addresses.

By 1986 I had run my first full marathon, and after completing several more, in 1989 I signed up for the London marathon. A bit crowded for my liking with over 30,000 runners, but conditions were good and I made decent progress up to about twenty two miles. I was jogging along in the groove when I sensed another runner by my side, I glanced to my right and what a surprise, it was Terry! What were the odds of that happening? Neither of us had run a marathon when we met all those years before, and for us to have run twenty two miles at the same pace to bring us together now, amongst 30,000 other runners was remarkable...

Do you believe in coincidences? Or are there mysterious forces at work here....Have all of us on this forum been brought together for a reason? Is it a joke by God to assemble us as in some Agatha Christie mystery? Have you experienced a strange coincidence? I'd like to hear it.....

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

Back in the 70's my first wife and I on one August Bank Holiday, decided on the spur of the moment to go Blackpool for the day. We were walking along the front and there were thousands of people, and who was walking the other way towards us was no other than my wife's parents from up north, who had also decided, on the spur of the moment, to go to Blackpool for the day...

Uncanny...

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

Strange how these things happen Barry....
My Dad worked down the pit in the village where we lived, one day he had to travel 20 miles away to another pit in Askern on a special job. While he was riding on the bus home, a young lady and her mother boarded the bus, as it was full, someone stood up for the girls mother and my Dad stood up for the young lady. The young lady declined the offer of a seat, so my Dad said you can sit on my knee if you like. She accepted the invitation and sat on his knee for the duration of the journey.

Some weeks later my Dads best mate was going out to a club with his girlfriend, he asked my Dad if he would like to come, but Dad refused because he didn't have a girlfriend. His mate suggested that he could go on a blind date with his fiance's best friend.....What a pleasant surprise he had when the blind date turned out to be the girl who sat on his knee that day on the bus....That girl eventually turned out to be my Mum and they stayed together for over sixty years!...

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

Foxy, l have had lots of coincidences in my life.
These are two that l can think of..

In 1983, I was buying a new Astra and had part exchanged my previous Astra for it.
As I pulled out of the dealership, going past my old Astra, someone in my previous car a Metro, drove in.
So all the three cars l owned were together in one place.

The other was, l went with my husband and children to a remote part of Majorca on holiday. I look the children into the sea to paddle and a boy who was in my class at school, that all the girls fancied was standing next to me on the beach.
I hadn’t seen him for years but we had a good chat!

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

What a lovely story Bob, sounds like your Mum and Dad were made for each other.

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

They both passed away in 2009 not six months between them.... It's actually brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye just writing about it....

I'd better pull myself together or I'm at serious risk of damaging my reputation.....

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

Just be thankful that you have such wonderful memories of your parents Bob...

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

The wife and I went to Porec, an out-of-the-way holiday resort in Croatia some years ago, and one day we decided to stroll into town and ran smack bang into some neighbours of ours who lived in the next street from us. All those thousands of miles just to meet someone from the same village.

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

It seems our lives are full of coincidences Arty. When our daughter passed her driving test I took her to have a look at a motor in a garage about ten miles from where we lived....Low mileage and just one owner, and a glance at the logbook revealed that it was the same surname as ours......And our surname is as rare as hens teeth! I didn't know anyone in the district with the same name as ours. They are certainly not in the phonebook.

Re: Coincidences! Have you ever experienced one?

Coincidences........a few.

One was a guy who was taking me to his hotel in Vancouver Island. Believe or not, the guy had worked Watford, my home town. We shared a couple items back to his home in Garston.

The next was quite surprising. The girl at reception greeted - by name. My name. Even more surprising was her name. The very street as mine.........