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The Luck Of The Devil

gattino

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
2,515
I'm mentioned my extraordinary - though i hesitate to tempt fate or rely on it happening - equilibrium between unexpected expenses and unexpected windfalls several times on here. It happens so often its hard to credit it to coincidence. Well a variant of it has happened again, so a quick recap..

There was the day i came into £150 for some forgotten reason, which happened to also be the day i accidentally cut the telephone cable while trimming the hedge, and was charged £150 for the privilege of getting it fixed.

The lost and unknown about £300 found in my late mother's rickety bedside drawer before christmas..one day before the boiler broke down. The cost of repair? £300.

Many similar smaller instances, but outside of the direct money for money ones there was my self diagnosed tendonitis which had me bandaging my foot up, on the day an Airbnb guest checked in who happened to be a paramedic.

Well this evening in a very similar vain i had a very last minute booking from man who turned up after work, one hour later. I did my usual routine of showing him what's what in the house including how to use the shower. "You have to press this big red switch on first" I said and demonstrated...and the completely dead switch just kept bouncing back into position. Gone, kaput, dead. Disaster...how can I have paying guests if i don't have a working shower? I wouldn't even know who to call and imagine it would cost a pretty penny to get anyone. No need. The very guest for whom the switch mechanism decided to die turned out to be an electrician...he popped down to b&q for the requisite parts and fixed it. Wouldn't even let me pay for the parts. Says he can claim it back on his tax.

None of this is a boast..and i never end up any richer for it. Its just freaking weird and leaves me with a comforting sense that of somehow being looked after.
 
Some brilliant coincidences there Gattino! Great to read about such lucky timings. These are the sort of things that make you stop and wonder for sure!

I particular appreciated the last one as many years ago I used to run a B and B. It was just a small one and wasn't always full, pre internet just a sign in the front garden, but I was surprised at the number of coincidences. Mostly trivial things but just enough to feel that the guests who'd rolled in on spec were somehow meant to be there. You take a chance when you open your house to perfect strangers after all!

There was the time when after reading a novel I was wondering what it would really be like to live through an earthquake ... and the next guests to book in actually had, so could tell me. The time my son came crying in as he'd hurt his arm ..... just as I was booking in a guest from Sweden who announced he was a doctor. He examined him and advised it was broken, he made it comfortable and we got him to the A and E pronto!

My favourite however was this:-

An elderly couple turned up and asked for a family room I showed the lady assuming it must be for a grandchild. She liked the room and said it would do nicely but wondered how I would feel about having a Downs Syndrome guest as she realised and fully understood that some people might be uncomfortable about it. I assured her that she would be more than welcome. She then started fretting that it might not be ok for the other guests as they would all be sharing my large breakfast table. Again i reassured that she was welcome and if any one else turned up that day and didn't like it then they could look elsewhere. Then she was concerned about my losing business on her account so I had to reassure her that she'd be doing me a favour as I'd have less work! (I was wondering what sort of reception she'd had at other B&B's to make her that anxious as apart from a tendancy to flirt the girl was well behaved).

Another couple turned up and I thought it prudent to mention the other guests ... thinking if they were the sort to be put out by it I wouldn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable. They beamed with delight as the blokes sister was also Down's syndrome and he'd be delighted to meet my guest. So a very happy gathering after all much to the parents relief.

Sollywos x
 
You've reminded me (and maybe for the over speculative there's a clue to ...well...something here) that there was slightly more worth telling to the tendonitis/paramedic incident. Having just looked up the details to refresh my memory... I'd had the problem for a few weeks and only on that day did it get to the point i decided to call the doctor.. but i couldn't get through. As if by magic the paramedic guest checked in that evening. He examined and advised and concurred it was likely tendonitis in my foot. He suggested a one off visit to a physiotherapist to be instructed on exercises to speed up recovery...reckoned it would cost £40-50. As he's sitting there, having just advised me this I get another booking for the following weekend..from an international elite sports physio coming to do work at Liverpool Football club.....

