A Dollop Of Wallop – with Harry Wallop, a national journalist, broadcaster and author who loves and lives in the Lake District
When I was 17, I am fairly sure I spent January 1 in a vodka-induced haze. But times change. My 17-year-old daughter is now part of a generation of teens as interested in keeping healthy as trying to down as much alcohol and smoke as many cigarettes as it is possible without getting caught.
Which explains how she and one of her cousins decided to partake in the Keswick New Year’s Day swim in Derwentwater, and insisted her parents came along to watch. The event was organised by the Calvert Trust and had attracted 350 people keen to start the year with a short, sharp dip. Not my idea of fun, admittedly, but these hearty events have become increasingly popular.
Except, when we arrived at the designated spot – near the Keswick Launch – we discovered the event had been cancelled. There were a few other disappointed swimmers who, like us, had failed to read the update on the website from the day before, informing people that the event had been cancelled due to “a very uncertain and changeable forecast of strong winds and heavy rains”.
Well, yes. This is the Lake District and it is January 1. Wet weather and strong winds were always going to be a possibility.
The planned event was not a picnic or outdoor papier maché class – it was a swim, where the purpose of the exercise was to get cold and wet.
In fact, at the appointed time of 11am it was not raining and it really was not that windy; there was even some blue sky.
Now, I am not blaming the Calvert Trust. They are a truly excellent charity, doing great work, one which I have been pleased to support in the past. But its decision to cancel is symptomatic of an increasing sensibility in Britain: namely, very few people are prepared to take a risk. ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry’ has become almost an article of faith among organisations small and large.
Some of this attitude comes from a genuine fear that they will be held responsible if something goes wrong. I understand that. But in this instance a simple message reminding swimmers they were taking part entirely at their own risk should have been enough.
Sometimes the safety-first culture is an excuse to avoid work.
Last week, Avanti West Coast trains between Liverpool and London were cancelled not because of snow on the line but because of two inches of snow at a depot. Aslef, the drivers union, said “the walkways were covered in snow and ice, making them unusable”. Readers, they were not unusable.
The risk aversion culture is also arguably to blame for Britain’s terrible levels of productivity, with 90 separate regulatory bodies slowing down businesses, and dire levels of investment.
Sometimes, you just have to take the plunge. Which is what the girls did, by walking around to Friars Crag, walking into the calm – if cold – waters and feeling invigorated.
