about five o'clock
They liked to keep a little away from the crowd ; a hundred feet away the footmarked sand was littered with newspapers , cigarette-butts , gum-wrappers , and empty paper-bags , the drowsing men and women were packed so close that laughing girls and boys , going by in their bathing-suits , had to weave a curving path up and down the beach . Presently they had a hearty meal : soft-shell crabs fried brown , with lemon and parsley , coffee ready-mixed with milk and sugar , sliced tomatoes with raw onions , all served in cheap little bare rooms , at scarred little bare tables , a hundred feet from the sea . Later came the amusements : railways and flying-swings enjoyed simultaneously with hot sausages and ice-cream cones . Adele liked none of this so much as she liked to go up toward the big hotels at about five o'clock , to find a table near the boardwalk , and sit twirling her parasol , and watching the people stream by . The costumes and the types were tirelessly entertaining . At six they ordered sandwiches and beer , and Teddy had milk and toast . The uniformed band , coming out into its pagoda , burst into a brassy uproar , the sun sank , the tired crowd in its brilliant colours surged slowly to and fro .