Uni
First term of uni, and my first Independent Study seminar. A girl looks at me quizically:

"I know you from somewhere"

Ah bugger, someone from freshers week I don't remember. I brace myself for the inevitable "I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name"

Instead, she continues "Do you go to the Lord John?" This is my local drinking hole at home, in a small town by the name of Stroud. I'm at uni in Birmingham, away from the West Country.

Turns out, she knows one of my best mates, and lives 10 minutes from where i live.Small world
(Urban Hermit Exit, pursued by a bear on, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:17, Reply)

I was just thinking earlier that a good QOTW would be something to do with coincidence
oh by the way...that was a lie.
(littlenipple hate's bad grammar, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:15, Reply)

It's all Greek
I was walking along in Norwich (there visiting a friend) when a voice rang out: "Frankspencer? Is that you?"

Turned out that a student (one of about 200) I'd taught nine years previously in an obscure Greek town was doing an MA in Norwich.
(frankspencer, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:10, Reply)

A few years ago...
...i was backpacking in Croatia with my brother.

We stopped for a night in the youth hostel in Zadar. The room they put us in already had one occupant, a Canadian guy named Greg.

Maybe 6 or 7 days later my brother and I found ourselves in Dubrovnik. The room they put us in already had two occupants who we'd, quite literally, bumped into the night before on Korcula (sp? it's been 3 years, i can't remember the spelling).

We then discovered that one of them lived about 15 minutes away from my brother, and the other one was an entirely different Canadian guy named Greg.

Spoooky. Ish.
(MrTrent cannot think of a clever sig., Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:06, Reply)

my first gig
my bands lead singer was waring a rosemary before the gig but just before we played the cross with jesus on it fell off, then his equipment screwed up mid preformence and we were booed off the stage. after it, he found it again, but the jesus had come off and it was pretty well stuck on there before. coincidence...i think NOT! why did jesus? WHY?
(cactus fantastico is fantastic....o, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:05, Reply)

One of my jobs at the hospital
used to be taking hip/knee implant patients for their first walk down the ward.This can be painful for the poor dears.

One morning, I was sent to escort a lovely elderly gent. He was quite nervous, so I said, 'This might smart a bit, so it's OK if you swear, as long as it's in Swahili!' - that being the most unlikely language I could come up with on the spur of the moment.

He looked astonished. 'How did you know that?' he asked.
Turns out that he spent 20 years with the Army in Kenya and was fluent in Swahili.

He relaxed and we had a pleasant stroll down the ward, with him looking forward to telling his daughter about the spoooky nurse!

It was just a guess. I think.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 20:05, Reply)

I dreamt i was having a piss in a pool.
I woke up pissing myself in BlackPOOL.

I shit you not.
( Cleisthenes morning sickness is a bitch, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:41, Reply)

A very short job interview
Many years ago etc. I went for a job interview. Thanks to various pieces of legerdemain and chicanery, I'd managed to bypass HR and got an audience with the Chairman himself.

I walked in, we exchanged pleasantries etc. and he said 'I see you went to St. Judas's of the Bleeding Entrails(*).'

'Yes, I did,' I replied.

'Did you enjoy it?'

'Yes, it was a very good school.'

'Well,' replied the big boss man, 'I spent 5 years there, and I hated every minute of it.'

Oh well. The job would probably have sucked anyway.

(* names changed to protect the innocent, but feel free to look it up on Friends Reunited anyway)
(><(((">, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:13, Reply)

I once reacted on a valentine's letter way too enthusiastic
Later learnt she wrote it in twenty-somethingfold to an equal number of spotty williebearers. Sporky coincidence.
(Le Man Marathon in English 'The Marathon Man', Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:11, Reply)

I don't know if this is true
but my mate claims that one time he was gathering observable, empirical, measurable evidence, and then subjecting it to the principles of reasoning.

Immediately afterwards, he found that he'd acquired new knowledge!

Say what you like, there might be something to all this 'science' business.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:08, Reply)

well...
I was talking with the girlfriend about our relationship. She said, "I'd like us to come at the same time as each other for once."

Later that night, it actually happened! Chance is a fine thing.

As her wish had so rapidly come true, I seized the opportunity to make one of my own. "I'd like to have a threesome," I said.

Apparently that "spoilt the moment". We split up later that week.

Length's ok - timing is an issue.
(silencer, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:05, Reply)

Coicidence?
Maybe...

see i had this wet dream aabout it snowing a lot and alas as i woke up it was F**ing snowing!!! i mean that is like coincidence big time!

ahh i'm no good at this....
(My name was taken by me Is Sleeping With Your Sister/ Daughter/ Mother On, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 19:00, Reply)

My sister has never been to Kenya...
but whilst one of her uni friends from Leicester was out there she got chatting to a Welsh lad one night. As they were talking they somehow managed to get onto a subject involving my sister and came to realise they were talking about the same person. My sister had kind of been out with him at school.

