International Incident at the Chalet School

[RueDeWakening]

Hear ye, hear ye! Gather ye hence, all angels (be-costumed with slightly tacky silver halos and suchlike) with your lark-like notes and prepare to dazzle us all with your charm.

No, not you Joan. Shop bought cake and cheap looks for you, my dear. See Matron for some milk on your way out.

Is now an alright time to shamelessly plug my own little Christmas thing? Much briefer and not half as lovely as mornington's, but maybe something to fill the gap til she decides we are deserving of another Christmas treat...

SDL link

Oooh, Nell, how clever! I especially liked the Grafin von Stift part and Margot Venables. I loved it!

Mornington, yes please to more!

Gosh, Nell, that's so inventive of you - I really enjoyed these. I was a bit by the one with your namesake at first, because I thought Con was Con Maynard. I'm still not exactly sure who she is, but hooray, whoever she is she seems to be on course for a Christmas to remember!

The Sally Denny Library looks utterly amazing. Did everyone except me already know about it?

Mornington, Con is Miss Stewart (Charlie).

Thank yous!

Yeah, I think I lost at least a fortnight of dissertation-writing to the discovery of the SDL this summer, so I hope you weren't planning to accomplish much else in the near future mornington, or that you have better self-discipline than I do... There is some truly excellent stuff on there.

Nell/Con is basically canon. Surely.

Nell, I am currently absolutely engrossed in your beautiful tale of Peggy Burnett and Rhyll Everett. It is yours, isn't it? It is definitely one that, should I find it lying under your desk, I should calmly snaffle for the Chaletian. In fact, this what this is, isn't it - a Christmas edition of the Chaletian, albeit with some slightly adult themes.

It is mine, yes. Thank you. It has somehow become really quite long without very much seeming to happen in it, but it's been rather good fun to write. I think it is only a chapter short of completion now though, at long last.

Finished! More, please, Nell? Only one more chapter? Are you covering the move to Switzerland where of course Evvy does not come? I love your writing. It's so beautifully interwoven into about 3 books, and the only bum note you've hit so far is the occasional use of "was sat" instead of "was sitting". The rest of it is perfectly marvellous splendid. It's so delicately done - even the bits where you refer to eg Jo or the Christmas play are done with exactly the right combination of affection and irritation. I feel like i'm reading canon.

Excellent, I shall have a read of yours then Nell. Mornington, I loved your story and I'm glad it was Thekla!

In other news, DD has finally worn me down and I've agreed she can read my CS books - she's just finished Princess and is busily asking me all sorts of questions that, happily, I can answer :o (although her requests for help with German pronunciation have been sent in Daddy's direction, since he didn't rely on CS books for learning the language). It's quite nice being able to talk to her about it all.

Ah, I'm a bit envious, Rue - so lovely to have your DD eager to chat with you about the Chalet books! Whereas in my flat we only talk about Fireman Sam and Pocoyo. Although DS is also very interested in the cover illustrations of the CS encyclopaedias. I am torn between feeling v charmed by his little toddler stories about people in boats or running with dogs, and feeling v horrified by his little toddler mitts all over my precious books!

Fanks Cheddar - that's v lovely to read (and thanks also for helpful grammar correction - alas, it's a tricky business for a council school girl!). Yeah, part of the reason I think it has to end pretty soon is because Switzerland fundamentally clashes with my sappy Chaletian desire for a nice happy ending.

I am looking forwards to my DD being ready to read them....She is getting all the Naughtiest Girl books for Xmas so I will see how she goes with those before allowing her mitts anywhere near my lovely CS though! How old is your DD Rue?

Have to say the interest didn't last long with my GDs. The Chalet School and Stampylongnose might be OK though.

Thanks Nell, love those. I'll read a few more of your stories soon too.

My 6 YO son shows no interest in the Chalet School, unsurprisingly, but he's really getting into writing himself which is great. I did a future learn writing course and asked him what I should do a story about for it and he said 'aliens invading Earth' I did one but put it on my blog instead of using it for the course.

ex-council schoolgirl here too, Nell - sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It was very rude of me.

Eating my ds wrote a story about the dinosaurs returning via a space ship in WWII. 'Twas... interesting... shall we say. I can't even remember whether the dinosaurs or spitfires won. I suspect it was all dead stage centre.

Dd2 has loved the chalet school for a few years.
Dd1 though, although she read all the Enid Blyton school stories and a few others, never got on with the Chalet School.
Dh once read one. He laughed throughout. Not sure if that's good or not.

No - don't be sorry Cheddar! Do I sound offended? I'm not offended. It is true though that I didn't do much grammar at school and my actual academic background is in a field which fails to appreciate proper writing, so I don't have a strong natural sense of what is and isn't right. It is therefore helpful to have it pointed out.

DeWee which book did DH read and laugh through? Some are definitely - and unintentionally - much funnier than others, no? It's the only rational response to Redheads...

My, but I'm envious of you, Rue, and anyone else who persuades their DC to enjoy the Chalet School. When DD1 (not much of a reader, but I lived in hope) hit 10, I introduced her to a couple of Chalets. I started with School At thinking 'lucky MiniMornington, she'll be able to read the whole series in order' but it went down like a lead balloon, so I tried her on an Armishire one to see if that went any better. She couldn't be persuaded to read more than a couple of pages of either. DD2 did a bit better, she actually made it to the end of School At when it was her turn, but she never read any more and has teased me mercilessly ever since. I now live in hope that amongst the various sets of twins and triplets that they're bound to have in due course (neither has found her doctor yet, but it can only be a matter of time) one, surely, will be a little CS-loving girl. I would be so perfect a grandmother for a Chalet fan.

I'm wondering how to free up a spare six months or so to catch up with the Sally Denny Library. I've obviously missed something. I thought Nell/Hilda was canon, not Nell/Con.

I found dd2 prefered the later ones at first as they are easier-less other languages I think was a big thing. I think introduced her to Princess, which went down very well. She started earlier-aged about 8yo though, when they want to be princesses at that age!
She's never particularly liked School at though.

She's asked for some fill-ins this Christmas. It was so hard for me to choose which ones I wanted

DD is 7, in year 3 - maybe 10 was to old to start them? I think you have less critical faculty at 7 so are less likely to notice the howlers

I still don't notice half the howlers at 27.

Nell my lamb bloody brilliant.

My teen dds think the CS is hilarious.

I don't notice most of the howlers. However some are just too obvious to avoid.

Interestingly dd2's favourite character is Len, she even went as her for Book Day. I did tell her that probably almost all the teachers were too young to have read them I had great fun making the costume, although i did choose to go for the brown and flam on the basis that the brown gym slip was more distinctive and it can be reused next year for Mallory Towers if necessary.

I liked Len when I were a lass. Mind you, I liked bloody Mary Lou too...

My mother mocks the CS. Although she did make grudgingly approving noises (when prompted) about the pretty dust jackets.

Wish my dds liked it. My dsis does though.

As a child my favourite characters were Jo, Len and Mary-Lou. I still like the younger Jo and Mary-Lou now.....