Downstream

and seem to have increased in
the past forty years, initially
as we were first encouraged
to move away from the river
and into indoor pools and
now, with the closure of so
many pools and lidos, as we
make our way back to the
Thames. In the early 1980s
youngsters in Chiswick were
said to be risking their lives
by swimming during a hot
spell. One resident said, ‘I
have lived here for eighteen