Posted by Robert Dilley on March 26, 2002 at 16:45:06 from 216.211.68.96:
In Reply to: Day of the Week, Chronology posted by John Wilson on March 26, 2002 at 00:22:02:
I just checked Bill Wright's timeline and confirmed what is to me a bit of a chronological puzzle that doesn't seem to have been discussed (unless I missed it). In Swallowdale the gang reach the summit of Kanchenjunga on August 11, as is clearly noted in the book. Then we have the return, wigwam night, the reappearance of Swallow, the race and the return to Wild Cat. Right at the end (penultimate page) as they talk in the island camp, Captain Flint remarks "... it was just as well to make sure of your island, and besides that there'll be grouse-shooting all over those moors to-morrow...." [I wonder when tomorrow -- reportedly Tony Blair's favourite word -- dropped the hyphen?] Anyway, grouse shooting began on August 12 ("The Glorious Twelfth") unless the 12th is a Sunday. In 1931 it was a Wednesday, so that doesn't arise. I have never been a shooting type (except at inanimate targets) so I don't know the normal practice. Did they not shoot all the moors on the first day -- so that the Swallowdale Moors would have been left until the 14th? Wouldn't there have been some mention of this fact -- "It's lucky they didn't start there on the 12th" or something? Just another little datum to niggle (watch the spelling there!) at.