Th think that Miss Climpson should have been in The Nine Tailors

[Jemima232]

Miss Climpson did not appear in this book.

The purpose of this thread is to examine why this oversight occurred.

The Chalet School books may be mentioned if people wish.

It is said that DLS modelled Peter and Harriet's married home in London on the University Women's Club in Audley Square:

www.universitywomensclub.com/the-club/image-galleries/

ttps:www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/2010/05/23/behind-closed-doors/

Oh, and thanks, Rustybear.

You could be right, @BertrandRussell. I don't think the immediate context tells us anything more, only that it takes place when Harriet is thinking about clothes and money and how she's always bought everything she's owned and worn out of her earnings.

I'm not imagining, am I, that Harriet wears a tie on honeymoon at one point? Possibly with tweeds?

Oh goodness! Sudden memories of the club for female university grads that I stayed at intermittently a million years ago in Chelsea. But what was it - if not the University Women’s Club? Defintely not Mayfair.

I'm not imagining, am I, that Harriet wears a tie on honeymoon at one point? Possibly with tweeds?

On day 1 (the day after the wedding), if I remember rightly.

I think that's it, @XXcstatic (which kind of kills my Harriet Clothes Fantasies, even if it's 'correct' country dress). There's that passage about how quick and easy it is to be a modern woman getting ready in the morning, just washing, running a comb through your hair and stepping into a couple of garments, whereas men have to bother with shaving etc.

Lots of slightly weird transitions between the sexual ecstasy of the honeymoon nights and daytime jolly below stairs/village shenanigans about chimney sweeps and debt collectors.

They're definitely in the London house when Bredon is born (in "The Haunted Policeman").
Doesn't Harriet take the boys to Talboys at the beginning of WW2? That's why they're there in "A Presumption of Death", together with the Parker children (whose parents seem to just leave them with anyone who'll have them for long periods of time.!!)

I have to confess to the books being on my Meaning-To-Read List (I know I read some of Busman’s Holiday during a Book Emergency when about 9 but clearly hardly counts) but wanted to say you’ve all cheered me up hugely & made me laugh v hard, which is vvv welcome as currently been in hospital for a week & has all been rather Grim Times. So thank you.

I’m doubting myself on everything now, but I think the London hous is their actual House, and Talboys is a holiday house. But a safe place for the children when war breaks out.

To be fair to the Parkers, Peter and Harriet are the children’s aunt and uncle! And Mary was doing war work.......

Biggish ordinary pants can be utilised as receptacles for smallish items.
When I started teaching, I was puzzled by the disappearance of many small interlocking cubes used in lessons on shape and space, only to discover that some of the girls were smuggling them out in their knickers in order to throw them at people they didn’t like.

Aha.

So we're back to knickers now.

Are you still in hospital, @MarieVanGoethem? Hope you are feeling better.

When I was quite little and reading the Malory Towers books for the first time, I was flabbergasted by the entire plotline that involved Nouveau Riche Jo (NQOSD daughter of Road Hog Charlie who drops his hs and digs the chair of the MT governors familiariy in the chest) keeping her birthday money up the leg of her knickers, until the elastic wears out and it falls out and is confiscated by Matron, leading to thievery and shenanigans.

I didn't realise that capacious gym over-knickers were a thing, and was pondering the discomfort of keeping banknotes in my crotch...

@MarievanGoethern

Very glad that this thread is keeping you entertained while you've been having what sounds like a bad time. Hope you improve soon.

Was Harriet asserting her new-found authority over servants (in BH) when she told Mrs. Ruddle to cut the bread thinner?

Have always thought it must have been difficult to decide where Miss Twitterton should be placed in the pecking order (Puffett gets sent to the kitchen to have beer with Bunter after Noakes' funeral.)

Banknotes can be safely kept in your bra, MercifulHour

They fall out of knickers when you pull them down in order to visit the lavatory.

Does anyone else think that the office banter is splendid in Murder Must Advertise?

And the bizarre copy which accompanies the sketches, most of which was the kind of stuff DLS would have written when she worked at Benson's.

Not to mention the blatant sexism where the two typists are solely responsible for buying and collecting the money for the daily teas.

I love all the 'Pipers Parritch' and 'Nerves need Nutrax' stuff in MMA. Not to mention wiffling

Yes - Pipers Parritch.

And Sparkling Pompayne. (which Wimsey declined to drink at the cricket match.)

Am stuck here for at least a few days more. And currently quietly fuming because the window bed that was RIGHTFULLY MINE has been given to someone who came up to the ward this afternoon. To be fair that’s a bit less of an issue than the lack of IV access, medication, ultrasound to check for blood clots but then, they also have an interesting aversion to contacting haematology so think I’m just going to ring them myself tomorrow, lack of food, failure to start tube feed... On the plus side, however, the curtains on this ward are a pale green hue that are reminiscent of the stormhaven tents we used to use on camp when I was a Guide (in the morning, as the light began to come in); they were 3rd-time-lucky actually placing my NJ-tube yesterday; I had a couple of hours earlier where I could see out of the window; no IV access means no Pabrinex (smells-tastes REVOLTING); if they manage to sort out some antiemetic I’ve Emergency Rations provided by the parental unit; & of course, crucially, I Do Not Have To Change Lenin’s Tie.

Naturally I have my trusty Kindle with me, so now seems The Time to start reading: is there a Best Place to begin, given it’s not always The Obvious? Will have to set up a wireless hotspot on my phone to get anything onto my kindle, so getting all the books will have to wait until I make my escape...

@MarieVonGoethern

At least you've kept your sense of humour in very trying circumstances.

I think that moving you from the window bed which was rightfully yours was a low blow indeed. Worse than all the medical and nursing incompetence, which I hope you've noted and are ready to throw at the senior nurse responsible for your ward as soon as you get out.

This thread is a good one.

I may or may not have posted on it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3606967-To-wish-that-a-Stranger-would-give-me-unsolicited-advice

Oh - you meant which DLS book. Sorry - I thought you meant MN threads.

Strong Poison is the book in which Harriet and Peter meet and contains the first (and best) references to the inimitable Miss Climpson.

Marie - If you don't feel up to reading or need something to doze off to - and you get a hotspot, the BBC dramatisations of DSL are v listenable to. You can get a 30-day free Audible trial on your Kindle. Just thought not if it's just a reading one, but you can also get it on your phone. Though that's tougher on the battery.

marie - very best wishes.

I have so been enjoying this thread, lovely to find some fellow DLS fans!
@MarieVanGoethem (and others may find it useful too) www.fadedpage.com has most of the DLS books free to download, or you can read them as a html webpage, good when you don't have much signal and/or data. Enjoy and hope things improve soon, sounds very hard going for you.