If that timing was sublime, here's the twist...my foot improved by following instructions on youtube, and, what do you know, the physio cancelled her stay here. When i thought i needed one, one booked, when it turned out i didn't need her after all the booking fell through. Coincidence is a dull explanation for life's little mysteries. It's more fun to imagine some unconscious part of ourselves acts as a beacon, sending out signals to draw appropriate people and events to us.

Isn't that a line from that old Frankie Laine song "I Believe"? "I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come to show the way" :sos:
 
The time my son came crying in as he'd hurt his arm ..... just as I was booking in a guest from Sweden who announced he was a doctor.
This is especially interesting as a few months ago a young doctor came to stay. In conversation i asked if he'd ever been in one of those situations on a plane or in a theatre where they ask if there's a doctor in the house....He reported several, including more than one on a flight and being at the scene of incident in the street before the paramedics arrived etc. It took me a few moments to realise and point out to him how extraordinary and improbable this was....after all ive been on hundreds of flights and have never heard that announcement being made ever. Yet he, a doctor, had. Nor have i ever been passing as someone collapsed in the street or had a serious accident in front of me. But he had. And surely these aren't cases of things too irrelevant to me for me to consciously notice. He rationalised it away but it did strike me he was the one in a state of unawareness of how improbable it was to experience these things, yet how apt it was that he did, being a doctor.
 
This is especially interesting as a few months ago a young doctor came to stay. In conversation i asked if he'd ever been in one of those situations on a plane or in a theatre where they ask if there's a doctor in the house....He reported several, including more than one on a flight and being at the scene of incident in the street before the paramedics arrived etc. It took me a few moments to realise and point out to him how extraordinary and improbable this was....after all ive been on hundreds of flights and have never heard that announcement being made ever. Yet he, a doctor, had. Nor have i ever been passing as someone collapsed in the street or had a serious accident in front of me. But he had. And surely these aren't cases of things too irrelevant to me for me to consciously notice. He rationalised it away but it did strike me he was the one in a state of unawareness of how improbable it was to experience these things, yet how apt it was that he did, being a doctor.

At work I once found a tooth, a molar, with springy wires attached to position it in a gap. Within minutes I'd bumped into a part of dentists going to a conference so I showed them, and they told me all about it. It was a cosmetic tooth, no good for eating, which most likely wasn't British. Probably cost nearly a grand.

They were delighted to see one of these and examine it as it was most unusual! Took photos an' all sorts. Said it made their day!
 
This thread has brightened my day! Thanks, everyone!

One day, the Mrs. and I were out for a drive (she was driving), and I remembered that I needed some electrical tape for a repair project. We stopped for a traffic light, and I happened to glance down at the curb. There was a brand-new, unused roll of electrical tape (and a better grade of stuff than I would have bought)!

Fortune favors the prepared mind, I guess.
 
A few years ago, work overpaid my expenses by £100 (I'd been paid the mileage, rather than the value), so I made out a cheque and gave it to HR. That evening, I went to the vets to sort out the account for my dog's treatment after a car accident. It was being paid directly by the insurance to the vet, but I'd paid the excess twice as she'd originally been admitted by the after-hours service, which is a separate company. When I got there, the receptionist told me she had a nice surprise - the insurance company had also paid them for a bill that I'd already paid, so, in addition to the excess, she gave me...£100.

In short, the universe was really determined to give me £100.
 
A number of years ago a group of friends went out for a drink. One found a rolled up wad of banknotes, with no one in sight, at the side of the road, so he kept it. Of all the friends in the group it was the one with the most money who found it, not someone struggling with bills for example. Even then he had to have his arm twisted to buy a round. It feels so unfair sometimes.
 
A number of years ago a group of friends went out for a drink. One found a rolled up wad of banknotes, with no one in sight, at the side of the road, so he kept it. Of all the friends in the group it was the one with the most money who found it, not someone struggling with bills for example. Even then he had to have his arm twisted to buy a round. It feels so unfair sometimes.

