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.

That would be very reviving Mornington thank you.

I'm going to bed with Jane later. Only read it once and sadly only have it in paperback but never mind.

I don't think jane is too abridged in paperback....

I got Jane in 1st ed for 2

I've just finished reading Robin. Other than it arrived yesterday and was meant to be here for Christmas. I'm not too impressed. But I need to get on with coachmen costumes for our panto so I'll say my thoughts later.

Just got visitors for the chalet school and two chalet girls in india (usually £7.20 each) for free on kindle. Signed up for kindle unlimited and got them both :) Unlimited is free for the first month but read so much may actually keep subscription :)

Thoughts of "The Chalet School and Robin":

Joey is really forefront, and interfering at the beginning, probably even more stretched than EBD. I felt was almost to characterture of EBD's Joey.
The staff meeting she seems to be there to query each new idea so Miss A/Madge has to explain their reasoning. But if she didn't know such important things, then surely she wouldn't have been at the meeting.
Again, why does Corney (not her father) write to Jo to say they'll leaving. No way would the school not have received a formal letter. She says a letter for Madge was enclosed with it, but that's totally the wrong way round

The bit about the trunk, other than it really wasn't that funny, why does Jo rub in to Daisy that it was her mother's trunk, leaving her in tears. "I think mummy bought it when you left Austria" would be fine, without adding "there's another in the attic with mummy's stuff"-and surely if there was, then it would be with Madge not Joey anyway.

I also dislike the way they decide "oh Robin can stop her work for a year to be head girl". Surely the way it would have gone was them deciding they would open a special sixth and Robin asking to do that. The way it's put is very much opening a new 6th form so Robin can be head girl first. Maybe quite EBD but one I found irritating.

I liked Miss Slaters struggles, but I don't find her character links up well with later books.

I felt Jocelyn's issues with wanting to be games captain, were overplayed, would a 17/18yo really say in front of a teacher "I don't care who's in the team"? -and she was also "one of last term's new girls" so I wouldn't have thought she would have expected it. She behaves more like a 12yo in a sulk. Cold and indifferent, fine, but not stropping in front of teachers.
Also telling her she'll probably get a chance next year seems a little presumtious of the prefects who have no choice in the matter. Wouldn't have thought an intelligent girl would find that much of a comfort, having expected to be once, pinning her hope on that seems wrong. I think it would have been better if they'd bought Grizel in to talk to her parents or something.

There's a lot of EBDs that I find irritating when she does them-like taking ill Joey's children "because she can't possibly look after them by herself" (and a few staff and probably could pay for a full time nurse if necessary) into school to look after them. Really? But I find it harder when it's someone else writing them, probably unfairly.
DD2 enjoyed it (except when she got told off for finishing it under the covers with a torch!) but it left me a little frustrated.

Hola Chaletiañas
Haven't seen much of you lately because SLOC and I have been travelling to the south of Spain. Anyway, today I met a very sweet old lady, who asked me to call her Aunty. She wanted to know if she should write a new book called "Lavender Laughs at the Costa del Sol". I said I thought that Lavender might well scream hysterically at the Costa del Sol, but I am not sure that Aunty does irony. I think she was finding it all terribly overwhelming (bit like Wellington said at Waterloo, "My dear, the noise and the people"), but she cheered up no end when I told her that we had just been to Iceland in Fuengirola, where you can get all sorts of dainty things for English tea.
Such larks!

Hope you're having a good time, EmilyAlice. Did you meet the Stuffer and Maria on the way to Spain? Adopt any babies en route?

Thanks for the reviews, Nell and DeWee. I can't remember whether I've read Robin - nothing rang any bells so either I haven't read it or it didn't make much impression! However, based on Nell's review, I've given in and ordered Champion. Madge at a staff meeting has to be a winner, especially with minimal Jo.

Oh, and I meant to say, I finished the first Cotterford book and I'm now on the second (of two so far). I hope she writes more because I really like them. I don't want to say too much because of spoilers, but if you want to see everything a Proper School Story should have (new girl having trouble fitting in, a midnight feast going horribly wrong, occasional off-duty glimpses into the staffroom, mischievous pranks and an end-of-term play etc.) brought bang up to date or at least as up to date as this middle-aged school story afficionado could tell then I think you'll enjoy them. Thank you to whoever it was up-thread who mentioned them.

