coincidences

aren't coincidences wonderful!

yesterday was my girls' dad's birthday and they were here before going to visit him, sorting out presents and cards. I heard Katie say 'I've done the card, just put happy birthday from Thing 1 and Thing 2'. you may know that these are characters from The Cat in the Hat, one of Katie and Sally's favourite books when they were small, so much so that their dad gave them these nicknames. As the girls are now in their 30s I haven't heard these nicknames for years!!

this morning I was in Glasgow and was amazed to see, sauntering along Sauchiehall Street, The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2'!! I was gobsmacked and admit to fishing out my compact and taking this quick shot through the car window - at a red light I hasten to add. not a great shot, but just the pure coincidence has had me chuckling about it all day!

Thing 1 - Katie - is just being delivered home from hospital by said dad, after a small operation today. a bit of tlc (and Maya Gold chocolate) are in order.

Dr Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat as a response to ciriticism that early reading books in US schools were boring and off -putting.

The story is 1629 words in length and uses a vocabulary of only 236 distinct words, of which 54 occur once and 33 twice. Only a single word - another - has three syllables, while 14 have two and the remaining 221 are monosyllabic. The longest words are 'something' and 'playthings'. More than 11 million copies of The Cat in the Hat have been printed. It has been translated into more than 12 different languages, including Latin, under the title 'Cattus Petasatus'!