Posted by Jon on December 27, 2004 at 13:44:19 from 151.121.50.1 user Jon.
In Reply to: Presents, was,- Christmas for Swallows and Amazons posted by Dan Ford on December 26, 2004 at 16:07:56:
Given that most of the stories (exceptions: WH, CC, possibly GN) occurred during the summer holidays (real or imagined), isn't it likely that their Christmas presents were intended (by the givers, at least) to be useful/appreciated at the time, and that by seven months along had receded into a state of commonplace acceptance (or discarded/retired)?
They did all receive new tents and sleeping bags in time for SD, but the occasion wasn't noted that I recall. Were Roger and Titty's (at least) skates new in WH? We know they were very inexperienced skaters at the onset.
Given the D's (and the rest of the Callum household's) unfamiliarity with sailing at the time of CC, and the unexpectedness of their visit to Mrs. Barrable, any appropriate gifts would certainly be unlikely there.
The timescale for the world cruise that ML was the undoubted highpoint of is indeterminate, so it's quite possible that any "Christmas presents" for that year would have been, again, sufficiently temporally displaced from the events depicted to be unremarked on.
As GN depicts the events at the end of their cruise, it seems unlikely that anyone would remark on Dick's good fortune in having received a new camera, for instance, when he'd have been using it all voyage (and doubtless accumulating a vast stock of unprocessed films, fresh water on shipboard being liquid gold). Of all the items (other than the boats themselves) in all the books, his camera in GN is probably the most central to the story line, and thus would have most likely been remarked upon were it a relatively recent gift. Of course, it could have been the same camera he'd used in BS, and thus extremely old hat. Even there it might have been either a newly-requested gift (he didn't have it in evidence days earlier in PP) or borrowed from Prof. Callum for photographing the birds when they discovered they were going back to the Broads.
The mincing machine Susan "blued a birthday present on" in PP suggests that her stability, so appreciated by the Natives, extended to planning well in advance for the summer hols. Can anyone imagine John, Titty, Nancy, Peggy, Dot or (especially) Roger showing so much foresight? Dick might have, but as his scientific interests are rather diverse