Graham A Tobin
Ha’penny Bridge, Bath UKWith school out for summer, my best friend John and I were ready to seek adventure.Our usual array of activities included joining pick-up football (soccer) games, roaming around the neighborhood streets, and playing in the various parks of our English hometown, Bath. On this morning in the early 1960s, our perambulations took us to the river Avon, at the time a sewage infested, chemically polluted waterway. We were oblivious to its noxiousness, having spied a broken raft which to the minds of two youngsters signaled the adventure we were looking for. We were sure we could construct a raft better than this one – a sturdy platform from which we could float gently down the river, leaving it for our swimming and diving pleasure.
