05/09 - There are degrees of coincidences

In this city with

Canada’s population

we finally meet

Today was a remarkable day, for many reasons. After teaching all day I walked to Ikebukuro Station, to a specific meeting point of course, with my two colleagues, Simon and Aykut, to meet another teacher, Sophie. While we waited for Sophie I went and grabbed us a beer at a konbini, AKA a convenience store. We then drank the beer just outside the exit of the station, which is entirely legal, but perhaps considered a little bit low class or uneducated. Simon told us that he might not be able to stay for long since he was supposed to meet some other people nearby. When Sophie arrived we headed to an Izakaya and on our way in, I spotted the people Simon was supposed to meet. He knew they were going to be in the area, so we’ll call this one a small coincidence, though if you’ve seen how busy Ikebukuro is it’s still pretty crazy.

We all joined together as a group of eight, took our shoes off, sat in some booths and ordered some food and drink using the tablet attached to each table. Sophie told us we’d be a group of ten soon enough, as two of her friends would join us. Two fellas showed up not too long after, and introduced themselves. Tom and Clayton. I started chatting with Tom and he told me that he was from Derby in England. I told him that a businessman from the city I grew up in in Canada actually owned part of the Derby County Football Club. Then Clayton piped up and asked what city I was talking about. I told him Calgary and he said he’s from Calgary too. Then he asked what part. I said the Northwest. Again he said “me too.” I asked where he lived and he told me McEwan. I said “no way, I used to live in Hanson Ranch” which is super close. Then I asked what high school he went to. He said “Queen Elizabeth” and my jaw dropped. People who hadn’t been listening to us turned and asked what’s wrong as my shock was palpable. Clayton and I went to the same high school, the smallest public high school in Calgary at the time, and graduated one year apart. I thought I knew just about everybody in the school from my year and the two that bookended it, but I hadn’t recalled ever meeting him. We did however know tons and tons of the same people, including many people I’d known since Grade One. On top of that, we’re both going to be studying at UBC starting in September. Enormous coincidence!

Finally, taking the train home with three lovely ladies who live in the same complex I do, I sat next to a Japanese man who asked where I was from. He told me that he had just traveled to Calgary and asked if I had ever heard of Nexen. I said “of course!” We chatted all the way home and he gets off at the same station I do. I would say this was a pretty funny coincidence but it almost didn’t register considering the magnitude of the previous coincidence.

Today’s poem makes reference to the populations of Canada and Metro Tokyo. Canada has an estimated population of 35,344,962 whereas Tokyo clocks in at 35,682,460. Very similar populations, very different area sizes.