Saturday, July 02, 2011

Coincidence

We always make too much of coincidence. Thing is, we notice the times we turn up in the same shirt as someone else but fail to balance it with the extraordinary large number of times that doesn't happen. Coincidences are just the moments when 10,000 to 1 against scores the one.

You probably all know, by now, that if there are more than 20 people in the room it is better odds than 50/50 that two will share a birthday.

Now work out this one:

I was meeting a friend for lunch in Malvern. Now Malvern is bigger than I remembered so I couldn't find the pub we'd agreed to meet at. First person I asked was a tourist. Second person I asked was an old friend of mine I hadn't seen for ten years or so. Half way through 'Excuse me can you tell me where the...' I said 'Paul?' and he said 'Steve!'

We used to play cricket together for Coventry Diocese and he had retired to Malvern. We had a nice five minute conversation as he walked a bit of the way with me, congratulating me on having chosen the best pub in Malvern (The Nag's Head, thanks Good Pub Guide) and on still being involved in parish ministry.

He said our meeting was God-given so, in case it was, please pray for his back to get better soon.

Spooky man.

2 comments:

Mike Peatman said...

If you had an iphone and the good pub guide, that would never have happened - it would show your and the pub's location on a map. Just shows technology ain't everything.

Steve Tilley said...

And then yesterday, in a different pub in Somerset, we met a couple from Malvern.

Bob had got to the pub in Malvern using his satnav. When I phoned and asked him where he was he didn't know. 'Any landmarks on the way?' 'Don't know.' Nothing useful at all.

Technology can stop you paying attention.