Should The Mayor Of London Take A Swim In The...

[sandyRoe]

...Thames to show the Mayor of Paris we're every bit as good as them?

[Old_Geezer]

How would that, show that ?

[sandyRoe]

Their river is so clean they'll use it for some Olympic sports.  

The Mayor swimming in ours would show we're not lagging behind the continentals.

[brainiac]

No, he should go take a jump in the lake

[youngmafbog]

The problem with the Thames is the currents.  The water could be as clean as a whistle but the currents will kill you, thats why its a popular destination for topping yourself.

[SIRandyraven]

Take a swim preferably when the tide is going out.

[MargoTester]

He is only swimming in the Seine to 'prove' that it's safe for the athletes to swim in, in order to reassure them.

[MargoTester]

Sorry She (not he) was forced to delay last month due to faecal matter being 10 times over the limit it should be 😱

[New Judge]

“Their river is so clean they'll use it for some Olympic sports.”

They will use it but whether it is “so clean” is a bit debateable.

According to a report I read only today, for three weeks running from June into early July unsafe levels of E-coli were detected in the river. They have returned to just under safe levels in the last ten days, but whether they will remain that way is a little uncertain. Many Parisians living in the centre are considering upping sticks for the duration as a “ring of steel” is to be placed around the city. If they stray outside the cordon, residents will only be allowed access to their homes by scanning a QR code of their phone. They have also been urged not to move house or order deliveries during the games, to help keep the roads clear. The streets have seen “social cleansing” over the last year. Almost half of the homeless in France live on the streets of Paris and 12,000 of them have seen their makeshift accommodation cleared away with them being shipped out to other towns and cities. The second-hand booksellers (“les bouquinistes”), who have made a living selling their books from their iconic green cabinets on the Banks of the Seine for over 400 years, were threatened with removal for “security reasons”. Only a concerted campaign saw the Mayor of Paris -  Spanish born Ana María Hidalgo – relent, allowing them to stay. Sounds nice. 

“The problem with the Thames is the currents.  The water could be as clean as a whistle but the currents will kill you,”

I can almost vouch for that. In my early rowing days at school the boathouse was on the north bank of the Thames, on the west side of Kew Bridge (the site now being occupied by a block of apartments) . A bit before I was disembarking from my eight, a river tug that had collected some barges from the end of the Grand Union Canal a mile or so upstream passed by on its way to London. Its wash caught the boat broadside as I was standing up to get out. I reached out for one of my fellow crew but, not wishing to go in himself, he brushed me away and I went into the river. Despite being a strong swimmer, the outgoing tide swept me under the bridge towards London. A kindly soul walking his dog on Strand-on-the-Green saw my distress and chucked me a roped lifebelt and was able to help me scramble ashore. After offering my profound thanks, I dashed back, dripping wet, to the boathouse where I was treated to a rollocking from the Captain of Boats for endangering the safety of the boat. 

[10ClarionSt]

I would have thought that the Mayor of London would have it in his head that he could walk on the Thames, not swim in it.

[sandyRoe]

10Clarionst,

Are you confusing Lord Mayors?

Surely it was Boris who thought he could walk on water.

[youngmafbog]

Wrong religion 10C.  But I know what you mean.

[naomi24]

Khan isn't Lord Mayor.  He's just plain old Mayor.

[Old_Geezer]

And as such, much more dangerous.

[naomi24]

Yes indeed, OG.   He's the one with the power.