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Original poster

What is the strangest coincidence you’ve had?

233 replies

Yoloohno · 07/03/2023 23:29

Mine was I met someone on holiday in place A and had conversations several times during the week.

Fast forward 6 months and I got talking to someone on another holiday in place b and thought I know them but wasn’t sure where from, but not from that holiday or home but it turns out it was from holiday A.

OP posts:
NurseryNurse10 · 08/03/2023 22:41

Also, on a support forum (people all around the UK so not just local area), I posted a photo of my road when it was snowing a few years back.
A lady commented saying it looked familiar and we then realised she had lived down the same road as me many years ago as a child.

Kitchenette · 08/03/2023 22:42

When I was little, my mum had a book of exercises she did each day. It had sections to fill in to track your progress. She gave it to a charity shop a few years ago.

about a year ago I remembered the book and thought I might try to get a copy for myself, as much used to swear by it. I tried to buy one on Amazon but it was out of print, so I ordered through Amazon from a second hand seller instead. You guessed it, it was my mum’s books, complete with all her handwritten notes in.

whirlyswirly · 08/03/2023 22:44

@mastertomsmum I'm reading this and my friend owns that ferry Wink

DinosApple · 08/03/2023 22:45

Another one, we went to a party 200 miles away from where we live and DH met a chap that was born in the same very small rural village that he was born in.
Mil knew this other chap's family. We met him a few times at mutual friends wedding/christenings etc.

Then 5 years later we met him again when we went on holiday to the peaks.

Another 10 years later, last year, I saw him in a playground with his DC, and me with mine. I wasn't sure it was him at first so messaged our mutual friend. It was. We had a lovely catch up chat.

Well probably bump into him again in another few years.

TellMeItsNotTrue · 08/03/2023 22:48

I was treated by a doctor in a&e who used to live in my house, wasn't the people we bought it from so was before them, he did say it was going back X amount of years which was years before we bought it

I wouldn't have believed it tbh, but he was waiting for my notes so just checking me over to see what tests he wanted doing in the meantime, and he asked if I lived far from the hospital, I said area, he said he used to live there, in X street... That's my street! No way, we were in number X what number do you live in? Number X!!

When he came back later, with my notes, he said he'd checked my address because it was such a weird coincidence that he wasn't sure if I was just matching him 😂 which is exactly what I would have thought if it was the other way around

Lou670 · 08/03/2023 22:49

Someone I went to school with and haven't seen for decades. After reconnecting on facebook discovered his daughter was born on my birthday and my daughter was born on his birthday.

Sewaccidentprone · 08/03/2023 22:53

2 things. Many years ago was chatting with a bloke on my team about where our parents had worked. Turned out his dad used to work with my dad in the office of a steel works.

also approx 5 years ago, chatting to someone on my team who’d grown up in a nearby small town where my friend now lives. He grew up in the house where she now lives.

wanttokickoffbutcant · 08/03/2023 22:55

Sure I have posted on here before but my cousin lives a long way away and I never go into London - lift door opened at Covent Garden tube and there he was!

WedonttalkaboutMaureen · 08/03/2023 22:55

@99problemsincludinghavingteenagedaughters the story of your blankie is so lovely

Mañanarama · 08/03/2023 23:03

My friend came to visit me when we were students. He rang a mate of his who’d recently moved to my city to arrange a meet up, wrote down the address and showed me and….

… it was my new neighbour in the flat above! I’ve never seen such a shocked face as when he opened his door just seconds after hanging up!

whowasi · 08/03/2023 23:05

Finding something out about someone on MN ... not giving more details, too outing, but was a shock!

Genie321 · 08/03/2023 23:09

DoIWantThis · 08/03/2023 08:26

I lost my lovely dad in 2021. For many years we belonged to a local am dram group. For a while I would re read old plays that we'd been in together - a comfort really. I also wasn't sleeping well and used to have radio 4 extra on through the night for company/background noise. This particular night I was reading Agatha Christie's 'A Murder Is Announced'. I set it down on, let's say page 46 and settled to sleep. When I woke the next morning the exact page of the play was being broadcast on radio 4 extra.

