To think we are all ready to remove to Inter V at the Chalet School.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

New thread for all the Chalet School fans!

This thread just disappeared from my watched list. Gasps of horror and fainting all round. Thank goodness I have managed to find it again.

I have been thinking.... and am a little concerned at the lack of praise for Joey. Dare I say there have even been posters actually mocking Joey

Don't you realise that anyone who doesn't automatically fall at Joeys feet and worship her have bad things happen to them?

Don't say I didn't warn you....

I heard of someone who was a bit mean about Joey.
She's 19 now and still isn't married to a doctor. Serves her right.

Joey the child is a great character.
Just Joey the adult is a little, say, over drawn. Everything has to be solved by her-even when away in Canada and it then takes a week to get letters backwards and forth, everyone has to adore her, and marvel at her long family.
She would be much nicer if they had provided her with a counterpoint, one of the staff (fairly senior) who would sometimes say "for goodness sake, stop being silly, we can do it ourselves", or "Let's not ask Joey over, she's too overpowering". Or more like Miss Ferrars does with Mary Lou, but more long term.

There is very little link between child Joey-who has bad points as well as good points, and the adult Joey, who is all that is amazing. Can you imagine a bunch of teens going round to someone's house for a party and begging their host to sing? unless they wanted to laugh at them But then also as the adult Joey, suddenly all the history is written and she was amazing, it's regularly said she was the best head girl, when she was actually pretty poor.

Although having said that, you can begin to see the way the character is going during her time as headgirl. There's the point that some of the mistresses object to the way Grizel addresses Joey, because "it's not good for the girls to hear their head girl talked to like that"-when Joey had been just as rude to Grizel before, Grizel was staff! (Camp)
And another time, i think when she's head girl, she waves her hand and knocks the soup being served to her all over another pupil-a junior. The junior is told not to be so silly, and Joey's poor burnt hand is crooned over by Mme. Think it's New Mistress, but I might be wrong. I cannot work out a way that you could gesticulate and knock the soup all over someone and burn your hand and not burn them worse.

I am married to a doctor, although I haven't got 11 children yet

In Reunion though, we have the wonderful bit where Dr Neil Sheppard casually mentions lugging around a book of baby names - he says that Edith, Henrietta and Flora are just about 'obsolete'. Such a funny image!

I have two children feels like eleven

Aren't Flora and Fauna identical twins?

Ugh, the Flora and Fauna joke name thing annoyed me.

When Joey's naming Cecil she says "thank goodness she has a name that doesn't date her, I feel sorry for all those Annes whose name will date them"
Even as a child I found that funny. Cecil to me sounds terribly old fashioned-I think I've known 2 under age 80+, whereas I wouldn't associate Anne with any particular age, I know Annes/Anns from age 90 down to under 1yo.

I thought Flora and Fauna were similar in looks but different in colouring. I may be totally misremembering and EBD might well refer to them as identical anyway

Yes, I thought Fauna renaming (was she Flavia?) was really mean, she obviously wasn't happy about it was she?

My ex husband always referred to the series as "The Chalet School Dykes". Now that's a book I would enjoy reading, though quite against the prevailing ethos.

I always thought Cecil was a boy's name. How is the girl's version pronounced?

Fauna was really Fiona. It is a pretty poor joke I agree. Flavia was Copper's real name in Redheads.

Cecil is just short for Cecilia, she was named after the Robin who was really Cecilia Marya (or Marya Cecilia, I can't remember, and I wouldn't be surprised if it changed round at least once during the series ). I've always just thought Cecil was pronounced the same as the male version.

I think they start off by saying that she'll be Cecilie, but she very quickly becomes Cecil. I've half a feeling that when they're first talkiing about it that Len says none of them like Cecil as a short.

Juniper it does swap round, not sure whether that was a mistake or she wanted to make Marya into Cecils first name she didn't use, like all the others have Mary that way.

Flora and fauna Fiona weren't identical as one was dark and the other fair although both they and their older sister shiena have starry eyelashes.

There's a funny bit in highland twins when they meet a Group of girls who have joined up and who swear as the train is bombed and wear makeup but are generally good eggs. But obviously working class.

Oh Joey is the sort of pain in the arse mum you would avoid like poison in the playground, head of the PTA and a loud mouth.

Her faults as an adult are shown in a good light, she's apparently tactless but this is somehow seen as being honest.

To be honest if my 16 year old dd was blackmailing other girls ( Margot and Ted) and throwing book ends in a rage I wouldn't be putting up for mother of the year!

Still Joey is never told of these incidents...

It is hilarious that in changes Joey breezes into a staff discussion about totally private issues concerning the girls, absolutely none of her business but jack is also brought into consultations. Er why???? These are qualified teachers while Jo isn't although she teaches senior history at one point and junior Latin,,, way before Ofsted and I suppose it's a private school.

I still think the ultimate Joey vanity remark is to Biddy when she tells her that Simone ( the one Joey feels sorry for as she stopped at one while the others were steaming ahead with real families!! ) Jo says 'I refused to have another baby named after me'. Ffs who the hell would actually say that?

Massive massive ego. Think Joey was a monster really that EBD couldn't control.

In my head I always said Cecile as Sessil just didn't make sense.

Flora and Fiona were similar except for radically different hair colour, weren't they?

Anyone who crossed Joey comes to a bad end.

Matron Besley, miss Bubb( TB)Thekla Von Stift, Joyce Linton gets a reprieve but looses her mother, Anne Seymore is rude to her and falls off a bridge but is rescued by Joey herself and all is forgiven, Frau Berlin ( train crash and a fire) ..,

Don't cross the choosen one!

And Fiona had the second site!! As you do if you are Scottish!

Just like biddy stays as Irish as they come while living in Tyrol, England and Australia from the age of 10!!

Ah yes you are all right. They aren't identical at all.

I thought Biddy got told off every time her accent became too 'richy irish'?

Yeah

Oops! Yeah, I remember that comment of Jo's about her namesakes really peeing me off.

Gosh, thebody, you have a point there.

[rushes off to do hair in earphones and put on a lime green twinset]

Erm, now I think of it, what exactly is a lime green twinset?

lime green would look bad on anyone to be fair!

Tis true don't anger Joey or your number is up!!

I know. I've been properly punished by losing the ability to bake. I have to eat (cue gasps all round) cheap shop-bought cake with my English Tea. I'll never marry a doctor now, sob.

And that naturalist Kester Bellever was grooming cherry Christie or i don't recognise my chalet school pervs.

Doris try for a bank Clerk!!