While on our cruise last month, the Mrs and I spent evenings after dinner in a bar at the front of the ship called the Crow's Nest, with a panoramic view.
Most nights there was a piano player in attendance later on. One night before she arrived I was idly gazing at the piano, leaning back in a comfortable chair, Scotch in hand, idly wondering: what would happen if I went and sat at the piano to knock out a quick tune?
I was pretty sure I'd be asked to desist fairly quickly. Not only because I wasn't authorised to use it but because I'm a terrible keyboard player; arguably even worse than Geddy Lee.
But my mind continued to wander, and I mused on this: what if Michel Legrand was a passenger on the ship, and he walked up to the piano, sat down and started to play his best-known composition Windmills Of Your Mind? What would they do then?
No more than two minutes later the piano player turned up, sat at the piano and as she was setting up her iPad on the piano, a gentleman in his 50s who'd been having a drink at one of the tables nearby came up to her and had a quiet word in her ear.
A minute or so later she's wishing us all a good evening into the mic atop the piano as usual, and she announces that she's going to start with a request: Windmills Of Your Mind.
My jaw dropped. I'm a rational person and I don't really believe in thoughts and ideas radiating around telepathically, but that certainly gave me pause for thought. I hadn't heard that song for months and I'd never heard it performed live in person before.
She murdered it unfortunately.
Quote from: Slim on April 02, 2023, 10:59:41 PMWhile on our cruise last month, the Mrs and I spent evenings after dinner in a bar at the front of the ship called the Crow's Nest, with a panoramic view.
Most nights there was a piano player in attendance later on. One night before she arrived I was idly gazing at the piano, leaning back in a comfortable chair, Scotch in hand, idly wondering: what would happen if I went and sat at the piano to knock out a quick tune?
I was pretty sure I'd be asked to desist fairly quickly. Not only because I wasn't authorised to use it but because I'm a terrible keyboard player; arguably even worse than Geddy Lee.
But my mind continued to wander, and I mused on this: what if Michel Legrand was a passenger on the ship, and he walked up to the piano, sat down and started to play his best-known composition Windmills Of Your Mind? What would they do then?
No more than two minutes later the piano player turned up, sat at the piano and as she was setting up her iPad on the piano, a gentleman in his 50s who'd been having a drink at one of the tables nearby came up to her and had a quiet word in her ear.
A minute or so later she's wishing us all a good evening into the mic atop the piano as usual, and she announces that she's going to start with a request: Windmills Of Your Mind.
My jaw dropped. I'm a rational person and I don't really believe in thoughts and ideas radiating around telepathically, but that certainly gave me pause for thought. I hadn't heard that song for months and I'd never heard it performed live in person before.
She murdered it unfortunately.
"Arguably worse than Geddy Lee" - great line!
I think you should be the next Bond, Slim.
Too old now, unfortunately :(
The only story I can offer on this topic is a "small world" incident:
I was in the bar at a Ramada on International Drive in Orlando, in the early-mid '00s. I heard accents like mine from a bunch of folk on the adjacent table and struck up conversation with a middle-aged chap nearest to me.
Turns out he's a fireman based in the station 50 yards down the street I lived on at the time.
Okay, it's not a mind-blowing one but slightly uncanny all the same.
The only one that happens to me every so often is that someone comes to mind that I haven't seen for a long time and within a day or so I see them.. and it's not friends or acquaintances just random people that pop into my brain...
Quote from: Fishy on April 03, 2023, 07:57:30 PMThe only one that happens to me every so often is that someone comes to mind that I haven't seen for a long time and within a day or so I see them.. and it's not friends or acquaintances just random people that pop into my brain...
I used to get that one as a kid, when I was about thirteen. Seemed uncanny and it used to freak out my mum. I'd mention some friend of the family or relative to her that we hadn't heard from for months, and later the same day or the next there'd be a telephone call from them.
Took my plate into the kitchen after lunch and I burst out singing Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi, not part of my usual repertoire. Went back in again twenty minutes later and what should come on the radio but Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi,..
On my 42nd birthday in 2002 I treated myself to a trip down to London. I'd been back in Derby for a few months by this time and often used to go there on a Saturday. Although this was a Tuesday as it happens but anyway ..
