[General] on the ebb and flow of things

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

Did it matter then, she asked herself, walking towards Bond Street, did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely; all this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely? but that somehow in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived, Peter survived, lived in each other, she being part, she was positive, of the trees at home; of the house there, ugly, rambling all to bits and pieces as it was; part of people she had never met; being laid out like a mist between the people she knew best, who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist, but it spread ever so far, her life, herself.

the ebb and flow = the way that a situation keeps changing between two states, for example in a game, fight, or argument

on the ebb and flow of things = on the perpetual rotation of fortune

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

 

[Tdol]

On sounds strange to me - maybe it's dated - and I would use with.