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Are you saying Nora Batty had a silly name?

Not at all. It suited her. But Roy Batty... someone should have 'shopped him into a headscarf and sagging stockings.
 
Not told any of my stories lately so here's one that happened to me over 40 years ago but I don't think these things have a 'sell by date' lol!

Our son was three months old and the following morning we were due to make the longish drive to introduce him to my relatives. Although he'd slept through the night at 6 weeks old I was still sleeping with one ear open as you do!

In the early hours I was awoken by a metallic sounding thump! Instant alert wide awake, checked baby he was fine! Hoped husband had woken up as well but he was as per usual deeply sleeping, just like my dad he could sleep on a washing line if necessary, so no point in trying to wake him up ...... it would have been quicker for any intruder to have murdered us! So maternal protective instincts drove me to check out the house! Picture me in my nighty creeping about, back to the wall peering round corners like in a cop film but with a heavy book instead of a gun. (We librarians know that books are the answer to everything!!)

Anyway found nobody and nothing that could account for the noise .... opened all the cupboards to check for fallen items nothing was out of place. Thinking it must after all have been a dream went back to bed satisfied that I'd checked everything.

Next day arriving early at my aunts I was surprised to find her all behind hand as she was a stickler for the midday meal being at 12 o'clock sharp. What had happened was that she had woken to be puzzled that it was lighter than it should have been. Worried about her son who usually woke her with a cuppa before going off to work she raced to his room ..... only to find him fast asleep but with his old fashioned alarm clock on the floor stopped at the same time I'd 'heard' the metallic thump!!!! He must have rolled and knocked it off his bedside table. Which would have been alright if the clatter had woken him up instead of me!!! Or come to that anyone else in his house! We laughed and just saw it as a coincidence ... one of those things that happen from time to time.

Sollywos x
 
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Ah so a post stays up even when you are editing it ... Two likes and I hadn't got to the punch line lol ... unless of course the likers were doing remote viewing/mind reading lol! If so pack it in ... there are things going on in my house I'd rather you couldn't see yikes!

Sollywos x
 
Ah so a post stays up even when you are editing it ... Two likes and I hadn't got to the punch line lol ...

I wondered why the post seemed unfinished a while ago. Now I know why - you'd hit "Post reply" halfway through and then returned to use post hoc post editing to complete it.

Yes - once you click on "Post reply" however much you'd entered so far accretes to, and becomes visible on, the open forum.

As long as you remain logged in during a session and don't close the window in which you'd started it, your draft post should be maintained in the entry window even if you leave the webpage and come back to it.

Personally, I find it more convenient and reliable to compose longer posts in a separate text editor before copying and pasting them into the forum post entry box.
 
Ah so a post stays up even when you are editing it ... Two likes and I hadn't got to the punch line lol ...

Sollywos x
If I'd been in time to like it before you were done editing, you would have had three likes—it was the bit about your dad being able to sleep on a washing line. :rollingw:
 
A nice coincidence
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Last Sunday I saw a book by Harry Mulisch in the Kabbalah exhibit in Amsterdam (must see!). This made me curious. This Sunday I walked into a secondhand bookshop in Utrecht. On top of the stack, near the door, I saw that same book, for 3 euro. I bought it.

The book has the Hebrew "Aleph" on the cover. And later I saw that the bookshop was called "Aleph".

aleph02.jpgaleph01.jpgaleph04.jpg
 
We librarians know that books are the answer to everything!!

We laughed and just saw it as a coincidence ... one of those things that happen from time to time.

Sollywos x

Well I never, a day after posting the above and a related coincidence comes along, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something?

I enjoyed the thunderstorm but not that it blew my tv ariel of kilter. With no signal my son saw an opportunity to put on a tedious action film via his computer. Yawn yawn yawn .... however one of the opening scenes got my attention ........

a fight in a library, blokey defending himself against a dagger with a book and eventually killed his apponent by shoving the book in his mouth!!

See toldya ..... good choice of weapon huh!

Totally unbelievable of course .... the librarian would have turned them out for making a noise long before it got to that! Mind you blokey did return the book to the shelves after the deed was done so I'll overlook that minor detail!

The film was called John Wick or something like that.

Sollywos x
 
You didn't happen to notice the title, did you? I don't think I want to check that one out.

