Ice
Henry explains, “And here was the St Laurence Chapel, I thought, scrabbling over the rubble on my hands and knees... It had drizzled off and on all day, turning the ash to blackish mud and making the lead slates from the roof as slick as ice. " Slates are transformed into an ice-like form in the aftermath of the bombing. The drizzling creates wetness that combines with the lead to create the slick product that Henry encounters at the cathedral upon arrival.
“ Victorian Poet”
Henry expounds, “One of the first symptoms of time-lag is a tendency to maudlin sentimentality, like an Irishman in his cups or a Victorian poet cold-sober. Carruthers had been on at least four drops in the past day, two of them within hours of each other.” Henry employs the Irishman and the Victorian poet metaphorically to underscore the sentimentality that the time-lag sufferers exhibit. The sentimental emotions cannot be concealed.
“Hard-as-rock Cakes”
Henry elucidates, “We wouldn’t be able to work much longer, and Lady Schrapnell would meet us in the net, demanding to know where we’d been and why we hadn’t found the bishop’s bird stump. She’d send me back to try again, or worse, she’d put me back on jumble sale duty, with all those dreadful penwipers and embroidered tea cloths and hard-as-rock cakes.” The rock-like cakes confirm that the jumble sales are not comfortable undertakings. Consuming such cakes would be uncomfortable for Henry. He prefers to find the stump to prevent the possibility of attending the jumble sales.
‘Spanish Inquisition’
Henry states, “Infirmary nurses usually resemble something out of the Spanish Inquisition, but this one had an almost kindly face, the sort of an assistant torturer, the one who straps you to the rack or holds the door to the Iron Maiden open for you, might have.” Here, the nurse assesses Henry to establish whether he is experiencing time lag. Generally, Henry likes nurses to the individuals in the Spanish Inquisition due to their cruelty. However, the nurse who Henry encounters is not as cruel as other nurses based on her face which exudes kindness.
“Water weeds”
Henry observes, “There stood the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Finch had said Nineteenth Century, and I’d expected hoop skirts, but she had on a long, greenish gown that clung to her slim body as if it were wet. Her auburn hair trailed about her shoulders and down her back like water weeds, and the whole effect was that of a Waterhouse nymph, rising like a wraith out of the dark water." Henry makes these remarks after observing nymph. The metaphorical weeds and wraith underscore the nymph's beauty that appeals to Henry. Henry is impressed by the nymph's mannerisms and appearance.
