Here's somthing that happned to me about 8 years ago. It divides opinion to this day.
I've had outlandish conicidence in my like. At the age of 18-19 while living with the wrinklies (the parents) I worked for a charity. The assistant manager live a couple of miles from us. After I left never saw her again. Around 10 years later while living overseas I visited the parents for two weeks. On on friday walking near their home i bumped into her. Nothing strange about this. The next day I travelled five miles to a major market nearby and bumped into her again. Maybe 10,000 people at the market and I was there 30 mins. On the Sunday I went to a different town with a small market, there was an ambulance siren and the a crowd gathered, and i wound up standing next to her as a gathered to nose at the accident. Since then I've visited the parents on numerous occaisions but never met her..... Still I put this down to coincidence.
A while later I lived in Bangkok for 6 years. I had a Finnish friend who visited the country twice a year to buy silver which he took back to the UK where he lived and sold. He always stayed at the same place, the KCrazy guest house. (Still in the Lonely Planet today). Not the 5 story place it is now, back then only 10 wooden rooms and all regulars or long term residents. Nowdays it has a restarant, back then a plastic table 3 chairs, you grabbed beer bottles from the fridge and honestly told the owner later in the evening how many you had drunk.
The Finnish guy Ville left Brixton and is an Indi rock star in the US these days. But back then he was a drunk in Bangkok. As a silver trader he had the idea Maggie (Margaret Tatcher) had made him an urban peasant. Peasants own their business but live in poverty. While sitting in KC one afternoon drunk he had a brainwave. Creating a business in Bangkok where a he starts a Tuk Tuk business, but instead of using peasants from the northeast to drive the Tuk tuks as is normal. He hires white backpackers. On the principle the wealthy Bangkok Chinese would pay a fortune to be served by a westerner.
At that precise moment a guy in his late 30's, long mousy hair, wrinkly face and unwashed clothes walk in, he had an Austtralian accent. We instantly sat him down and told of our western tuk tuk driver scheme and told him we wanted to give him a job interview.
1st Question.
"Do you like Tuk tuks", he replied yes
"can you drive one?" he replied yes (surprise by us)
" would you like to drive one for a living " he replied yes
" we went errrr" he elaborated
My tuk tuk is outside. I just drove one across Europe. Now Singha beeer are sponsering me to drive one around the world.
Outside he showed us parked up, his tuk tuk, packed with camping, wife and dog.
So unwittingly at the precise moment of outr afternoon drunken conversation we bumped into the worlds only western tuk tul driver and the tried to interview him for the job of tuk tuk driver.
So Syncronicity or coincidence?