Hi, all!

I am reading an short Australian story and sometimes I have difficulties in reading. For instance this page (the places marked by color):

https://goo.gl/photos/EEZEvfNdPD5k2mqbA


Bye, All!

--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

Hi! Alexander,

On 08/25/2017 03:08 PM, you wrote All:

I am reading an short Australian story and sometimes I have difficulties in reading. For instance this page (the places marked by color):

Ooh, Aussie-speak. I know this. :)

The first highlight refers to what you may know as a fuse-box on a house. Here, they are mounted on the outside of a house and also serve as the initial point of the household's electricity supply. Hence the reference to the meter.
The meter is placed so that a company representative may read the meter, for which usage the householder will be later invoiced. The box normally has a door/lid but is usually not locked (unless there is an agreed arrangement with the company). It would make a neat hiding place for her flat-mate's key albeit
not a very secure place.

The other highlighted passage, along with the preceding paragraph seem to draw heavily on metaphors. In fact the whole page seems to have a romantic 'bent'.
Now, I have been called an unromantic cranky old bastard for over 30 years. (I
like to think otherwise, so the abuse is suffered as would water off the back of a duck; it is accepted but not taken seriously.) In any case, I'm thinking the bloke doesn't like being by himself in a lonely car park; he doesn't relish
going back to where he must go back; but most of all, he doesn't particularly care to be anywhere without... her.

How did I score? Are you going to tell me that the girl is only a second cousin? ;-)

Cheers,
Paul.

--- Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.4.0
* Origin: Quinn's Rock vBox - sunny side up on the bookcase (3:640/1384)

Hi, Paul Quinn!
I read your message from 25.08.2017 10:47
about Some questions.

I am reading an short Australian story and sometimes I have
difficulties in reading. For instance this page (the places marked
by color):

Ooh, Aussie-speak. I know this. :)

The first highlight refers to what you may know as a fuse-box on a
house. Here, they are mounted on the outside of a house and also
serve as the initial point of the household's electricity supply.
Hence the reference to the meter. The meter is placed so that a
company representative may read the meter, for which usage the
householder will be later invoiced. The box normally has a door/lid
but is usually not locked (unless there is an agreed arrangement
with the company). It would make a neat hiding place for her flat-
mate's key albeit not a very secure place.

I see. In Russia we have a kind of electric boards/shields, but, IMHO, it would
be the last place where to search for keys. ;-) In addition, there are no secret nooks in such boxes.

The other highlighted passage, along with the preceding paragraph
seem to draw heavily on metaphors. In fact the whole page seems to
have a romantic 'bent'.

This page is a good substance for smoking. I found two more places where I feel
bad. :) Now I printed it down and "smoke" it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4vhI2LJjxi5OGNVbEI3UmotWFE

Now, I have been called an unromantic
cranky old bastard for over 30 years. (I like to think otherwise,
so the abuse is suffered as would water off the back of a duck; it
is accepted but not taken seriously.) In any case, I'm thinking the
bloke doesn't like being by himself in a lonely car park;

I feel it too. :) But I somehow can't swallow the phrases like "There could be no meaning in the asphalted space, the parked cars, the harsh light. From some immense distance he viewed it and it did not contain him."

he doesn't relish going back to where he must go back; but most of
all, he doesn't particularly care to be anywhere without... her.

How did I score? Are you going to tell me that the girl is only a
second cousin? ;-)

You were good, but how to be with "But the trees would be drawing about the darkening road, and the paddocks and rises stretches into the distance."

She was a girl he had met a day before. This is a novel "Party", by Peter Cowan. I couldn't find it in the Internet -- I read it from an old book, published in English in the USSR, 1975.


Bye, Paul!
Alexander Koryagin
ENGLISH_TUTOR 2017

--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

Hi! alexander,

On Sun, 27 Aug 17, you wrote to me:

In Russia we have a kind of electric boards/shields, but,
IMHO, it would be the last place where to search for
keys. ;-) In addition, there are no secret nooks in such
boxes.

