Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Weird coincidence - tell me yours

202 replies

RedPlumJammy · 21/02/2025 07:42

The weirdest thing happened to me today. I was waiting at an international airport terminal for a family member and getting coffee when I thought I spotted a famous sports player next to me. I spent a few mins trying to surreptitiously look sideways and eventually he got up and I realised it wasn’t him.

I then went to the arrivals gate to wait for family member. About 15 mins later - I kid you not - the actual real life famous sports person exited the arrivals gate and walked past me. It was 100% not the same man from earlier.

Am I insane - or is that an insane coincidence?! I’m sure you'll all think I’m crackers but I’m always looking for a meaning or sign from the universe too 🤣

OP posts:
Clariceamelia · 21/02/2025 20:49

Used to be a NDN in childhood 40 odd years ago....'a boy' my age- same school, walked home together from age of 6 - not seen since.... then was on holiday in Aus and sat on Bondi Beach 45 years later. Right next to me, was a guy with (still) red hair.....it was only him!!!

Retirementsoon · 21/02/2025 20:57

I had just arrived in Australia I was in the outback at the back end of nowhere and there was just a red haired man with his son in the pool. Turned out he was the grandson of the dr who was there when I was born.

Retirementsoon · 21/02/2025 20:58

Clariceamelia · 21/02/2025 20:49

Used to be a NDN in childhood 40 odd years ago....'a boy' my age- same school, walked home together from age of 6 - not seen since.... then was on holiday in Aus and sat on Bondi Beach 45 years later. Right next to me, was a guy with (still) red hair.....it was only him!!!

cross posted with this - another red haired man in Australia :-)

Talonz · 21/02/2025 21:13

These are all great stories and that is something to enjoy.

The truth is the Theory of Probability can rationalise things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_theory

The bell-shaped curve tells us that the probability of most things not happening is zero. The line pushes down towards the X axis but never quite touches zero.

This means we cannot rule out seeing a whale jump out of the sea on our holiday later today, merely because last night we dreamed it happened yesterday.

The two things are not connected. They happen by chance, but we connect them because we were one of only 8 people out of 8 billion who had the same dream and the same real life event.

It is like shuffling 8 billion dreams and 8 billion new days yet expecting not one person to have the same experience as their dream. This coincidence will happen as sure as day.

ladymalfoy45 · 21/02/2025 21:24

Yesterday! Went to meet my DHs former HOD for a coffee . Haven't seen her since DDs Christening eleven years ago. Spent a lovely few hours catching up .
As we all left to go to the carpark it transpired we'd parked next to each other.
She'd arrived first.

Clevs · 21/02/2025 21:25

I used to work with a man called John who lived close to my brother. I left that job in 2000. Last weekend I went for a run and ran past my brothers house and also Johns house. I started thinking about John and how old he would be now or if he was still alive.

The following day I was reading the obituaries in our local paper and he was listed there. I've never thought of him since I left that job but because I ran past where he used to live I wondered how he was doing that day and the next day I found out.

Greenkindness · 21/02/2025 21:35

When I went to secondary school (not my local one but miles away) there was someone there with the same name as me (not a very common name). We’d also been born in the same hospital at the other end of the country.

Amperoblue · 21/02/2025 21:42

MyUmberSeal · 21/02/2025 13:01

Had a dream about a Simon and Garfunkel song that I hadn’t heard in years, it’s my mums favourite song. Started the car the next morning and it was playing on greatest hits radio.

I got married in France. We had picked our wedding song as Toto's Hold The Line (love isn't always on time). We are based in the SE but have family and friends all over. We were all sharing cars and driving to Gatwick to catch the morning flight. Unfortunately the M25 was gridlocked getting on the M23 and there was a bit of friction that we might not make it.

And then guess what randomly came on Radio 2!

..... and we caught the flight.

Cottonplease · 21/02/2025 22:00

My dd had a friend at primary school called let's say Jane (in actual fact she has an unusual name so not going to out her here) birthday 2nd Jan whose mother was Denmark.
Went to secondary school (Jane went to a different one) and became friends with another Jane, same birthday, mum was from Denmark.

One day dd was in town with the 2nd Jane and the other Jane walked past them from the other direction.

Amperoblue · 21/02/2025 22:03

Also I live in a small market town. I got a very last minute place at Uni in the midlands. My dad could only drop me off to Halls a few days early before term started with foreign students who were given a chance to settle in . The very first person I saw there became an instant friend and then my first proper boyfriend of 4 years. He was an ex pat kid from boarding school in Bristol whose parents had settled in Brazil where he was born.
Weirdly it turned out that his dad owned a flat in my one horse town down the road from me.

ThankyouBakedP0tato · 21/02/2025 22:16

A few years ago I had forgotten it was Easter and so on Easter day I rushed to a big corner shop near me to get Easter eggs, there was a massive rabbit in one of the aisles, I did a double take and it was gone. The shopkeeper saw me looking surprised and I said - I think I'm losing the plot, I just saw a massive rabbit, and he said - oh don't worry he's ours, he must have jumped the barrier from the back.

I was so relieved I hadn't been hallucinating. Still a massive coincidence though - it's the only time (and probably the last) I've been surprised by a giant rabbit in a shop

Pudmyboy · 21/02/2025 23:02

KrankyKumquat · 21/02/2025 14:43

We were on holiday in Cornwall and one afternoon, went to Port Issac (Doc Martin village) and, while sitting on a bench eating a pasty, got talking to some Australian tourists. Turned out, they were about to travel to a small village at the other end of the UK the next day to visit where their ancestors from the 19th century were buried - yep, it's where we live.

