To start a new term at the Chalet School?

[Vintagejazz]

Happy for this to be moved to Chat if posters agree but thought I'd start it here as this is where we've all been loitering without permission when we should be doing our housework homework.

So welcome to a new term everyone. Cases upstairs to the dormitories, form lists on the notice board. And you'll all be pleased to hear that even though we've moved to a different location, Joey has tracked us - -down moved in next door, so we'll still be seeing too much-- plenty of her

Sweetest book me in.

My lambs Joan was very commen with a perm
And yes a cheaply pretty face.

Her mother had been a young lady in a shop and Joan holds that over Rosamund as her mother had been in service.

They did indeed win the pools.

I liked Joan although of course being commem she didn't like either God/prayers or the daily baths. Never washed her neck.

On another tack do any of you actually wash your neck? I mean you just get it wet don't you.

In Rescue there's a lot if talk about washing childrends corners the mind boggles.

Bows to thebody's knowledge.

I wondered what was so wrong with Joan when I first read that book. Mind you, I'm just reading CS goes to it and some of the middles have been using nail polish and powder... and thinking of their appearance.Red lipstick too no less.

Joey and didn't they look like commen little sights for Miss Everett by wearing scarfs in their heads/wheezes. During the war time gardening lessons.

I keep reading commem as "con-men"....

I am awaiting someone to come and rescue me at present as there isn't enough petrol in the car to start it (car is on a steep slope) and I don't dare try running it down to the level in case it gets stuck and I can't do anything.

My Solid Lump of Comfort proved rather a spineless jellyfish (even though he is a doctor) and has cycled off to work saying that it'll probably start if I can get it on the level.
I think I should have been given a nice dose and packed off to bed for the day, don't you?

thebody Wearing scarves on their heads indeed. One must keep up appearances and wear one's school beret, doncha know?

Dewee Matron is on the way with your milk. A nice nap will see you all right. Don't get over excited or you'll have to spend another day in bed tomorrow!

Nell and Hakluyt "Bottled fruit= preserved in light syrup in jars. Plums are particularly delicious."

And so are blackcurrants when the whole lot doesn't explode all over the kitchen ceiling. My mother managed that once!

I think part of the preserving process is to put them in Kilner jars which have a glass lid which is fixed with a screw type band and then put the jars in boiling water for a time. It is after that process that you tighten the bands - my mother did it too soon on the blackcurrant occasion... 'twas scarey.

But I don't like hot mi..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I read The Wrong Chalet School last night. Apparently Jem has always hoped that Robin will never marry because of the history of TB in the family. There was a history of TB in my family (and thousands more in Ireland) but it was never seen as a reason to fear having children. Was this really the attitude in England at one time? Or is it just EBD being dramatic and a bit woolly re medical matters?

Don't worry DeWee - a sturdy herdsmen is bound to pass by soon with a cheery "Gruss Gott!". He'll help you, and his wife will give you yet more milk, this time with a curious aroma of woodsmoke and cheese

Is Joey's maid-of-all-work Anna Austrian? If so why was she not interned in "CS goes to it" like Frieda was? Did Joey hide her in the cupboard when anyone called?

DeWee it doesn't matter if you don't like milk. You don't get a choice with Matron.

I don't want milk though. I need petrol. Am currently phoning round my friends and finding out if they have a can of petrol I can buy off them. The number of people that don't have a can is notable.

I think a long walk is about to take place, and that package that my Solid Lump of Comfort wanted me to wait in for will have to be delivered another day.

My Solid Lump of Comfort went to the allotment early hence me being on MN working right now. I have put the washing on the line as Anna didn't bother. Probably off bottling lettuces or something. Just cannot get the staff. I must consult Joey about this.

Hope you get sorted soon DeWee

Didn't Irma's bottled fruit or wine or something explode all over ?Con when they went back to Tyrol on holiday? Thats the sort of thing that would happen to me if I attempted anything like it.

I managed to download the files eventually. I am now slightly less of a computer klutz.

My lump of comfort isn't solid.

