Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

You'll just have to put it on your list for Santa, Nell, and hope that you've been good.

A bit off-topic, but was anyone listening to drivetime on Radio 2 this afternoon? For anyone who doesn't know, it's Simon Mayo's programme, and on Fridays he gets people to phone him from their cars with music requests, and he chats to them about their weekend plans. Today a child came on air. Simon did his usual, asked where the family were going - the answer, to our house in Devon. And what were they doing for the weekend? Well, tomorrow it's the staff house party. How many staff are employed in the Devon house? 10. I'm imagining the jolly retainers in the Round House, all the outdoor staff as well as whichever faithful Pfeiffens are still around, watching enraptured while the children of the house sing carols, and maybe if they're lucky, getting half a glass of Liebfraumilch.

Ooh, me too. (Well, not so much me too on Muller Twins - it didn't really engage me as much as I'd hoped. But I was mostly v keen on Peace Comes to the CS which was also one of hers.)
Between that and the fourth volume of the encyclopaedia, I'm finding it hard to stay away from the ggbp website. But I am trying to teach das engelkind that we don't buy ourselves presents just before Christmas, so I can't be a hypocrite.

marcopront, I was referring to CS in the Oberland - and being a bit flippant, because I'm not sure what exactly EBD was alluding to with the Elma Conroy storyline. Was Elma just going to ruin her reputation by taking tea with Stuart, unchaperoned? Or did "are you - engaged?" mean "are you sleeping with him?"

Oh look, everyone! A new book all about those pesky kids in Le Petit Yurt! It's by Katherine Bruce who also wrote Muller twins which I liked, so it's definitely going on my Christmas list.

Which book has sex in it?

Erectionyurt!

It's the risqué book, though! With sex and smoking! This should be more memorable than eating soup from bowls like peasants.

Whatever turns you on, I suppose - for some of us, rolls and jam win out

Talking of smoking, I'm sure some among us will be thrilled to know that Gaudenz is busy building a wooden erectionyurt on the driest part of the Steppe to keep all the costumes and props safe. It's out of sight of the School, so I propose anyone who fancies trying their hand at smoking gathers there after kaffee und kuchen. What could possibly go wrong?

Now you mention it, I've always found Corney's jazz band rather funny.
Which is, objectively, no less reasonable than finding St Nick and his demons funny. And Mrs Jarley, that makes me smile too. I don't dislike Corney's band, or the tableaux at Die Rosen in Exploits, but they don't much tickle me. 'Irrepressible Jo the eternal schoolgirl' hilarity, however...

ALL the books talk about food a lot - no? Eustacia is another major offender. But yes, it's true that Elma and the other uncultured English girls turn up their nose at rolls and jam. They want bacon.

It's the risqué book, though! With sex and smoking! This should be more memorable than eating soup from bowls like peasants.

Maybe some people really were as amused by the story of Corney's jazz band as I am by St Nicholas...

Now you mention it, I've always found Corney's jazz band rather funny.

For some reason the only thing I can ever remember about Oberland is that they talk about food a lot - or is that just me? Aren't there several scenes where our fine English young ladies turn their noses up at wholesome Continental fare? And they want a proper breakfast, none of this fancy twists rubbish that wouldn't sustain anyone.

Hope everyone got nice things left in their shoes by St Nick. That includes those of you with young children.

Gloriously trippy. It's also in CS in the Oberland which is on the onedrive.
I re-read Oberland quite recently - it has a number of peculiar moments, including the bit when Peggy tells Edna its unkind of her not to powder her nose because they all have to look at her. EBD had some passionate and, erm, contradictory views on beauty...

That's in Mary Lou isn't it - one of the ones that's not on the shared drive anyway. I think the mistresses dress up in black leotards as imps and beat the girls with sticks 😮😮😮

Ugh - yes indeed, I thought that too, although I didn't realise that image or its equivalents were still a Thing. (I can also totally imagine the inevitable uproar in response to any suggestion of banning - bit like the predictable threads on here where a disconcerting number of people defend golliwogs on the basis of nostalgia.)

That (repeated!) St Nicholas thing in the CS books is one of my favourite moments of charmingly-bonkers, though. Perhaps I shouldn't get so at some of the 'side-splitting hilarity' which seems lost in translation... Maybe some people really were as amused by the story of Corney's jazz band as I am by St Nicholas...

Little did they know it was just Miss Wilson disguised.

I saw a discussion on Al Jazeera last year about a major stooshie in the Netherlands over the Dutch version, Black Pete - there were concerns that in name and imagery the character is racist, and it's time he was abandoned or re-invented. I can see from that horrible greeting card what they were getting at - if you look at images of black people towards the end of the C19, they're quite often shown as having animalistic features, connoting the idea of the savage, in ways that are quite similar to the card. I didn't follow whether there was actually a ban or anything in the Netherlands, but it was certainly being talked about.

Not, in any case, a tradition I'd have wanted in my home when my children were little! Apart from anything else, DD2 was far too ready to climb on top of/inside any available structure without any further encouragement.

Little did they know it was just Miss Wilson disguised.

Does this look familiar? (hope the link works!!)

www.thevintagenews.com/2016/12/04/the-story-of-krampus-the-horrific-christmas-devil-santas-horned-helper/

Has it turned white with the shock?

Ah rubbish. So I have ended up with a Simone-style hack and no hope of the miracle of curls?!

Ask Matey to shave it off rather than cut, That is how to get curls..

Ah, great ideas, both.
I thought I could further improve this noise-dampening effect by making it permanent. So I glued my costume to my head. Matey is now cutting my hair off. Maybe it will grow back curly though...

I always found that a huge advantage of using your sheets and pillowcase to dress as a nun was that you could hear very little through the massive wimple.

On the plus side, it seems that I've escaped being sung back to life...

Hark! Are those golden choirboy tones I hear? Yes, and they're coming in your direction, Nell. But don't worry, I've got a spare sheet and pillowcase so if you can make yourself a dainty 18th-century-lady costume in time, Jo (bless the girl) will never know it's you. She'll just think Marie Antoinette is wandering round the dormyurts looking for her cubey.

I got left behind at the picnic The ground opened up and I fell almost into the bowels of the earth and nobody heard my sepulchral tones. (Side point: If EBD was still writing today she'd definitely throw in a sinkhole or two, right? The charabanc would get trapped in it.)

On the plus side, it seems that I've escaped being sung back to life...

Joey's still singing. She thinks we're all ill and need reviving. We haven't told her we just had some special milk before she started singing so we could cope with it.

I think everyone's just worn out from all the singing picnicking.

When's the next Christmas play rehearsal? Time's getting short and I don't know all my 'walk across the stage' peasant moves yet.