I have no idea if there were any lions or tigers involved in this story.
( NomDePlume fo shizzle my nizzle old bean, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:58, Reply)

icely05's story reminded me of this.
Not spoooky as such, but it gave me a laugh at the time. In my first year at uni, I was told that a guy, who totally fucked me over in a particularly callous manner, was back with his ex girlfriend, mainly because her mother had recently died. I learned that he was feeling under strain as she lived in St. Andrews (as opposed to Glasgow).

"Well," I thought to myself, "The poor girl's ma has deceased, she's going out with *****, and she has to live in St. Andrews!" How's that for rule of three?
(w0rmwood pearl, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:55, Reply)

Many years ago...
...I went out with this girl from a small locality. She was a psycho beast with a very weird family.

A few years later I met a guy from the same small locality. "How fascinating!" I said to him. "I went out with a girl from there once. She was a psycho beast with a very weird family."

Turns out I'd never met her brother.

Well, not until that moment.
(><(((">, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:55, Reply)

You know what.
I really wished I could get on the first page of the QOTW one day.

Then just a few minutes ago I checked and I was.


What a "Spoooky Coincidence"... No I know it wasn't but I have never got into the best of the QOTW so I wanted to talk about it
(Matthew-field.co.uk, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:54, Reply)

You? Here? Now?
Many years ago, I worked in Oxford. There was a chap there called Georgui, who everyone knew. Like, everyone. Apparently, everywhere he went, he'd meet someone he knew. It was a running joke. Anyhow, I got to know him when I got the job, and like most people, laughed over the whole thing.

Fast forward some number of months. I split up with an ex-girlfriend, and sulked off to my Dad's for a bit of pint-shaped therapy. Turns out my Dad and brother had planned a trip to Avebury to see the stone circle and stuff. Blooming miles from Oxford and everything, see. We did the place, all dead impressive, and eventually decided to head for home.

I'm telling them all about Georgui, and how he always meets someone he knows everywhere. We were just giggling over the chances of this happening, when... round the next corner walks Georgui and two mates. We greet each other, high five (told you it was a while ago) and laugh over the co-incidence.

His mates scowl brutally in Bulgarian. Turns out they'd taken him to the most unlikely place they could think of, just because he met someone he knew everywhere he went. They'd thought that they'd finally managed it after months of trying, when he spotted me!

He bought me a few drinks over it... it was nothing compared to the fun he'd had winding his mates up over it.

The best co-incidence ever, tho': I really love Mrs. God, and she reeally loves me, too. What's the odds of that happening?
(purplegod counting down for Christmas!, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:33, Reply)

i was thinking how long it had been since I'd talked to an old friend of mine
At which point I got an email from here saying she's studying 150km away from me, which considering we used to live in seperate countries was somewhat of a surprise. Thing is, I had just been writing an email to her when the MSN popup came with "one new message" so of course I looked at it

she's coming over in a couple of weeks :D
( morrybyte made a subtle namechange at, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:28, Reply)

Massive Attack
Got tickets to see em at the NEC a good few years back.

Booked up about 6 months in advance.

The day finally arrives and after a few smokes en route, get into venue. Once armed with alcohol, we make our way to our seats....(Front section about 20 rows back).

At this point I should mention that when out in venues or large crowds, if your bored the lookalike game can be very entertaining.

Had a look round the venue only to see a lookalike of my cousins wife!!!

I told my mate this and said dont make it too obvious that your looking cause she's sat right behind us.

10 mins later I take another daring glance around. Only to see a lookalike of my cousin!!

Shit....It's not a lookalike....It's them!!!

They were in brum having a meal and decided to come spur of the moment and got the tickets on the door.....

Spooky....

His Birthdays the same day as mine too.......
(never-right -getting it wrong since '78, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:06, Reply)

Prison!
My Grandfather was in the RAF in his youth (as a rear gunner in the Lancasters, if you care), and after the war he was posted to Rhodesia.

Many years later, he's back in the UK and he's running his farm, and he's a member of the Rotary. One day, all the old boys go down to Chelmsford nick to play darts with the inmates. As they're being shown around, a huge, black arm shoots out of one of the cells, and grabs my Granddad.

Carnage ensues. Prison Warders go mental, my Granddad likely shits himself, and the prisoner lets go, and says:

"I know you."

To my Granddad. Who responds with a tactful:

"Not bloody likely!"

Turns out (to cut a long story short) that this huge great convict was a little boy in Rhodesia, and he used to clean my Granddad's boots for a penny a time (or whatever the equivalent is...)

