The Coincidence at Winchcombe

Lisa and her friend, a retired abbot, "B", were hiking 100 miles from Bath to Chipping Camden. They had tired as the light waned on the Cotswold Way. Their heavy packs seemed leaden as they walked along Gloucestershire Street in Winchcombe, home of Sudely Castle. Ah, they spotted the Plaisterer's Arms, an inviting spot, and decided to stop and book in for the night. Relaxed, boots off for the day,  they went down to the pub for a well deserved pint.

Meanwhile, Jim and Ursula, our Swiss friends, former Fallbrookians, now living in Germany, were on their way to Brighton and decided to stop one day early in Winchcombe to see if we had arrived as planned at Snowdrop Cottage. We were delayed getting away from Heathrow and hadn't arrived yet. Jim and Ursula didn't have the cottage address and their phone wasn't working so they walked over to the Plaisterer's Arms on the off-chance that somebody might know it or the Inn would have a telephone book. Jim was frustrated at not finding the Inn and getting cranky. In a loud voice he asked the proprietress if anyone knew where the "damn Snowdrop Cottage" was.
 

Lisa, sitting in an adjacent room enjoying her beer, looked up and said to B, "That sounds like my ex-husband's brother!"  But how unlikely was that? She peeked around the corner to see who the loud mouth was and realized that her ears had not deceived her....the voice was Jim's.

Ursula, Lisa, B, Me, Jim

When we arrived, these four characters were in the middle of an improbable reunion, amazed at the coincidences, as was everyone else in the pub. It was all too mind boggling. None of us belonged there or planned in advance to be there. A friend of ours just happened to have come back from Winchcombe and mentioned the cottage to us.  The hikers had to have made a snap decision to stay in Winchcombe and pick the Plaisterer's Inn. Jim and Ursula had to be frustrated and lost. We had to be late. And on and on.......

Sudely Castle

Last but not least of the coincidences, on our return to Fallbrook, Barbara and Nancy told me they had visited Sudely Castle in Winchcombe on their last trip to England. There are at least a thousand castles in England and they just happened to visit that particular one.

The world is small.