To ask all Chaletians to get ready for Madame's birthday?

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

Pop to the splasheries my lambs and after you've brushed your hair till it shines we'll have a quick practice of 'I sing of Margaret so fair'.

Once we've finished casting the movie, that is....

Oh and the blonde nurse in Call the Midwife (Trixie) would be a great Peggy Bettany (but obviously in demure clothes and with her silvery hair grown back into ringlets)

Oh how I wish I lived in Perthshire.

I think the actress who played Laura in Lewis (I think her name's Clare Holman) would be an excellent Bill.

I would also nominate Rachel Stirling to play Biddy O'Ryan.

Hi again,

Thanks so much for the honesty, letting me know of their potential value. I had no idea, and he won't either! He may still be happy to give them away - I will phone him and check and let you know what he wants to do. They are a mix of paper and hardback books filling up a three or four shelf bookcase.

I think Audrey Hepburn would be a great Joey. I know Joey wasn't supposed to be beautiful but I think AH is the perfect build and colouring.

I would have claimed Audrey Hepburn but she is sadly too tall

Hardbacks? Oh yes, if they are early editions then you will definitely get a good price for them!

80 quid for a first ed of Richenda!

Wish I had this one to sell!!

£2.80 delivery? What a rip off!

I need to be put to bed with some drugged milk after seeing that. I might even need Joey to sing to me.

What do you mean, dh, that I can't sell the house and take out a loan and....

I want a 1st ed Mystery at Witchend with d/w, found in the back of a charity shop for 20p... actually I'd prefer to find 2, then can sell one and buy more books.

I'm nothing if not courageous even if I was badly bought up but now I've had a near death experience I have instantly turned into a good Chalet girl. So dear Madame's birthday here we come!

We'd better practice. Is Margia going to write a song?

Yours,
eustacia B (is my name really that ugly, really?)

I think Duckface is an inspired Joey. Or Lady Mary off Downton, she could do it - tall, dark, slightly maddish. Prone to taking to her bed in times of grief (ready for Highland Twins, then) :o

I read Eustacia this week and was struck by just how similar it is to a lot of the Swiss ones, but miles better in every way: the catalogue of unfortunate circumstances is much less contrived, Joey is fallible, almost likeable, Miss Annersley does her own Understanding Of Girls without having to seek Joey's eternal schoolgirl advice, Bill and Madge both get more than the occasional cameo they're relegated to in the Swiss books...

I now need to read one of the Swiss ones to check I'm not being completely unfair.

See, until I got a hold of the transcripts, the only Swiss books I'd read were Ruey, Feud, Redheads (all in gorgeous hardbacks my school library boasted, although I'm convinced I remain pretty much the only person who's read them, and definitely the only person who took them out twice a year, without fail, for my whole time there), and Prefects. I adored Ruey, thought Feud was too like Rivals, and Redheads was just plain odd. They were all rather confusing to someone who hadn't read any further than Tom otherwise, and Prefects was the most confusing of the lot. Now I've read the Transcripts (started with Oberland and am now reading Theodora) I think I quite like the Swiss books. They're not as good as the Tirol ones, obviously, but they're not that bad...

I really love the Swiss book with Barbara Chester. I think it's probably my favourite.

I like Adrienne meself (whoops been around Biddy a little too much). I think it's lovely that I have a long lost cousin after all I have always wanted a family although I wish I knew what was in that locket.....

I really like Clem Barrass. Sensible without being annoying. I liked Redheads. I'm really enjoying madge in the Tirol books. She's quite normal in the early ones. By late books she and Jem seemed a bit blue rinse and starchy.

I love Madge in the first few. She has gumption. Then she gets married off and relegated to being 'respectable' or 'beloved'.

I've gotten waylaid by Reunion (technically Swiss, yes, but not very representative). All this "well aren't you fat?" is depressing but I really do love Grizel. I think she's one of the best-drawn characters and it's not lost in adulthood, either.

Clem has vague echoes of Rowan Marlow.

Yeah, I hate how marriage changes Madge. My iPad auto corrected changes to 'chafes'. I think that's telling...

I like Cher as Joey. She could pull off the bonkers-in-private aspect.

What about Miss Ferrars?
I could see Judi Dench as Nell Wilson.

I truly wish that I had not got rid of all my CS - Antonia Forest - Malcolm Saville - Noel Streatfield books into a charity shop when I moved out of my parents house.

Now my lambs it's Saturday morning so after mending, prayers and Guides what will we do? It's going to be a good day, I've looked at the sky and not a cloud to be seen.

Well I'm off to see the cricket. Hope our boys put in a good innings.

It's a lovely day but I do have my big shady hat to preserve my fair complexion.

Are you not playing Toni? I'm sure you could bowl a handy few overs if you put your mind to it

I was quite gutted when I went to actual boarding school that we didn't play cricket or go for wild escapades in the mountains

My parents obviously chose badly.

My lambs I was worried that Madge has gone all sweet woman like that wet Doris Trewlaney but as I told Hilda so relived when she came back all brisk and crisp and snappy from
Canada. Jolly good thing too as sweet women only tend to have one or two children and what a mistake while the rest of us are steaming ahead with real families( patronising hug for poor 'barren after Tessa' Simone.

I am off to the sale today which of course I organised, hope you liked my dear of the old English Fayre. The Prees were stuck bless them so of course came to me. After all I have been involved in all the sales from the dark ages.

Just a tip. I have one hat that matches all of my frocks my dears, I just change the lining and add the right colour flowers. What a hoot.

Oooooooh sorry just pushed out baby 9. Gutted it's a singleton. How boring.

See you later sweetipies.