Re: Auf zum =?windows-1252?Q?n=E4chsten_Ausflug?=

that at any moment there
might be a special bulletin from the Ministry of Peace. The news from the
African front was disquieting in the extreme. On and off he had been
worrying about it all day. A Eurasian army (Oceania was at war with
Eurasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia) was moving southward
at terrifying speed. The mid-day bulletin had not mentioned any definite
area, but it was probable that already the mouth of the Congo was a
battlefield. Brazzaville and Leopoldville were in danger. One did not have
to look at the map to see what it meant. It was not merely a question of
losing Central Africa: for the first time in the whole war, the territory
of Oceania itself was menaced.
A violent emotion, not fear exactly but a sort of undifferentiated
excitement, flared up in him, then faded again. He stopped thinking about
the war. In these days he could never fix his mind on any one subject for
more than a few moments at a time. He picked up his glass and drained it at
a gulp. As always, the gin made him shudder and even retch slightly. The
stuff was horrible. The cloves and