Coffee Break
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- Feb 13, 2022
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I read this expression, "a little tentative cross-touch", but am finding it difficult to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:
The walk after tea, on the day of arrival, is perhaps the hardest of all things in the holiday to really enjoy. The fatigue of the journey is beginning to tell, and you are still a little shy and embarrassed amongst the other holiday makers, who look so thoroughly at home. It would be running before you could walk if you went down on the sands to try a game of cricket on your first evening—or even a little tentative cross-touch, and Mr. Stevens never employed the telescope until his interest in the things around him had begun to wear off.
- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 14
This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. The narrator is suggesting that people should first fully taste the sea before employing any instrument such as the telescope or sport games.
In this part, I wonder what this "cross-touch" might mean.
I looked it up on the Internet, but I couldn't find any information about this "cross-touch", so it remains a mystery to me.
My only vague guess is that it might mean a sports game, like a game of cricket... though I am not sure.
The walk after tea, on the day of arrival, is perhaps the hardest of all things in the holiday to really enjoy. The fatigue of the journey is beginning to tell, and you are still a little shy and embarrassed amongst the other holiday makers, who look so thoroughly at home. It would be running before you could walk if you went down on the sands to try a game of cricket on your first evening—or even a little tentative cross-touch, and Mr. Stevens never employed the telescope until his interest in the things around him had begun to wear off.
- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 14
This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. The narrator is suggesting that people should first fully taste the sea before employing any instrument such as the telescope or sport games.
In this part, I wonder what this "cross-touch" might mean.
I looked it up on the Internet, but I couldn't find any information about this "cross-touch", so it remains a mystery to me.
My only vague guess is that it might mean a sports game, like a game of cricket... though I am not sure.