With most elevators ruined, firefighters were toting heavy gear up stairwells against a tide of evacuees.
The few specialists who try to work internationally find themselves swimming against a tide of inertia.
But he seemed to know he was writing against a tide.
"We started to feel as if we were swimming against a tide," reflected McConnell a few years later.
These students had to swim against a tide of accusations of being Oreos, "acting white" and the rest.
However, defeat could set Ireland off course and leave Kidney swimming against a tide from which he may not recover.
He forged ahead against a tide of ghosts and pirates and sexy nurses from the spirit realm.
But, as I said, on some level it felt like Blur was swimming against a tide of American grunge.
In his later years, Daddy's reticence revealed itself for what it was: a protective barrier against a tide of grief.
Against a tide of gaudy international discotheques, the traditional Irish pub has no problem holding its own in Dublin.
And it demands that you do that over and over, against a tide of disagreement, settling for half measures rather than no measures.
