67 Not Out: The Red Balloon Coincidence

67 Not Out: The Red Balloon Coincidence

The Red Balloon Coincidence

It seemed the obvious thing to do for a 10 year old. Laura Buxton was at her grandparent's golden wedding anniversary and there was a helium filled balloon going spare. So she wrote on a label her address with the message 'Please return to Laura Buxton' and released the balloon to fly off in the sky. Laura was in Staffordshire, England.

Ten days passed and a farmer in Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire pulled a balloon out of the hedge that separated his fields from his neighbour's house.

He noticed the name of Laura Buxton. As this was the name of his neighbour's daughter he handed over the balloon straight away, thinking it must belong to her. But this was a different Laura Buxton, though she was also ten years old, but she lived 140 miles away from the girl who had released the balloon.