Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

Enjoy your reading, Cheddar. I don't think I've read either of those - do tell us if you recommend them.

Another thought about Head Girl. Some of the events that in later books would be drawn out for pages get done and dusted in a paragraph. I'm thinking of the sale itself - there are a few mentions scattered through the first half of the girls wanting to have a good showing, but the sale only gets a paragraph. Then there's Madge's near-death childbirth experience. Within about a third of a page Joey has been called away as an emergency because Madge wants her, has reappeared flushed and tearful, has assured the girls that the baby is a darling and Madge is alright, and is uncannily reserved and taciturn for a couple of days. That's it. Obviously later EBD wouldn't have actually shown childbed scenes, but we'd have had pages of discussions about how much Joey and Madge meant to each other, some praying, Jo breaking down once Madge was out of danger, and rhapsodies about the loveliness of the baby. One would almost think that the school was the main part of the plot, and EBD was keen to get back to the Cornelia action.

I don't personally think there's any real need to read Princess before Juniors but it's a good excuse to read one of EBD's finest

I splurged on A Feud in the Fifth Remove and The Susannah Adventure yesterday and they have arrived! So far, Feud features a Philathea and a Salathiel, known as Sally. That's about all I've read and I was so tickled I had to come and post it here!

I neither drive nor remember Head Girl very well, so big pinch of salt with this, but is it possible they left at 8ish and arrived for lunch at 2ish? That gives you your six hours for the journey...

I wonder what would have happened if EBD hadn't married Jo off? Would she have ended the series after New House/Jo Returns/New CS, or written the Life and Times of Joey instead of continuing with the school itself, or continued the CS series largely without her (probably the occasional half-term cameo when she came to visit Madge etc, maybe stepping in to teach during incidents of laryngitis)?

Also - Juniors is edging its way up my to-read pile - should I re-read Princess first?

I love the Rufus V Bruno indicator of effective parenting strategies!

One of my great regrets is that EBD married Jo off, and after everything Jo had always said about marriage. I'd love Jo to have gone to university and become the great world expert on the Napoleonic wars, and maybe written fiction in her spare time. That's the future she was crying out for. No wonder her life of domesticity drove her rather more than a little bit nuts - if only she'd had the proper intellectual stimulation of a university education and a like-minded group of friends she wouldn't have been reduced to competing over birth weights, playing slidey mats though that sounds like fun and taking far too much interest in the moral welfare of teenage girls who were none of her business.

On a completely different note, I've been researching the route that Mr Lannis took on the Salzburg trip in Head Girl. EBD tells us that the road ran through the mountains, following the junction of the Tyrolean and Bavarian alps, but never crossed into Germany, and then ran down to the Salzach valley. Now, the modern route would take you quite a long way into Germany, so either the border changed (I can't find a large enough resolution map of Europe for 1928 to tell me) or they went via a southern route. Maybe they took the road to Kitzbuhel and made their way through Saalfelden and Hinterthal to Bischofshofen where they picked up what's now the A10 and was probably quite a major road even then, staying close to the Salzach where the modern road goes to the west of the city. When I put that route into google maps it gives me a three-hour journey which I think makes it a bit long - I think Mr Lannis and party must have taken about four hours at most because they reached Salzburg in time for lunch. I would have thought that allowing for the roads being less good and the 'big Hispaniola' not doing anything like today's speeds, you'd have to double journey times from 1928. Or is this an over-estimate? I think I might have to buy this map to help me out!!

Argh the mean birthweight competition really annoys me!

Maybe EBD had contemplated the notion of writing Jo out, at least partly? There are books in which she hardly appears, almost as if she's testing the water. I suppose by then she's more or less bound her in by having her daughters at the school! Jo never should have married...

I like to think that Rufus was a lovely well-behaved dog because he was trained by Madge and Jem, whereas Bruno is the product of Jo and Jack's less-than-stellar dog parenting. It's a subversive metaphor for reality - maybe EBD herself was growing bored with Jo but didn't know how to end it?

Jo sent her uncontrollable massive dog off to Hilary Burn's chalet on the day Hilary gave birth? And then has a perfectly cringeworthy conversation with Phil Graves about how she's still beaten Hilary in every way by having also had a 10lb baby - and can I just say, ouch? and think even more that Joey must have a wizard's sleeve situation going on down there after 11 natural births? Oh, and she keeps the Trips home to let them rest after the Sale but actually they spend all day hosting her friends and are packed off to bed at 8, at the age of 13/14?

I remember that bit about the staff - I think it's struck me as a bit odd each time I've read it. I always feel sorry for the one girl (there's only ever one in a gang) who is the 'plain' one (although they do always have 'plenty of character' which apparently makes up for it).

