Example sentences of "[adv] at the best of times " in BNC.

  Next page
No Sentence
1 Stake-outs were bad enough at the best of times , but when the elements were hostile , the hours of silent watching could seem like weeks .
2 But statements are unlikely to prevent a heightening of suspicions which are always fairly strong even at the best of times , and that could make it harder for the North to get the global climate convention it is seeking .
3 Life was not quite a state of nature or a question of the survival of the fittest , but in times of no food parcels the partition separating us from that state was unpleasantly thin and even at the best of times it was thin enough to be able to hear most of what went on on the other side .
4 And this time they playing on a miserably wet and windy day at Athletic Park which , even at the best of times , can be a most unfriendly spot for touring teams .
5 It was an unhealthy enough place to be even at the best of times , swampy and malaria-ridden ; any Europeans trading there would have been only too aware of the risks involved , and the depleted crew of the Orynthia , overworked and probably ill-fed , must have been as vulnerable as they could possibly be .
6 Even at the best of times , you have to move faster to cope with quick-changing market forces .
7 Even at the best of times fighting in the ranks can cause disarray and confusion in the army .
8 Even at the best of times , a kitchen after a banquet for over seventy was hardly appetising .
9 I was a bit nervous about that because , even at the best of times , Jean thinks I 'm a pain in the neck .
10 With me coming from the North of England , everybody is pretty reserved up there at the best of times , so coming down to London and meeting Angie with an American accent and flitting around the room and speaking in a loud voice all the time , it was amazing .
  Next page