Why I love LeCarre in These titles mean nothing.
- May 17, 2021, 11:31 a.m.
- |
- Public
Page 255 of Ballantine paperback of The Night Manager. First couple paragraphs of chapter 17 - how many/much depends on my non-existent typing skillz.
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There was Crystalside and there was Townside, and though the two were separated by a mere half-mile as the frigate bird flew, they could have been different islands, because between them sat the hillock proudly called Miss Mabel Mountain, the highest point in all the islands far around, which wasn’t saying much, with an apron of haze hoisted around her midriff, and the broken-down slave houses at her feet, and her forest where shafts of sun shone like daylight through a broken roof.
Chrystalside was meadowed as an English shire, with clusters of umbrella trees that from a distance could have been oak, and English cattle fences, and English ha-has, and vistas of the sea between soft English hilltops artfully landscaped by Roper’s tractors.
But Townside was dour and blowy like Scotland with the lights on, with scraggy goat fields on the slant, and tin shops, and a cricket field of blown red dust, with a tin pavilion, and a prevailing easterly that flicked the water in Carnation Bay.
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A ha-ha, as referenced in the middle paragraph, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving an uninterrupted view of the landscape beyond. The design includes a turfed incline that slopes downward to a sharply vertical face. Wikipedia
Ha-has look like animal control devices - picture also shows that purpose. They look expensive and difficult to maintain, though a lot of livestock management is expensive and difficult to maintain.
Talking ha-has and animal control, our neighbors are missing half a dozen beautiful red Angus heifers who escaped after being introduced to a new location. I assume they will show up but they’ve been on the lam for several days.
I’ll keep you informed.
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