A small world
Arrived in Wanganui at around 2 pm yesterday. Checked into the Siena Motor Lodge which I had booked through WOTIF, due to its good reviews on the Net.
Had a drink at the local with Inventory of Keeping Stock, and then headed to the Red Lion Inn to catch up with Hamish McDouall (Labour’s 2008 and 2011 candidate for Whanganui).
At the table next to us, was an old classmate from Otago University, who had been at Carrington Hall with me in 1987. She was on the way up North, so like me only in Wanganui for a day. The odds of running into an old friend at a pub in Wanganui, which we both happened to be at for just one day must be pretty damn low.
But the odds got shorter even more. Turns out they were also staying at the Siena Motor Lodge, and in the room next door to mine.
So as they say, it really is a small world after all.
April 24th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Where’s the aitch? I thought we had to use an aitch nowadays.
April 24th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Lots of amazing things happen in Wanganui DPF, so you shouldn’t be surprised! It was great to catch up with you anyway.
@ Andrei – t(h)e aitch is optional, and most seem to (h)ave opted for t(h)e status quo…
April 24th, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Whether use use the H or not, it does not change the pronounciation. The H is silient. It annoys me when people make a big deal about using the H and pronounce the WH as a hard F. However in the local dialect the WH as a much softer pronouciation which does not resemble the hard f.
April 24th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
What a coincidence. I had an even bigger one today. I met someone who thinks Phil Goff is a strong competant leader. What are the odds?
April 24th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Fisiani says:
Quoite high, I think, if you keep accepting those invitations to pop round to Penny Bright’s place
DPF:
Not dropping in to see Lhaws then? Or was he too busy with the “child minding” duties that preclude his honouring his commitment to the people of Wanganui by turning up to Council committee meetings?
If you do, ask him whether Mr Plod has been to see him yet. Oddly enough, I’m still waiting for a report on the outcome.
April 24th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
WELL HOW ABOUT THIS ONE. Walking along an Avenue in Manhatten 1995 in the pouring rain and spotted a Kea on a piece of paper at my feet. A letter from one Dunedin business to another. Obviously fell out of a briefcase and was flattened by the rain. I’ve kept it every since.
April 24th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
she hot?
April 24th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Why would anyone travel to Funganewi anyway?
(Unless it was me hunting down Grumpies cuzzie bro’s).
April 24th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
@ Johnboy; don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it
April 24th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
I don’t think my old ticker could take another dose of the excitement of the Castlecliff RSA IV2!!
April 24th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
The aitch is optional,Andrei, and most of us use it where appropriate. And we don’t need you stirring the pot, Old Boy. We have our very own Men Kair to do that.
DPF – your choice of digs and watering hole were excellent.
Only biffo – you didn’t call in!!??
April 24th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I’m from Australia, that kind of stuff happens all the time over here since moving here with my Kiwi wife. We are forever bumping into random friends of friends of hers.
It’s not a small world, it’s a small country.
April 24th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
There’s a conspiracy in this somewhere.
April 24th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
The odds of bumping into a specific friend is low. However you improve the odds of having things happen like this by having a large number of friends. The more friends you have (especially those who travel) and the more you travel about the more likely for an event like this is to happen.
I know DPF travels a lot and I would have thought coincidences like this would happen a lot. Therefore I am surprised that DPF finds this unusual. I therefore suspect that either he has few friends or his friend tend not to move around.
My wife who has few friends get upset that everywhere we travel. She finds it unusual that I seem to know someone I worked with, went to school with, argued with, drank with, shuttered at or other forms of close friends. The fact is I like people I tend to get on with them and many of the people I meet tend to travel (in fact many of them are often passing through when we meet).
April 24th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
DPF I was at Carrington Hall in 1981. Was the tyrant Stan still the warden in 1987?
April 25th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Used to stay at the Siena when visiting son at school, but now live only 35km from town out in the sticks.
April 25th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
the Red Lion was the 1st pub that I was kicked out of .. I have a feeling an old mate owns it now
April 25th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
I still don’t understand why Kenneth Mair calls himself Ken
April 25th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Brian S would have been at durie hill school when my wife was there even though she is a couple of years older
April 25th, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Carrington … there were some very hot women there in the late 80′s (or so it seemed at the time). I knew one, she just didn’t know me