Er no I didn't!! I know I should have paid better attention it was probably vital to the plot!!*

I was more concerned that the whole of the library was about to get trashed and was averting my sensitive eyes when it all came down to the one book which in view of what I'd so recently written on here was a bit surreal. I very nearly hadn't included the bit about the book in case you lot should think it a bit pathetic so I was feeling vindicated and well and truly forteaned (if that's a word) Yay!!

*The film in question is not worth watching unless fight choreography is your thing and you can see it as a highly skillful fast ballet! Actually do those type of films ever have a plot?

Sollywos x
 
It's a minor coincidence if that!I was driving through a part of the country an old friend of mine was from. Fortunately/unfortunately he used to bare a striking resemblance to Bono. A style he cultivated in the early days {before Bono disappeared up his own backside}of U2. I was laughing to myself when I turned on the radio and yes u2 were on.
 
It's a minor coincidence if that!I was driving through a part of the country an old friend of mine was from. Fortunately/unfortunately he used to bare a striking resemblance to Bono. A style he cultivated in the early days {before Bono disappeared up his own backside}of U2. I was laughing to myself when I turned on the radio and yes u2 were on.

Please don't mention Bono/U2. I turn into a Werewolf.
 
I finally have a fun coincidence to share with you (nothing ever HTM!)

I am writing a story. In it, the narrator temporarily takes care of a cat because the cat doesn't want to be alone at night. The cat is gray and fluffy.
IRL: there are many lost cat listings in my neighborhood. Most have happy endings. All the cats so far have been: tabby, black/white, or gray/white. One night, I hear a cat crying outside a neighbor's door. I go out and walk over to see if it is a lost cat someone is looking for. He isn't. He is gray and fluffy! When I go back home, he follows me to my door and comes inside with me. After eating an entire can of tuna, he hangs out with me and then sleeps on my bed all night. The next day, I manage to track down his family. Happy ending.

Life imitates art-ish impulses.
 
I love this thread, and as I met up with an old pal earlier on this week and had a curious conversation about the number 4, I thought I’d post it on here

My friend worked for a large company in which he is based in their Singapore offices. He’s been out there for several years and was doing very well, he’s been promoted twice in that time, and his salary has far exceeded his expectations, to the extent that he managed to pay off all debts including a large mortgage to a house he owns in Kent

Two years ago (in Singapore) he moved to new rented apartment which was numbered 4, apparently the number 4 is considered to be very unlucky in Singaporean culture, insomuch so that the guy who owned the apartment refused to put the number on the front door or on the outside intercom system.

Because of the lack of number my friend started to have issues with delivery’s, so he decided to buy a number 4 and attach it to the door himself , also he had printed on a strip of paper his name and door number, which he inserted in the relevant space in the intercom.

Shortly after doing that, his life started to turn sour. He lost his job due to his company “changing strategy”, he soon found a new job, but that only lasted a few months as the parent company who owned the operation, decided to pull out of the region.

His Father who was in good health died suddenly, his cat died suddenly for no explicable reason (according to a vet) the apartment had continuing infestations of a large flying insects which couldn’t be determined how they were getting into the flat, the house in which he owned in Kent caught fire and the insurance co were delaying in paying the claim, and the most devastating of all, his wife left him and returned to the UK.

He took some advice from his neighbours, who told him to ditch the door number and the printed slip on the intercom, a few weeks after doing that his life turned around again. He was offered new job (still in Singapore) that came with a very good salary, and after much long distance heart to hearts with his wife, she agreed to go back to him, and to top it off the Insurance Co eventually agreed to pay out the claim for the fire.

He’s not normally superstitious, but he told me that a snowball has as much chance in hell, than him putting up the number 4 again on any part of that apartment lol
 
I love this thread, and as I met up with an old pal earlier on this week and had a curious conversation about the number 4, I thought I’d post it on here

My friend worked for a large company in which he is based in their Singapore offices. He’s been out there for several years and was doing very well, he’s been promoted twice in that time, and his salary has far exceeded his expectations, to the extent that he managed to pay off all debts including a large mortgage to a house he owns in Kent

Two years ago (in Singapore) he moved to new rented apartment which was numbered 4, apparently the number 4 is considered to be very unlucky in Singaporean culture, insomuch so that the guy who owned the apartment refused to put the number on the front door or on the outside intercom system.

