Ok, this might be a bit complex…
Mr Cazzle collects old computers. A few months back, he heard about a shed full of rare old Australian computers (Microbees, for those who care) that were going free to anyone willing to pick them up. He grabbed my Dad for company/co-pilot, and hit the road. The fact they were 9 hours drive away didn’t deter him. Once there, they loaded up as many computers as they could carry. Chatting to the guy giving them away, they asked why he was getting rid of them. He said they’d belonged to his friend, but his friend had moved away and wasn’t coming back for them. This guy was sick of them cluttering his shed, and so he wanted them out. The friend, it turns out, had moved to Melbourne (about one and a half hours drive from our home).
They bought the computers back, and Mr Cazzle eventually got put in touch with the guy who used to own them - Mr Microbee. He asked if he could come down and visit his computers to see if they had a good home, and maybe to take one or two that he didn’t want to give away, and Mr Cazzle said sure. Well, Mr Microbee and Mr Cazzle got along like a house on fire, and would get together periodically. One day, Mr Microbee brought Mrs Microbee down with him.
Since the guys spent their days in the shed discussing old computers, Mrs Microbee and I were left to our own devices, and we spent the day chatting. The subject turned to her children, and she was discussing her daughter. Then she moved on to the subject of her daughter’s ex-boyfriend. She mentioned they’d met through her daughter’s harness racing class. “Hmm”, I thought, as my brother’s friend used to be involved in harness racing. She said he was such a jerk that her daughter called her from the city they were living in to complain one night. “Hmm”, I thought, as my brother’s friend was living in that city. She said her daughter put him on the phone and she said to him “Matt, …”, but there I cut her off to ask “Matt… Surname?” “Yes” she said in surprise. “Do you know him?”
Let me mention now that her daugher and the ever-parent-pleasing Matt were living in a city that is over three hours drive away. So, through a guy living 9 hours drive away, we met a guy living 1.5 hours drive away who was married to the mother of a girl who had dated my brother’s best friend, who lived 3 hours drive away! On top of that, two of the guys in this story were old computer collectors - surely a rare breed yet!