The Criterion
Most people handle a strange detail one of two ways: they dismiss everything, or they startle at every coincidence. Both fail the same way, with no criterion to sort real from random.
Here it is: once is nothing, twice is a pattern. A single sighting means nothing. What counts is the same vehicle, the same timing, the same behavior, turning up on a different day, in a different place. Repetition across time and location is the signal, not the jolt you feel in the moment.
Once, Nothing
Twice, a Pattern
Repetition Judges
The rule protects you in both directions: it stops you spiraling over one odd coincidence, and it stops you waving off the thing that actually repeats.
The Field Note
When something catches your attention, don't rely on memory. Capture three things and move on, so a second sighting has something to line up against.
What
The concrete specifics: vehicle make and color, a plate fragment, clothing, build. Details you could repeat to someone else, not impressions.
When
Date and time, as exact as you can manage. Patterns live in timing, the same presence at the same hour is often the tell.
Where
The exact location. The same thing showing up in a different place is what turns a coincidence into a pattern.
Three lines in your phone. That's the whole discipline. Then you let the repetition do the judging.