Mrs Joyce Ramsbottom liked to take her dog for a walk beside the local canal. One morning, she and her dog were enjoying their walk when Mrs Ramsbottom noticed something in the canal. As it was some distance away, Mrs Ramsbottom could not be sure what it was. She waited for the object to float nearer so that she could see what it was. She thought it might be a bird of some sort.
After a few minutes’ wait, her patience was rewarded. Mrs Ramsbottom saw that it was not a bird. It was an old man. He had his jacket on, was white-faced, and coughing and spluttering.
Mrs Ramsbottom continued to wait until the old man had floated out of sight. Then she went on with her walk. She met a man who was also walking with his dog. They stopped and discussed dogs for a minute or two. Just as she was moving away, Mrs Ramsbottom said:
“As you’re going that way, see if you can spot an old man with grey hair floating about. He passed me just now. I was wondering about it, because he had his jacket on.”
The man agreed with her that it was a bit funny for someone to be in the canal with his jacket on.
When she got home, Mrs Ramsbottom asked her husband if he thought it was normal for a man to be in the canal with his jacket on. No. He didn’t think it was.
“Perhaps he was a frogman,” he suggested.
“I don’t think he could have been a frogman,” said Mrs Ramsbottom. “He wasn’t wearing a helmet.”
Some time later in the afternoon, a policewoman called on Mrs Ramsbottom. She asked if Mrs Ramsbottom had seen an old man in the canal while walking her dog. Mrs Ramsbottom indeed said that she had done so. The policewoman thanked her and left.
The verdict of the coroner’s court upon the man in the canal was death by drowning.
Answer
1. Did she take the dog for a run in the park?
2. Why couldn’t she be sure what it was?
3. What happened as she continued to wait?
4. What was rather strange and unlikely?
5. Why couldn’t it have been a frogman?
Answer guide
1. No. She took it for a walk beside the local canal. 2. Because it was some distance away. 3. The old man floated out of sight. 4. It was bit funny for someone to be in the canal with his jacket on. 5. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
