‘The population of the United States is 300 million, the European Union 450 million, and Japan 127 million. These numbers alone ensure that rare events – even one-in-a-million events - will occur many times, every day, making the wildly improbable perfectly routine’ – Dan Gardner from Risk.
Every so often I'm reminded that, with all the planning in the world, sometimes life will throw you the unexpected curve ball that you couldn't have anticipated. My friend, the photographer Tracy Morter (on Twitter she's @moogyboobles) gave me this slightly vintage story from her local paper:
'In April 2005, a man was driving through South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, when a sausage broke his nose. It is believed that the frozen sausage was thrown from another vehicle. An Ambulance Service spokesman said, ‘I feel very sorry for him - it must have been an incredibly lucky - or unlucky - shot to get the sausage through a moving car window’.'
Shit happens. And there’s no absolute guaranteed way to stop it from happening. You plan for those events you can have any control over.
The rest is simple, blind chance.
Footnote: Tracy tells me that the culprits turned out to be kids on a trampoline at a barbecue throwing sausages over a wall. Which does seem more likely than 'thrown from another car'.