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Posted: 02-01-2012 07:25 Post subject:

A couple of weeks before Christmas I went to a craft exhibition with some ladies from Probus and afterwards we walked to a cafe in the middle of the Fitzroy gardens.
On the way there I picked up a set of keys and thought I'd hand them in when we reached the cafe. On arriving I was greeted with joy by the Indian waitress as they were her housekeys.
Anyway I ate a salmon wrap and became quite ill with vertigo and maybe food poisoning as I've never been sick with it before.
I was told I'd have to walk to the nearest road as drivers wouldn'r come into the gardens. However the lovely waitress had a friend who was a taxi driver and he came right up to the steps and took me on the 40 minute drive home.
I just felt so lucky I'd found those keys and that I had a lovely driver to take me home.( gave him a good tip to feel lucky as well)

Posted: 17-02-2012 12:08 Post subject:

This headline says it all!

It's Codzilla! Lucky angler breaks English Channel record for 43lb whopper caught on first-ever trip Very Happy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101638/Angler-breaks-English-Channel-record-cod-catch.html#ixzz1mdUYNNmy

Posted: 19-06-2012 22:39 Post subject: Right place at the right time

Inspired by reading a few posts on the Minor Strangeness thread, I got to thinking of being in the right place at the right time. I have had a few experiences in my life where it seems fate was predestined or that a series of events was unavoidable leading to a great outcome for me. Almost like the cosmic joker shoved me in the right direction.

For example, I was once the Operations Manager for a famous nightclub/venue in North London. The owners suddenly announced that they were closing down after decades of trade. The news came as quite a blow. The same day, I had to run into the Tottenham Court Road to pick up a new guitar I had ordered. As I passed the Astoria (another of London's famous but now disappeared venues) I had a sudden impulse to go in. The door was unlocked (as usual because they sold tickets in the lobby) but the ticket desk was unmanned. I just wandered right into the building. I eventually stumbled upon a man who demanded to know what I was doing. Turns out he owned the whole shebang. I said straight out that I wanted to be the Manager of the Astoria or Astoria 2, my favourite nightclub in London. He replied that he had just fired the Assistant Manager for Astoria 2 less than an hour previous. The very next week I started as Assistant Manager and as a direct result of that job, I met and married my wife and haven't looked back since.

I still can't explain the strange impulse that urged me to go into the club. I had obviously been brooding over the bad news and was thinking about how to start job seeking, what contacts could I use, what favours could I pull in. But then, something in my head seemed to just say, "Go in here, do it now, do not wait".

Who else has been in the right place, at the right time?

Posted: 19-06-2012 22:45 Post subject:

That's amazing! Glad it worked out.

Posted: 20-06-2012 00:21 Post subject:

When I was young I had had a fight with my then boyfriend and went to a dance with my girlfriends. I said that I'd read that if you wanted to be askd to dance you needed to not be with a group of other girls so took a few steps to the side.
Almost immediately a man came up and said " Here I am" and asked me to dance. He later became my husband.

Posted: 20-06-2012 16:40 Post subject:

I was just coming out of a terrible divorce (and even worse marriage), licking my wounds, socially withdrawn. A bunch of my co-workers who were tired of watching me mope pressed me to join them at a regular friday night square dance. Trying to get me out of my funk. (I live in a large city, the square dance thing had become a popular novelty back then.)

I got home from work friday night, exhausted, low down, not feeling at all like socializing, said “screw it” and sat down to veg the night away. About an hour later I was suddenly impelled to get up, change, and go. I remember being surprised at finding myself getting ready, like it wasn’t me deciding to go but more like someone else had decided for me.

I got there just as one dance was just ending and people were choosing partners to start the next. A random woman was walking by, we sort of nodded to each other and partnered up for that one dance. After 20 more dances with 150 other partners (about 30 seconds apiece), the night was closing down and we bumped into each other again. Joined some other people going down the street for a beer. Have been married 20 years this August, happily this time.

This was partly being in the right place at the right time, but more about the strange impulse to act that doesn't seem to come from one's own concious mind.

Posted: 21-06-2012 11:31 Post subject:

I've had that strange impulse many times in my life. One such time, when I was back at uni, changed my life. I was living in halls & shared a kitchen with several other girls. One of them loved "glossy" women's magazines. Not my type of thing at all & usually I left them for her to read & recycle. But one day, I walked into the kitchen & saw a copy of Cosmo & something made me pick it up & look thru it. Now, I'd never look at a Cosmo before or since, as I say it's not my cuppa tea, but, for some reason, I stopped on an advert in the back for a phone text line. Again the strange impulse came over me & I txt this advent's number. A few moments later I got into a text convesation with a guy, we text/talked & ended up becoming a couple. We were together for about 2 years when things went wrong, However, one of his friends (who had become my friend too) asked me out. Five years later we are still together & very happy. I often think about what if I'd never picked up that mag? It'sstrange how one tiny thing can change your whole life.

Posted: 21-06-2012 22:35 Post subject:

Exactly my thought too. I love the idea that we are not 100% in control of our destinies. As Sundog said, a mixture of right place, right time and an unknown shove in the right direction.

I have another example from the same period of my life. This one may just be coincidence but I still think about it today. I had a night off and had been invited to an underground (as in not licensed) nightclub by a friend of a friend. I already had plans but agreed to swing by if I was in the neighbourhood. Shortly before midnight, I turned up with my gf and a few of her mates. The entrance was in a minicab stand and you had to ask for a cab to a certain address to be let in. In we went and headed downstairs. We had a few drinks and a dance but then suddenly a voice in my head just starting saying "leave now". A wave of anxiety flowed over me and I had this strong desire just to run. I told my gf we were leaving. She was puzzled at my sudden desire to leave but agreed. As we walked out of the mini cab door, we turned right just as an unmarked van pulled up. A squad of police jumped out and raided the club. All there were arrested including my gf's friends and they spent the night in the cells.

Now as I worked in the club environment, I think I may have picked up on a bad vibe or a danger signal which made my spider senses tingle. But I can definitely say that the urge to leave and my inner voice were coming from a subconscious level.

Posted: 22-06-2012 12:03 Post subject:

Wow, that's a great story. I do believe in fate, I've had too many things happen to not believe in it. My sister had a good one, she was out of work and really getting down about it, and a friend of her's said "You've not been horse riding in years, come & spend a day out riding with me". She did & met a guy whilst out riding, on his horse. They got chatting & he offered her a job starting the next week working with his horses. From that she has now become an equine therapist working with Help for Hero's, & it has changed her life.

If she hadn't of said yes to her friend, who knows what she would be doing now...

Posted: 22-06-2012 18:31 Post subject:

Posted: 22-06-2012 22:03 Post subject:

I know exactly what you mean but it's tricky to put in to words... like when things work out super well from what was initially an almost ephemeral decision, or a chance encounter or something you wouldn;t normally do but did on a whim, or because of an odd feeling.

Posted: 23-06-2012 16:20 Post subject:

I get the opposite of this. "Yeah, that's a really good idea! Oh wait, now I'm in Hell." Is there a name for that? Apart from er, wrong place wrong time?

Posted: 23-06-2012 17:04 Post subject:

"Karma"?

Posted: 23-06-2012 22:46 Post subject:

I think we all get that one all the time... that is what makes it practically bloody paranormal when it goes the other way.

Posted: 24-06-2012 06:59 Post subject: