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Strange Coincidences?

I was thinking just now of the strange gap between the banal details of local life I sometimes post about and the arcane and abstruse nature of my bookish interests.

Earlier I had noted the skulking kids who were planning to create a nuisance by buying eggs to throw. Returning home to my studies, I found the subject of my researches, a non-conformist preacher named Clegg, had officiated at Chinley Chapel:

"The building of this Chapel so offended the zealous Churchmen of the parish that rotten eggs and stones used to greet the Dissenters on their way to worship, these assaults being mainly instigated by the unworthy Vicar of the parish, whose drunken, dissipated habits helped not a little the cause of Dissent."

The subject of alcohol had arisen in other posts that day. :)
 
lovely! thank you JamesWhitehead!
 
Tonight I was at the cinema watching Louis Theroux's brilliant "My Scientology Movie", with a family member (see http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/scientology.1168/page-34#post-1621490).

Coincidently I was at the same cinema (or movie theater, in Universal Standard English/USE) last night with another family member, watching "Girl on a Train", an excellent-but-distressing movie with the too-beautiful Emily Blunt in the difficult lead role.

I never get to go to the cinema/movies, (because I never get to go anywhere that's not work) so having had two visits, in two days, with two different family members, is a fairly-big coincidence for me.

However: not as much of a coincidence as finding that the seats we had on consecutive days (row, number, multiplex screen number) were the same.

Theroux's movie seats (tonight) were booked by one of my family members first, weeks ago, and not declared/known until we arrived (and also incapable of being changed, the show was a sell-out).

Yesterday's movie seats were personally-selected, in real time, by another family member, on the foyer touch-screen. I was the only common element, and played no role in selecting any of the seats.

By way of another coincidence- a couple came over to us tonight, and said we were sitting in their seats. We showed them our printed tickets, they apologied, then they went and sat in their proper seats (no, I have no idea what they were doing....)

And... the final coincidence for tonight, that I'm aware of, anyway..... Louis Theroux. He's just the cousin of Justin Theroux who is one of the main protagonists in 'Girl on a Train'.

This is all just far too strange....
 
A minor coincidence occurred last night ....

My other half said someone on social media was trying to tell him the Irish were also a victim of the transatlantic slave trade. I told him they'd got mixed up with the "indentured servant" system, where people could migrate to the Americas with no money by working off the cost of their transport, which was not quite the same thing because at the end of the contract they were free.

I goes to bed, I picks up my kindle, and realising I had finished my last book I went through my library and picked a little book of short stories (Tales from the Hearth, I think it was) to read next. The first story? An Irish woman living in America under the indentured servant system! :)
 
Scribbles said:
A minor coincidence occurred last night ....

My other half said someone on social media was trying to tell him the Irish were also a victim of the transatlantic slave trade. I told him they'd got mixed up with the "indentured servant" system, where people could migrate to the Americas with no money by working off the cost of their transport, which was not quite the same thing because at the end of the contract they were free.

I goes to bed, I picks up my kindle, and realising I had finished my last book I went through my library and picked a little book of short stories (Tales from the Hearth, I think it was) to read next. The first story? An Irish woman living in America under the indentured servant system! :)
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How strange! I was reading about that last night too as I've just finished a book about modern day slavery/sex trafficking.
 
I'm surprised we have a thread called Strange Coincidences when there is already a Coincidences thread. Coincidences are strange by their very nature - that's why they have that special word to describe them. Is it possible to have a non-strange coincidence?! (Answers on a postcard, please!)
 
I haven't been on the site for a while, but I was reading the 'False Memories' thread when I came across the following quote;

This is so true. At its best denial happens to avoid embarrassment, at its worst it's about gaslighting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

The link mentions film-maker Adam Curtis, a man I have never heard of today until I read an interview on the Guardian website with Charlie Brooker, then at lunchtime there was a thread about 'Hypertension' on the wsc forum, and now this evening the above link has mentioned him!

Bizarre! And all through web-sites/forums I use!
 
rynner2 said:
I'm surprised we have a thread called Strange Coincidences when there is already a Coincidences thread. Coincidences are strange by their very nature - that's why they have that special word to describe them. Is it possible to have a non-strange coincidence?! (Answers on a postcard, please!)
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I think mundane coincidences happen every day, it's down to the laws of chance that the same or linked events will occur with some regularity, like thinking about a song then hearing it on the radio or wearing the same T-shirt as someone you've met that afternoon. If it's a really outrageous coincidence, like a letter sent to someone in Australia showing up in Britain to someone who lives in a street with the same name, then it's "strange".
 