In the car on the way down I turned the radio on to find a documentary about The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and Douglas Adams. The number 42 (https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/42) was discussed. Adams had chosen it at random to be the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
Later, after I'd arrived in London I realised the significance of the limited edition IWC watch that I was wearing. It was number 42 of a limited edition of 50, and had 42/50 engraved on the back. I did wear if reasonably often but hadn't thought about the number when I'd put it on.
On the way back to Derby I turned the car radio on again and switched to Radio 2. They were broadcasting a documentary about the musical 42nd Street.
It's always startling when I'm reading something while the telly is on and the word I'm reading is said on the telly.
Chances are it will happen occasionally, of course.
About six years ago, I was on holiday in Cyprus during November- when the temperatures are ginger-friendly enough!😂
I was staying in Larnaca and decided to get the bus out to Ayia Napa, never having been before but realising it would be all-but-shut.
At one of the bus stops, a Mum got on with a toddler and buggy and being the gent I am (very occasionally 😄), I offered to help bring the buggy on board and did the same as we got off in AN.
Anyhow, we got chatting and it turns out she was a Borussia Dortmund fanatic (the baby was wearing a BVB babygro 😉) so we had a good natter about footie 😎 Her hubbie was spending the day diving around wrecks apparently.
As it turned out, we both got the same bus back to Larnaca later that day (they were pretty infrequent off-season, so not that surprising) when I helped out again.
Turn the clock forward 3 months and I'm in Lagos on the Algarve visiting a mate who spends most winters out there. One morning we set off for a clifftop walk taking in the amazing rock formations and grottos along the way, for some reason I decided to pop in to a small gift shop next to the lighthouse and who should I bump into...the same German girl 😳, this time her fella was with her.
So what are the chances of that, off-season both times at the opposite ends of Europe
From 1977-1980 I worked as an apprentice chartered surveyor for a local firm. The senior partner / owner was a gentleman of about fifty. After I left I kept in touch with one or two colleagues for a couple of years, but eventually lost touch. In November last year I sat one evening wondering what became of those I had worked with. I decided to do a Google search of the owner only to discover it had been his funeral earlier that day. He was 91.
About fifteen years ago one of my stepdaughters, after digging into her family history, decided that she wanted to see the house in London where her great grandfather had lived. He'd walked from there to Leicestershire in the 1920s, to look for work.
So we went there with her mum and her sister, and it turned out to be in the same secluded little street in Fulham as an ex-girlfriend's place. Almost directly opposite. Apart from my own flat, I didn't regularly stay at any other place when I lived in London.
There are more than 60,000 London streets within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross Station.
On our way over to arran on Friday it got me thinking of a retired radiologist consultant who I often bumped into when I worked on site before covid who had his own place in Arran.. took a while to remember his name... not seen him for quite a long time
We came back on Sunday and was coming off the ferry and who do I see waiting to board.. none other than Dr D Rawlings..
I've had a number of small, word related coincidences this week. I've been a bit under the weather for a few days and gave Wordle a miss, however a couple of nights ago I realised I hadn't checked to find out if my permanent starter had come up trumps. As I searched through the alphabetical list, my eyes fell upon a particular word just as the TV threw out that same word. And it's today's solution.
Weird one this morning. I bumped into an old acquaintance outside Waitrose earlier. Nice guy, successful businessman, and we have a short chat whenever we bump into each other which is usually every couple of years. Last night though I dreamt about his younger brother. I've never actually met him, only recognise him by sight but the last time I saw him was twenty of thirty years ago. It was a weird dream where we had a massive fall out over a work matter. I've never worked with him. Back to today's meet. I've been reading and watching things online about folk with narcissistic personalities. About a minute into the conversation Paul starts to talk about a funeral he attended recently of an acquaintance he had a difficult relationship with due to the guy's narcissistic nature. He went on to describe all the traits I had read about to the letter. Very strange double coincidence.
If this thread is anything to go by, between us we're averaging about one uncanny coincidence a month since the thread started - and a few of those are from way back.
It seems it would actually be weirder if we had nothing to report. :o ;)
Sitting on the balcony on holiday and who walks by.. folks we know from literally round the corner at home.. small world indeed
Saw footage of the latest SpaceX rocket launch on the news this morning - as it blasted off and the exhaust fumes rushed toward the edge of the screen, an automated air freshener that's by the side of the telly and pointing roughly sideways shot out a jet of fragrant spray with pretty much perfect timing.
