Posted by Ed Kiser on January 05, 2001 at 06:42:57 from 64.20.230.163:
P81 chapter 7
"Port used the brown gloves to give a last rub round to the hard
hat..."
(Mr. Farland is preparing to drive away to work as a solicitor.)
When I think of someone wearing a "hard hat" I think of some
construction worker in a dangerous place wearing a HELMET to
shield him from falling objects. Why would a solicitor need to
wear such protection? Race car drivers wear a kind of hard hat -
helmet - to protect them from head damage in case of an accident.
Does Mr. Farland drive in such a manner as to require a HARD HAT
for protection? Are there some sort of objects that might fall
on his head in his office? I can understand why a policeman, uh,
sorry, a BOBBY might want to wear a hard hat, but using it in
this situation seems totally out of place.
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P86 chapter 7
"I'd been looking forward to seeing Breydon again, and sailing in
to Wavency and the Yars..."
There are two maps in CC. On the first map at the front of the
book, in the bottom right corner of that map, is a reference to
"River Waveny". On the second map, in about the middle of the
book, is the reference to "River Waveney". In P86, the spelling
is "Wavency". At least two of these are obviously incorrect in
the spelling. Much later in the text, the spelling "Waveney" is
quite consistantly used.
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P91 Chapter 8
"Rat!" shrieked a woman in orange pyjamas who had
come ashore to see what was to be done to Joe.
In that part of the world, is is customary or even merely
acceptable for people to walk about in public wearing the
pyjamas? Or perhaps, if this practice is not socially
acceptable, does this apparent violation of protocol merely serve
to indicate the crassness of the Hullabaloos? Maybe the author's
choice of "orange" helped to serve to indicate the nature of
these "low-lifes" as being a flagrant display of unappropriate
attire.
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P91 chapter 8
"worrams for to make a bab... for liftin' eels..."
Maybe this is local dialect. "bab?" Wassat?
There is also a reference to "babbing" on P273, where it is stated
that the red lump that seems to be the bait is nothing but a bundle
of worms. The whole idea sounds a bit disgusting, but then, I suppose
"eels" is something that requires a certain cultivation of "taste" to
fully appreciate them. The processing of "Babbing for eels" is
described more fully on the next page (p274)
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P94, Chapter 8
"Takes all sorts to make a world, but fare to me as we could do
without some of 'em." (spoken by Mr. Tedder)
This sentiment seems to be similar to an official policy of the
Third Reich that was spouting its venom about the time of this
writing, regarding its dislike of certain undesirables, and of
their plans to "do without" them. How we can seemingly nod in
agreement with Mr. Tedder, yet shrink back in horror at what the
consequences are of IMPLEMENTING such a desire. Big fires start
with but a single match.
P95 Chapter 8
"I'll leave you this list and call for the things on my way back"
With today's large chain grocery stores - supermarkets - how
quaint it sounds to "leave a list" and have the store workers go
about and pick up the several items, then have some sort of pile
of them somewhere for the customer to come back and pick up
later.
I remember during WWII in North Carolina, at the local A&P (which
was the ONLY grocery store in that small town), Mom back then did
hand the clerk the list. While we stood there at the counter, he
ran around back among the shelves that were behind the counter,
back where the customers could NOT get to them, and fetch these
items on the list. Each item he brought to the counter and
deposited it in the growing pile in front of Mom. The shelves
were very HIGH, with special long poles with grabber type
"fingers" at the end that could be used to reach down goods that
may be some twelve feet above the floor. This was ok back then,
as only the employees had to get to those items, and they had
that grabber pole. Once the pile was completed, they added up
the score on a mechanical adding machine - and of course, figured
in the number of required RATION STAMPS (there was a war on, you
know), then Mom paid the money and the stamps. We then carried
the bags ourselves (no pushcarts) to the car. The store was in
the shape of a big horseshoe, with the customers restricted to
the open area surrounded on all three sides by this counter
behind which MANY clerks scurried back and forth, fetching items.
I remember what a BIG DEAL it was when that store moved to a new
building, and where the customer could actually TOUCH the items
before buying them, and had a cart to gather the items in, then
pay at the cash register on the way out. That sounds so normal
today, but then, it was quite innovative. Mom did not like it,
because now it meant she had to go hunt for things. She had to
"learn" the store to know where to go get certain items. Before,
the clerk had to know where things were; the customer did not.
She also complained that now, she could no longer CALL UP and
read out her list, then have them delivered to the house several
hours later. She did not think this was not really "progress" at
all.
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P95 chapter 8
"And half a pound of plain chocolate for William."
Isn't it bad for dogs to eat Chocolate? Well, I suppose, if he
brushed his teeth immediately afterwards...
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p105 chapter 9
"They're simply bound to look down the dyke," said
Tom, and they'll see the Death Glories towing, and
if they've got any sense at all they'll come and have a
look."
