MSGID: 1:153/716.0 0b5afe81
REPLY: 2:221/6.0 60ae22a6
CHRS: IBMPC 2
Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:                     0

AK>  -----Beginning of the citation-----
AK>  People talk about nightfall, or night falling, or dusk
AK>  falling, and it's never seemed right to me.


          While others tend to think of the sun "sinking toward the horizon",
the author appears to be questioning such turns of phrase & comparing them to
his own observations.  He's noticed that the sky may still be quite bright at
(or near) sunset, although from his POV the ground is in semi-darkness.



AK>  In life, night rises from the ground. The day hangs on
AK>  for as long as it can, bright and eager, absolutely and
AK>  positively the last guest to leave the party, while the
AK>  ground darkens, oozing night around your ankles,
AK>  swallowing for ever that dropped contact lens, making
AK>  you miss that low catch in the gully on the last ball
AK>  of the last over.
AK>  ----- The end of the citation -----

AK>  Can you explain it in other words?

AK>  "... swallowing for ever


          Perhaps not forever, but long enough that some archaeologist(s) will
classify the item as a ritual object in the absence of other information.  :-Q



AK>  that dropped contact lens,


          Note... "lens" is singular.  Contact lenses are much like the curved
glass or plastic bits in your spectacles which are ground or moulded to adjust
your vision, but do not require frames because the wearers place them directly
on their eyeballs.  Occasionally, for whatever reason(s), these things fall to
the ground.  Then there is great consternation because they are very difficult
to see, even under good lighting... and whatever else was going at the time is
placed on hold while the owner searches frantically & others try to help.  :-)



AK>  making you miss that low catch in the gully on the
AK>  last ball of the last over."


          Paul, where are you?  This sounds like something to do with the game
of cricket... about which I know very little although it is popular in the UK.
At the end of an afternoon or evening game when sunset is rapidly approaching,
however, I imagine the ball could be difficult to track.

          Using a different analogy... when Dallas & I are returning home from
SomePlace Else, and we are facing the setting sun, it's not easy for either of
us to see what's on the road ahead.  I presume that a such a time a person who
has inadvertently dropped a small object might be unable to locate it....  :-)
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
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