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The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island,
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BlackOxford
Little Dribbling is a parody of 'Little Gidding', one of the poems of the Four Quartets of T. S. Eliot who, like Bryson, was Anglo-American. Several of the themes of Little Gidding - the effects of time, lost communities, the remarkable and fortuitous survival of Britain during World War II (it was written just after the Battle of Britain) - show up in Bryson.
Frances Bahr
It should be somewhere near a pharmacy
Susan
Little Dribbling is fictional. The name is a tribute to all of the strangely named British towns.
Sandie Baker
Probably somewhere near Little Whinging. ;)
Harmien
I loved most of the book and had many chuckles. About 3/4 through it and too many 'splendids' it got a bit trying, but I kept on just to find out where this mystical Little Dribbling is.
Then it dawned on me that it was poking fun at the weird little towns as well as him having to look for a 'facility' whenever he arrived somewhere, hence fear of a little dribbling.
Bada bing, the book is too long.
PS, could have saved himself a lot of trouble by moving to Canada, we have Boxing Day too!
Then it dawned on me that it was poking fun at the weird little towns as well as him having to look for a 'facility' whenever he arrived somewhere, hence fear of a little dribbling.
Bada bing, the book is too long.
PS, could have saved himself a lot of trouble by moving to Canada, we have Boxing Day too!
Cath De Zwaan NY
Yes, it's fictional, and also a humorous and 'Brysonic' reference to forthcoming incontinence!
John FitzGerald
To follow up Susan's comment, one of the strangely named British towns that may have inspired this name is Little Snoring in Norfolk, where Bryson lived for a while. There's also a Great Snoring.
Alex
Upon the 30% mark of my reading of the book, I came upon the realization of the meaning of "Little Dribbling": As in the game of soccer/football, or more precisely, in basketball, "dribbling" the ball means to bounce as in advancing or keeping control of it; in this case, BB's trek across the "Small Island".
Moreover, a revisit to his beloved and adopted country, 20 years after his first book "Notes from a Small Island", BB summed up the sentiment all too well—judging from some of the comments in this column—at the disappointing end to his brief visit of his former residence, in Christchurch/Lyndhurst/Bournemouth/Purewell/Burton, "...It really doesn’t pay to go back and look again at the things that once delighted you, because it’s unlikely they will delight you now."
Moreover, a revisit to his beloved and adopted country, 20 years after his first book "Notes from a Small Island", BB summed up the sentiment all too well—judging from some of the comments in this column—at the disappointing end to his brief visit of his former residence, in Christchurch/Lyndhurst/Bournemouth/Purewell/Burton, "...It really doesn’t pay to go back and look again at the things that once delighted you, because it’s unlikely they will delight you now."
Don
I suspect the title may also be an allusion to 'The Road to Wigan Pier', in that both books may be said to be forms of social commentary. But if so, Bill Bryson flatters himself with a comparison to George Orwell.
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