“Last year, two commuter trains collided outside London.  Police believe some victims just walked away from their lives to start again.”

This is not entirely new.  People have been taking advantage of natural and manmade disasters since time immemorial to escape from unbearable lifestyles.

How many people perished in Pompeii?  Probably less than 2/3 of the reported total.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki, about the same.  How many soldiers reported missing in action are, in reality, living the “good” life and waiting for the next disaster to happen along, so they can successfully avoid paying maintenance again?  Did Jack really go down with the Titanic, or had Rose been making unreasonable demands on his bachelorhood?

We’ll never know, though in this computerised world it is not as easy to disappear as it once was, and forgers of passports and other identity documents must be doing a roaring trade.

There must be many people surreptitiously gluing their wigs on tighter for fear of a voice saying, “Hey, I thought you’d drowned in that ferry accident?  Your wife’s going to be pissed off if she has to pay back all that insurance money!”

Yes, it must be terrifying being on the run, never knowing when the law is going to catch up with me – I mean them!