Coincidence can be a remarkable thing, with the most significant cases making the hair on your neck stand on end, and some having the appearance of divine intervention. However these things can often be quite commonplace.

Three examples from this Sunday. In the morning in my quiet time Bible reading before church I read two chapters from Jeremiah recounting the persecution of the unfortunate prophet including when he was thrown down a well in Jerusalem because the king didn’t like what he was saying. Two hours later the same passage – not one which I recall ever being read out before – was read in church.

In the afternoon, a colleague’s washing machine breaks so he comes over to wash his clothes. As he’s on his way, I start a new chapter of the book I’m reading (‘The Art of Travel’) in which the author journeys to Israel. My colleague is Israeli.

Later on, the same chapter, discussing the concept of ‘The Sublime’, quotes from a traveller describing his journey in the Alps to the Grand Chartreuse monastery, which I visited last month with the family and which was just a few miles from where we stayed.

Today, Tuesday, I woke up early and read a subsequent chapter in the book which concentrated on Van Gough. This afternoon on the way back from work I start a new podcast episode from the London Review of Books, which is almost entirely concerned with…Van Gough.

The book then discussed a French author De Maistre who lived in Chambery. Ten minutes later I was having a shower and realised I was using a scented soap that had been bought the previous month in…Chambery.

I don’t put much store by these things, except to take pleasure in having ideas and information coming in from a variety of sources which then often resonant in conversation with each other and bring out unexpected fresh thoughts.