The "small world" phenomenon

When I was a consultant in Australia, I was working on a 6 week CRM business case at a leading tobacco company. Two weeks ago at a hotel lobby in Istanbul I met Gee, one of the persons I was working very closely with who was on the customer team helping us with the business case.

 

I could never have imagined meeting Gee ever again unless I went to Aus. but to my surprise I actually meet him in Istanbul of all the places. Gee has quit the tobacco company and now works for a consulting house. Is based in London but spends most of his time in Istanbul.

 

Needless to say we ended up saying "What a small world!!!".

 

So, when was the last time you said "it is such a small world" to someone. 

 

Here are some strange "small world" incidents I have come across or heard of:

 

An ex-colleague of mine in Aus said he had come across a university friend from Australia at a hot dog stand in New York

 

This is about a friend, again from Australia, who was from a small town in Scotland of some 100 people. One day she met a girl from her town, who used to live down the street from her house in that small town in Scotland. She meet her friend in a small non-descript lane in St. Kilda, Melbourne (no not the dodgy side ;), but by the beach).

 

As a record of sorts, in my 10 months at France, I came across 3 people all of who knew a common friend through unrelated connections (ex-colleague of husband, son of a close family friend, elder brother of classmate). It was almost like having a fan club.

 

A close friend in Australia was the high school classmate of a close friend from France. I managed to link them up because both had spoken about their high school (in Kerala) adventures to me.

 

PS: However, Cherickel, I must say, sadly the possibility of finding an acquaintance in Oktoberfest failed.