Posted by Adam Quinan on January 06, 2001 at 01:41:20 from 24.112.158.236:
In Reply to: COOT CLUB - observations part THREE posted by Ed Kiser on January 05, 2001 at 06:41:30:
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P179 chapter 15
"...to watch the yellow-hammer flitting through the branches of the
pollarded willows,..."
POLLARDED? How does one POLLARD a willow?
The whole top of the willow where the branches come out is cut off and then the tree sprouts new branches from the spot so you have a very thick trunk and spindly little branches. These are also cut and used for something!
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P184 chapter 15
"electric torches" - what I would call, "flashlights". Is this "electric
torch" term in common usage in England, or is this an expression that
belongs to that time, not today?
In England flashlights are still called torches (not electric torches as people probably don't know what other sort of torch there could be).
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P202 Chapter 17
"Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Is that Norwich Ten-sixty-six?
Note how short the numbers are. Also, it seems some numbers have more
digits in it that some other numbers.
My grandparents had one of the earliest phones in their small town as my grandfather was a doctor. Their phone number until the 1960s was Crewkerne 85, then it became Crewkerne 2985. You had to tell the operator that you really wanted to talk to them because there was a big business which had Yeovil 85 and they were always getting people asking for the wrong one.
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P205 Chapter 17
"Mr. Farland had just caught sight of the clock on the dashboard."
I was not aware of clocks being present in the instrument panel of cars at
this time. Possibly, his car is very much a luxury car, and thus might
have the more advanced gadgets. Not sure when, in the history of
automobiles, the clock became a relatively common feature.
A friend of mine owns a 1920s Lancia which has a nice clock on the dashboard. So obviously they were available.
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P219 Chapter 19
The "dolphin" is the symbol they looked for that identifies a
group of pilings that they tied up to until the ebb tide subsided.
Is there such an object there today? Is the "dolphin" an object from
reality, or is it Ransome's imagination?
The pilings are called "dolphins" and they are really there.
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