Hope on the water: Despite barriers, festival frolic helps forge bonds

In British author Kenneth Grahame's literary classic, The Wind in the Willows, Water Rat says to an astonished Mole who is experiencing the river for the first time: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.

"In absolutely no way is that fictional, anthropomorphic rodent wrong. Personally, I love it. Growing up in a Welsh seaside town, I'm always drawn to the water.

So naturally, when it was jokingly suggested that I, a foreign-born copy editor with a habit of avoiding too much social interaction, should join the dragon boat racing team of this venerable organ, I immediately made my mumbled excuses. "I'd love to," I said with mock disappointment, "but the boat is probably already full."