Best ever coincidence I heard though, was a chap on a walking holiday down south somewhere, many miles from home, who answered a ringing public phone in a small village. The caller turned out to be HR from where he worked who'd mistakenly dialled his employee number instead of his home phone number with a query about his wages.

Mind. Blown. 🤯🤯🤯

JBJ · 21/02/2025 23:13

Went on holiday to Duinrell in the Netherlands with ds a few years ago (anyone that's been will know it's massive) and found ourselves in a caravan directly next to someone he was at school with, who also lives in our village! Fortunately, it was someone we got on ok with, but we'd never discussed holidays or where we were going.

Chuchoter · 21/02/2025 23:14

Clevs · 21/02/2025 21:25

I used to work with a man called John who lived close to my brother. I left that job in 2000. Last weekend I went for a run and ran past my brothers house and also Johns house. I started thinking about John and how old he would be now or if he was still alive.

The following day I was reading the obituaries in our local paper and he was listed there. I've never thought of him since I left that job but because I ran past where he used to live I wondered how he was doing that day and the next day I found out.

I think this may be an actual 'thing' as sometimes I will wonder about someone from years ago and do a bit of an investigation on social media or google their name and they always turn out to be dead very recently.

My sister and I were talking about it recently as it happens with her too!

Pudmyboy · 21/02/2025 23:24

Years ago, I returned to my home city after living away for some years, and rented a room in a shared house, with 3 other women, all different personalities and lifestyles but we rubbed along nicely. Mooching around the city I bumped into someone who I hadn't seen for years, a friend of an ex-boyfriend. He was now living in the city with his new partner. Chatted, told him where I was living: turned out, with me moving in, he now had a connection to all the women in that house: me, via my ex; another because they were both very involved in trade union stuff though they didn't work together; another worked where he did (though in a different department); and the final woman used to date his partner's brother and was still friendly with the partner. Weird!

AnxiouslyAwaitingSpring · 21/02/2025 23:28

Sat at a table at a families event on a US Army & Air Force Station in Colorado and I look up, only to realise I'm sat opposite but one to a guy I dated 2 years prior, back in the UK.

Not me but involved my Dad.
My Godparents were on a trip to New York and went up to the top of the Empire State Building and are admiring the view. They then heard a man talking in an accent identical to that of our area and got chatting to the man. Turns out he's not from our town but knows people there. So my Godfather says "Oh do you know (my Dad's name)?" Yes! He says, I know him well.... Confused I mean I knew my Dad was well known in his time but crikey!

Cakeandcardio · 21/02/2025 23:44

I went to Tenerife for a week once and there was a girl staying in the same hotel with her parents. 7 months later and the same girl was on the same flight as me to Mexico. I thought that was so strange.

NotTerfNorCis · 21/02/2025 23:44

Went on holiday to Cork in Ireland. I was sitting in a café. Someone banged on the window from outside. It was my team leader from work.

AviationGeek · 21/02/2025 23:44

I was chatting to a friend about her Grandmother and she mentioned the street she lived on. My Grandmother had died 20+yr earlier but had also lived on that street. Not only that, it was the same house.

Years ago I rented a studio, eventually I bought a bigger flat. I found out that a girl who'd lived downstairs from my studio was now also living in my new building.

AviationGeek · 21/02/2025 23:47

My friend visited me from Cornwall with her boyfriend. We lived in Cumbria, A couple of years later I went to an open day at Manchester Uni and her boyfriend was doing the tour.

CatteryCatss · 21/02/2025 23:48

Ten years ago, I was on the bus home from college in South Wales. I overheard an American lady talking to someone else about how her ancestors had originated from South Wales. She explained that she was interested in Genealogy and wanted to visit to learn more about the culture of South Wales.

She got off the bus before me and we smiled at each other as she was getting off the bus.

A few years later I got an Ancestry DNA test and sent it off. You’ll never guess who I matched with, yep… the same American lady I met on the bus a few years prior!

It turns out she visited my hometown for a week from Utah, and our paths just happened to cross.

Apparently she’s my fourth cousin!

NotTerfNorCis · 21/02/2025 23:48

Chatting to a friend I'd known for nearly thirty years. I'd never known where he grew up, though. Turned out, he grew up on the same street that my OH lived for twenty years.

Apollobinds · 21/02/2025 23:55

Moved 250 miles away to move in with boyfriend. Moving my stuff in and pass neighbour on the stairs. Feel like i know him from somewhere but that would be ridiculous I’m 250 miles from home. Anyway turns out he’s from the same small town as me and we used to work in shops next door to each other at the same time!

Ginnyaletranger78 · 22/02/2025 00:40

Most of these holiday ones are because packages are sold from certain airports to certain destinations. The hotel offerings are all grouped. I went to a campsite in south of France. Everyone there was either northern English or Irish. The two Easyjet flights to the nearest airport were from Manchester and Dublin. People always think it's weird or spooky, but it's easily explained. Same with matching birthdays. Same with names. Same with being born in the same hospital. It can all be explained.

Isitfated · 22/02/2025 00:54

DH and I were both married previously and ended up filing for divorce maybe 6 months apart. Our divorces were finalised in the same week and our first weddings had been on the same weekend years before we even knew each other. We joke that we got married on the right weekend to the wrong people.

Also, from DH‘s school, 5 people from his year and the year above all separately ended up in the same profession, multiple different locations, multiple different roles. Despite starting at different times, DH and 3 others all ended up based at the same location, miles away from where their school was. Years later, DH gets another role and moves location and ends up on the same team as the 5th one.

Swipe left for the next trending thread