I dunno if it's spoooky, but maybe straaange!
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 18:02, Reply)

Nigerian Butcher
My Dad grew up in a small Suffolk village, in which there was (and indeed still is) a butcher's called Ruse's. When i was in Nigeria in a small town called Port Harcourt (helping rape the economy as an employee of Halliburton) I went to a bar and started to talk to the owner. Not a very old bloke. Turns out he was from a town in Suffolk called Bures (pronounced "Bewers"). Then it turned out that he used to ride a delivery bike for the same butchers. Well, I thought it was a massive coincidence. Sod the lot of you.
( Fray Brentos *mega-belms*, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:55, Reply)

I’ve just been reading Derren Brown’s book.
It’s got a section all about randomness and chance.

I put the book down and have a look and guess what QOTW is all about Coincidence!
What are the odds on that?

What a crazy world.
The current world Population is 6,525,170,264 (July 2006 est.)
Odds are, something fucked up will happen to someone at some point in human history.
(waxdart hello., Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:51, Reply)

rule of three
I was explaning to my boyfriend the 'rule of three', dunno if you heard of it, when good and bad things usually happen in groups of 3. He was being sceptical, we were with our mate who had previously been dumped by his girlfriend on xmas day, then shortly after, had his nan die, walked out of asda and...."Wheres my scooter?" so i got a 'your creepy' look of the bf. so that wasn't the best month for our mate, luckily for him, his scooter was a pile of shit anyways.
(icely05 suggests killing the frosties kid, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:36, Reply)

Weather KILLS!
My mum lives in a fairly small village. Our local vicar's house is right over the road, next to the church.

One stormy night, when I was a nipper, and scared, my dad held me up to the window and said 'when it's thundering, that's just God clapping'. When it lightens...

He never managed to finish the sentence because it did strike lightening at that point. I shat myself, not as much as the vicar must have done though, because it hit his aerial, collapsing his roof!

The worst part was, the insurance company wouldn't cover it, saying it was an act of God! (my dad found this hilarous and 15 years later, still does, he isn't very religious!)

Whilst his roof was being repaired he took a well earned ski break in Switzerland with 2 other vicars. They got a ski lift to the top of a high snowy mountain, in order to ski down. They stopped to take in the view, and while doing so noticed the weather turning dark.

Before they could snow down the mountain to escape the brewing storm, a bolt of lightening struck, hitting and killing the vicar in front of him, and the vicar behind him. Our vicar was unhurt.

No-one in the village could decide whether he was the luckiest or unluckiest vicar ever - or what he'd done to piss off the man upstairs!
(Northern Lovely, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:30, Reply)

Possessed!
The day Kurt Cobain died, or rather was reported dead, I was fairly upset as I was a bit of a metaller/grunger then. So later on, I went to my room and decided to play some bass. And to give a bit of a tribute to Mr. Cobain, I decided to play Smells like Teen Spirit.

Now it starts with a low F, which is the first fret on the lowest string - which being on bass, is a pretty hefty bugger. And with me just fingering that note, not even playing it, the string snapped.

I dunno, maybe he thought I was crap!
( fross Read your email on, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:24, Reply)

Every time I go out drinking.
I wake up with a sore head and all my money is missing. The weird thing is I never hear who it is mugging me in the middle of the night.
( Smithlick is often seen at the bottom of threads, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:20, Reply)

Running of the Bulls
So one of my mates travels to Spain for the said event and does the now infamous "Harry Bolt" in front of the Bulls.

The mate he was travelling with runs with him and they have a jolly good time. With both of them running no one was able to get a pic of their daring deeds. So instead go and purchase a post card. The picture is of a man running full pelt in front of the marauding bulls.

My mate sends it home to his Father saying "oooh look what I got up to!!". On his arrival back in London the phone rings. Its his Dad.

I imagine the convo went like this:
"Hi Dad"
"Hi Son"
"Did ya get the post card?"
"Yeah, Funny thing about that."
"Whats that?"
"You know who's on that postcard?"
"No?"
"Your Uncle Barry, when he ran the guantlet back in the 80's"
"Jesus" *faint*
(Slatts If you cant remember it didnt happen, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:19, Reply)

If Hong Kong Jimmy is reading this, sorry J, it's your story.
Hong Kong Jimmy's brother in law, a proper Fullham Londoner, first time out of the UK, is visiting the in-laws in Hong Kong. One night, HKJ takes this bloke to an out-of-city shanty pub up on the hills. A wizened old Chinese geezer walks up to the Londoner and pokes him in the chest. "I know you," he says.

"Leave it out, mate," says the Londoner. "I've never been to Hong Kong before."
"No, we no meet in HK. We meet in London. The Cock Pub. I beat you at darts. It was a Tuesday."

The Londoner's jaw drops.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Thu 8 Feb 2007, 17:17, Reply)