I've been listening to Pete Townshend's autobiography audiobook, and earlier in the week I reached Pete's sad account of Keith Moon's death. Then on Wednesday, a guy who used to do PR for the Stones was interviewed on 5 Live and had an amusing anecdote about Moon.
Last night I picked up Eric Idle's autobiography, one of an increasingly dwindling number of physical books I own. I've never got round to reading it but I dipped into it in the middle, hoping to find Monty Python content. I found Eric's reminiscence of how he spent time in Moon's company on the night of his death.
For this year's "summer season" of gigs at Halifax's magnificent Piece Hall, bureaucratic numpties have cynically introduced a last entry time restriction, being an hour before the main act.
Everyone's understandably kicking off about it, but there is a not-widely-advertised option of simply emailing the venue to get your name on a "late entry list", which I did for tonight's Sheryl Crow gig.
Anyway, authorisation was quickly granted, sent by a lady who shares my not-that-common surname.
Quote from: Matt2112 on June 13, 2024, 07:39:19 PMFor this year's "summer season" of gigs at Halifax's magnificent Piece Hall, bureaucratic numpties have cynically introduced a last entry time restriction, being an hour before the main act.
Everyone's understandably kicking off about it, but there is a not-widely-advertised option of simply emailing the venue to get your name on a "late entry list", which I did for tonight's Sheryl Crow gig.
Anyway, authorisation was quickly granted, sent by a lady who shares my not-that-common surname.
Yes, 2112 is quite rare.😁
Second one in consecutive days:
I'm currently at my employer's annual awards bash at a hotel in Doncaster and part of the afternoon session's entertainment was two "singing waiters"; I thought one of them looked familiar somehow, then realised he was at an open mic night where we both performed (and conversed) three weeks ago at a pub I've visited only once, and that he calls his local, 40 miles from Doncaster.
Had a good laugh about this over a Guinness with him afterward and swapped contact details for networking purposes. :)
Hadn't seen Scotland in a major tournament for 26 years. Switched on tonight. Groundhog Day!
I enjoy watching the Still Game re-runs on Sunday nights. As the episode began last night I noticed one of those Google clickbait articles about the show on my phone. It was about the pub that features regularly in the series. In the show it's called The Clansman, but I knew it is known as The Gimlet in real life. It's not somewhere I would venture myself if that makes things clearer.
However, the article went on to detail a short history of the pub. There was a photograph and caption about a married couple who managed the place in the sixties. They were my next door neighbours back then. I had no idea until last night that they worked there.
The boy's put in an offer to but a house. He's been to see a Mortgage Adviser as he needs a bit of care and attention due to being self-employed. The Mortgage Adviser just happens to be the father of the girl the boy's buying the house of.
Also, tangentially, the late father of the adviser is disgraced Sheffield Wednesday player Peter Swan who ran a nearby pub called The Mill. My 3xGt Grandfather James Camomile was the first landlord of the pub - when it was known as the New Inn (Back in 1847)
I was tidying up my desk a couple of days ago when I found a small scrap of paper. There are a few scribbled notes on it with one name being Nightwish. I really had to think about that and after a while remembered it had been a couple on an early First Dates realising they both surprisingly knew of and liked the band. I must have written the name down about four years ago at least and I vaguely remember doing a YouTube search for their material. Later that evening I was reading but I was aware of a repeat First Dates episode running in the background. A few minutes in and I realised it was that same couple discussing Nightwish. Weird!
On the commute into work today I was in a queue of traffic behind a taxi whose license number was 2112;
at the bottom of an arcade where the office is, there is currently a sign for a neighbouring legal firm which says, "Get Your Free Will Today";
turning into the arcade itself takes me past a vape shop with a prominent display on its exterior of flavours that mostly end in the name "Rush" (Jelly Rush, Sugar Rush etc).
This one is a bit lame but I'm having it....
So new month we turn the bird calendar over and it's a nice pic of a barn owl.. I had just done that and the mrs ( who has been doing Spanish for the past few years) does her Spanish word of the day thang..
.. and of course it búho... Owl
On 5th October 2021, exactly three years ago today, FC Halifax Town were playing at home and went 2-0 down, but made a remarkable comeback in the second half to win 3-2 with a spectacular late goal.
Today, FC Halifax Town were playing at home and went 2-0 down, but made a remarkable comeback in the second half to win 3-2 with a spectacular late goal.
