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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Sir James Talbot tackles Mrs. Jack Maynard's Displaced Organ

954 replies

QuaterMiss · 02/08/2019 18:17

Would I be unreasonable to initiate legal proceedings against this man?

Previous thread here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3624032-Not-to-have-realised-until-now-that-Joey-Maynard-s-displaced-organ-was-a-prolapse?

With thanks to Jemima232 for rifling through Sir James’ archives to supply the title of this one.

OP posts:
PhilSwagielka · 24/08/2019 09:41

Robin is so much better as a teen/adult.

QuaterMiss · 24/08/2019 10:09

Yes, that’s why I valued the beginning of Adrienne so highly. I’ve always wished EBD had written a spin-off series following her to Oxford (what did she read?) and then into her adult life as a nun. She sounded really fierce and sparky then.

OP posts:
Aroundtheworldin80moves · 24/08/2019 11:27

I liked the beginning of Adrienne. But the whole being Robins long lost cousin (or whatever it was) was just too far fetched.

NiceWork · 24/08/2019 11:38

Is it CS and the Island with the prefects going for a walk, and getting stuck in mud which turns out to be an old stream getting going again? That cracked me up even when I was little and reading the series for the first time -- even though it's ankle-deep, and a bunch of sensible 17 or 18 year old girls, you'd think it was quicksand from the drama, and Julie being pulled out with ropes, and everyone being dosed with hot milk and sent to bed for the shock! Grin

Mind you, EBD has Jack sedating Joey after she accidentally gets briefly stuck in a packing case, so I suppose the basic level of what counts as 'shock' is pretty low in the CS universe.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 24/08/2019 11:50

I'm getting bored of packing boxes, maybe I'll try getting stuck in one to see if I need sedation.

NiceWork · 24/08/2019 11:57

I think it only works if you wear your hair in zany earphones, have a bazillion children and a weird obsession with following your sister's school around Europe so you can pop through the hedge and be feted for your faithful housekeeper's jam, @Around.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 24/08/2019 12:49

Oh dear, I only have 2 children, generally just pull my hair back in a pony tail, have no sister (but do follow my DHs job around Europe), no housekeeper and no hedge. And dislike Jam.

TinselAngel · 24/08/2019 14:34

Is it CS and the Island with the prefects going for a walk, and getting stuck in mud which turns out to be an old stream getting going again?

I think it "Shocks".

"Island" is the one with sexy Kester Bellever.

Papergirl1968 · 24/08/2019 14:37

I’m on summer term.
Skeptical about the opening - a girl who has never met Jo recognising her walking down the street in London. Lo and behold she’s yet another ward for Jo. And then oh look, a disaster and yet another motherless child for Jo to take in.
I did have to laugh though at the waves of disapproval from Jo towards the two young women who get on the train in scruffy jeans and swearing!

NiceWork · 24/08/2019 14:47

I did have to laugh though at the waves of disapproval from Jo towards the two young women who get on the train in scruffy jeans and swearing!

Yes, that's hilarious. Young women should wear dainty frocks and only say jolly-schoolgirl things in three languages. A bit of slang if they're feeling really daring.

Someone please write 'Beatniks at the Chalet School'. Or 'Teddy Boys Shock the Chalet School'. Perhaps Stephen, Mike and Chas could bring home some unsuitable friends to the Platz, and gatecrash one of those polite little Saturday night CS dances so it turns into the dance at the gym from West Side Story, or something.Grin

Kester Bellever had never struck me as sexy, but then I'm all for a CS man who isn't a doctor suspiciously eager to sedate anyone with a vagina in the vicinity.

Papergirl1968 · 24/08/2019 16:16

The girls were probably thinking, look at that mad old bat with the weird hairdo and questionable clothes sense - lime green twinsets and capes, for example.
As for Kester, Bellever sounds a bit too close to Bellend for my liking. And didn’t Madge name one of her kids Kester? Think there were twins Kester and Kelvin? Should Jem be worried? Wink

Bloatstoat · 24/08/2019 18:07

I've now read 'Bride Leads the Chalet School' which features an appearance from Sir James Talbot winning an umbrella and a model village at the sale. Have move on to "Changes For The Chalet School' in which nothing appears to happen - bizarrely there's a long description of a school trip to the Cadbury's chocolate factory, with a sad lack of falling into vats of melting chocolate, being rescued by eligible doctors and/or requiring special milk. I can only think EBD was paid for the advert or was expecting a truckful of freebies. Am glad I never spent money on these as a child.