Yes. Just as I said. Other places could be under the door mat, under a potted
plant by the door (or the third on the left, if there is a bunch of them), or, on a 'sil' over the door itself (if indeed there is a sil). It's a bit like John Connor explaining to the Terminator where to find car keys in a car, instead of destroying the steering column. ;-)

This page is a good substance for smoking. I found two more
places where I feel bad. :) Now I printed it down and
"smoke" it.

(In the new highlight...) It looks like the girl may not be sure of her feelings towards him at this early stage. 'I will write to you', she said. Mmm... what's wrong with the phone system? That's worse than "I'll call you".
;-)

I'm thinking the bloke doesn't like being by himself in a
lonely car park;

I feel it too. :) But I somehow can't swallow the phrases
like "There could be no meaning in the asphalted space, the
parked cars, the harsh light. From some immense distance he
viewed it and it did not contain him."

He didn't want to be there. I've done it myself. At the end of a long hot day, in a place where there should be many people and I'm stuck in this stark place due to circumstances. He imagines him not being there, and wishes it so.

he doesn't relish going back to where he must go back;

He's not looking forward to returning to a dull routine without her...

You were good, but how to be with "But the trees would be
drawing about the darkening road, and the paddocks and
rises stretches into the distance."

Australia is a huge place beyond the beach, where he is at the present. Obviously his boarding-house is a far place, perhaps a remote-seeming country setting. It happens here, in my locale. 30km eastwards to Hervey Bay there is
a high-density tourist place, with about 30km of sandy beaches in either direction, north or southwards of the township. 30km west of here to Tiaro township there is a low-density rural place of sometimes drought-affected farms, attempting crops of sugarcane, macadamia nuts, ginger (and others I cannot think of), as well as animal stock (beef, milking cows, sheep, goats & chickens). A 'paddock' has an indefinable dimension, and can be a corral size or be some immense multi-hectare grazing/crop space.

So, he may not be looking forward to a lonely drive of even roughly 60km. Especially not at dusk... where the perhaps leafless trees and shadows might be
framing his loneliness.

She was a girl he had met a day before.

Ah, so. Thanks. :)

Cheers,
Paul.

--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

Hi, Paul Quinn!
I read your message from 27.08.2017 05:05
about Some questions.

In Russia we have a kind of electric boards/shields, but, IMHO, it
would be the last place where to search for keys. ;-) In addition,
there are no secret nooks in such boxes.

Yes. Just as I said. Other places could be under the door mat,
under a potted plant by the door (or the third on the left, if
there is a bunch of them), or, on a 'sil' over the door itself (if
indeed there is a sil). It's a bit like John Connor explaining to
the Terminator where to find car keys in a car, instead of
destroying the steering column. ;-)

You can also hang the keys on the neck of your mastiff. It won't give them to a
stranger, but it will bring them gladly to a familiar person. ;=)

This page is a good substance for smoking. I found two more places
where I feel bad. :) Now I printed it down and "smoke" it.

(In the new highlight...) It looks like the girl may not be sure of
her feelings towards him at this early stage. 'I will write to
you', she said. Mmm... what's wrong with the phone system? That's
worse than "I'll call you". ;-)

More of that -- the guy even offered to give her lift on his own car. But the girl had probably decided to take pause in their relations. ;)

<skipped>

You were good, but how to be with "But the trees would be drawing
about the darkening road, and the paddocks and rises stretches
into the distance."

Australia is a huge place beyond the beach, where he is at the
present. Obviously his boarding-house is a far place, perhaps a remote-seeming country setting. It happens here, in my locale. 30km eastwards to Hervey Bay there is a high-density tourist place, with
about 30km of sandy beaches in either direction, north or
southwards of the township. 30km west of here to Tiaro township
there is a low-density rural place of sometimes drought-affected
farms, attempting crops of sugarcane, macadamia nuts, ginger (and
others I cannot think of), as well as animal stock (beef, milking
cows, sheep, goats & chickens). A 'paddock' has an indefinable
dimension, and can be a corral size or be some immense multi-
hectare grazing/crop space.

So, he may not be looking forward to a lonely drive of even roughly
60km. Especially not at dusk... where the perhaps leafless trees
and shadows might be framing his loneliness.

Well... (groping for matches) it was late to drive.... ;-)

Bye, Paul!
Alexander Koryagin
ENGLISH_TUTOR 2017

--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)