As a post-script, forward Billy Waters scored for us in the first game, subsequently made a move to a bigger club, came back to us on loan a few weeks ago and scored today. :)
I listened to Bowie's Hunky Dory yesterday for the first time in years and today, a video about its standout tune (in an album of standout tunes), Life On Mars turned up on YouTube - published 18 hours ago as I type.
Two years ago I messaged a friend (a refrigeration engineer) on Facebook as my freezer was playing up. He didn't reply. He moved to Wales a few weeks ago and noticed and replied apologetically to my ancient, missed message this morning. About an hour ago I mentioned in passing another friend's name whom I haven't been in contact with for a long time. A few seconds later I received a Facebook message from the friend in Wales suggesting the next time he is in Glasgow the three of us should meet up. Spooky!
For some reason my train of thought while out on a bike led me to remember an English teacher from my Grammar School days, called Mr Howells. Taffy, as he was known (for he was Welsh) was an unpleasant, inadequate little man. Not cruel, not abusive, just one of those people who get his kicks from making kids feel uncomfortable by embarrassing them in front of the rest of the class.
Months or years can go past without me sparing the old tosser a thought. I hadn't seen him mentioned on social media or anywhere else for about 20 years, when someone remembered him on the Hartlepool Grammar School page on Friends Reunited. But this evening someone posted a pic of him and his class on Facebook.
Nowadays at schools they have a lesson period called "Forest School", where children have hands-on learning in a natural outdoors environment.
The teacher designated for this at my young 'un's school is called Mr Wood.
Quote from: Matt2112 on November 19, 2024, 09:00:35 AMNowadays at schools they have a lesson period called "Forest School", where children have hands-on learning in a natural outdoors environment.
The teacher designated for this at my young 'un's school is called Mr Wood.
At Rolls-Royce in the '90s there was a company directory a bit like a telephone book, most offices had one. The Manager of Small Parts was a gentleman called Mr Mycock, but I've often wondered whether someone submitted it to the folks who compiled it as a prank.
Not a complete coincidence as such, more some coincidental personal feelings about an occurrence. Yesterday, my FB feed showed a photograph and brief life story of Camille Claudel. I had never heard of her but she was a French sculptor famously known as a lover of Auguste Rodin. She had a most unfortunate life. However, what drew me to the post was how disturbingly similar in appearance she was to a long time girlfriend I had in the 90s. It really took me aback on first glance. That relationship had a profound effect on my adult life. The woman in question was also a very talented and creative artist. She gained a first at Glasgow School Of Art which is why we were able to meet initially. She also spent some time working in France. I'm not into reincarnation at all, but this set me thinking.
This feels a bit eerie .. I've known the Doobies tune
Takin' It to the Streets for decades but I've been obsessing over it a bit this last few days, after watching some of the old No Nukes concert footage featuring the band, from 1979. Then Rick Beato published a video about it last night.
Reminds me of another song-based one: on the New Year's Eve gig I played in a restaurant, where I played a "ground floor" set and a similar "first floor" set, I had to nip home in between sets; on firing up the car, the song playing on the radio was the song I was using to open both sets.
Put the Tour Down Under on the telly, then went back to the kitchen to pick my lunch up and the Radio was playing Down Under by Men at Work, spooky eh?
Quote from: Matt2112 on January 10, 2025, 11:31:43 AMReminds me of another song-based one: on the New Year's Eve gig I played in a restaurant, where I played a "ground floor" set and a similar "first floor" set, I had to nip home in between sets; on firing up the car, the song playing on the radio was the song I was using to open both sets.
Last night was my first gig since that one; I played Stuck In The Middle With You for the first time in public and it went down a storm.
On my 8-minute drive home later, Greatest Hits were playing Whitney Houston's So Emotional, so I very nearly changed the station; but I didn't, and the song after it was...yep!
Very, very strange one today. When I first passed my driving test I bought myself a beat up old Cortina Mk2 Estate from the proceeds of my summer van boy job. It was a big old tank of a car. That first summer of driving I would explore places with my two, marginally younger mates. We never got that very far as there was only ever a couple of gallons in the tank.
Most evenings we would park up round the corner from one of my friend's homes. It was a quiet spot at the edge of a wooded area with no overlooking houses, so suited our teenage requirements as a few of our usual group smoked and this place afforded the privacy needed.