I went to Oberammergau to see the Passion Play but it was a couple of years before my CHalet School obsession interest got going, and quite a while before I read the one where they all go there.

My choice of reading that holiday, as I recall, was the hugely inappropriate Mists of Avalon.

Vintagejazz there a rather charming little story on the CBB website about Robins ancestry. The story basically tells how Robin's mother was one of the Russian Grand duchesses who escaped the killings and married Captain Humphries (that's why he couldn't take Robin with him to Russian and why she speaks French and sings the Red Sarafan but doesn't know any Polish). So it is haemophilia that they are worried about being genetically inherited.

Thanks Robin, that makes more sense. Although I still think it's a bit harsh of Jem to hope she never marries.

I've read that one too Robin, it's rather nice isn't it? I think it's Anastasia that's put down as Robin's mother.

I think it's harsh to hope she never marries. Would that have effected her thoughts as to becoming a nun? She never seemed particularly keen on one subject, which could have put her towards teaching. But that instant obedience may well have meant she couldn't consider her life any other way.

She is one who EBD managed to get a nice growing up. She's a rathe rover babies, but otherwise sweet junior. You can imagine her being over babied if she was the youngest by a bit, I can see it with ds, who's the youngest of 3-particularly dd1 is very happy a lot of the time to fetch and carry and look after him. Things that she did by herself at his age, she thinks he couldn't possibly try!
Round abnout age 10-12 she's really ridiculously babied, but then she turns into quite a lovely and believeable senior. And then disappears as an adult.

She could have made a lovely Matron or juniors' teacher.

Yes that was odd as my dm had TB in the 1950s but no one suggested she shouldn't have children. Good Job really EDBs medical knowledge/confusion is very funny.

DeWee you will need 10 days in bed to revive you like Madge had after the shock of Gay running away.

As you do!

SGB someone needs to take control of your reading my lamb. did you go sheet white and faint after the passion play?

Craving my mother's bottled plums now. I am very old and remember when you only ate fruit in season. We used to have family meetings about when we would eat the last of the bottled fruit because it never lasted the winter. I can remember watching the number of jars going down............

I have to say the whole premise of The Wrong Chalet School was absolutely daft. How many coincidences can you have in one episode? Also, coming straight after Carola Storms the Chalet School I am at how casually these parents just neglect their kids for years and palm them off on disinterested relatives.

I was amazed Katharine even recognised her mother when she turned up at the school, given that she hadn't seen her since she was six and she was now fourteen.

I think that EBD couldn't see Robin married with children, she really is too sweet and making her into a nun means she keeps her sweetness and naivety.

I can cope with coincidences that are a bit daft, the two that really wind me up are firstly when Erica happens to see Joey across the street, having had Joey appointed guardian to yet another child she doesn't know and didn't really know the parents, recognises her and acosts her.
And Lavender when she sits there and thinks about "the only friend she had", and low and behold Bride rushes in and says there's a new girl and, of course, it's her friend.
If through the book you'd had Lavender thinking about her friend, wishing she was there, wondering if Aunty could find out where she was now etc. fine. But just thinking about her, then turning up five minutes later is quite irritating in children's books.
EBD isn't the only one that does that, I remember reading a book to ds and the children in the story spent most of the time thinking "hey, the baddies might do this", taking precautions and then the baddies (for whom had had plenty of opportunity and time to do it beforehand) go and do it and are foiled by the precautions. Got to the point that I wnated either the children to take unnecessary precautions and cause themselves problems, or the baddies to catch them out.

DeWee: In EBD's defence Joey was supposed, by that time, to be The Most Famous Writer In EUrope so people who didn't actually know her might have been expected to recognise her in the street. Or so I always assumed, anyway.

I know it wasn't like they had Heat magazine or Celebrity Big Brother for her to go on (Jesus Christ, that's a thread in itself...) but I have the impression that (eg) Agatha Christie and Enid BLyton had their photographs on book jackets and occasionally in the paper and that Joey might have been assumed to do the same.

I have to say, EBD never really made Joey believable as a writer. I usually forget that she's supposed to be one until it's shoehorned into a storyline at some stage.