Favourite stories of coincidences

[StuntAcorn]

Historical or personal.

I was listening to the radio this morning and they had people calling in with stories of coincidences. Unfortunately didn't get to hear it all as a call came in so would love to hear if you have any.
I have read about the famous ones between Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Kennedy_coincidences_urban_legend

Pottering around the Pyramids and bumped into my brother's maths teacher.

I went to Dublin about 20 years ago, and went on a coach tour, I sat next to someone who was from my home town and we had a mutual friend. That was weird.

Not a favourite coincidence and definitely a sad one but when my son died he was living in Australia.

I had very little details of what had happened (suicide) so I was trying yo Google Sydney newspapers to see if I could get any more information (don't ask me what I thought I'd find out but grief is a strange thing)

Anyway, I came across an obituary for someone else, the same name as my son, died on the same day, Christmas day 2020, except the other man lived in Cuba Missouri.

Don’t judge me, I was a student. Friend visited from another city and we fancied a bit of weed. He knew someone who had just moved from his city to my city so he paged him and the guy called him back on my landline. My mate scribbled down the address and handed me the piece of paper. It was only my new neighbour in the flat upstairs! Handy.

My friend has 3 children, all born around 3-6 months before the Princess of Wales’s children were born.

her children are called George, Charlotte and louis. In that order

EVERYONE says “Like the Royal family” and she has to say “No, they copied me!”

Famous coincidences - I never got over the shock of the triplets who were seperated at birth, adopted out at different ends of the USA, and then 2 of them went to the same University. Thinking they were long lost twins, a newspaper covered their story. That’s when the 3rd triplet came forward

There’s a Netflix movie about it, but it’s really sad.

When I was 16 I met an 18 yo boy in a nightclub (it was back in the 90s!) and gave him my number. He called me the next day to ask me out and it turns out our parents were once neighbours (his parents still live on the same street as my parents did to this very day). We dated for about 6 years, lived together whilst I was at uni (he moved to be with me), but separated amicably after I'd graduated. We remain firm friends to this day, almost 30 years on. Both married (to different people!)

I have the same birthday as my DS and my DF.

My exH and I started dating new partners around the same time. Turned out the new partners used to date each other!

Another...which meant a lot to me....
I was pregnant with my third baby (husband's first and last!) and absolutely terrified of scans due to recurrent miscarriage history. So much so I almost couldn't bring myself to go for my first scan.
12 week scan date came through...my birthday (thank goodness all was well).
20 week scan date came through...my husband's birthday (we found out we were having a little girl).

I was once on a coach holiday in the US, I was reading a crime thriller in the coach. I looked up and we were Infront of the LA police headquarters where I had just read my main character was walking into.

One time I was away for the day at the seaside, I wandered into a gift shop and there was a woman who had bought two large lamps and was trying to negotiate getting them home. The delivery seemed quite costly. When I overheard her address, it was about two streets from me. So I took them home for her and took them round after she got back from her holiday.

I used to have a boss who lived in a windmill, visited her house(/windmill) once.

Years later, met a guy through my OU course, who in his ice breaker said he lived in a windmill. Yep, it was the same one. Visited it again then!

Found out after we got married that 5 years before when DH was in hospital with a burst appendix I was also there but in the next ward with the same complaint.
At the opening night of a new nightclub we were both there. 15 miles from where I lived and 20 miles from his home.
Third place we crossed paths was on holiday in Great Yarmouth in a caravan park.

We finally found each other in Blackpool. Courted for 2 years now have been married for 47 years.

I don't understand the relevance?

Years ago, I was visiting my parents. My dad happened to mention that his aunt was ill (she was pretty elderly).

Leaving my parents' house a few days later, I popped into the church in the next village, which was where my dad's family grew up. My brother and I had used to fill in the church guest book now and then when we were kids. So I opened it, and there was that aunts name and comment. She died that day.

My nephew is currently in Adelaide for their equivalent of the Edinburgh fringe and whilst walking back after the show saw a man ahead with something written on his sweatshirt.
Being nosey he caught up and the writing was his nephew's surname which is really unusual. After a chat, the man insisted on giving my nephew's his shirt. It was the man's last name too and they arranged to meet up for a proper chat

And me.

I go to a lot of gigs by a particular band. I met a guy at them, we chatted at many many gigs (Halifax, Blackburn, London, Leicester). The band is from Manchester and I just assume most fans are from that area.

Eventually I asked him where he lived and he said "you won't have heard of it" and named a small town ten minutes from where I live. That was years ago, we've been firm friends ever since!

I went to university about two hours’ drive from where I lived. I arrived quite hung over as I’d been out with a group of friends the night before, about seven of us.

Was placed in a shared room with a girl who was supposed to be out with us (she was a friend of one of the girls of gone out with) the night before. We’d never met. At the time, I couldn’t help but think: what if we hadn’t got on the night before, had she come out?! Shes still a good friend though.

On either side of my friends dad's grave are two people with the same surname. One of them died on the date of my mates dad's birthday. If you saw the graves you might think they are related but they aren't.

My friend invited me out for a meal with some other ladies. I got chatting to one lady I had never met before. My son was in the army posted in Germany. Turns out her son was also posted to Germany.
Not only were they in the same corps they were also next door neighbours in the block !!

My Dad has been married 4 times. My Mum was wife number 1, and he left and married wife number 2 when I was a toddler. She was a lovely stepmum, who my Dad sadly left when I was a teen.

When I was in my mid 30s, a friend of mine had a new boyfriend, and went with him to his aunt’s house for a family party. On the mantle piece was a photo of me as a teenager. It turns out the boyfriend’s aunt was my stepmum!

That’s lovely you reconnected.

My boyfriend and I spontaneously booked to go skiing this weekend at an obscure mountain I’d never heard of. A few hours later, rewatching Sex and the City, it’s the episode where Miranda and Steve go to a mountain lodge for their honeymoon and, you guessed it… it’s the same mountain we’re going to tomorrow! 🙃

When I was 19 I travelled to the US alone to stay with friends, as a student I found thr cheapest flights with a 5 hr stop over in Germany. On the flight out of Germany I was sat in a row with 3 other young people all also on their own, so we got talking for the rest of the flight. I'm from UK, one from France, Germany and Greece. Got off flight said bye and went own ways.

20 years later I am on a flight to Canada on my own sst next to a woman about my age, get talking and she tells me about how she met her Greek husband on a flight to US, didn't think much of it until the conversation went on to more detail of this. Yep it's two of the three people i met on the flight. They stayed in touch and ended up married and then she happened to be on the flight with me telling me the story. We've all met since and staged in touch.