THE PENNY PROJECT

Day Nine – Monday 7th February 2005 – Working with the Coincidence Hypothesis is strange. Truth is, it’s not so much a hypothesis as a reaction to an event of finding a penny. It states that if I happen to find a penny, it will be a coincidence and nothing more. It’s not really a working hypothesis in my opinion.

Problem with this is, it makes me sceptical that this hypothesis can be used to find pennies. Needless to say I found none, but I have to say it was hard to stay focussed.

Result – No penny found.

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Day Ten – Tuesday 8th February 2005 – No penny found. I have to say I wasn’t really trying though…

Day Eleven – Wednesday 9th February 2005 – No penny found. I’m still sceptical. How can I have a mere reaction in my head rather than a full hypothesis.

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Day Eleven (later) – finally found a penny, but not in the experimental area. For the record it was a fairly shiny penny, year 2002, fairly good condition.

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Day Twelve – Thursday 10th February 2005 – Still sceptical, and although I held the pseudo-hypothesis in my head fairly strongly I didn’t think I’d find anything. To my surprise, I found two pennies, practically right next to each other just inside the red zone (more accurately, very close to the border of the red and blue zones). I smiled to myself, picked them up, and thought...’Coincidence’.

Actually I had to force myself to think that one. It is so hard to change beliefs so quickly. Perhaps finding two pennies in a row was really a message, or perhaps it was just mere coincidence. Who knows…?

Strange to say, these two pennies do look almost identical in colour and condition…

Result – Two penny coins found in the red area.

Day Twelve’s Pennies –
#1 Year 1986 – Smooth, not shiny – Average condition.
#2 Year 1996 – Smooth, not shiny – Average condition.

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Day Twelve (later) – another penny found, and again outside the experimental area. For the record, it is year 1971, not shiny at all, average condition.

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Days 13-15 – 11th, 14th and 15th February 2005 – Well, it has to be said I am now finding pennies everywhere. Actually have not found any more in the experimental area as yet, but the feeling is beginning to creep over me that I am a penny magnet (this could be a new hypothesis, the Penny Magnet hypothesis). Here’s the list so far, all found without any particular hypothesis.

Day 13 – One penny found – Year 1988 – average condition  

Day 14 – Three pennies found : Two found in a group (coincidence?) – Years 1988 and 1999, both average condition; and one found later – Year 2003, slightly shiny good condition.

 Day 15 – Two pennies found : The first, Year 1971, average condition; and the second, Year 2003, slightly shiny, average condition.

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Days 16-21 – 16 th – 23 rd February 2005 – Have decided to take a rest for a few days. Nevertheless I am still finding pennies. Strangely enough they keep happening in groups of two. Coincidence?

Also today, it was snowing heavily and a thick layer of snow has lain on the ground for several days. However, on walking through the red zone, I noticed a small melted area of snow on the edge of the path, and what did I find in the centre of this melted puddle? Exactly – one British one pence coin – again, coincidence?

Day 17 – Two pennies found in a group: Years 2003 and2004 – both good condition, both quite shiny.

 Day 19 – One penny found – Year 2000 – slight shiny, average condition.

Day 20 – Two pennies found in a group: Years 1984 and 2004 – 1984 coin not shiny and average condition; 2004 coin extremely shiny and mint condition.

 Day 21 – One penny coin found against all odds in the snow-covered red zone – Year 1997 – average condition slightly shiny.

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Well after a few days of rest and having cleared out my mind of the first two hypotheses (and having discovered two more - the I Will Find A Penny Hypothesis and the Penny Magnet hypothesis, both to be tested fully later) and trying to get rid of the unerring suspicion that something is starting to guide my path to pennies or guide pennies paths to me, I now move onto the Luck Hypothesis.

Of course! That explains why I'm finding so many! Someone is surely looking over me - it's no coincidence and selective attention ideas are futile... I'm being taken under the wing of some kind of penny spirit guide...

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PS -I'm also close to abandoning the red zone/blue zone experimental area. I'm just finding pennies everywhere now - at work, at the station, on the road, in shops...I should thank my lucky stars, eh?