Downstream

I leave the Bodleian in search
of food as I make my way to
the scene of a once famous
endurance swim – undertaken
by a man who may well have
read Steedman’s manual.
Fifteen minutes later I’m
standing in the middle of
Folly Bridge, looking down
over the river. The water is
green, spotted with silver
glimmers of sunlight. Salter’s
Steamers Boatyard,
established in 1858, juts out