Coincidences or not.....

When my dad was in his twenties, he suddenly woke with a pain in his chest.
Later that day, he received a telegram stating that his father had died at 10.30 that morning, the same time my dad had the chest pains. He found out later that my grandfather had had a massive heart attack.

I was on a residential Civil Service course in Cambridge in the 80s. At dinner one evening, a few of us were talking about holidays and one chap said he thought the Welsh village he had recently stayed in was probably one of the prettiest in the uk. I asked him where it was and he said “Solva, but you probably won’t have heard of it as it’s a small place and not very well-known”. I was happy to tell him that my mother was born there, I had spent every holiday there as a child, still visited as often as I could and I agreed about how pretty it is! Incidentally, it is VERY well known now, and I understand that it is difficult to stroll around the village due to the huge influx of tourists! I haven’t been able to visit for a long time, but hate the thought that it is now so different from when I was last there.
There’s a high price to pay for living somewhere so popular.

I was choosing two ornaments from a seaside gift shop they all had names on them I choose one Dil's name but couldn’t find the other name I needed for my sons then long term girlfriend so went with a different random name.
I was going to take them off anyway. The name I choose was my now lovely DIL.

I may have told this before.
I was on holiday in India and sitting on a wall chatting to a couple of men waiting for their wives. Having asked where I lived ( small town) one of the gents said he had been there the previous week at a college reunion. He lives about 200 miles away. I asked if it had been arranged by R* * . Looking rather amazed he said it had been. She is my best friend and lives 3 doors away from me.

My family home was in mainland Europe, when DH, two of our sons and I were on a plane from Sydney to Perth the people in the row in front were my mums friends and their children who were at school with my sister in Europe.

On Friday driving through France, I decided to put British radio on.
It was the first time since leaving home 10 days prior that we had put any radio station on.
Within 5 minutes a caller came on the talk show, it was our daughter!

I was on the beach in Barbados with my little grandson who was attempting to catch a fish.Along came an American tourist who had all the fishing gear and he was showing my grandson the best way to catch a fish. We got chatting, the usual where are you from.I told him I lived in a very small town in S. Ontario which he would not have heard of but not only did he know it his long time friend growing up lived there and was the husband of my hairdresser.

Some years ago my DH’s niece was travelling on a boat back from Denmark on the way home from travelling around Europe. She and her boyfriend got talking to an older couple in the bar and were discussing where they lived. It turned out that they were from the same small village as us and, not only that, they lived on the corner of our close. They knew us well.

mabon2

Personally don't believe in coincidences.

Well, there’s a surprise! Of COURSE you don’t!!

It really is and so sorry for your loss.
There are many strange happenings in our lives some that we can’t easily dismiss.

When I was given a new watch I stopped wearing my older watch. I placed the older watch on the chest in the bedroom, where it remains. Eventually the battery died and the watch stopped at 3.35.
Some years later my son died suddenly. His watch was given to me.
It had stopped at 3.35!!
Now that really is a coincidence.

I started working in a recession and had to travel daily to a city about 30 miles away for my first job. I had a lovely older local colleague who was reminiscing about the happy times he had had living in my hometown when his family were little. It turned out he not only lived in the same road where DH and I were renting but also in the exact same house 30 years previously. I can’t think of any way of describing that other than a coincidence.

mabon2 Coincidences happen.
The definition of coincidence is:
The occurrence of two or more events or circumstances at the same time by chance, without any apparent connection or planning.

Personally don't believe in coincidences.

I discovered 9 years ago that I was adopted. To cut a long story short, a few months ago I found out who my birth father was. Both my birth parents were from Ireland. I am English. All of that generation are long gone. Three weeks ago my daughter took me to the cemetery in Southport where my birth father is buried. A cousin messaged me to say he was sure a relative on my birth mother's side was buried in that same cemetery. We found both graves. My birth father and my birth mother's uncle were buried about 50 yards apart if that!

