As summer draws to a close the scents of wood smoke, squashed blackberries and new
school shoes begin to linger in the air.
I love this time of year! It’s all about shiny new
notebooks, pointy-sharp pencils and good intentions.
It’s been a great summer!
For the first time in years I enjoyed a lovely lazy summer
holiday without a book deadline looming. We headed off to Thailand, to visit my
brother and his family, and had a totally fabulous time.
I still took my notebooks with me, of course. Long journeys
are perfect for thinking up new stories and characters. Or just scribbling down
little snippets of eavesdropped conversations. Mostly, though, my notebooks
were used for keeping score of long games of cribbage, and for drawing pictures
with my five-year old niece, Lana. She’s quite the artist.
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| a combined effort |
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| The Frog Princess |
Because I have two teenage sons, it wasn’t all about sitting
in the sun reading through a pile of books and drawing pictures of frog
princesses. There was also quad-biking, kayaking, cliff-climbing and white-water
rafting.
Part of the holiday was spent sailing in the Andaman Sea,
and I was reminded just how many common phrases we have that come from the
boating world. Here are my Top Five. For lots more examples, see this list.
1. To the bitter end. You might think that this phrase has
something to do with a bitter taste (I always imagined the centre of a sherbert
lemon sweet!) But the “bitter end” is the end of a rope or anchor is tied
around a post on a ship, which used to be called a bitt.
2. I don’t like the cut of your jib. The jib is the
triangular sail at the front of a boat. Sailors could recognise the nationality of a
distant boat by the way the sail was rigged or “cut”.
3. To be in the doldrums. Now this expression means to feel gloomy or
bored. The “doldrums” was originally an area of very calm winds, close to the equator, where boats could be
stuck for a long time.
4. To show someone the
ropes. On a sailing boat, you have to learn how the rigging works and which
rope does what.
5. Batten down the hatches. This means to secure all the
windows (hatches) with pieces of wood (battens) to keep the water out. Now it
means to get ready or protect a place.
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| Captain Jak learns the ropes |
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer holiday too.