Up the Pole

So here I am in Cambridge in 1987, punting along behind the Cambridge Backs. I hadn’t punted in 12 years, but my skills (such as they were) came back quickly enough, and I hardly collided with anything at all. It was nice the the river had a gravel bottom, unlike the muck at the bottom of the Isis in Oxford, and so the river never tried to snatch the pole out of my hands.

On this trip I taught Melinda Snodgrass to punt, and she soon was poling along like a pro. We were on our way to t...