Nb, regular user name changed for this.
I’ve just finished watching the McCann documentary on Netflix. While watching I was reminded of a (completely unrelated) but troubling incident that happened to us on the beach a few years ago.
Now it’s on my mind again. As I think it was suspicious but have never been able to figure out how, or why, or whether I should do anything about it.
It was a warm spring summer day. We were on our local beach. My daughter (4 or 5 at the time) was in her swimsuit running in and out of the shallows. My son was in his buggy. We walked as a family slowly up the beach. As we did so, we were approached by a couple who asked if they could film us collectively walking up from the sea, at a future time, to make an intro for a promotional film they were making to raise funds to build a recovery retreat locally for adults who had suffered trauma.
The man was quite beguiling. His appearance was unusual and his accent possibly Belgian or Austrian. He wrapped me into a story about his own recovery from trauma and what he hoped to do with the new centre.
Naively, I gave him my email address and said he could contact me in the future.
All this time I hadn’t really noticed, but another adult in our group pointed out afterwards, that the young ish woman accompanying him who had not said a single word, had been watching my young daughter intently, enough to unsettle her and for her to remark upon it to me.
I never heard from this man. And when I googled I found absolutely nothing about the potential recovery centre. Things like this would typically make the local press, if they were fund raising or wanted planning permission. But nothing. And still nothing years later.
It’s the attention on my daughter that bothers me still. Should I have alerted someone to these people and their behaviour?
It may or may not be relevant but my daughter is a very pretty girl, long dark blonde hair and large green eyes, porcelain skin.
Would it have unsettled you and what might you have done about it if so?