Downstream

highway’.
Despite the modern cult of
Health & Safety, and signs
specifically banning
swimming, people continue
to enjoy the Thames. For
many it’s the memory of a
childhood pleasure that takes
them back, as if returning to
the world of The Wind in the
Willows in which the river – a
‘sleek, sinuous, full-bodied
animal, chasing and
chuckling, gripping things