Section:GDN 1J PaGe:7 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 17:23 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
7
Black rainbows break in a smooth
ripple as the silky water fl ows
over my shoulders, the current
gathering force as it runs towards
the river. I’m swimming in Llyn
Dinas near Beddgelert , one of the
smaller lakes in Snowdonia.
It’s a beguiling place. The
water fl ows glass-clear in the
shallows, trembling over fi ne
gravel. As I change into swimming
gear, the electric pin of a
turquoise damselfl y dart s and dip s
among the sedge. Walkers, well-
clad in rustling nylon, watch me
wading in, the cold slowly climbing
my thighs, until the lake deepen s
enough to swim.
Out here the water is a lucent
peaty-brown, the rocks slimy
underfoot. Small fi sh fl ick between
the stones, investigating my toes.
Here, down at water level, I can
feel the weight of the lake hanging
between its tapestried shores.
Llyn Dinas is on the Glaslyn,
a river known for its early runs
of sea trout and spring salmon.
It’s born in the blue eye of Llyn
Glaslyn high on the western
slopes of Snowdon, said to be
the coldest lake in the UK. By
the time the water has fi ltered
down to Llyn Dinas 545 metres
below, it has lost its savagery but
still feels like a chill breeze.
Swimming here is an
ephemeral pleasure. After 20
minutes I’ve had enough of the
wind-shivered water. I haul my
body’s sudden slack heaviness
on to land, and enjoy the sun
warming my skin, lifting the hairs
on my arms as they dry.
A pair of stonechats clink on
the hillside above and grasshoppers
zither in the grass. To my left a
snaggle of bramble holds a few
gleaming blackberries, the fi rst
this year. They taste winey, sharp
and full of tannin, rain-ripened
in the recent storms.
Behind me is the continual
rush and fall of the river as it
funnels through the Aberglaslyn
Pass and curves around the base
of Dinas Emrys. Legend says this
wooded hill, crowned with a
dark age fort, was where Merlin
saw the red dragon, symbol of
Wales, defeat the white dragon
of the Saxons, foretelling the
coming of King Arthur.
Sara Hudston- An interview with the jazz
musician Gary Crosby referred to
a brush with the law when he was
15, which led to him being “placed
under house arrest”, wrongly
implying that he was under house
arrest by the police or courts. It was
in fact his parents who imposed
his time at home ( Windrush to
Windsors , 28 August, page 11, G2).
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signifi cant errors as soon as possible. For more information
on the readers’ editor’s offi ce and the Guardian editorial
code, see gu.com/readers-editor. Find contacts for other
Guardian departments and staff at gu.com/help/contact-usIn her otherwise excellent long
read (27 August), Suketu Mehta
includes “the Springer newspapers
in Germany” in the list of those
“feeding their readers a daily diet of
xenophobia”. But the Sun, Express
and Mail make the German tabloids
look like the Daily Worker. Bild,
the largest circulation (Springer)
tabloid had huge headlines, about the
refugees, saying “Wir Helfen” (We’re
helping) and “#Refugees welcome”.
Brian Smith
Berlin, Germany- The study claiming that optimists
live longer than pessimists ( G2 , 28
August) does not explain why this is
so. Perhaps people who have good
longevity prospects – because they
are healthy, wealthy and have good
genes – are more optimistic about life
than those with a closer horizon.
Roger Dennis
Colchester, Essex - The Mad magazine cartoon , quoted
in a letter ( 24 August ) , mirrors an
incident I witnessed in 1966 on the
Acropolis. American lady: “Hey
honey, come over here and take a
look at this. ” Husband: “You take a
picture, I’ll look at it back home .”
David Witt
Malmesbury, Wiltshire - With due respect to Jackie Howes
( Letters , 28 August), there are
positives to being premenstrual – I
remember saying to my manager,
“Shall we synchronise our PMS
and have a reign of terror? ”
Rita Gallard
Norwich - Seen on a food delivery van
( Letters , 26 August) in the car park
of Navigation Road train station: “No
pies are left in this vehicle overnight.”
And on the M6 in Cumbria: “Sub-
surface laser surveying. Non-ground-
breaking technology.”
Steve Stradling
Emeritus professor of transport
psychology, Timperley, Cheshire
Sir Nicholas Serota asks “What
makes a town thrive?” ( Why the
arts can lead the revival of Britain’s
towns , 26 August ), but while he
rightly points to the role a theatre,
gallery or library can play, he
neglects to mention the community
self-esteem generated by the culture
and creativity people practise in their
own time, at their own expense.
There are about 60,000 amateur
arts groups in the UK, involving more
than 10 million people. Through the
Epic awards scheme, supported by
Arts Council England , Voluntary
Arts highlights the incredible
achievements of groups who are
transforming their communities.
The Get Creative campaign
supports creativity across the UK.
It is wonderful that ACE recognises
the previously unsung amateur arts –
but please sing a little louder.
Robin Simpson
Chief executive, Voluntary ArtsEstablished 1906Country diary
Llyn Dinas,
Snowdonia
Impossible times
for political novels
Why optimists really
have longer lives
Amateur artists risk
being forgotten
Thanks to Dorian Lynskey for
the thoughtful piece on political
novels ( Review , 24 August). One
issue is that contemporary politics
is dual: the major issues of our
time, including climate change,
gender, nationalism, sexuality,
ethnicity, race, immigration and
labour exploitation, where culture
and power are interwoven; and the
formal politics of parliament and No
- Many novels deal with the former
(Anna Burns’ Milkman, Monica Ali’s
Brick Lane, L inda Grant’s A Stranger
City, for example). Not so the latter.
The real challenge for the novelist
is to link the two – to portray and
advance discussion about how
parliamentary laws and policies both
refl ect what powerful groups want
and shape our lives as individuals,
and about how we live our lives to
advance positive or negative change.
Perhaps Kamila Shamsie’s Home
Fire, John Lanchester’s Capital or my
own Ardent Justice do this, but there
are relatively few other examples.
One possible explanation of the
decline of the political novel is that
the totalitarianism that Orwell or
Koestler were writing against unites
formal and cultural politics, whereas
now the gulf between Westminster
gaming and the needs of our divided
society is so great that it is an uphill
struggle to link the two.
Peter Taylor-Gooby
Canterbury, Kent- With regard to the suggestion by
Penny Driscoll that Nineteen Eighty-
Four is still the political novel of our
times ( Letters , 26 August), surely It
Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
is worthy of a mention. Written in
1935, the brilliantly told story of a US
politician who “promises that he will
make America proud and prosperous
once more” and whose populist
rightwing rhetoric leads to his election
as president and to an authoritarian,
anti-immigrant and tyrannical
regime, has an uncanny prescience.
Doug Sandle
Leeds
[email protected]
@guardianlettersTwitter: @gdncountrydiary
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