Posted by Peter Ceresole on December 17, 2007 at 20:59:28 from 80.176.146.133 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Summer, you know posted by Claire on December 17, 2007 at 19:26:12:
"Oh, that," said Peggy. "All part of the same thing. It belongs to the Amazon Pirates. Summer, you know. Nothing to do with the Arctic..."
I have never liked that, because it makes it seem like the children are just playing at seasonal games as something separate from themselves, rather than a way they define themselves.
But I think it was summer games, and I think that children do this sort of thing and are very clear eyed about what's really real, and what's a game. And I think that AR knew this perfectly well, and put it into his books.
I know that at 'their' age, I would play endlessly (I think I may have been Biggles's copilot) but always knew absolutely clearly what was over the garden wall- and it wasn't Biggin Hill.
Mind you, life had its Biggles moments (we were in London, a fair way from sailing country) and I remember one summer, maybe 1949 or 50, when the RAF were doing dusk flying exercises, using De Havilland Hornets. We lived in a distinctive crescent in London, with a triangular street plan. In Google Earth enter 'Addison Crescent, London, UK' and it'll go straight to it. Our house was No 13, the big one in the middle of the southern side. The air force clearly thought it made a good distinctive aiming point in the middle of a huge wen of twisty streets, all the same; a good exercise for navigators. For several evenings at a time, a succession of these beautiful, elegant Hornets would fly over, very low, and drop photoflashes, proving they'd found their target. I would lie on the grass, staring upwards, loving the skirling sound of the twin Merlins and listening for the audible 'pop' of the flashes going off. I've never forgotten that summer, because of those beautiful planes.
And I always knew that they were absolutely real, while my fantasies were not.