I recently found out some details about a photo i had uploaded onto Facebook, which has given me the shivers.

I remember at the time looking out of my plane window and seeing the name of the plane opposite and finding it funny and unsettling at the same time. Seriously..sounds weird..but i found the name really unsettling. Anyway..i made a joke in fb about being glad i wasnt on that plane. Had no idea it was this plane: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20070916-0

It also reminds me of quite a few near misses ive had in my life. Including being evacuated off the tube at the time of the London bombings. I was late for work. I could very easily have been on the tube a few lines ahead had i followed my normal schedule. Doesnt stuff like this sometimes make you wonder... ?

I've missed a couple of bombs. The first was in Vientiane at the bus station, went off where I used to buy BBQ sweet corn most mornings. I'd left the week before.

Another when my regular hotel in SungaiKolok on the Malay border was bombed, I was due there that day but had met the Mrs on Ko Samui and hung around for a few extra days courting.

My classic escape was in India when I was travelling on a railpass with my daughter. On the way to Amritsa the train we were on was delayed many times to allow troop trains to pass. We arrived at Amritsa at 6am and I bought a paper to fill in time till we could find a hotel. Noticed the headline Troops Enter the GOlden Temple. Turned around and got on the train at the platform behind me that was just leaving. It was the last train out for several months. Foreigners were locked up in hotels for a couple of weeks before being taken out.

I was drinking in the 'Tavern in the Town' 30 minutes before the IRA blew it up

I was in the Arndale Center in Manchester half an hour before they blew that up.

Yep - close call - I was in that bar/club in Bali for five nights straight one week before the bombing.

Still get the heeby jeebies thinking about that.

My parents were booked on MS estonia but rescheduled.

I used to live in a block called " Baguio Villas" here in HK.

One day it rained and it didn't stop. The hill side at the back of our block gave up the unequal struggle and slide down hitting us square on. My domestic helper saw the rubble coming and grabbed my daughter and hit the lift ( wife and I at work ). As she got to the bottom of the lift which was the underground car park level, she saw to her horror as the lift door opened a mountain of mud smothering the car park. She luckily had the presence of mind to hit the up button before the lift was filled with mud and rubble. My pal at work lost his son that day. We were lucky

Oh Suiging.. im so glad that it didnt go the way of your friends son. So sorry for his loss.

TX

One poor lad lost is one too many

Edited as did not pay my respects to the workers in the block who also perished, RIP.

Similar to your experience, Eek, I was in the Tokyo subway system the day of the sarin-gas attack, and missed the attack by one subway stop. When I came up above ground, sirens where blaring and people were glued to TV news in shop windows. It was my first business trip to Japan, and because my language skills were still in infant-stage, it took awhile to figure out what all the chaos was about. When I did figure it out, a bit unsettling to find out how close I'd come.

Regarding unsettling things for air travel: Because Japanese have a difficult time pronouncing the "L", Al Nippon Airways (ANA) gate attendants always welcome foreigners to the jetway upon boarding by smiling and wishing you "a nice fright!" How comforting.

it is similar to the film ' sliding doors ' each and every step / action you take determins the future

living on samui, i have never been to the full moon party, reason , i was due to go back in 2005 but missed the boat that crashed and killed 15 people , i choose to skip the party after seeing the crash

flashforward to 2 weeks ago, i was due to go again to the full party, but slight change of plans at the last min, but again boat crash .... the only 2 times i ever planned to go and there was boat crashes

similat to the one 2 go crash, 24 hours before the crash i was drving down the road where the plan crashed into

No near misses with bombings etc, although I was in my room in a beach front hotel in Patong when the tsunami hit. I was a storey under water at one point and spent two nights in Phuket hospital.

on the day of the 7/7 london bombings i had several near misses.

following my everyday routine of making calls to customers in and around the capital, i manged to somehow leap frog the events as they happened.

the bus bombing outside the BMS building, russell square/ kings cross and the aldgate.

the closest call was the BMS building, having just left the premises i remember hearing the blast, turning round and automatically thinking OMG was that just what i thought it was.

I think some Bedlam members may be in a real life version of "Final Destination"

In Stephen King's book, "The Stand", the characters discuss a scientific survey that "proved" that commercial airliners that crashed had a much higher rate of cancellations and "no shows" than those that didn't.

I did a bit of a search but never found if it was true or not.

No near misses with bombings etc, although I was in my room in a beach front hotel in Patong when the tsunami hit. I was a storey under water at one point and spent two nights in Phuket hospital.

Holy Hanna! Good to see you can tell the tale...

Speaking of which, did you ever write about your experiences anywhere?

Speaking of which, did you ever write about your experiences anywhere?

I haven't no. I may get around to it sometime though. I tend not to write/talk about such things because it has a "me, me, me" factor, which I don't like.

