It is a small world. You do not have to live in it particularly long to learn that for yourself. There is a theory that$$$ in the whole world$$$ there are only five hundred real people (the cast$$$ as it were; all the rest of the people in the world$$$ the theory suggests$$$ are extras) and what is more$$$ they all know each other. And it's true$$$ or true as far as it goes. In reality the world is made of thousands upon thousands of groups of about five hundred people$$$ all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other$$$ trying to avoid each other$$$ and discovering each other in the same unlikely teashop in Vancouver. There is an unavoidability to this process. It's not even coincidence. It's just the way the world works$$$ with no regard for individuals or for propriety.