My then-partner and I were in Cape Town test-driving a secondhand car -- a pretty old, blue-grey VW that had seen better days. The owner had kindly let us drive it around the neighborhood to see how it ran, and as we were going down a narrow suburban lane, we approached another VW -- the same model -- coming in the opposite direction.

"Oh, there's your cousin," I remarked, referring purely to the fact that the oncoming car was very similar to the one we were driving.

My partner slammed on the brakes as the car started to pass us. It passed, and then stopped suddenly, too.

"How the hell did you know that was my cousin driving by?!"

Sure enough, it was his cousin driving the car. I'd never met her; he hadn't seen her for years; and, in fact, she'd only just moved to Cape Town.

What's more, we'd been talking about her just a few days earlier.