In the swim.(Television)("Rivers with Griff Rhys Jones")(Television program review)

I do hope you'll forgive me for writing about rivers twice in two columns. It's just that when I got back from Wales, turned on a TV for the first time in a fortnight, and saw Griff Rhys Jones voyaging down the Wye and the Severn I found myself instantly transfixed. This is what happens when you've been cast out of paradise (aka been on holiday): you want to prolong the experience for as long as possible, even if only by artificial means.

Rivers. If I see one--unless it's totally crocodile-infested or it's below zero--I pretty much have to swim in it. My recentish conquests include the Nether Rhine (research trip to Arnhem, obviously), the Usk, the Derwent (tombstoning off the …