Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on February 15, 2002 at 12:27:45 from 195.93.48.181:
In Reply to: Where do they come from? posted by Michael on February 15, 2002 at 10:54:35:
Nice point. "The South" is mentioned, more than once, and the Swallows have been sailing with their parents in Falmouth Harbour before SA starts. They stay at Alma Cottage when Father is posted to Harwich, (WDMTGTS, SW) which suggests that the family did indeed move around from one naval base to the next, as Father was posted. Were there RN officers' quarters in those days, or would they have rented houses nearby? Commander Walker might have been posted to Chatham, Portsmouth, Portland or Plymouth in "the South". Quite possibly Mother would have accompanied him to Hong Kong before Bridget was born, since the children were all in boarding schools. She does travel to Malta to be with him in WH.
Since Mother was Australian, she might not have had many relations in Britain, so the family may have been more than usually peripatetic. There is certainly very little sense of a home that they want to get back to in school holidays, which makes me think they tended to live in rented houses.