Because of the lack of number my friend started to have issues with delivery’s, so he decided to buy a number 4 and attach it to the door himself , also he had printed on a strip of paper his name and door number, which he inserted in the relevant space in the intercom.

Shortly after doing that, his life started to turn sour. He lost his job due to his company “changing strategy”, he soon found a new job, but that only lasted a few months as the parent company who owned the operation, decided to pull out of the region.

His Father who was in good health died suddenly, his cat died suddenly for no explicable reason (according to a vet) the apartment had continuing infestations of a large flying insects which couldn’t be determined how they were getting into the flat, the house in which he owned in Kent caught fire and the insurance co were delaying in paying the claim, and the most devastating of all, his wife left him and returned to the UK.

He took some advice from his neighbours, who told him to ditch the door number and the printed slip on the intercom, a few weeks after doing that his life turned around again. He was offered new job (still in Singapore) that came with a very good salary, and after much long distance heart to hearts with his wife, she agreed to go back to him, and to top it off the Insurance Co eventually agreed to pay out the claim for the fire.

He’s not normally superstitious, but he told me that a snowball has as much chance in hell, than him putting up the number 4 again on any part of that apartment lol
Maybe he should try try flat no 3A next time, in the way that some British streets have a 12A rather than a 13...
 
Maybe he should try try flat no 3A next time, in the way that some British streets have a 12A rather than a 13...
The Malaysian building in which I am writing has floor 3A and also 13A (I should check for 23A next time I'm in the lift...). I used to visit a place here that not only had 3A but also 12A: avoiding two unlucky numbers.

I think 4 is seen as unlucky because in Mandarin the word sounds very similar to the Mandarin word for "death".
 
Never could explain this payphone incident. Saturday night out with friends, we decide to call my friend Al to see if he wants to join us. This was in England long before mobile phones, so we had to use one of the iconic red phone booths. Someone was already using it so we had to wait a few minutes. Guy leaves and we cram in the booth. Now, in those days, in order to make a call you would first get a dial tone, then call the number. When the person answered you would hear a bunch of beeps at which point you insert the coins. So I pick up the phone but hear no dial tone. I hang the phone up and try again. Still no dial tone. Seems to be still connected to the previous call. I say "hello" to see if anyone is still on the line. Person answers "hello?" It was my friend Al. He had just picked up his phone to make a call, and somehow, miraculously, without even dialing his number, we were connected. We all went to the pub after and tried to figure out how the hell this happened, but it remains a mystery. If I did not have my friends with me at the time as witnesses, I would have believed it was my mind paying tricks on me.
 
Never could explain this payphone incident. Saturday night out with friends, we decide to call my friend Al to see if he wants to join us. This was in England long before mobile phones, so we had to use one of the iconic red phone booths. Someone was already using it so we had to wait a few minutes. Guy leaves and we cram in the booth. Now, in those days, in order to make a call you would first get a dial tone, then call the number. When the person answered you would hear a bunch of beeps at which point you insert the coins. So I pick up the phone but hear no dial tone. I hang the phone up and try again. Still no dial tone. Seems to be still connected to the previous call. I say "hello" to see if anyone is still on the line. Person answers "hello?" It was my friend Al. He had just picked up his phone to make a call, and somehow, miraculously, without even dialing his number, we were connected. We all went to the pub after and tried to figure out how the hell this happened, but it remains a mystery. If I did not have my friends with me at the time as witnesses, I would have believed it was my mind paying tricks on me.

We have a 'Phone Weirdness' thread which you might enjoy!
 
Experienced an odd coincidence on Saturday afternoon.

Late on Thursday evening, a friend of mine decided he wanted to join me on Saturday to see the team I support play football.

Because he’d left it so late, he was told to pick up the ticket from the ticket office on the day of the match, rather than risk it being delayed in the post.

We turned up and he gave the ticket steward his somewhat unusual surname of Gotobed (which surprisingly is English and not French as one would we assume) the steward flicked through the tickets and handed him one – he thanked her and was just about to walk away, when he noticed that although the ticket had the correct surname, the forename was wrong.

He handed it back to the steward and explained, so she flicked back through the tickets and again handed him another ticket, and again he noticed that the forename on that ticket was not his.

She found the correct one eventually but what was odd, was that the steward only had about 12 - 15 pre match tickets for pick up, and three of them were for people who share the very rare surname of Gotobed.
 
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