Tom had been been out early, or had got what we call a bush telegraphy or mulga wire, for when they reached the Four Lanes he said — […] .

Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.

Patrick Leigh Fermor […] was a man of letters but also, like his hero Byron, a man of action—a war hero and a restless adventurer, who even swam the Hellespont when he was 69.

There were mermaids with gold chains around slinky long tails, swimming along with little merchildren.