Posted by Jonathan Labaree on August 27, 2002 at 19:49:05 from 207.5.198.231 user JLabaree.
In Reply to: Swallow Island (was "question about a map in CC") posted by Swallow Island on August 27, 2002 at 17:51:50:
My reading of SW (I'm reading it now, otherwise I would not presume to comment) makes it sound as though the kids didn't have permission until they actually landed there. Commander Walker went to the farm on the island to ask permission. He was told "any friend of Jim Brading’s is a friend of mine" and permission followed (along with the occasional can of milk). I interpret that to mean they did not have permission ahead of time.
I thought the original plan was to stay on the Goblin with their parents and engage in exploring from there. When he was called away to London, the plan had to change at the last minute. That also suggests no advance permission to camp.
That the farmer is a tenant farmer is very interesting and puts a different spin on things, as Andrew suggests. While I don’t see much to indicate they got permission from someone else, that may well be the case. Either way, the whole thing is taken fairly lightly, which would not be the case today, I expect.
SW aside, in other books (SA, SD, PM, GN - not sure about GN), the kids camp on land that is not their own. There seems to be little concern about it, though.
Andrew, why "Ho hum"?