Just finished Difficult Term and enjoyed it. I thought it was mostly quite EBD like, though there were odd phrases that didn't quite ring true, and Verity Ann was very un-Verity Ann like in my view. Have the one about Hilda Annersley to read next (ebay bargain at £2.00! ).

There's an absolutely bonkers bit in one book, where one of the mistresses looks along the rows (I think just before a play or something) and considers that not many schools have such a good looking staff.

Do you think EBD is trying to commend the healthy, outdoors life, with lots of early nights, mountain-climbing and delicious cream cakes because we all know how healthy they are by constantly telling us how pretty everyone is?

I'd love to read some fanfic told from Miss Bubb's point of view. There must be some out there somewhere!

There could be an interesting piece of analysis in looking for those sorts of remarks and incidents through the series in relation to wider shifts in social attitudes. I forget roughly when Coming of Age was written, but I think it's from the "get back in the kitchen, woman" era, isn't it? Whereas at other times EBD has been extolling the variety of careers possible to girls in a relatively radical fashion.

Of course, it'd be entirely typical of EBD to hold opposing views within a single book. But she also had an eye for a fad, I think, and I wouldn't be surprised if she followed general views around women's roles fairly faithfully.

I don't like Peggy, either. She has nothing to commend her, except for a determined chin or somesuch - I don't think she's really the leader she's made out to be, and she doesn't really have much character either. Marriage almost straight out of school makes sense for her, whereas it doesn't make sense for Bride (or Josette, or Sybil ).

I would quite like to imagine Miss Bubb as having some sort of philosophical/political objections to "the CS way". I think a touch of strident feminism would go some way to redeeming her!

I've just gone right off Peggy Bettany. Reading Coming of Age, which is not one of the better Swiss ones, and came across the following quote (Peggy to Miss Bubb): "My sister Bride is hoping to teach, but I'm just an old-fashioned girl with domestic tastes!" She laughed gaily...

Gag. I'm firmly with Miss Bubb in not being massively impressed with Peggy Dearest.

There's an absolutely bonkers bit in one book, where one of the mistresses looks along the rows (I think just before a play or something) and considers that not many schools have such a good looking staff.

For someone who wants people to think it doesn't matter if they're pretty or not, she makes a huge song and dance about it. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.

Skate on the lake, Cheddar?

Oooh. I would love to go in summer, but now I want to go in winter too and skate on the lake! Or attend the carnival and drink Schnapps.

Ooh, I've got a feeling they were cut - you remember that link that's been posted on these threads a few times, summarising what's been cut from each book? I'm sure it comments on one book where a lot of descriptions of hair get cut, and that this is actually a good move by Armada - that could well have been in reference to Head Girl.
I guess it's not entirely unreasonable that gawky 13/14 year olds grow into better-looking older girls/young women (I always think Simone is one of these, and Mary Lou too). One of the problems here, I think, is that everyone is either outright pretty or otherwise has a pleasant face because of their pleasant character, and given that CS girls aren't allowed to be unpleasant for more than a term, it's therefore impossible to not be attractive!

EBD does like to describe pretty things - mountains, dormitories with flower-bespattered cretonnes etc - so I guess it's partly just an indulgence along those lines.

Has Sophy Hamel become less attractive when she tips the table over in Reunion, or just gained weight? I can't remember... (Obviously there is no reason at all IRL to assume these things correlate, but given some of EBD's bonkers comments on weight it wouldn't altogether surprise me.)

Apples - alas, only one each. That'll be where I went wrong, and why Joey didn't come haring along to rescue us.
DS and I have talked about going back in Feb 2018 - he's especially keen for snow - but I've since realised that, if I can do a Joey and reproduce at will, I may be 'very busy' around that time. Hmm. Got to go back at some point though, and echo the recommendation that everyone who hasn't been yet also does so!

DS and I did manage to go wandering off up a small mountain before dawn, which struck me as pleasingly Grizel-like.

Did you take plenty of apples? I know what you mean about pining for the dear little Tiernsee. I don't think I'll be able to go back this coming summer (too many family obligations) but I'm definitely hoping to go the summer after next. Anyone who hasn't been - go if you possibly can! I'm very cross with myself for leaving it all these years.

I know it's been said before, but blimey, EBD doesn't half go on about how pretty the girls are in Head Girl. I wonder if they cut some of the descriptions in the p/back, because I'd not noticed it quite as much before. I was particularly taken with the description of Gertrud who we're told is 'still as pretty as she had been at the time of another journal of the school'. Does EBD ever describe a girl as getting less pretty as time goes on? As far as I can remember they all get prettier with age, rather than pretty children being disfigured by teenage spots or anything like that! The only changes in appearance I can call to mind are described positively - unless you count the odd minor character who puts on weight - maybe reaching the giddy heights of 10 stone.

