"Yes, that is a naked man"

I like going to the beach, always have done.

As a family we like going to the beach too, especially on a Sunday morning. We do the usual stuff: take a walk, perhaps kick a football around ("no, I refuse to call it a soccer ball- it's a ball and you kick it!"), and possibly, if we're feeling adventurous and it's not too windy, play Frisbee. We used to do this on a regular basis when we were in Scotland and have kept up the habit since moving to the Bay Area.

And this past Sunday was no different.

We started to throw the Frisbee around like we had done many times before. We had been doing this for maybe 10 minutes when my 5 year old daughter threw the Frisbee at an awkward angle and it spun off towards the rocks. I bounded over to pick it up and as I bent down to collect the disk I realised there was someone lying reading a book just a few meters away. At first I was surprised I hadn't noticed him before.

"Good morning", I said slightly embarrassed as he looked up from his book.

The reason for my embarrassment was because this person was stark naked - not what I was expecting. I waved the Frisbee feebly as if to offer up some explanation of why I was standing a few feet away looking a bit vague, and quickly shuffled back to where my family was waiting for my return.

"Do you realise that man has not clothes on" I said to my wife Alex, trying to be discreet.

"What man?", she said spinning around.

"I think we should move down to the other end of the beach" I said nodding towards the girls.

The girls were none the wiser as Alex suggested we move down the beach where there was ‘more space’. Jodie started to rock climb under Alex's supervision while Holly and I continued to throw the Frisbee around. We had been doing this for a few minutes when Holly turned visibly pink.

"What is it?", I asked slightly concerned.

"Behind you Dad, looook!" she said with her eyes widening. I turned to look as another naked man passed by.

"Good morning" he said as he strolled past.

I turned back to Holly who was trying hard not to giggle.

"Yes, Holly", I said. "That is a naked man, and yes, it would appear we are playing Frisbee on a nudist beach".

I can honestly say that nothing like this ever happened when I stayed in the north east of Scotland, at least not in November.