Monday, December 20, 2010

The height of coincidence

Bermuda Billiard and Darts
I've been playing quite a bit of one-pocket here in Germany.  I introduced my friend Jan to the game - he is an excellent 5-pin billiards player, and immediately took a liking to the cerebral strategy aspects of the game of one-pocket.
On one Thursday evening, we had taken a cab to go shoot some 1-hole at Bermuda Sportcenter, and I started off wining the first couple of racks.  At this point Jan murmured "I can't deal with this anymore, I hope I didn't forget it" and proceeded to dig through his bag looking for something.  Finally he pulls out his trusty clip-on chalk-holder, and it dawned on me that he usually ALWAYS has it on when he plays.
Naturally, his game improved dramatically and he caught up the score as we kept playing.
Next morning, I have an 8am meeting at work.  I call a cab at 7am to pick me up from the hotel at 7:40 and go to the work campus.
7:35 : I am outside waiting.  No cab.
7:40 : No cab.
7:45 : I call the cab company again.  "He's 2 min away"
A very lucky 1-pocket break from a couple of nights ago
7:50 : Still no cab
7:55 : I call again.  "He is just about there"
8:03 : The cab finally shows up.

At this point I am flip-out angry with the cab company.  It's about a 10 min ride to work, which I spent moaning and groaning at the poor driver, in my best Angry German emulation.  So now I'm 15 minutes late for my meeting, in an execrable mood.  As I step out of the taxi I notice something on the floor of the back seat of the cab.  Low-and-behold : it's Jan's chalk-holder!!!  Obviously my mood immediately changed as I pocketed the billiard war relic and pondered the magnitude of the coincidence.  I decided to interpret the event this way : billiard travel permeates the universe and manifests itself to hacks when they least expect it, brightening their day!