A motorist caught speeding in London two years ago moved to New Zealand only to be booked by the same police officer for again exceeding the limit, reports said Wednesday.Former London bobby Andy Flitton ticketed the man in Britain two years ago, shortly before migrating to New Zealand -- then caught him again in September on a highway in the South Island, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Flitton, who now works for the New Zealand traffic police, said he had forgotten about the original booking until the man approached him while he was writing out the ticket.
"He asked if I had worked in London, I said 'yes'. He asked if I used to operate the laser gun on the A5 in North London, I said 'yes'," Flitton told the newspaper.
"And he said 'I thought it was you, you gave me my last speeding ticket there two years ago'."
Flitton said the man told him he had moved to New Zealand two weeks before his latest booking, unaware his nemesis was also in the same country.
"We must have some sort of connection," he said. "He only ever broke the law twice and both times I was the one to give him a ticket... it just shows what a small world it really is."
It´s only a matter of statistics. These things MUST happen. Not every day but in a certain degree of probability (many zeros prior decimal point). Take the amount of both world´s population and policemen!
ReplyDeletePeople are meeting each other everyday, very often twice or three times in their life without taking notice of this. But sometimes they do, mainly at fortunate or traumatic events (only this is what we do remember). And since we´ve got a world-wide-bold-letters-media these occurrences will not be unscanned.
Now, here is my own statistical calculation on a possible meeting between a fake Santa Claus and a fake Pope, lets say in the audience of a drama musical: It will happen within a period of 99 years from now, or less?
"We have become makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets." Karl Popper
ReplyDeleteWe can't know the future. Yet it would be unresponsable to make no predictions, when uncertainty is increasing. In the next 99 years irrationalism might increase, as after Luther's step to major rationality. In "Highroad to the Stake" Michael has described how rationality can be used by irrationalism. Let us hope that your optimism will prevail, dear cs.
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=0375706488