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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/27/2008 Posts: 51 Points: 153 Location: Scotland
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Okay, this one is odd. To give you some background: at the moment I work part time as a postman and my daily duty is the same 5 days a week. Every morning I start the duty off doing half of Aberdour Road before progressing into Pitbauchlie Bank and then walking down Queenferry Road to await on my work colleague dropping off my next bag in the van (we work in pairs). This loop usually takes approximately half an hour, however, start times can vary depending on how busy or quiet the day is. So sometimes we might start as early as 8:30 am and other times we might get out the office as late as 9:10 am. I don't know when I started to notice this, at a guess I'd say about a year ago, but one day I noticed that every time I came out of Pitbauchlie Bank to proceed down Queensferry Road, an Ambulance would be driving up Queensferry Road with lights flashing and sirens wailing. As soon as I noticed that this was happening on a daily basis, I decided to start noting down the date and time of when it would arrive to see if there was some kind of pattern. As soon as I consciously decided to do this, the anomaly stopped occurring. Then, as soon as I stopped thinking about it again and attempting to take notes (putting the matter down to random chance) the Ambulance would reappear again, lights always flashing and sirens wailing. Most mornings I'm not thinking about looking for it as I'm usually listening to an audiobook or podcast and my mind is elsewhere, however, that's when the Ambulance always appears. As soon as I look for it, it's not there. As soon as I forget about it, it appears and I always laugh to myself at the synchronistic nature of this occurrence. Last week, for example, it happened 4 out of 5 days with the one occasion that it didn't happen being the day that I was actively looking for it. On Monday morning it happened again and I mentioned this matter to a friend on Monday night (since we were talking about the concept of programmed reality) and then on Tuesday morning, having quite forgotten the previous night's discussion, the Ambulance appeared again. This morning I was looking for it, and it wasn't there. The town I live in has a population of approximately 50,000. Not a particularly huge population, so I guess I'm wondering what the chances are of there always being a medical emergency occurring on a daily basis, that requires an Ambulance to always be driving up that road in the same direction, whenever I happen to be walking down that road - a road incidentally that only has 5 houses on it and takes me about 3 minutes max to complete (I rarely even have to spend any time waiting on the road for my colleague as he usually completes his loop quicker than me and drops off my next bag at Pitbauchlie Bank). It's so weird that it's like a preprogrammed sequence of events happening on a daily basis so long as I'm not anticipating it. I've also noticed waves of synchronicities occurring with people from my past. One example is from a couple of years ago when I bumped into an old friend I hadn't seen for 20 years despite him moving into the same town as me 5 or 6 years prior to this event. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up for a drink to catch up. When we did, we talked about old times and a couple of girls we used to hang out with from our teenage years, wondering what ever became of them. The next night I went out for a beer and one of the girls (whom I hadn't seen for around 30 years and lives in an entirely different town) walked into the pub with a friend. One of the first things she said is "do you still keep in touch with Iain?" To which I replied "I saw him for the first time in 20 years last night and you were one of the subjects we talked about". Anyway, I texted my friend to say "you're never going to believe who I've just bumped into". I ended up dating this girl for a while, but within the first week of meeting her again, I walked into my local post office to send back a faulty item I had purchased online, and bumped into my friend again and we laughed about how weird it was that I should meet this girl after just talking about her the night before. That's the last I've seen of him for 2 years and he still stays in the same town as me. media underground
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/27/2008 Posts: 51 Points: 153 Location: Scotland
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I also forgot to mention that there's been many occasions when at the last minute I've remembered to look out for the ambulance then heard a siren almost simultaneously, only to look up and see a Fire Engine or a Police Car instead - as though it changed into a different vehicle at the last minute. I swear to god I'm not on any medication. media underground
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 4/3/2011 Posts: 501 Points: 978 Location: Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom
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Very, very, interesting, Mortimer. Thanks for sharing them anecdotes.
So this road where there's only five houses... is it like a road that is an important route for ambulances? I mean, is it like a road that might be used as a short-cut for ambulances to get patients to hospital quicker. Or, is this road just like a normal residential road and nothing special. And does this road lead onto other roads or is it like a cul-de-sac, dead end? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm very intrigued.
I also wonder who is driving them ambulances? Could even be an NPC for all we know.
And when you said you're not on any medication... it's ok, pal. We believe you and I've experienced many anomalous events in my life too that defy rational explanation. So you're certainly not alone.
Oh, and last question... have you tried photographing/videoing this mysterious ambulance? If you did manage to then maybe you'd get anomalies appearing on the picture/video. Just an idea.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 7/22/2012 Posts: 222 Points: 666 Location: Scotland, UK
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Thanks for sharing all of these interesting anecdotes, mortimer. They really drive the point home that the universe can be a very strange place indeed. And don't worry we believe you are sane. LoL.
Loving the Bushcraft Bothier videos, btw. Hope your hand healed without any infection/scarring after that nasty burn. I winced at you popping those blisters, though (you are not supposed to do that, tut, tut!). However, you had everything under control, managed to dress the wound really well and put on a brave face despite the pain of the injury. Kudos to you!
