Was he Mad, English or Dead?
This was a problem posed for me on a holiday visit to the Greek island of Thassos a few years ago.
On our first day there, we had settled in our rather basic apartment, hired a car, and were settling down to our first day on the beach.
However, after some fifty minutes on the sand, clouds started to gather, and the rumble of thunder was heard in the distance. People started to evacuate, and we joined the exodus. By the time we had reached our car, a mighty down pour was upon us.
I decided that as we had little else to do, we may as well take this opportunity to drive around the island to explore the possibilities of other beaches to visit. So, we set off in the rain, thunder and lightning.
Thassos is not a large island, and I was actually able to circumnavigate it twice in less than two hours.
We visited a few beaches and made a mental note to visit one or two later in the week.
One particular beach remains in my mind to this day. The rain had stopped, but the sky was dark, and lightning and thunder was still making their presence felt. I had to park the car back from this beach and walk a few yards to get a good view of its layout.
Now the beach was fairly large, long and wide. The sky above was still black and threatening. The beach was deserted, except for one person.
Some forty metres away was the recumbent body of a very white, fat man. He was lying on his back, on a beach towel and with a beach umbrella (lowered, of course).
Now I must apologise to all my fellow countrymen. At this point I assumed he was English.
There is a well-known song that relates that only mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun. Well, we sometimes venture out in the midday rain.
He was lying on a totally deserted rain-soaked beach, under a coal black sky, and it seemed that I was the only person within half a mile of him.
Thoughts were racing through my brain. Should I go and see if he was alright?
But what if he was not English? How would I converse?
Supposing he was a foreign (very pale) person and mad or drunk, that could be bad.
Supposing he was a mad drunk Englishman, even worse.
Supposing he was dead?
If that were the case, his nationality would not be important, and the language barrier non-existent. There would be no physical hassle but think of the paperwork.
I explored my options.
I was the only person (apart from Mrs. R in the car) at the scene, with no means of summoning help.
If he was a sleeping foreign person, and I awoke him, he would immediately think I was going to mug or murder him, or both.
If he was a sleeping Englishman, he would tell me it was none of my business what he did, and of course he would be perfectly within his rights to say so. A fellow can do what he likes when abroad.
My last option was, what if he was dead?
Well, I thought, if he was dead, his holiday has been ruined anyway. No point in both of us suffering.
So, I left him there in peace.
Whether that peace was short or eternal, I will never know.
What would you have done in my place?
