Posted by Dave Thewlis on November 27, 2000 at 18:03:57 from 63.200.128.218:
In Reply to: AR: Seaplanes at Felixstowe in WD posted by John Wilson on November 24, 2000 at 11:34:42:
AR's friend Oscar who became Squashy Hat was experimenting with seaplanes on Windermere,
and incurred the wrath of Beatrix Potter as a result, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure
if this plays either way in the discussion of Ar ignoring airplanes.
Mostly I think that in the period AR is writing of (late 20s early 30s) airplanes were
fairly exotic and only starting to become part of regular life as opposed to mail delivery
and stunt shows; it seems likely that they wouldn't have touched the lives of the children in
any "real" way (as opposed to hobbies or fascination). And since his stories were also partly
in and of the area he loved as a child, and focused on sailing and the lakes, I don't find it
surprising that he didn't bother mentioning them (except for the passing reference in WD). There
are a lot of other things he didn't mention either that (in hindsight) seem to have been significant.