School Holidays


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Posted by Robert Dilley on November 17, 1998 at 18:49:07:

Here's another minor puzzle for those who enjoy them. I've just started PM in my current read-aloud of the canon, and was struck by the fact that the story is clearly stated as set at the very beginning of the summer holidays (Dick has come straight from school, meeting Dot on the train at Crewe: Mrs B and Captain Flint were to be absent for the first few days of the holidays) -- yet it is already August! Have summer holiday times changed that much? I know British schools don't get the extended summer break we have in Canada (late June to early September) but when I was at boarding school near Pinmill in the 50s we got out around mid-July (I could find the exact date if I could locate the box that still has my school reports in it). Anyone even older than me remember when summer holidays were in the 30s?
Another niggly point. Why does the GA send a telegram rather than just telephoning? Even if she has no telephone herself, she would have to go out to a post office to send the telegram, so why not go out to a public telephone? Maybe the GA disapproves of the telephone as a new-fangled invention? I can't remember if there is reference elsewhere to her using it. She seems willing to use cars, so she doesn't seem entirely anti-innovation.

On the topic of football teams -- my school certainly treated rugby football as a religion. Like Adam Quinan, we had three afternoon of organised games a week (unlike him, our support for inter-school competition was limited to Saturday afternoons -- Saturday morning was for lessons to make up for time lost in the week). In summer term you could choose between cricket, sailing (on the Orwell) or track and field. In winter and spring you played rugby, and liked it (fortunately, I did). Success on the rugby field was rated far higher than any academic honours. John would have been at home -- especially with sailing in the summer!

Finally, on The Far-Distant Oxus. The authors were definitely still school children: one was 16 and one 15. For those who do not know the story, they sent the manuscript to AR who took it to his publisher, saying "I have here the best children's story of the year". "Oh yes, and when did you write it?" came the reply [I don't guarantee the exact words]. If anyone finds a relatively inexpensive source of the other two Oxus books, I would like to place myself in line for copies....




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