GRGR(6) Discussion Opener

[Daffydh Antalyan]

>P. 80
>
>16) What's a "toad"?
>
>From _Farmhouse Fare_, _The Farmers Weekly_, London, 1935 - 1963:
p.102:
"Toad Special
First make a batter with 2 eggs, 5ozs. flour, a pinch of salt,
tablespoonful water and sufficient milk to make a thick creamy
consistency. Allow this to stand 1 hour or longer. In well-greased
flat fireproof dish lay tiny rolls of thinly-cut veal, stuffed with
breadcrumbs, parsley, milk and seasoning and a quarter slice of a
rasher of bacon. Pour the batter over the neatly-arranged rolls, and
cook for 1/2 to 3/4 hour in a moderate to hot oven. Ornament the top,
when nearly cooked, with cooked mushrooms or uncooked slices of
tomato. This is a good way of using up remains of a joint.
                           _From Mrs.Kitchener, Buckinghamshire_"

...at the top of the same page are directions for preparing a steak by
first panfrying it and then boiling it for two hours.
>
>P. 82
>
>7) Mexico: "...but there's a feeling about that cause-and-effect may 
>    have been taken as far as it will go.  That for science to carry on
>    at all, it must look for a less narrow, a less...sterile set of
>    assumptions."
>    
In 1948, when TRP presumably would have been an avid reader,
Astounding published  Isaac Asimov's _Endochronic Effects of
Resublimated Thiotimoline_ which substance reportedly dissolved some
short but measureable span of time _before_ the solvent was applied.
Of course, in the same era, they published _Dianetics_.  Should we
look for engrams, too? 
>
>P. 88
>
>26) [...]  But other than a lot of bits and pieces lying about, what
>    have *you* said?"
>    
Is this not TRP himself, twitting us for analyzing the book rather
than reading it and, through that reading, participating in its art?
>
>P.90
>
Can anyone explain how Infant Tyrone came to be in Cambridge, 120
miles or so from his presumed birthplace in "Mingeborough?"  Does it
matter?
>P. 91
>
>32) What about the "black latticework [which] is propped up by longer
>    slanting braces, lances pointing out to sea"?  There must be some-
>    thing here, I just can't visualize it.
This is a cheveaux-de-frise, a defensive fortification.  Long pointy
things - treetrunks, pipes, chunks of rail - are rammed into the soil
at a flat angle, their exposed ends pointing toward the presumed
enemy.  Here they are in the shingle, the black latticework being
barbed wire.  A relic of 1940.>

>33) What is a "Zouave"?
>
Many mid-19th-Century armies had units of skirmishers, light infantry
who were intended to harass and interfere with the formations of the
larger groups of "line' troops until their own 'line' could engage.
It was high-risk work, like being a rodeo clown, and they wore
colorful outfits, more costume than uniform.  The clothing was
patterned after the Byronic evzones of a generation before. In the US
Civil War,  New York City and New Orleans, most notably, raised Zouave
companies.  
>33) Does this section end with Pointsman and Mexico walking off into the
>    sunset?
No, just into the gloom. The setting sun would be hidden by the cliffs
West of them.  At this time of year and latitude the sun doesn't
really 'rise' or 'set.'  It sort of appears, for a little while, and
by 3:00 it's pretty well gone.  In between, on a cloudless day (ahh ha
ha ha),  it flares in your goggles or casts black shadows, depending
on how you face.
>------------------------------
>>
>>P. 82
>>
>7) Mexico: "...but there's a feeling about that cause-and-effect may 
>>    have been taken as far as it will go.  That for science to carry on
>>    at all, it must look for a less narrow, a less...sterile set of
>>    assumptions."
>>