Ah, Cheddar my lamb, it sounds as though you need to get yourself packed off to Penny Rest!

Now that you point it out, I realise that Scotland was a huge disappointment in EBD terms. Although DS and I did manage to go wandering off up a small mountain before dawn, which struck me as pleasingly Grizel-like. (It was the mountains we went for, really - still yearning for the dear little Tiernsee, no joke. Can completely appreciate that EBD was so taken with it she had to set her fictional school there.)

DS (age 2) woke up at 4.45 this morning and insisted he was up for the day. Silly boy! Anna Joey would have had him trained to instant obedience by the tender age of 3 months and he would in any case be in the night nursery attended by the Coadjutor and not climbing into my bed, digging pointy toes into my ribs and requesting Paw Patrol and Weetabix.

(What were you doing North of the Border? Did you meet lots of people in full Highland dress saying 'p' for 'b', speaking Gaelic and sitting to the north of their hearths?)

Ha. I bet Maynie didn't sleep til anything like noon, but lazed about in bed reading (not sitting up, no bedjacket) and putting off the moment when she would have to get up and attend to the children. This is what I would do if I could get away with it, probably regardless of how disrupted my night had been.
(Incidentally I got more-or-less that sleeper recently, Cheddar! Slept very badly northbound, but extremely well southbound - until the train woke me up by banging around reconnecting itself at Edinburgh at about 4am, and then DS woke me up again falling out of bed at 5am - he stayed asleep, Robin-style, as I scooped him into my bed and spent the next two hours clinging onto the edge and trying to get back to sleep... Oh, how I wished for a child who was more of a spineless jellyfish and could be made to sleep some more at home until I was ready to face the day...)

I think the Robin sleeps about 14 hours a night as standard, which is somehow weirdly tied up with her instant obedience - she literally sleeps on command. I think one of the earliest and hardest lessons I learned in motherhood is that this just does not happen in real life. Even when they obviously need to.

Do they sleep sitting up? I think Robin in no way requires 14 hours sleep - I'm sure her normal bedtime is at about 6pm until she's 14! And they aren't travelling on the next day - they're pillow fighting and going shopping and sightseeing. How does the Robin manage to be tired again for bed at that rate? The others I think can be explained by the broken sleep effect - and I don't think you would sleep particularly well in a train anyway. I went on the sleeper from Aberdeen to London once and hardly slept at all, and that was in a bed.

Ah, when I were a lass [stares starry-eyed into the distance] 'curtain hair' was a thing - long, straight hair parted down in the middle which you flopped in front of your face like curtains and tossed back theatrically from time to time. If you've ever seen The Brady Bunch, think Marcia Brady and you'll know what I mean. My hair is best described as wavy, and my sister has tight curls. We learned young that we were never going to be fashionable...

So, I'm reading Head Girl because Juniors put me in the mood for it. In the famous Stuffer and Maria train incident, we're told that the Robin beds down and goes to sleep as soon as they get into the train at 9pm. She wakes once, during the altercation with the professor, and when they get out of the train at 5am, she's carried, fast-asleep, to the pension. So let's say, allowing for being wakened up and giving her an hour to get back to sleep, she's had 7 hours by then. Joey and Grizel go off soon after but are wakened by Maynie chatting to the ladies, and Joey again during the professor episode. So they've had perhaps 6 hours' sleep. Maynie gets two hours' sleep between the professor episode (around 10pm) and the Stuffer waking up, then she sleeps again until they come for the tickets at 4am. So she'll have had around 4 hours' sleep. We're told they are whisked away to their (town centre) pension as soon as they arrive at Basle, and they go straight to bed when they get there. So presumably they're between the sheets by 6am at latest. They then all sleep straight through until noon. Now I know they had a broken night, especially Maynie, but that would mean the Robin having 14 hours' sleep altogether, Grizel and Joey having 12, and Maynie having 10. Really? I mean, I would probably have a quick nap once I arrived at the hotel if I'd had a night such as the one described in the train, but I'd probably have got up again about 9am and made sure I kept going. [mutters darkly about spineless jellyfish]

Dd1's hair was down to her thighs at one point. It's now "short" (only to her waist)

It was an absolute pain. It could take 2-3 hours to wash and brush out and dry. If she had it loose for more than a short time it would be so tangled.
It looked fantastic for about half an hour, but after that it would be in the way and getting in things.

Glad they arrived safely! DD's note was very sweet.

Thank you for the books, Nell! I had completely forgotten that DD wrote you a note too - it was lovely to be reminded!

It's supposed to PM you, but I forgot the Extra bit of your username which might be why. Technology isn't my strong point at the best of times . Thank you for being understanding!