A girl began to meet us and would join those sitting on the wall smoking. She was American, a tiny girl but very confident, living in Scotland whilst her father worked here. I didn't get to know her that well as I didn't attend the local secondary school, but we were quite friendly for a few months.
I very, very rarely think of her. Practically never, but in an idle moment today her name came to mind. I haven't seen or heard from her for at least 45 years and always assumed one day she must have returned to the US. So, as she had an unusual first and last name I decided to Google her.
Her name came up on my first search. It was linked to her friend's Instagram account. The post described her friend's sorrow at her passing.
It was posted yesterday!
R.I.P
Watching TV, or actually more using it as wallpaper that constantly changes, just after dinner I subliminally caught something on a tv show that triggered a memory to a passage in a short story I once wrote.
My mind wandered and I thought back to what was probably 8 years ago when I gifted a writer frined a book I read and really liked. (I have habit of giving away things I like myself a lot because only then it is meaningful for me to give, as it turns out I then start looking for it only to realise I gave it away).
Anyway, I started thinking on the wroter of the book I gave away and how I hadn't heard from him in a while (he's Dutch) and how I have not seen a new book of his in a while. Did a quick check at my favourite book shop only to find out his latest was published 2 days ago. Go figure!
Instant buy.
I was listening to a Reacher novel while out on a bike. At one point, Reacher says "everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth".
Forty minutes later I've switched the audiobook off and I'm listening to Matt Chorley's programme on 5 Live. One of his guests says exactly the same thing.
Wife is retiring this week, and she had a retirement dinner yesterday with a few work colleagues at a restaurant we go to occasionally called San Giovanni.
At the end of the dinner one of the staff came up to her with a gift-wrapped plant and a card that they said had been left for her. The card said "Happy Retirement Sue! From the Silver Birch Brigade".
Sue explained that she had no idea who the Silver Birch Brigade were. But the staff insisted that she should take it. They don't have retirement dinners there often, so what were the chances it could be for another Sue on the same day?
Well - of course - a few hours later we get a call from the restaurant. Another Sue had come in to have a retirement dinner and the plant was meant for her. So we took it back today and we had a round of drinks on the house.
During a quite lengthy exchange on Gemini, exactly as I was typing the words "extreme left" (to denote a physical position), the same words were spoken on a TV news channel in the background (to denote a political position).
Not "spooky" of course, just pretty much inevitable, though it's always startling when it happens.
Quote from: Matt2112 on April 29, 2026, 05:23:53 PMDuring a quite lengthy exchange on Gemini, exactly as I was typing the words "extreme left" (to denote a physical position), the same words were spoken on a TV news channel in the background (to denote a political position).
Not "spooky" of course, just pretty much inevitable, though it's always startling when it happens.
I've had a couple of similar instances recently. Always makes me sit up.
Consecutive posts in my Instagram feed this morning. Yes, a bit tenuous.
(https://i.ibb.co/21Lr4QtR/ruscoi.avif)
Aldi shop two days ago £10.66, today £13.14.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 24, 2026, 02:37:01 PMAldi shop two days ago £10.66, today £13.14.
(https://i.ibb.co/mVfbTQmJ/partridgeshrug.gif)
Quote from: Slim on June 30, 2026, 10:24:46 AMQuote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 24, 2026, 02:37:01 PMAldi shop two days ago £10.66, today £13.14.
(https://i.ibb.co/mVfbTQmJ/partridgeshrug.gif)
Not big on historic battles then James. 😆
Well I know the 1066 one.
I don't suppose Bannockburn gets much of an airing in English schools.
Three incidents of no real interest except they happened in such a close sequence.
I saw Katie Melua on TV or a website, can't remember which. Later that night in a TV show some shouted "call off the search".
I noticed supermarkets were selling Olmeca Altos Plata Tequila very cheap. I'd just had a conversation during a haircut where my barber shared my disappointment at how expensive it is as we both really like it. I phoned to tell him about the deal. When I hung up someone on TV shouted tequila.
I was looking at cars on Autotrader, saw an ad for a Morgan 3 wheeler. I Googled them to ask how safe they are. A few hours later I read online about Freddie Flintoff having a passenger onboard his infamous Top Gear accident. I don't think this was previously announced. The vehicle was a Morgan 3 wheeler. I hadn't known that before.
All very close together, unusual, but as I've read before it would be more unusual to live for decades and not experience these. Still spooky in my book.