this breath-taking horticultural achievement – a reference to the woman's hat decorated with an abundance of artificial fruits and flowers at a saucy angle – at an angle that gave her a smart, stylish and slightly impertinent look a lavaflow of chins – a great number of chins resembling a stream of lava flowing from a volcano
TO PAGE 84
buenos dias
TO PAGE 85
magnum ['maegnam] – a bottle containing two quarts of wine (2.25 liters)
tarmac –
TO PAGE 86
a coffee = a cup of coffee
TO PAGE 87
medialunas (
TO PAGE 88
Durrell compares the country covered with cacti
TO PAGE 89
largesse
TO PAGE 90
that lay cupped in a half-moon of mountains – that lay surrounded by a semi-circular range of mountains, as if in a cup
TO PAGE 91
viridescence – greenishness, the adjective
TO PAGE 92
gin-and-tonic – the usual mixture of gin (a strong alcoholic drink made from grain) with some tonic, i.e. stimulating beverage (e. g. Coca-Cola)
the usual run – the usual collection
TO PAGE 93
Que lindo… que bicho mas lindo!
TO PAGE 94
station-wagon – a motor-car with folding or removable rear seats and a back end that opens for easy loading of the luggage, etc.
TO PAGE 95
exuding good-will and personality – trying his best to look friendly but stern (the noun
TO PAGE 96
a red-fronted Tucuman Amazon – a red-breasted parrot of central and South America
acquisitive – greedy, betraying the wish to acquire the parrot
TO PAGE 97
to play one's trump card – to make use of one's best weapon (or argument) for gaining one's end
Como te va, Blanco?
TO PAGE 98
Como te va, como te va, que tal?
TO PAGE 99
estupido, muy estupido
TO PAGE 100
gringo
- a foreigner, especially an Englishman or an American: a term current in South America
coral snake – a small, poisonous snake with coral-red yellow and black bands around its body, found in the south-eastern United States and in subtropical America
Old School tie – a necktie with a special pattern worn by former pupils of some particular English public school. The habit of wearing this kind of tie is to the author an indication of an excessive respect for one's social position, a sort of snobbery which he finds (together with the tie itself) revolting: see also p. 165.
a dewy-eyed expression – a very innocent and gentle one
Geoffroy's cat – a variety of wild cat discovered by Estienne-Louis Geoffroy (1725-1810), a famous French zoologist
seraphic – angelic
TO PAGE 101
to leave somebody to his own devices – to allow him to do as he likes
tyro ['taierou] – a beginner, an inexperienced person
TO PAGE 102
gato
TO PAGE 103
tabby – the common type of domestic cat, grey with dark stripes (the name is usually applied to a female cat)
TO PAGE 104
takes the edge off his potential viciousness – makes him less vicious. Literally, the expression means 'to make blunt': e. g.
TO PAGE 106
outboard engine
TO PAGE 107
by virtue of your grasshopper-like activities – owing to the way you keep rushing from one place to another (again Durrell chooses an elaborate, scientific-sounding mode of expression, with
TO PAGE 108
you could do worse than go and investigate – you might just as well go and investigate
the time off –
TO PAGE 109
semi-inebriated – half-drunk, half-intoxicated (a bookish word)
to sport -
TO PAGE 110
in next to no time – very quickly, almost instantly
to play a fish – to let a fish tire itself out while hooked by tugging at the line
que pasa?
TO PAGE 111
our nether regions – the lower part of our bodies
TO PAGE 112
to nose –
TO PAGE 113
Fairy Godmother – a good fairy from fairy tales, who appears quite unexpectedly at the very moment she is badly wanted and helps her god-child out of trouble (e. g. in the tale of Cinderella). Being a fairy she can appear in different disguise, hence the authors description ("heavily disguised…").
took in our predicament in a glance – understood at once our awkward situation (in a glance = at a glance)
An ironical reference to the Duke of Wellington's (1769- 1852) military preparations before the battle of Waterloo (1815), where his army defeated Napoleon
TO PAGE 114
to quarter –
TO PAGE 115
the well of the house – a shaft in a building or between buildings, open to the sky for light and air; airshaft
yellow-naped macaw [me'ko:] – a large, bright-colored, harsh-voiced parrot of Central and South America
TO PAGE 116
Brazilian rabbit – a burrowing rodent of the hare family, smaller than most hares and having soft fur, long ears, and a bobbed tail (the rodents are characterized by constantly growing incisors, or cutting teeth, adapted for gnawing or nibbling; on this group of mammals see also p. 119)
agouti – a rodent of the guinea-pig family, the size of a rabbit; orange-rumped – having an orange-colored rump, i.e. posterior (including the buttocks)
nervous breakdown – a state of extreme depression
patio ['paetiou]
TO PAGE 117
to relieve –
TO PAGE 118
to take kindly to something – to get easily accustomed to something
TO PAGE 119
capybara – the largest of now existing rodents, a tailless, partially web-footed animal that lives in and around lakes and streams in South America