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/19/2008 Posts: 981 Points: 2,955
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Love this shit!
Thanks for sharing and for adding to the reinvigoration of this Forum, mortimer!
This totally sounds like the Truman Show to me.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/27/2008 Posts: 51 Points: 153 Location: Scotland
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EKUMA1981: The road is generally a main one that's quickest into the centre of town from the ambulance depot located to the south of Dunfermline, however, ambulances could equally be called out in the other direction towards Rosyth, Inverkeithing or North Queensferry (or even to the east or west) if there was an emergency in any of those locations, so it's not like they have to always be driving northwards. I assume the site of the depot was chosen because of its central location to the surrounding population. I have attempted to photograph the ambulance, but because it only appears when I am not looking for it, I've never managed to get my phone out of my pocket in time to take a photo. "Bot"-tee-licious: Thanks, Bot, for your kind words about my wild camping/bothying videos. I'm still on a learning curve with filming and editing, but I plan on getting better camera equipment next month so the videos should improve (at least quality-wise). And now for some shameless self-promotion: if anyone would like to subscribe to my channel and give the videos a thumbs up, I'd much appreciate it (every little helps in the world of YouTube). Videos can be viewed here. For those who aren't interested in any of my camping/bothing videos, my channel also has stuff that might be more related to this forum. Notably the Infinity Factory videos which I digitised from the original VHS masters that I got from Richard Metzger of disinfo.com (saddly now a defunct website). Interviews include Robert Anton Wilson, Genesis P-Orridge, Allen Greenfield, and more. And yes, my hand healed up nicely - thanks for asking Bot. I winced too when watching the footage again. The blisters unfortunately had to be popped as they were causing a lot of pain and might've cut the trip short. Jim: Yes, let's try reinvigorating this forum. I have a feeling that forums are gonna come back as I think people are getting tired of social media and its restrictions on free speech, not to mention all the other downsides to using it. A quick question on your new book: can I purchase it somewhere other than Amazon? Direct from the publisher perhaps? As an author myself I know how much Amazon like to take a huge slice of the pie and I'd rather see you get a better financial cut for your work than give a huge chunk to greedy Amazon, even if that means paying slightly more for delivery. Once I've read it, I think I may even do a review of your book on one of my videos when I'm out on one of my wild camping trips. media underground
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 4/3/2011 Posts: 501 Points: 978 Location: Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom
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I just subscribed to your YT channel, Mortimer. Looks great, and your website looks cool too. I'll have a good browse on there once I get some spare time. Thanks, Mortimer.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/27/2008 Posts: 51 Points: 153 Location: Scotland
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EKUMA1981 wrote:I just subscribed to your YT channel, Mortimer. Looks great, and your website looks cool too. I'll have a good browse on there once I get some spare time. Thanks, Mortimer. Thank you EKUMA1981. media underground
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 7/22/2012 Posts: 222 Points: 666 Location: Scotland, UK
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I'm glad to hear your hand healed okay, mortimer. Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with the quality of your videos. Self-shooting is easier said than done but you seem like a seasoned pro to me. I always look forward to viewing them. :-)
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/27/2008 Posts: 51 Points: 153 Location: Scotland
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"Bot"-tee-licious wrote:I'm glad to hear your hand healed okay, mortimer. Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with the quality of your videos. Self-shooting is easier said than done but you seem like a seasoned pro to me. I always look forward to viewing them. :-) You're too kind, Bot, and thank you so much for following my progress. Maybe I'm too self-critical, but I know within myself that there's a lot more I could do to make the videos more professional. Simple things like shooting in 4K then encoding at 1080 will allow the zoom function to look less grainy. At 4K I could also do things like zooming and panning using the editing software, without loss of quality. There's all kinds of new tricks I'm keen to learn and try out with a better camera, which is why I'll probably bite the bullet next month and buy myself the new GoPro Hero 7. Strangely, this fits in well with a lot of what we discuss on here. With better hardware I can simulate reality better, lose the graininess, get better definition and make the experience of watching the videos more immersive. It's a case of trying to get the viewer to feel as if they are actually there experiencing the journey with me. Given that in video we only have the two senses of sight and sound to play with, the better the audio and video quality, the more immersive the experience for the viewer. media underground
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/19/2008 Posts: 981 Points: 2,955
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mortimer wrote:
A quick question on your new book: can I purchase it somewhere other than Amazon? Direct from the publisher perhaps? As an author myself I know how much Amazon like to take a huge slice of the pie and I'd rather see you get a better financial cut for your work than give a huge chunk to greedy Amazon, even if that means paying slightly more for delivery.
Once I've read it, I think I may even do a review of your book on one of my videos when I'm out on one of my wild camping trips.
Hey mortimer, I really appreciate your sentiment. And yes, there is no sense giving Jeff Bezos any more money, is there? lol. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other way to purchase it. I can look into it and see if the publisher is planning any other distribution methods. Don't worry about my little cut - I just want to get it into as many hands as possible! I would love to see your review! And am now very curious about what makes those camping trips wild, lol.
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