Simon said:
I haven't been on the site for a while, but I was reading the 'False Memories' thread when I came across the following quote;

This is so true. At its best denial happens to avoid embarrassment, at its worst it's about gaslighting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

The link mentions film-maker Adam Curtis, a man I have never heard of today until I read an interview on the Guardian website with Charlie Brooker, then at lunchtime there was a thread about 'Hypertension' on the wsc forum, and now this evening the above link has mentioned him!

Bizarre! And all through web-sites/forums I use!
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That was my quote/post!

That now makes TWO strange coincidences connected to me on this thread yesterday! :eek:
 
Whilst emptying yet another box of my books from my parents loft, I came across a book which reminded me of a particularly odd coincidence.

When I was but a callow youth, I bought lots of the "true" ghost story type books, as well as many compendiums, usually edited by Colin Wilson.
To ensure no one ever thought of nicking them, I always wrote my name in the back cover.
No, I don't know who'd want to nick them, either.

Anyway, one of these books was "Spinechiller" by Peter and Mary Harrison (quick review: entertaining, but obviously bobbins).
When it was time for me to go to university, I disposed of these childish things to a jumble sale, so I could move on to the mature pursuits of cider and girls.
Now, I should point out here, that said jumble sale is in Leeds.

Some years later, when I realised that both cider and girls had their own drawbacks, I found myself in London, killing time before my trip back to the frozen north.
I happened upon a second hand bookshop, and realising I had nothing to keep me entertained on the train, I searched for suitable inspiration.
What should I spy but a copy of said Spinechiller.
After paying a significant sum for what was a tatty old tome, I relaxed into my train seat.
Somewhere around Doncaster I finished and came to the back cover where... you've guessed it, my name is scrawled.

Somehow the book had a journey of a couple of hundred miles, and ten years, just to come back into my possession.
Spooky, huh...?
 
Books and records etc. which return mysteriously to their original owners like homing cats or dogs are always fun to hear of, particularly when they turn up in a random town and not the place they were sold or donated.

Statistics may favour the scenario more than we imagine, however. Print-runs for niche titles are quite small - hundreds rather than thousands - and their owners more likely to haunt the places where these things are exchanged. Also many volumes can remain undisturbed in slush-piles until someone recognizes the title and gives it a closer examination. Previous ownership will usually make us curious.

I prefer to think it is the book-goblins guiding our steps to remind us why we got rid of things in the first place! :)
 
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BaronHardacre said:
Whilst emptying yet another box of my books from my parents loft, I came across a book which reminded me of a particularly odd coincidence.

When I was but a callow youth, I bought lots of the "true" ghost story type books, as well as many compendiums, usually edited by Colin Wilson.
To ensure no one ever thought of nicking them, I always wrote my name in the back cover.
No, I don't know who'd want to nick them, either.

Anyway, one of these books was "Spinechiller" by Peter and Mary Harrison (quick review: entertaining, but obviously bobbins).
When it was time for me to go to university, I disposed of these childish things to a jumble sale, so I could move on to the mature pursuits of cider and girls.
Now, I should point out here, that said jumble sale is in Leeds.

Some years later, when I realised that both cider and girls had their own drawbacks, I found myself in London, killing time before my trip back to the frozen north.
I happened upon a second hand bookshop, and realising I had nothing to keep me entertained on the train, I searched for suitable inspiration.
What should I spy but a copy of said Spinechiller.
After paying a significant sum for what was a tatty old tome, I relaxed into my train seat.
Somewhere around Doncaster I finished and came to the back cover where... you've guessed it, my name is scrawled.

Somehow the book had a journey of a couple of hundred miles, and ten years, just to come back into my possession.
Spooky, huh...?
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Today I was rooting around looking for something in my bedroom and came across a book called 'Beyond Coincidence', which I've obviously picked up second hand as it's a sold-off library copy. Can't remember where from though. It started me thinking, hmmm, coincidences, I've had some interesting book-related ones! Then I sat down to read this thread...
 
I was born in, and still live near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. As some might know, a relatively small and insignificant place on the arse-end of the UK.

My mother-in-law is Thai and lives in Bangkok. Recently the incredibly revered Thai King passed away. My mother in law has been putting lots and lots of things on Facebook concerning this- posts, other people's posts, photos.