I have a superstition/minor principle about windfalls: if I'm not in dire straits, and I never really have been, the money will be spent on something communal: meal for family, beers for mates, trip to the pictures with a friend--to spread the good fortune around.

I like to imagine that it encourages the forces of fate to favour me once more.
 
Sometimes the amount being given to me has matched the amount I /really/ needed. To get back things a then shortly-to-be-ex house sharer has pawned, for example. And the postage price of a present and card to a relative on their birthday for another.

Otherwise I'm into paying it forward for someone.
 
Fascinating thread.
YouTube has lots of videos on the ‘law of attraction’ and ‘manifesting’ wealth or success.
And they say it’s all about intention.
That’s why (amongst other things )it’s essential to provide a business plan in a new business. If you can imagine an outcome - have faith in the outcome, fully intend to be successful- you actually will it into existence. Don’t worry about the how - the universe will provide. (Often in bizarre coincidence and unlikely strokes of luck and incredible synchronicity )
 
Fascinating thread.
YouTube has lots of videos on the ‘law of attraction’ and ‘manifesting’ wealth or success.
And they say it’s all about intention.
That’s why (amongst other things )it’s essential to provide a business plan in a new business. If you can imagine an outcome - have faith in the outcome, fully intend to be successful- you actually will it into existence. Don’t worry about the how - the universe will provide. (Often in bizarre coincidence and unlikely strokes of luck and incredible synchronicity )
My friend 'J' believes in the law of attraction and has written articles about it. So far, it hasn't worked for her... but I suppose, give it time...
 
Sometimes the amount being given to me has matched the amount I /really/ needed. To get back things a then shortly-to-be-ex house sharer has pawned, for example. And the postage price of a present and card to a relative on their birthday for another.

Otherwise I'm into paying it forward for someone.
I had one of those house sharers once. I returned after visiting my parents and he'd stolen all the food from my freezer and taken it to his girlfriend's house .. oh no .. hang on .. apparently what had happened was I'd switched off the freezer plug before going to my parent's house and he'd kindly thrown all the spoiled food away for me, except for a steak which was still defrosting that he'd saved for himself. I picked it up, said to him "Well you won't be wanting this then" and tossed it into the bottom of a dirty bin .. and the time he'd been through my room after removing the padlock mounting with a screwdriver, found a foil sheet (the sort you buy from those army survival surplus stores, I'd bought it on a whim one day) and stapled it onto his bedroom ceiling so he could watch him and his girlfriend when they had sex .. and the time I returned and the clothes washing machine I was renting just wasn't there, our neighbours hated him so tipped me off that his brother had turned up in a van and loaded it up so he just flat out stole it.

XXXX's stereo system was his joy and pleasure, he loved to play System Of A Down until past 3am at full volume, never mind that I had to go to work at 7am and screw what the neighbours thought .. so I nicked his stereo when he was out and sold it in parts a couple of miles away. I moved out at the same time and he had the cheek to come and ask me for some rent for the previous two weeks (this was after one of our mates had to physically restrain me one day from punching him) .. so he turned up at my ex's one day : "Where's my stereo?" .. "I don't know, if you help me find that washing machine, maybe the stereo will be in the same place?" .. I got about £70 for selling his shit and the rental company for the washer never caught up with me .. and you have to think on your feet when you live with wankers.
 
Mate .. seriously .. I've been there. Reminds me of that time that kid trashed your bike and some of your neighbours illustrated to him why he shouldn't take the piss out of Frides .. living in tough blocks. Thank f**k I live with the Mrs in Cromer now instead.

Another thing about this bloke .. the neighbours cracked one morning. They were also sick of him keeping us all awake until he flaked out so they waited one Summer morning until his music ended .. then they placed two speakers in their back garden and played Kylie Minogue's I Should Be So Lucky at full volume to wake him back up. Pure sound warfare. I was screwed either way but I was 100% on their side for doing that. He had the audacity later that day after I'd had one hour's sleep and done a shift at the hospital to tell me how hard done by he felt for them doing that to him. How dare they!? .. I was pissing myself.
 
