AIBU To Think That The Chalet School Matron Would Be In Prison Nowadays

[TheShellBeach]

..........................for giving unprescribed sedatives to the girls so frequently.

(lighthearted) (in case a million people tell me that IABU)

The Chalet School Matron was forever doling out sedatives to the girls, without even asking Jack Maynard to prescribe them first.
Shocking stuff. Nowadays, she would be jailed and struck off the NMC Register.

I hate to break it to you, but I don't remember a pink worm and I read 95% of this series.

Exploding trains yes. Dramatic mountain rescues, loads of them. The worlds worse health and safety provision and lots of inappropriate sedation. All ahead of you.

No, the pink worm definitely rings a bell! Please someone put me out of my misery and tell all 😅

I think the pink worm incident is in Althea - also the motorboat incident. I think it's fair to say it's not one of the better ones....

WHAT IS THE PINK WORM INCIDENT??

<explodes>

It’s not exactly an ‘incident’, even, it’s just casually given as the reason the school coach is out of commission for some trip, because a ‘large pink worm’ slid into the engine with some hay, and expired and made a mess, after which there’s a slightly weird side chat about how they’ll have another trip, but the large pink worm is dead and will never turn into a butterfly.

Oh sorry, someone else mentioned the pink worm in the engine up thread 🙈
Thank you, thank you all

Forget the pink worm. Ruey Richardson's insane father went on a self-propelled journey into SPACE. Where presumably he perished.

And everyone was like 'oh what a shame, never mind, the kids can go live with Joey' 🤷‍♀️

I know - Richardson dad, what a legend

Not only that, but I think he went twice. They lost all contact with him at the end of one book. And then he seems to have made it back but then gone off again and got lost again.

He’s out there floating around in space somewhere thinking thank fuck St Joey has the kids and I don’t need to bother about them any more.

He’s out there floating around in space somewhere thinking thank fuck St Joey has the kids and I don’t need to bother about them any more.

😂 😂 😂

Not that he was particularly bothered about them on earth. Not even when one of them managed to trip over a stone and inexplicably sever an artery in an unlikely medical event.

I don't remember that. Im sure Matron/Jack/Miss Wilson stepped in and saved his arse there though.

In other unlikely events, was it Jo Scott's mother who was captured by the Mau Mau?

Found the Large Pink Worm in my copy of Althea Joins the Chalet School.

The hay episode referred to is more memorable - a lorry carrying bales of hay loses its cargo and the high piled bales roll over the coach carrying the school party.

I can only imagine that bales of hay in the 1960’s were baled differently to modern bales of hay.
I was driving behind a tractor towing a trailer full of bales of hay a few years ago. Several bales fell off the trailer as the tractor went round a small roundabout. They looked very solid as I screeched to an emergency stop just in time. I imagine that if one of them had hit my car then it would have caused serious damage.

That has the aura, common enough for EBD, of something she heard about years ago, but has forgotten most of the details and is making up shit to fill in the gaps.

I don't remember that. Im sure Matron/Jack/Miss Wilson stepped in and saved his arse there though.

Len provides immediate first aid to the injured Richardson, and then Jack steps in to provide more assistance. Although no hospital trip, interestingly. They do all the nursing at home with medical advice from Jack.

The artery severing accident does sound unlikely, but I suppose freak accidents do happen occasionally? 🤷‍♀️
(although freak accidents are remarkably frequent at the Chalet School…)

It’s a surprise they trust the girls to be responsible for themselves without supervision. They can’t be left for 5 minutes without having a freak accident.

Im pretty sure that severing an artery is blue lighting to hospital kind of territory.

Even taking into consideration the presence of Jack Maynard

Loving this thread. Did anyone else find the description of fully stuffed cream cakes inspired in them a life long desire to visit Switzerland and sample for themselves?
Didnt one girl take a bite out of hers only for the cream to splatter on the floor?

No one writes carbs better than EBD. The cream cakes, the honey and nut cakes, the fruit tarts, the twists of sweet bread, the potato balls swimming in melted butter (drool), Karen's delicious lemonade. Endless Kaffee und Kuchen.

The food alone would be a huge draw. It might be almost worth the cold baths and having to deal with Mary Lou, for chalet school meals.

This is brilliant, thank you. I never read 'Althea'.

'It's bad for us, but it's worse for the worm' is a brilliantly bonkers line. At least the worm got the chapter heading 😅

How big was this worm that made such a mess it took 2 or 3 hours to clean up? 🤔😵

The stuff of nightmares! How large was large?!

If worms turned into butterflies it would be a sizeable butterfly.

Clearly the size of an anaconda.

Goodness, Len is dull. ‘Worms and butterflies can’t think’. Well, thank you, Miss Imagination.