I recently saw that she had posted a pic of a vintage bus that had been decked out with flowers and paraded in some sort of memorial parade for the King in Bangkok. It was seemingly British, blue, immaculately preserved and from the 1950s/early 60s I'm guessing.

Something about it made it look familiar...a strange feeling. Behind it I could see the familiar (I was a resident for many years) Thai cityscape of skyscrapers and businesses. I spotted some very small writing on the side of the bus. I zoomed in...it was a tiny bit blurry but clearly read "Great Yarmouth Transport".
 
Coastaljames said:
I was born in, and still live near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. As some might know, a relatively small and insignificant place on the arse-end of the UK.

My mother-in-law is Thai and lives in Bangkok. Recently the incredibly revered Thai King passed away. My mother in law has been putting lots and lots of things on Facebook concerning this- posts, other people's posts, photos.

I recently saw that she had posted a pic of a vintage bus that had been decked out with flowers and paraded in some sort of memorial parade for the King in Bangkok. It was seemingly British, blue, immaculately preserved and from the 1950s/early 60s I'm guessing.

Something about it made it look familiar...a strange feeling. Behind it I could see the familiar (I was a resident for many years) Thai cityscape of skyscrapers and businesses. I spotted some very small writing on the side of the bus. I zoomed it...it was a tiny bit blurry but clearly read "Great Yarmouth transport".
Click to expand...

Old buses never die, they replace elephants in Thailand.
 
A few year ago I was riding a bus to Lands End, England's most westerly point. I was on the top deck, and I noticed a small label saying that the coachbuilding on the vehicle had been carried out by a firm in Lowestoft, which is (nearly) England's most easterly point!
 
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rynner2 said:
A few year ago I was riding a bus to Lands End, England's most westerly point. I was on the top deck, and I noticed a small label saying that the coachbuilding on the vehicle Had been carried out by a firm in Lowestoft, which is (nearly) England's most easterly point!
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If you'd spotted a lizard from the bus, you'd have been on your way to a full set!
 
The bloke who filmed me at the station is called Mark something. My sister saw the video and emailed me to ask if I know him personally. I said No, why? In the meantime I asked Mark if he knew her and he said he wasn't sure.

Then Sis told me that she used to have a little boy of that name living next door so I told Mark this, and he said yup, my mother had a neighbour of that name when I was little, must be her!

Turned out though that Mark's mother lived in a different town and indeed county. So Sis lived next door to a little boy called Mark (Whatever) who at the time lived next to a woman with the same name as my sister, but a hundred miles away.
How weird.
 
Today in a city far from home I heard Journey's Don't Stop Believing on a radio. I thought heh, Don't... stop!* and smiled to myself. You don't hear that track very often.

A few hours later I heard the same song as I cycled past a car salesroom on way home. Are Journey still going strong? Do they have an album out or what?

* The Sopranos.
 
escargot1 said:
Today in a city far from home I heard Journey's Don't Stop Believing on a radio. I thought heh, Don't... stop!* and smiled to myself. You don't hear that track very often.

A few hours later I heard the same song as I cycled past a car salesroom on way home. Are Journey still going strong? Do they have an album out or what?

* The Sopranos.
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A great tune .. :)
 
escargot1 said:
Are Journey still going strong?
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Oh yes.

And have a lifetime prescription for botox by the looks of things...

band_2016.jpg
 
escargot1 said:
Today in a city far from home I heard Journey's Don't Stop Believing on a radio. I thought heh, Don't... stop!* and smiled to myself. You don't hear that track very often.

A few hours later I heard the same song as I cycled past a car salesroom on way home. Are Journey still going strong? Do they have an album out or what?

* The Sopranos.
Click to expand...
I've heard it quite a few times, quite often used in films/TV. A favourite in Supernatural for instance.
 
escargot1 said:
Also, this.
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.. and this. This is the best bit in the film Hot Rod, it cracked me up the first time I watched this .. :) .. a brilliant comedy scene .. (John Farnham this time)

 
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Swifty said:
.. and this. This is the best bit in the film Hot Rod, it cracked me up the first time I watched this .. :) .. a brilliant comedy scene .. (John Farnham this time)

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That's the second time I've heard John Farnham and that song today. A mate posted it on Facebook this morning.
 
Swifty said:
.. and this. This is the best bit in the film Hot Rod, it cracked me up the first time I watched this .. :) .. a brilliant comedy scene .. (John Farnham this time)

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That scene is in German, Swifty. Just so you know.
 
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