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I had a real Monkey Claw moment when a friend desperately needed money to pay a tax bill and she genuinely had no one else to ask - just as I'd finally received an injury cheque from the Uninsured Loss lawyer for a bad bike smash.
 
He's turned into a really nice chap now. Moved in 3 doors down with his wife!

He's ever so polite!
Nice to know, that's what normally happens. Or they go to prison or they hang themselves or both. I'm about to compose a pm to you about 'Kat' .. and you won't believe what happened next! ..
 
And once more.... what could be a more obvious big outgoing than a holiday. I was in sri lanka for a week, a week ago. Well for 6 days. A delayed initial flight caused a missed connection and i arrived on the monday morning instead of the Sunday afternoon. I tried claiming compensation according to the european rules governing these things and the airline has accepted it and given me the maximum entitlement...which is set in law and so its purely coincidental that its almost exactly the cost of my holiday - flights and accommodation -returned to me.

No richer, no poorer.
 
And once more.... what could be a more obvious big outgoing than a holiday. I was in sri lanka for a week, a week ago. Well for 6 days. A delayed initial flight caused a missed connection and i arrived on the monday morning instead of the Sunday afternoon. I tried claiming compensation according to the european rules governing these things and the airline has accepted it and given me the maximum entitlement...which is set in law and so its purely coincidental that its almost exactly the cost of my holiday - flights and accommodation -returned to me.

No richer, no poorer.

I have two stories connected to this one story :bpals:

Story one: About 10 or 11 years ago, I had a holiday booked with my then-boyfriend and my two teenage children plus the eldest's partner. While we were in the departure lounge, my boyfriend said "I'm sure that flight screen just said our flight was cancelled" but when we both looked together it said "Proceed to gate" so we followed the instruction. Sitting there at the gate we were part excited, part relieved - until a member of the airline's staff came to announce to everyone that this flight was indeed cancelled due to a staff shortage.

Cue lots of people not very happy and having to make our way to the baggage carousel to collect our suitcases, along with instructions to go to the airline's helpdesk to see whether we could be booked onto tomorrow's flight instead.

Obviously that flight wouldn't have enough space for an entire plane full of extra passengers, so after a conversation with my dad (a very frequent flier) and armed with the correct flight regulation code number (thanks Dad!) we all went home and I got on the telephone to their customer service department - who initially tried fobbing me off with "Circumstances beyond our control, no compensation due"

Thanks to my "knowledge" of regulations, this quickly changed to "Oh yes madam, you're right" and a full refund on all our flights plus compensation for each of us, as well as someone else who'd originally been booked to go with us but hadn't actually checked in. Bonus!! A very happy holiday was had by all, because the money arrived whilst we were away (We managed to book a new flight to a different airport for the following day) and pretty much covered what we'd initially paid out.

Story two: Five weeks ago today, I was standing at a bus stop in Piccadilly Gardens thinking "It's a shame to just go home when the weather's as lovely as this". I'd been to visit some friends the previous night and had ended up staying over, but they didn't have a charger that fitted my phone so I was going home to recharge so that I could ring round to make a plan for this day.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, a man appeared to my right and said "Excuse me, I don't wish to be rude, but is there anything interesting to do in Manchester?" To which I laughed and replied "Yes, there are loads of interesting things to do! What are you interested in?" and then started making a few suggestions. He liked the idea of a visit to the Cathedral, but when I started to give him directions he looked a little perturbed and then said he wasn't sure he could follow all that.

I'd been listening to Abraham Hicks that morning, and was "in the receiving mode" so as I didn't have anything actually planned I decided to escort him down to the cathedral so I'd know for myself he got there ok. We had a really interesting chat along the way, and it turned out he was originally from Sri Lanka but had been working in the North West and was about to go back to his home in London.

