Flapping not floundering
Living pancakes, flapping not floundering.
‘He emptied the bucket into the creek, and the two little flounders...
A waste of an island
Wonderful notion this, from one of the best of Ransome's enchanting children's books. Of course if you land on an...
Leadership as multi-tasking
You get to steer the ship because you can handle multiple tasks at once. Here, John demonstrates his leadership skills:...
Sea-boot rough
Winter sea hoarseness and tight-swallowing soreness.
...‘My throat’s as rough as the inside of a sea-boot.’
Memory of a mistake
That awful dawning when you emerge from innocent sleep and remember something you didn’t do right, and dismay fills the...
Battering-ram power
Nancy is a character with battering-ram energy in all she does, exuberantly seeking opportunities to go to ‘war’ with her...
Reed-fringed banks
An image of lazy summer afternoons messing about on rivers.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009 (1934)),...
Pigtail prejudice
A charming example of prejudice, demonstrating its capacity to target just about anything, and with bewildering precision and disregard for...
Foreign-going steamship
All the romance and none of the hardship in these three words.
Source: Arthur Ransome, Coot Club
...
Parenting, then and now
This crisp and even cavalier telegram has a distant father allowing his four children to sail to an island in...
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