What are the chances?

Maths have never been my strong point so I’m unable to work out the odds of what happened in Nambour but I do know that humans find patterns everywhere. Coincidence running alongside pure chance and the continual mystery of right or wrong place at the right or wrong time. How many times do we feel the phone will ring then it does. How often do we say “I knew you were going to say that”. What leads to these situations? What are all the factors that put us in front of the phone when it rings at that time? They are surely uncountable. - [ ] I arrived in Nambour on Friday afternoon to take on the hardest Parkrun in Australia. I also needed to find a wild camp spot for the night not to far from where the run would take place the following morning. I cycled around the town for a while making mental notes of potential spots. I went into the library to use the WiFi and charge my electronics and bought some food for lunch from Woolworths. I had noticed the show grounds as I cycled into town so thought it would be good to make my lunch there and also do a ride through to see if there would be any good camp spots. Every amenity for a camp was there. Tables, washing area, toilets even benches in the shade with plug sockets. Unfortunately camping later wouldn’t be possible as it was a gated show ground and while eating lunch the caretaker came and spoke to me. He sussed out my intentions once he saw the bike and bags. He did give me an alternative location to camp which ended up being where I eventually pitched a few hours later. - [ ] After lunch I cycled to where the Park run was being held the following morning to work out how long it would take to cycle there. I had come a long way so didn’t want to miss the final run of my trip because of bad planning. On the way back into town I got a little lost. Nambour is a medium sized town with quite a busy central district. It was late afternoon and really hot in amongst the rush hour traffic. I was getting caught at every traffic light and had become stuck in an annoying one way system. I worked out my location as I cycled down Main Street slowing down as the traffic light ahead was on red. From my right I heard someone shout “Phil”. I looked and saw two ladies looking over from the other side of the road. One of them waved and shouted my name again. I cut through the traffic and pulled up by them. At a quick glance I didn’t recognise either of them but didn’t want to sound rude as the one clearly knew me. Bear in mind I had cycled along way and met many people especially at the Park runs where most times I had been introduced by name as a visiting tourist. Maybe she remembered me from a previous run. Maybe she was someone I had spoken to in a park or by a beach? Once I had come to a proper halt and was out of the glare of the sun the one who had shouted my name and waved surprised me by saying “I’m really sorry, I thought you were someone else” I didn’t quite know how to process this but I replied, did you shout Phil? Yes she said but your not him. My name is Phil though I responded. Oh my god she said. Really mate I thought you were someone else I know called Phil. I asked, does he look like me and ride a bike with bags? He sometimes rides a bike she said and yes you look alike but I’m sorry to have stopped you it’s my mistake. I couldn’t quite work out how this could possibly happen. She randomly shouted my name even though it was mistaken identity. What are the odds of being mistakenly identified but have the same name as the person. Also, of all the places I could have been, not just in that street, not just in Nambour, not just in Queensland or not even in Australia. What could the odds be that put me in that particular location across the street from someone wrongly identifying me but using the right name. It boggles the mind. I’ve heard it said that everyone has a lookalike somewhere. How many of these lookalikes have the same Christian name, ride bicycles in the same town when one is only visiting and get shouted by someone who knows one of them. If anyone is able to work out those odds then please let me know.