The place he was about to move out of, was very close to my place of work and I'd been looking for somewhere to move to so I asked if his landlord had anyone lined up to move in. He said there were a couple of people lined up so I didn't think much more about it.

After the cathedral we caught a bus together because he'd expressed an interest in Salford Quays, so I took him there, pointed out a few different places he might like to see on any future visits, and then we went and sat in the Blue Peter garden for a little while, still chatting about various things and touching quite often on mental health as his line of work was related to that.

Later on, he told me that he'd spoken to several people before he approached me at the bus stop, one of whom had replied "Nah mate, you're better off going to Blackpool or Liverpool", but weirdly, the two women he'd previously spoken to had both introduced themselves with the same name as mine!

It was only that night when I was sitting at home and listening to Esther/Abraham Hicks again that I realised the correlations between our names - his name was the same as Esther's husband, and mine is the same as Abraham's wife... Spooky!

Not only that, but the next day he rang me to say he'd spoken to his landlord and asked if I wanted to come and see the property he was moving out of - I did, and within 6 days I'd packed up my belongings in Manchester and moved into the house he'd just vacated. I absolutely love living there, it's close to work, handy for public transport, has space for parking when I do get a car again, and right now I have the whole place to myself because the other housemate has moved out!

Luck of the Devil? Or divinely designed?

:evillaugh::nun:
 
Its just happened again.

My sister was here yesterday and on an unsolicited cleaning spree of my front door, she pestered me to get the various worn out door furnishings replaced.

Last night someone tried to book to stay here on Airbnb last minute. Then cancelled one hour later. Not my rules but if you cancel on the day of check in, no refund. So basically a complete stranger has handed me an unexpected, undeserved and unearned £25.

Just been on Amazon searching for like for like replacements for the knocker, letter box and door number. When i finally found the correct combination and sizes and ordered it i noticed the total price. Er...£25.
 
I used to get the same thing happen, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale.

There was a coffee machine in the canteen at work, which charged 15p per drink, and later on, 20p. Normally, I had change enough rattling around in my pocket, but on the odd occasion that I was short, I would inevitably find just the coin I needed underneath the machine.

OK, I had to rummage under there with a long ruler, and risk getting dusty trousers, but the coffee money fairies never let me down. Obviously just superstition, but I always felt that if I went to the canteen knowing beforehand that I didn't have enough money, it wouldn't work.
 
It sort of happened to me.

I needed to move out of my rented, huge and unheated house. My parents had died and left me just enough money to buy a small and cheap house locally, but I desperately wanted to stay in the same village. I'd been here 26 years and didn't want to move. So a neighbour in one of the little cottages just down the road from my house offered to sell me her house. She only used it as a holiday cottage maybe four times a year, she was losing the ability to drive and garden (elderly) and didn't want the place to go to 'just anyone'. But she kept me dangling. Another two years passed, during which probate for mum's estate got held up (so I didn't have the money anyway to go elsewhere). And then she raised the price she was going to charge by £20k, which I didn't have and couldn't get even as a loan.

So I was resigned to having to move into town. It would be tough on the cat and dog, but we'd survive and at least I'd have a house. And then EVERYTHING happened at once. Other neighbours from one of the other cottages suddenly split up and needed to sell, their house was £5k cheaper than my original lady wanted for hers (which is next door). My mum's probate suddenly resolved itself, I had the money and put the rest on my credit card.

Upshot was I ended up in a much nicer and more modern house than the one I was originally going to buy; I got to stay in my village and only had to move thirty metres down the road. Whereas if my mum's estate had been sorted sooner, I'd likely have ended up living in town, if the couple hadn't split I wouldn't have got my gorgeous cottage, and if elderly lady had sold to me when she was going to I'd have been living in cute cottage but with no heating and in need of complete redecoration.

Sometimes delays are for a (cosmic) reason.
 
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