Downstream

‘It’s fun,’ says Eleanor,
‘pace yourself and you can
always get out.’ Four of us
then go to the toilet and I’m
so revved up about the fact
I’m about to swim five miles
in the River Thames that,
instead of pulling the toilet
chain, I pull the emergency
cord and the alarm goes off.
It’s after 11 a.m. when we
cross over the lock to wait for
the boat. We’re split into two
groups – breaststroke and