Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:

 AK>  -----Beginning of the citation-----
 AK>  The bus chugged westward. On both sides of the streets
 AK>  were interesting buildings. The Cowboy's Retreat was a
 AK>  log cabin fronted with flashing neon lights. The Emerald
 AK>  Crown was a hotel shaped like a wedding cake with a carpet
 AK>  that rolled down to the road like a green beach meeting
 AK>  a tarmac sea.
 AK>  ----- The end of the citation -----


 AK>  What is a green beach, what is a tarmac sea, and how
 AK>  can they meet?


          The word "like" tells me the author is making a comparison here...
technically a simile.  I imagine the carpet as a lawn, possibly made of fake
grass, and the tarmac sea as a paved road.  Apparently one part of this lawn
ends at the side of the road, i.e. the lawn & the road come into contact.  I
also get the impression the lawn is uninterrupted by anything else such as a
fence, a bit of shrubbery, or a public walkway.  Maybe it's supposed to look
like the red carpet which is rolled out for visiting heads of state.  In any
case, the narrator is thinking of it as a beach adjacent to the sea....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)