Tess46

In 2005 I went to Cuba on a back packing holiday with my daughter. One evening we decided to go to the Hotel National as a treat. It was very famous in the times of progibition in the USA when the rich and famous would fly to Havana for the booze! Anyway we were drinking cocktails(dirt cheap there) on the veranda when we got chatting to an English couple who were on their honeymoon and staying at the hotel. In the course of our conversation it turned out his parents lived in the town I was born and brought up in. Weymouth on the south coast. The coincidence was that he still often went to stay with his parents as he loved fishing and he had a friend in the town who also enjoyed fishing. I asked which street this friend lived on and it was the street I was born on. I asked him what number house and would you believe it was the house I was born in!! The other side of the world and a complete stranger often sat in the house I’d grown up in….

2 Cuban ones from me too. We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Havanna and our room had a huge double balcony overlooking the sea in the old Spanish style. We felt like celebrities sitting on our magnificent balcony. Last year I was watching a German film which took place in Cuba and the love couple in the film were staying in 'our' room and filming on 'our balcony'.

When we returned from that holiday, at Havanna airport, we bumped into our neighbour from 2 doors down who had also just been on holiday there and was booked on the same flights as us.

Gizzy48, what a wonderful story! I'm so glad you re-found your first love and had many happy years together

Some lovely stories on here and I was especially touched by yours about your mother Moth62

A couple of years after our mother died, my brother came to stay with me. We live at opposite ends of the country, so it was his first visit after mum’s death. Having arrived late the night before, we were just taking it easy the next morning when I heard a strange beeping noise. I searched all over until I eventually traced the noise upstairs and found, hidden under a pile of stuff on the windowsill, mum’s alarm clock that she’d kept by her bed for years and which she always brought with her when she came to stay with me. It had lain there undisturbed for months since I’d brought it back home with me. No-one had touched it and yet it decided to sound its alarm just then when my brother and me were together again. It was very spooky and yet very comforting. We felt it was our mum letting us know that she was keeping her eye on us both still.

These are lovely stories, thank you for posting them!

In 2005 I went to Cuba on a back packing holiday with my daughter. One evening we decided to go to the Hotel National as a treat. It was very famous in the times of progibition in the USA when the rich and famous would fly to Havana for the booze! Anyway we were drinking cocktails(dirt cheap there) on the veranda when we got chatting to an English couple who were on their honeymoon and staying at the hotel. In the course of our conversation it turned out his parents lived in the town I was born and brought up in. Weymouth on the south coast. The coincidence was that he still often went to stay with his parents as he loved fishing and he had a friend in the town who also enjoyed fishing. I asked which street this friend lived on and it was the street I was born on. I asked him what number house and would you believe it was the house I was born in!! The other side of the world and a complete stranger often sat in the house I’d grown up in….

Many years ago I was stuck in an underground carpark because of a problem with my car. A stranger appeared out of nowhere and sorted out the problem. He disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.
Years later in a different town we met again and eventually married.

When I was looking to buy my first car, a friend's father helped me locate one - a rather old Renault 4. I only had it a week when it stalled in rush hour traffic on a Friday evening. Some helpful passers by got it going again and I went away for the weekend. On returning, I got the news that the friend's father had got a heart attack and died on Friday- at exactly the time my car broke down.

During my sons gap year he did the usual trip to Thailand and then on to Australia where he befriended an Aussie girl on Bondi Beach, she was a hairdresser and gave him a free haircut.

Two years later he was on holiday touring Southern Ireland, he booked in for the night at a two room hostelry in a remote hamlet and guess who was there?

He got another free haircut!

PamelaJ1

My 3 sisters sent me the same card for my birthday

When my grandson was 3 I was trying to make him a card with Fireman Sam on it as that was his favourite character. I designed it using a stock photo and tried to print it on card but my printer wouldn't work. I ran out of time to keep trying so rushed off to the supermarket and bought a dinosaur card. When I arrived for the visit I discovered the other Grandparents had bought the identical card!

Next time I used the printer out popped Fireman Sam - but on paper not photocard! I did give it to him next time he visited but it has been left in the toybox here ever since.