Another coincidence !
I'm sure you will remember
the series of coincidences I have recounted elsewhere in these memoires
concerning my oldest friend Richard.
 |
Sadly, his 30-year marriage to his childhood sweetheart recently came to an end. Having moved from the family home, Richard (wishing to remain near his two children) looked around the neighbourhood for a suitable property to buy or rent. Let him take up the story in his own words:
| "Just bought a flat about 15 minutes ago (literally) from a vendor who has hitherto been anon behind the estate agent, but whose true identity is now revealed as none other than one "David Bryant" |
Now I'm certain you all know this, but. that's my name! How extraordinary!
An amazing coincidence! The pink balloon!
In the summer of 2005, my
wife's daughter was married: we've never been particularly close, but
I was nonetheless invited to the ceremony and to the somewhat extravagant
reception that followed. This took place at a beautiful rural location
in Oxfordshire and, I must confess, was more enjoyable than I had anticipated,
despite the somewhat 'Anglican' nature of the proceedings and the presence
of my wife's first husband!
As part of the afternoon's festivities, my step-daughter and her fiance
had organised a balloon race: pink and blue balloons were inflated with
helium and guests were invited to write their names and postcodes on cardboard
tags. As the sun began to set, several hundred balloons were released
into the evening sky....
The warm breeze rapidly drove the colourful flotilla upwards and eastwards,
until all were out of site.
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A couple of months passed... My wife and I were visiting her parents in
the South, and the newly-weds dropped by with their wedding photos.
For something to say, more than anything else, I enquired if any of the
balloon labels had been returned.
| "Just two: one from France, one from Germany" replied my step-daughter. "Funnily enough, one was Mum's and one was yours!" |
Elevenses?
Some
time ago, I received this curious (and somewhat worrying!) e-mail:
Part of the alarming nature of the unknown is
its mysterious link to the known..... I awake each night to a lewd exhibition
of the merging. I open my eyes and turn to see the digital alarm clock,
sitting on the lamp table next to my bed and see: 12:12, and 1:11 am ,
2:22 am and 3:33 am and 4:44 am.This distresses me so badly upon awakening,
that Icannot think. Just a wave of panic that SOMETHING is waking me,
as the calculated odds of awakening each night precisely at those specific
times is several billion to one......
I'm ashamed to admit that I mentally 'filed' this mail as one of many from those we may describe as slightly paranoid. But since I received the message, circumstances in my own experiences have caused me to modify my opinions!
Firstly (as you may recall
if you are a regular delver into these memoires) following surgery some
time ago, I have to visit the bathroom several times a night. Imagine
my surprise when I noticed that the times of these visits almost always
fitted in with our correspondent's observations: the times seemed invariably
to be multiples of eleven: 11.11, 2.22, 3.33 and so on! Most curious!
Recently I enjoyed an evening in the company of Uri Geller. I was amazed
to hear him suddenly refer to the very same phenomenon occurring in his
life! I would be fascinated to hear from YOU if this is a general thing!
One possible explanation
is that our 'inner clocks' are far more precise than we realise. Certainly
we have all experienced the sudden awakening at the appropriate time for
an early-morning flight or car journey, only to hear the alarm clock 'go
off' seconds later! A day or two ago, I fell asleep with the thought that
it would be interesting to observe an Iridium satellite passing over the
house at 4.44 am (!) As you may already have guessed: I awoke at precisely
that moment, to witness the characteristic bright flash from one of these
amazing spacecraft from my bedroom window!
