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Global Quest For Local LETS
Copyright © James Taris

4. A Day of Coincidences

They say that things tend to happen in threes ... good luck, bad luck, or even sneezes!

But today it felt like I was in the Twilight Zone!

Coincidence 1 ...

Enjoying a drink at the local pub with my LETS host and buddy, Steve Burwell.

Steve was one of my hosts in Bristol. I stayed with him for 2 nights (Thursday and Friday), but I had to leave Saturday morning because he had a lady friend from Australia who was going to be staying with him.

But that's not the coincidence ... So after saying our goodbyes, I returned to Jane's place (my original host) and she agreed to accompany me to Cardiff, Wales, about 50 minutes from Bristol by train.

So we rode our bicycles, NOT to the local station, but to the next one up, where the trains leave more frequently. And as we entered the station, we came face to face with Steve and his Aussie friend Helen. Another 30 seconds sooner or later, and we would've missed them!

Coincidence 2 ...

Jane Titley, my purple LETS host in Bristol, in a purple Cardiff public garden.

The train was very crowded, so Jane and I squeezed down the aisle all the way to the other end, just next to the exit. We were changing trains at the next stop, so we didn't want to miss it. During the trip, Jane started talking to a blonde girl sitting in the last row just next to us. She was also going to Wales, but not to Cardiff. She was on her way to pick up her passport (the UK passport office is in Wales). When we changed trains, she disappeared.

Three hours later, on our return from Cardiff, we stopped at the first station and there she was, waiting to get on board. But the coincidence gets even more incredible. As the passengers boarded the train and filed past our seat, I noticed the blonde girl sit in the seat opposite me across the aisle in the same row, oblivious to the fact that we were there. And just to make the whole experience border on 'spooky', she started reading a Glamour magazine, which was exactly the same mag. Jane was reading at the time!

Coincidence 3 ...

Barbara and I before my LETS presentation in Bristol (twins?)

At my LETS presentation that night, I was introduced to Barbara who was Australian ("I'm 60 tomorrow," she confessed).

"Whereabouts in Australia are you from?" I queried. "Melbourne," she said.

But that's not the coincidence ...

A little later, someone remarked that Barbara and I were the only ones wearing red T-shirts. But it went much further than that. Much, much further!

We were also wearing navy blue jeans.

"These are the Melbourne Football Club colours," I noted. "So good of you to come in uniform too!"

And as we laughed, another similarity was noticed.

"And we've both got black shoes," she said.

"And grey hair," I replied.

"And glasses," her friend Jan observed, as everyone stared in amazement.

"And our glasses have cords," I added, not wanting to let another similarity go unnoticed.

"We're just like twins!" I exclaimed. "This is definitely a Kodak moment," I concluded, and then reached for my camera (loaded with Fuji film) to capture the proof necessary if ever there was going to be any doubt that this actually happened.

This article is taken from the ebook, Global Quest for Local LETS About the book

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