According to Wikipedia, the population of Ottawa is a little over 800,000. I don't think that can possibly be accurate, based on personal observation and curious coincidences. I think the population is more like 1,000.
Take our segment of the short street we live on, for example, which has maybe 50 homes on it.
- My nephew's partner grew up here.
- My colleague's ex-boyfriend lives across the street from us.
- My sister-in-law's husband's ex-wife just moved in down the block.
At a party recently, we had a fairly long conversation with strangers about older homes, only to discover that we were talking about the same tiny subdivision (all crescents and cul-de-sacs coming off one road) where we used to live and where the other couple now do live.
We used to have a nanny. At one point, she moved to a new house; turns out it was directly across the street from my best friend's house.
My daughter just realized that she went to elementary school with her cousin's band partner.
The brother of a good friend of mine was at a function in Arnprior or Renfrew (towns near Ottawa) and struck up a conversation with a stranger, who turned out to be Steve's sister.
It's not just Ottawa, either. Turns out one of my colleagues is actually related to Steve, via relatives in B.C.
One time we were selling our house and, for some reason, I happened to be home when a man and his mother came to see the house. I let them in then stayed out of their way. All of a sudden the man shouted, "Are you Wynn Anne?" He'd seen my diploma hanging in the office. Turns out he was an ex-boyfriend and neither of us had recognized the other after more than a decade. Awk.Ward. We both knew he wasn't going to buy the house. (His mother shot daggers out of her eyes.) [It's not like I have so many ex-boyfriends that this was bound to happen!]
And here's an even quirkier one: my high-school best friend moved from our home town to another province after high school. One day at the mall in Saskatchewan a stranger walked up to her and said, "I think I know you." Figuring it was a pick-up line, she was about to walk away when he said, "We both went to Queen's University; you're Wynn Anne." She never went to Queen's; she had never met him.
Seriously, what are the odds? It's like telling a stranger you're from Ottawa and having them in turn ask, "Oh - do you know Catherine who lives on Somerset?" and realizing that, yes, you do know a Catherine who lives on Somerset!
Does this happen to everyone? Is this normal?
One time we were selling our house and, for some reason, I happened to be home when a man and his mother came to see the house. I let them in then stayed out of their way. All of a sudden the man shouted, "Are you Wynn Anne?" He'd seen my diploma hanging in the office. Turns out he was an ex-boyfriend and neither of us had recognized the other after more than a decade. Awk.Ward. We both knew he wasn't going to buy the house. (His mother shot daggers out of her eyes.) [It's not like I have so many ex-boyfriends that this was bound to happen!]
And here's an even quirkier one: my high-school best friend moved from our home town to another province after high school. One day at the mall in Saskatchewan a stranger walked up to her and said, "I think I know you." Figuring it was a pick-up line, she was about to walk away when he said, "We both went to Queen's University; you're Wynn Anne." She never went to Queen's; she had never met him.
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| I really don't think we look that much alike! Aside from both being petite, brunette Caucasians. |
Does this happen to everyone? Is this normal?
I do discover through Facebook that completely unrelated "friends" of mine are friends with each other which leads to the "how do YOU know so-and-so... but no, nothing like your stories! Love the ex-boyfriend checking out your house!
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