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.

@Jemima232
My father has apparently made a complaint to PALS he’s that worried & unimpressed about things. To be fair, our local hospital (not where I am) killed my mother via some truly epic incompetence so his tolerance for stuff-ups is... well, He Worries. Sense of humour is invaluable really: when things are laugh or cry I’d much prefer to laugh. Though not sure I can turn dangerous staffing levels on this ward into a comedy. Other than that it’ll make it a sight easier if desperation truly kicks in & I decide to try to escape by abseiling down the side of the building using knotted together sheets. (Am sadly lacking Guide... line? Whatever rope-like bit of now obsolete Guiding kit it was that Joey Bettany(?) conveniently had about her person when called upon to yank someone off a precipice; & pretty as my lanyard [still in my rucksack after Brownie Holiday rather than carried at all times] is I don’t think it’d quite be up to it.). Mind you, from state rest ward linen cupboard probably couldn’t supply the necessary...

Threads & books welcome; shall trot off across the Internet to invest in some Strong Poison the window bed SHALL be mine

I might save audio versions until I’m home Fiderer, as charging is a bit of a mission: only one socket available to me. Thank you for the recommendation though - getting used to tube feeds again will take a while (you have to sleep sitting up) & not having to hop about iPlayer radio when trying to sleep will be welcome (I go back & relisten, as it were, so as to not miss things).

Sorry for clarting up the thread like this & thank you for being so nice & so helpful.

Are you having to sleep sitting up because it's an NJ rather than a GJ? What a pain. (DD is currently flat out slumbering next to me while her peg feed finishes. Not the same I know but I don't remember much about having to sit up for Ng feeds, back in the day. Probably blocked it out.) Anyway, hope you're back in that window bed, or better yet him, very soon.

Back to wedding night shagging, audibility thereof. Someone upthread referred to Talboys as a small cottage but isn't it more of a rambling farmhouse with modern additions? So I don't think Bunter being downstairs means he heard every gasp and creak of the bed as the shabby tigers were let loose.

My old College at Oxford still holds Gaudies - I was at my last one a couple of years ago and should be invited to a Lunch one next year probably.

I’ve never gone to my gaudies, chiefly because I do not have either a floor-length black Victorian mourning costume or an evening dress of a rich petunia colour. Or a dog collar.

I've also never gone to any Gaudies.

This may be because I wasn't at an Oxford college.

Have beaten the Internet/Amazon into submission & Strong Poison has FINALLY downloaded. That’s me sorted for tomorrow

It is indeed an NJ FreezerBird. I think NGs you don’t have to sleep as propped up, but am going on hazy memories of things other people’ve said. Am going to have to get some new pillows before I get home...

My life is also without Gaudies - I am The Wrong Shade Of Blue, as it were. I do KIND-of have a petunia evening dress though... (just tried attaching photo but apparently it’s too small...)

Miss climpson is fab. Lock picker extraordinaire. Inveigling herself into the confidence of ladies companions over rock buns etc. Wonderful.

Good morning MarieVanGoethem - I wonder whether your ward is the sort that settles down quietly for the night or whether staff and patients are engaged in competitive durational theatre. If the latter you may have started Strong Poison already - and will be wondering how you lived without Peter Wimsey in your life. I’m glad he and Harriet have arrived to keep you company.

Regarding iPlayer - is there anything you’re particularly missing? I can direct you to the Archers thread if you’re worrying about Jim. Or, if Radio 3 is more your thing, I’d recommend that you bookmark Kurtag’s Fin de Partie for when you get home.

You have, btw, given me the germ of an idea - for which I’m very grateful!

@ MarieVanGoethem Have you discovered Josephine Tey? Her Inspector Grant is not quite a match for LP, but the books are excellent. The Daughter of Time link would be particularly appropriate for your current situation, as Grant spends the entire book in hospital, being bored. Josephine Tey is very clever in how she occupies him, solving a mystery.

You would probably also enjoy Agatha Christie's 4.50 from Paddington link. Though AC isn't as good a writer as DLS, of course, it does feature an excellent heroine, Lucy Eyelesbarrow.

Get well soon

Good morning QuaterMiss I didn’t get any sleep last night but neither did I manage to read - my eyes complained about my trying so I thought it unwise to provoke them. My current thinking is I might manage to have a nap that’ll reset things enough for reading & Paying Proper Attention.