There needs to be another double quote in front of the "and they'll..."
Later...
FOUND IT! There is an extra double quote on p120...
"They looked up at the two little glass bulbs that usually lit
the whole cabin. They dazzled no longer. A curly red wire
was slowly fading in each bulb.
P114 chapter 10
"...all over the Broads the outlaw's friends were alert and on the watch."
Not many knew of Tom's illegal action regarding the casting off of the
Margoletta: the Coot Club membership, the three on the Teasel, and
Tom's parents. It always struck me odd, that it would seem advisable to
"lay low" about this act - the fewer that knew, the better. The odd thing
here was that they decided to ADVERTISE his act by getting a wide assortment
of "friends" involved in watching for the Margoletta, to act as "spies"
to report on the location of the "enemy". This involved telling a bunch
of people, some of which may not have even heard of the original casting
off of the Margoletta in the first place. It just looks like a bad idea
to so spread the word as to who it was that did this illegal act. Even
George did not SEE Tom cast of that ship. He may have suspected it, having
seen Tom padding down river in that direction, when later he heard that
the Margoletta had been cast off, but even then, he could not KNOW for
sure it was Tom that did it. Now here they go and TELL a LOT of people
that Tom did indeed do it as the reason they needed to know where the
Margoletta was. All it would take was one person to get this information
and not be all on Tom's side in the matter, then report his understanding
to the authorities, all to Tom's ultimate detriment. When one has a big
secret, it is not good to tell a bunch of people about it and then ask
them to help keep this secret. Not a good idea at all; not very smart.
I understand, however, the breakdown in this "spy network" is a necessary
feature for future events to happen in the story.
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P133 Chapter 11
This is just a typo, but the blank is missing between two words about
seven lines from the end of the chapter...
"Round the bend bythe Swan Inn they held water with their..."
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P148 Chapter 13
Not exactly an "oddity", but an interesting reference:
"Disguise?" said Dorothea. "Oh, why not? It'd be simply
lovely. Just the thing for an outlaw to do. Mr. Toad got out
of prison disguised as a washerwoman..."
The reference is to "Wind in the Willows", another one of my childhood
favorite memories...
Does this "backward reference" suggest that, when we list the books in the
order in which they should be read, maybe we should put "Wind in the
Willows" perhaps in front of them all?
- - - -
P158 Chapter 13
Dorothea tries to warn the others that she has seen George Owdon on the
bridge at Potter looking down at the Teasel. The others seem to just
dismiss her warning as being very likely a mistaken identification. This
brushing off of one's personal observations reminded me of the situation
in SA, when Titty was quite adamant about having heard the thieves struggle
in the night with some heavy box on Cormorant Island, while the others just
laughed at her, and accused her of "just dreaming."
P159 Chapter 13
"Teasel slipped through exactly under the middle of the arch, with just
about a foot to spare."
They are making their first passage under a bridge, this one at Potter
Heigham, and apparently it is a near thing. I was wondering if the tide
had any effect on the water levels at this point in the river. The
position of the tides become quite crucial at other points in the story,
but seem to have no effect here, as there is no mention of waiting for the
proper tide to navigate this bridge. Interesting to note how tides are
important in one place, but of no consequence in other places. Maybe
Potter is just too far away from the entrance to the ocean to feel any
effect of the tides here. But then, if not the tides, it would seem that
the water level might be different from time to time, perhaps as a result
of rain. In this location however, they seem to approach the problem of
doing the bridge as if the water level is expected to remain at some
constant level, with no need to check it out first.
There is a reference to the tidal effects as far up the river at Horning.
At the start of chapter 16, as they were preparing to set sail for the
southern voyage, Tom noted the condition of the tide:
"The last of the flood tide was holding up the stream. The
sooner the Teasel was off the better, to make use of the whole
of the ebb."
One must assume therefore that the tide DID affect the water level and the
rate of its flow at the bridge at Potter as well. Perhaps the change in
level due to the tide was not all that much to be concerned about clearance
under the bridge.
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P163 Chapter 14
They spot a bird, a Marsh Harrier, on Horsey Mere just before turning about
to return the twins home. I noted that name of the bird, and was wondering
if maybe there is some connection between the "Harrier", the bird, and the
vertical-take-off-and-landing jet the British have, sometimes called a
"jump jet", that is also called the "Harrier Jet". Perhaps the agility
of this jet airplane is associated with the similar ability of this type of
hawk, and was thusly named after the hawk. This incident of course is not
intended as any reference to modern technology by Ransome, as this was
written well before the Jet airplane made its appearance.
- - - -
P169 Chapter 14
"Steak and kidney pies, suet and ginger puddings, ... all out of tins ...
and beautifully hotted up."
Now there is a statement that is a real culture shock for the American
reader. "SUET" - isn't that another word for just plain FAT? And of
course, the language differences of "tins"="cans", and "hotted"="heated".
We not only talk differently, we EAT differently.