That's beautiful. He was there with you and sending you a sign x

FettleOfKish · 08/03/2023 23:11

Ooh some of these are very cool! Mine are not so exciting.

A pretty recent one that stands out for me is that out of all the thousands of restaurants in central London my friend suggested the exact restaurant to meet for dinner that I'd had my eye on, but hadn't yet mentioned to him. It had been recommended to me on here, I'd never heard of it before. We'd had no discussion about area, type of food, budget, nothing at all to lead us both to the same place except the date we were meeting.

Years ago I moved country for a job, first day I was taken round and introduced to everyone. Couldn't shake the feeling that a guy in one team was really familiar; turned out after later discussion that we'd worked together back home a year or so previously.

CatsShittyArses · 08/03/2023 23:53

whowasi · 08/03/2023 23:05

Finding something out about someone on MN ... not giving more details, too outing, but was a shock!

Oooo er 🙄

GiantHam · 09/03/2023 00:07

I’ve encountered the same celebrity in different parts of the UK at totally random times over a few years - was once seated next to him on a flight to London, once met him in a petrol station in Greenwich, and once in a deli in West Didsbury.

Tratjymp · 09/03/2023 00:07

CuriousMama · 07/03/2023 23:44

These are fascinating. Mine are just I often say things that are then said on the TV or radio straight after. Or can read it straight after I've said it. Sounds mad but even dh comments on how often it happens 🤔 It's not pleasant tbh.

That's the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Lightsbonaza · 09/03/2023 00:23

@Saucepots how beautiful and moving. That must bring you comfort.

@shieldmaiden7 NO WAY. I’m struggling to explain that in any rational way.

JimnJoyce · 09/03/2023 00:42

my BF's wedding anniversary is the same date as mine, (both divorced) his ex wifes birthday is the same date as mine, his birthday is the same date as my best friends.

CuriousMama · 09/03/2023 07:40

Tratjymp · 09/03/2023 00:07

That's the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Show quote history

I knew it happens to others. Just why? So odd.

Kitchenette · 09/03/2023 07:52

CuriousMama · 09/03/2023 07:40

I knew it happens to others. Just why? So odd.

Show quote history

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion

Brendabigbaps · 09/03/2023 07:57

Sat on a sunlounger in a tropical country, got chatting to the woman on the next one, turns out she was my mates sister in law!

Wilburisagirl · 09/03/2023 07:59

In lockdown I got chatting to a neighbour who I'd only ever had brief chats to. It turned out that I had worked with his daughter years ago in another city.

Wilburisagirl · 09/03/2023 08:05

Catname · 08/03/2023 00:35

Sat next to a bloke in a queue for a visa to another country. Form was very complicated and the bloke needed a bit of help and my pen. Travelled a month later to said country of hundreds of millions of people. Walked into hotel restaurant, and there he was!

What are the chances?! Amazing.

VillanellePinkDress · 09/03/2023 08:15

Saucepots · 08/03/2023 00:21

My dad was a hobby artist - he liked sketching beautiful views and dabbling in watercolours.

When he died, having never expressed a view or preference about burial or cremation, mum and I had to go with our feelings and work out what to do about the funeral. We decided on burial in a newly created eco-burial ground, and found a lovely spot for him in front of a duck pond with a beautiful view of the South Downs.

A few weeks later, flicking through his sketch books, we found a completely beautiful 20 year old sketch of the duck pond and that perfect view of the South Downs, made from the exact spot we chose to bury him in.

He’d thought that view beautiful enough to spend an afternoon sketching. It was the right place for him to end up.

Perfect and so touching!

louise5754 · 09/03/2023 08:45

It's probably something that happens to everyone so I might sound silly pointing it out.

If I'm reading or writing a word I often hear it on the tv / radio at the same time.

It's happened 4/5 times in the last couple of days. I've never noticed it before.