I started this stay on the Admissions Ward so up here seems quieter in comparison (needing cardiac monitoring was not clever of my body as they can only do that there, ICU & HDU) but there was a good 20 minutes shouting from a male patient at one point; there are some EPIC snorers; the woman next to me’s phone was going (loudly) all through the night; & we once again had the nurse (though some mystery as she’s not able to do everything nurses do despite uniform & ID proclaiming her to be a staff nurse here) who likes to fill out paperwork overnight so at daft o’clock will demand to know the incomings & outgoings (as it were) of your body...

XXcstatic
Only the breakfast bell (my first breakfast since 30th June, am VERY excited) is ringing so I think not. Am greatly enjoying this enabling of my book habit...

Josephine Tey would be brilliant for hospital. They are very engaging but short. So good if your attention span is not at its best. Can I recommend The Singing Sands? I think it’s my favourite- although I love and frequently re read them all.

Can I also recommend scribd

$9 a month for loads of books and audio books. Have a look first, because the selection is a bit strange-maybe because it’s aimed at and American market. But it is amazingly cheap and I can always find something.

Yes, I agree The Singing Sands is the best Josephine Tey, though The Daughter of Time is more famous.

I suppose I should post a warning about the extraordinary level of casual racism. “Dago” is a favourite.....

A third vote for Miss Tey. In fact I recommended her to someone yesterday. But The Franchise Affair is by far the best!

I don’t know why, across thousands of years of human development, we haven’t yet found a way to acknowledge that patients in hospital need the best possible sleep. And food. And hygiene.

Not envy.

(I remember gazing in fascination as a cleaner carefully wiped the muck and bloodstains from all over the cubicle opposite, then advanced towards me to wipe the trolley on which I was about to eat breakfast - with the same cloth.)

To Love and be Wise is fascinating for the very topical twist......

If you’d find audio easier than print at the mo then iPlayer radio currently has an adaptation of the sequel to Diary of A Provincial Lady available, which I’m sure would hit the spot nicely. Also four episodes of Cabin Pressure - admittedly mid-run (N to Q) but you’ll soon catch up and it’s purpose made to raise spirits in trying times.

I went to Shrewsbury myself (what do you mean? of course that’s its real name), shortly before they let in the invading hordes of men, and whilst I’ve never been to a Gaudy, I can attest to the excellence of the hot water. Enormous baths in woodpanelled bathrooms that filled in five seconds flat from a Niagran geyser of a tap.

I pass dls’s Blue plaque frequently. I always send her memory respect and thanks when I see it !

This place is a dangerous distraction from sensible pursuits. I’ve just searched through a fraction of a very long list of stories featured in Mandy magazine in the late 60s / early 70s - because I’m pretty sure I first came across Bratt Farrar (another Tey) as a graphic story there, under a different title. Haven’t found it yet.

And I hadn’t read To Love and Be Wise! Just downloaded (thank you so much for that link Bloatstoat!) and delighted to see mention of Marta in the opening pages.

Jemima, your thread is a wondrous thing!

@MarieVanGoethem Strong Poison might Give You Ideas about how to liberate the window bed without being found out...

@Allington

Strong Poison also give MarieVonGoethern valuable information on holding fake seances in order to find random Wills.

She could perhaps spend some time learning the kind of devotional worship which Helen, Duchess of Denver referred to as vulgar, ranting hymns in Busman's Honeymoon.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Ladies, I am going to find some Josephine Tey and get started.

Might also go and help Marie to liberate the window bed.

Back to wedding trousseau. This 1935 short film shows a model wearing selected clothes from an aristocratic young woman's trousseau. The garments show quite beautifully how, as previous poster remarked, the back was the fashion focus. And also, as (I think) the Dean remarks in Gaudy Night, that 'little buns at the back of the neck' were the latest hairstyle.
www.britishpathe.com/video/duchess-of-gloucesters-trousseau-news-in-a-nutshell

This is a bit unusual, but the Royal Collection has a pair of fashion dolls sent in the late 1930s to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret (as they then were), all kitted out with a very fashionable trousseau by top French couture houses:

www.rct.uk/collection/themes/trails/france-and-marianne-dolls-for-the-little-princesses

All good wishes for today, Marie

The back on that last dress is glorious.

@Jemima232 indeed - and maybe Pongo could instruct the window-intruder and/or nurses that Marie should have the window bed?

With the omelette option as a fall back position, so to speak