It is a difficult story to tell anyway as much of it is 'remembered' through a veil of shock, the misses and I both remember or forget different things from that day as our minds must have selectively chosen things that we can individually cope with.

Not sure if that makes sense but it is difficult to describe.

Speaking of which, did you ever write about your experiences anywhere?

I haven't no. I may get around to it sometime though. I tend not to write/talk about such things because it has a "me, me, me" factor, which I don't like.

It is a difficult story to tell anyway as much of it is 'remembered' through a veil of shock, the misses and I both remember or forget different things from that day as our minds must have selectively chosen things that we can individually cope with.

Not sure if that makes sense but it is difficult to describe.

Good post, Moonrakers. I know just what you mean. Telling a good story can be difficult for the very reasons you mentioned. And, very often the near misses are not really frightening until afterwards when you have time to realize just what took place. Soldiers who have gone to battle know what I mean and they experience things on such a continual basis that it's hard to put everything into perspective later.

Don't know how to put it in words. But all of your stories are in some sort of strange "not my time to kick the bucket" category.

Perhaps there is something out there looking after our destiny. The only experience i have had, which is petty,compared with yours, was swimming in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya and not being able to get back to the boat and thought i was going to drown. Got back, but it was frightening. The tides and deep water and swallowing the sea... Now I know I am not a strong swimmer and shall stick to the paddling pools!!

Was in Phuket at the time of the tsunami (Moonrakers, sorry to hear of your experience). Arrived with no hotel booked but intending to stay beachfront in Patong. Happened to end up sharing a taxi with an American from the airport to his hotel in the hills behind Patong. The hotel had a vacancy so spur of the moment decided to stay there.

Was on the beach the day before the tsunami and that night took GF and about 10 of her friends out to a disco until 5am. All in rooms sleeping it off the next morning when the tsunami struck otherwise would have been on the beach.

Who says going out partying all night is bad for you ?

I was in the Arndale Center in Manchester half an hour before they blew that up.

I was in a Hotel in Manchester with some Japanese customers the night before. I should have stayed the night and was actually booked in. However, as the Japs went to bed early because of an early flight I decided to slide off.

One very foggy night at sea when I was in the Royal Navy, most of the crew were asleep and we collided with a merchant ship. Ripped the bow off and threw everyone from their bunks. That was scary. Don't know what happened to the skipper of the merchant vessel, but our Cap't lost his fourth ring.

......................... but our Cap't lost his fourth ring.

Well buggered then................

On the military front, sat up the front of an RAF VC10 years ago catching a flight to the States. In the back was a pallet with one of the Red Arrows engines strapped in, taking it as a spare to them In Washington.

All the right checks had been signed off by the engineering crew, so off we jolly well went.

Didn't get far when the captain came over the air telling everyone to stay in their seats and not move as much as an inch. Seems the engineer team had signed to say the engine was clean but errrrr no. The smell of volatile liquid soon became apparent, (Cleaning fluid, avgas ? Who knows ) and the smallest movement causing a static spark in the pressurised cabin, would have blown us all to high heaven.

Not sure he had four, but the ring of the chief engineer was well puckered and reamed after we gingerly landed back at Brize Norton. The Court Marshal was not pretty

Was about to book a flight to Phuket on Friday, went to ATM and found I did not received my salary yet and was thinking to use my CC.

Decided to wait until Monday, on Sunday the place was hit by the tsunami....

:o

This thread is making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

Thanks for sharing.

This thread is making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

Thanks for sharing.

Me too. Especially the tsunami one.

(somehow I don't think any of the reposdants are telling porkie pies in this one either. very scary.)

In mid December, 2004, I was in Phuket and planning on going to a beach near Kao Lak to stay with a Thai family who rented huts. I had been there before and it was an inexpensive location ideal for back packers. The two Thai families that ran the place each had a couple of cute kids... ages 7 to 11.

But, just before I left Phuket to stay with them, my daughter in Canada e-mailed me with the request that I come home and have Christmas with the family in their new home. I also had a fishing friend from New Zealand who was coming to Canada at the same time. I figured what the heck, I could go home to Canada, spend some time with my family and go fish steelhead with my buddy from NZ. It saved my life.

On Boxing day we heard the news about the Tsunami and all the loss of life. The death toll kept rising in subsequent reports. When I returned to Thailand in March, I took a trip down to Phuket and saw first hand all the devastation. When I rented a bike and rode up to the beach near Kao Lak where my friends used to be there was nothing left and nobody had heard any reports of survivors. The Swedish resort at the other end of the beach had also been destroyed. Had I not gone home for Christmas I would have been right there at the time of the Tsunami. No way I would have survived. I'm a lousy swimmer.

For years I have managed to leave the bar before meeting my new ex wife/girfriend - call me lucky, I just say it is a survival instinct

CB

No way I would have survived. I'm a lousy swimmer.

It would have made no difference, an olympic gold medalist would not have been able to do anything but just hope that they get lucky.