I've been doing a little project with my 11-year-old son, Charlie: we're canoeing from the source of the Thames to the Houses of Parliament. It's taken us three years so far, and we're only half way.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You absorb 2,000 years of history just by being near the Thames.
But if people want to swim in the Thames, if they want to take their lives into their own hands, then they should be able to do so with all the freedom and exhilaration of our woad-painted ancestors.
I think Isambard Kingdom Brunel would be a good chap to have supper with. Anyone who builds a railway and then builds a steamship when he gets to Bristol and can't go any further must be a good chap.
These matters having been arranged, I had a temporary awning erected near the river, and was for three or four days busily employed writing an account of our journey for the Governor's information.
I have been out again on the river, rowing. I find nothing new.
I've never been far from the river. I'm sort of like a Thames-nymph.
It has been the greatest privilege of my adult and public life to have served, for 32 years, as the Member of Parliament for our local Highlands and Islands communities.
I once paddled a canoe the length of the Mississippi River all the way from Itasca to New Orleans.
I've just swum the length of the Thames. I feel quite tired.
The Thames is liquid history.