SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries.

Here are examples that happened to me:

While disembarking the tour bus in Algecirus, Spain I couldn’t help but hear two elderly ladies talking about Dutton.  Now to most people, including myself at one time, the word Dutton would have meant nuttin (I couldn`t help myself) but a girlfriend of mine was born and raised in that little hamlet west of London, Ontario.  This I explained to the ladies and they asked my friend`s name.  I replied that I didn`t know her maiden name but that she now lived in Newmarket.  `Oh that must be Lorena`s daughter` one lady replied.  I had to be in Spain to meet people that knew my friend`s family.

I was in Vancouver visiting my oldest brother who due to the high cost of rent in Kitsalano lived in a large house with four other people.  At the dinner table I discovered that most of the others were from `out east` meaning Ontario.  I was chatting with one young lady who revealed she was from London, Ontario.  Now I know nary a person in London but I did tell her that my cousin and his wife owned a restaurant in south London.  `Not Marty and Gail` she asked astoundingly (already knowing the answer) and when I nodded she told me she used to wait tables in their restaurant. 

My oldest son Dan drove a tow truck many years ago and went on a call in Niagara-on-the-Lake to change a flat tire.  It turns out that the driver was Dutch so Dan told him that his mother (me) is Dutch, that she came to Canada with her parents.  The man asked Dan, where his grandfather came from in Holland.  Dan told him Herkingen, not expecting any reaction as most people didn`t know where that is, even people in Holland.  This man excitedly told him that the man in the back was his father and he was from Herkingen.  Even more surprising was the elderly man in the back knew Dan`s grandfather.

We were in the airport in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and had offered to watch traveller's luggage as they went for a refreshment.  While sitting waiting for our flight we struck up a conversation with another couple beside us.  We asked where they were from, discovered they were also Canadian, also from Ontario and then to our mild surprise they informed us they were from our city.  Imagine our total surprise that it turned out they were country neighbours who lived about 2 ks from our house and that our son Jeff was their paperboy.