several little flirts and vibrations

Note the rubber axlebox suspension and the positive rail collector shoe beneath the laminated wooden shoe beam.

The police mess had formerly been a maternity home for the wives of the Sultans of the state. Faded and tatty, peeling, floorboards eaten and unpolished, its philoprogenitive glory was a memory only.

We should aim for a lower ambition, Dannatt said. . . . Not what you might call music to his boss's ears.