QuaterMiss · 24/08/2019 20:12

I, on the other hand, Bloatstoat, have just finished GoesTo It - which was magnificent.* I had read it before. The Elizabeth Arnett/Betty Wynne-Davis episodes were wonderfully written. And the febrile atmosphere of ‘grown up’ women longing for their absent men was delightfully interwoven with the schoolgirls’ story. So I’m currently grateful for every penny I was allowed to spend on them as a child.

I concede that the chocolate factory visit of which you speak did take up a bizarre amount of space in Changes. And several of the very late volumes are frankly pants.

(*I was somewhat alarmed at the thirteen year old girls in their underwear being confronted by ... foes. Astonishing level of peril in their own back yard. And Frieda was a bit of a cow about teachers ...)

OP posts:
Parker231 · 24/08/2019 20:58

I’m reading the fill in book where Joey and Robin go to India. One of their reasons for going was for Joey to avoid the unwelcome attention of an American doctor from the San.

The proposal is hilarious. My DH thinks I’m mad for laughing out loud!

“I think if we were to tell your sister and brother-in-law just how we feel, there’d be no need for you to go to India just now. We could get engaged, and perhaps in a year or so, after we’re married we could go there on our honeymoon trip. I’ve always wanted to visit India and the East.” Jo looked—as she described it later—positively pussystruck at the doctor’s presumption. “Dr Bettlesdon, you—I—I—I’m awfully sorry. But I haven’t the faintest thought of marriage yet. I—I don’t plan on it, as a matter of fact and really, I—just can’t,” she jerked out. The doctor eyed her with a fond smile. “Oh, I know what this is. Pure maidenly nerves. This is the first time you’ve been proposed to, and you’re feeling bashful. No need to worry, I’ll do all the talking to Dr Russell and your sister, you won’t have to break the news,” he wound up with another smile, flashing his extra-large teeth at her. “Oh no,” Jo gasped, “I’m serious. I really don’t want to get married, especially to you. I’m sorry, but I’ve never thought of you, or indeed anybody, in that way, and I’d rather not anyway. Please do believe me!”

GloriousMystery · 24/08/2019 22:04

Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if Len had said similar to awful Reg, Jack and Joey told him to sling his hook and that perving after his boss’s school-aged daughter wasn’t the way to get ahead at the San?

Papergirl1968 · 24/08/2019 22:06

Extra large teeth! Grin

MarieVanGoethem · 24/08/2019 22:13

extra-large teeth
I’ve visions of him having varying sizes of dentures & having put in the largest ones for purposes of proposing... it’s quite a disturbing mental image tbh...

Bloatstoat · 24/08/2019 22:13

Grin That proposal is terrifying.
One thing that is surprising me re-reading them is how much there is about the old girls meeting people, having families and getting married - I only remember the school bits! One of the early Tirol ones, I forget which, has Marie"s husband to be turning up to give school prizes and seeing her for the first time which is also a bit disturbing.
I agree @QuaterMiss the WW2 books are fab. Finding the island ones a bit dull, but have great hopes of the return to the continent as I had 'Genius' and 'New Mistress' as a child and loved them.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 24/08/2019 22:24

I agree WWII ones are best. The bit in Highland Twins (I think?) When Jo received the telegram is one of the most emotional bits for me. Maybe it's being an Army wife, but the pain really comes across.

Lonelykettleshed · 24/08/2019 22:46

Around the world, that bit gets me in Highland Twins too. The other bit that never fails to make me cry is the dearth of Jacynth Harry's aunt in Gay from China.

Papergirl1968 · 24/08/2019 22:50

The second sight thing in Highland Twins always struck me as a bit at odds with the rest of the deeply religious, usually very practical characters.

LaurieMarlow · 24/08/2019 22:53

Have move on to "Changes For The Chalet School' in which nothing appears to happen

I very much enjoyed the dullness of Changes.

There’s a whole chapter (or feels like) on choosing the second strings for a tennis match which I really got into, despite it being utter filler Grin

I loved the Bourneville episode. In particular the hint of class tension with the tour guide.

Geraniumpink · 24/08/2019 23:00

Yes, but the twins are Scottish and therefore it’s alright for one of them to be fey and somewhat otherworldly. I always thought the same about Titty in Swallows and Amazons there’s an episode in one of that series where she does some successful water divining - Susan gets quite worries about her.

GloriousMystery · 24/08/2019 23:03

Yes, don’t they wander about in tartan at some point? Clearly entirely different to if Mary-Lou’s ‘Gang’ started using an ouija board in the Leafy dorm at night. Grin

Geraniumpink · 24/08/2019 23:06

They arrive dressed in traditional highland outfits - Jo manufactures them something more respectable for them out of her daughter’s old frocks!

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