I cannot tell you how happy I was, one day, when I stumbled on a footnote in Conrad's Heart of Darkness that explained the meaning of 'in the offing'. I always thought it meant, simply, in the near future. But actually the meaning is more complex than this.

When ships are 'in the offing' it means they are on the sea, just inside the horizon. Usually, that means they are approaching shore, and in that sense they are in the near future. So when Kathleen Ferrier sings, in the traditional Blow the Wind Southerly, 'somebody said there were ships in the offing,' she does not mean simply that ships will come - she means that ships have been spotted on the horizon, approaching shore, and that one of them may be the one that will bring her true love safely home to her.

Of course, folk songs being such as they are, there is no such happy ending. At least, not this time. But it was a wonderful insight for me.

Here are some ships in the offing - I wandered down, last Sunday, to the seashore here in Aberdeen where I am working at the moment, and took photos. You can just see three ships sailing by.