Monday, October 05, 2009

A Strange Coincidence

At our Jack's soccer class on Sunday there was an Englishman there with a son also called Jack. I asked him where he was from in England and he said "You won't have heard of it. I was born in Ormskirk".  I said "me too!"  Turns out we were born in the same hospital, went to the same high school and hung out at the same places. He is about 3 years older than me but his sister was in my year at school. He asked if I knew her and I didn't - maybe because she was in a cleverer class than me or maybe because I've drunk a lot of wine since 1985 and killed off lots of brain cells. 

I was amazed how much history we had in common and was thinking maybe we met for a reason - are he and his family meant to be our new buddies?  Then I asked him what he did for a living and he told me he was a renowned maths professor.  Ahhh. Not so much in common then, since I can barely turn a calculator on.  

So a bizarre coincidence but I'm not sure it has any meaning. He'll be there each week so no doubt we'll be chatting about Old Blighty and I'll try not to make a complete ass of myself.

3 comments:

mountainear said...

Strange indeed - perhaps he is the mathematical part of your life that is missing. Is it possible to 'miss' mathematics?

MikeH said...

Ormskirk? Never heard of it ;)

Pam said...

Hi Mountainear: Just the term "maths" makes me squirm!
Hey Mike: While born in Ormskirk my childhood house was 3 miles away in Scarisbrick - bet you never heard of that either! As they say in Liverpool - I'm a wooly-back.