I might have to try.the cotterford books then...when I get paid!!! I am now almost all the way through champion for the second time and I am enjoying it more this time so maybe my judgement was clouded by wine/ lack of sleep before. I agree about the continued disharmony being not very EBD....and I just don see real chalet girls behaving like some of them do....even if it is more real.life.......

Its been snowing .... Yesterday madame decreed we should all go skiing. Matey handed out the snow goggles and we all donned our skiing suits.

The skiing feild was very busy. There we all were skimming around like birds but some other schools showed up and they did not skim. Nor were their voices sweet and low. For reason known only to themselfs these girls screened and shreiked their way down even the gentlest of slopes. Madam Aplinist did nothing to shuush them. I quite felt like setting Bruno on them.

I shall sulk. We have rain.

We've just got ice. I was like the walk on the island where they all scream and fall over, on the school run yesterday. I was tempted to crawl over the pavement but was too worried about Matey's comments on my stockings. If only I'd borrowed Aunty Joey's nailed boots!

I hope everyone's wearing their scarves crossed over their chests in the approved fashion. And if you get hot with all that skiing and teetering about on icy pavements, do not, under any circumstances, remove a layer of clothing. You'll instantly catch a cold and end up in the San being sung back to life. Just saying.

I could do with some of those lovely stoves she mentions that seem to warm every room so well........it was 7.9 in my living room when I got home...

Hello my lambs! Can anyone explain why the crossed-over scarves were so effective, btw? I have a vague recollection that I may have gone through a CS-inspired phase of wearing mine exactly like this as a nipper but I'm actually not seeing the logic. Aren't scarves more useful bunched up around your neck where you can tuck your chin inside them? Especially if you've a tendency to wheeze in cold air, in fact. (I try to persuade 2yo DS to do this when he's mildly wheezy - he is not always convinced, but there is a sad lack of Chalet-style instant obedience here!)

The Cotterford books sound v interesting, thanks mornington - I shall have a look when I have a bit more money to spare. (Money I will save by not buying Robin, thanks DeWee - the only bit of that that did interest me was the Miss Slater stuff but if even that isn't brilliantly done I think I shall pass on this one.)

Have just finished the prequel, which I really really enjoyed - I can't fault it, actually. I thought all the characters were exactly right, the period detail was lovely, it all worked really well and was a great read.

My image if the crossed over scarfs was of big triangular woolen cloth scarfs ( like Mill girls or bal maidens wore) . those can be worn high on the neck also covering the shoulders . they need to be pinned or tucked in to an apron or belt to hold in position.

My dm used to think (and probably still does) that getting your breasts cold caused mastitis, so maybe it was that sort of thought.

Or maybe the ski suits were a bit tight and otherwise a certain bump was too obvious. I think in Shirley Temple's autobiography she talks about being told to carry something in front of her chest to hide it.

I always have my scarf crossed over and under my coat.....never thought about why but it must be a sub conscious chalet thing!

Has anyone seen Anna and the coadjutor recently? Auntie Jo promised I could borrow them to help me deal with the knee deep pile of shitty, puked-on baby gubbins, sodding norovirus do a little housework and childcare for me so I can rest, but I can't find them and believe me, I've looked!

I always imagined Chalet scarves as triangular shawl type things, so imagined that they needed tucking in/crossing over so as not to fall off and become a trip hazard. Although think of the glacier-related near-death-experiences they could have encouraged!

This is how imagine the scarves. But that's probably through seeing this cover...

I love that cover! Whoever that is in the centre looks to me as though she's wearing doublet and hose - Robin Hood on skis! Or should that be Robinette Hood?

No need for scarf here as I am sitting on the balcony in the sunshine looking at the Mediterranean and the snow on the distant Sierra Nevada. Soon it will be Cava o'clock.... [smugemoticon]
As you were.....

Ah, I like that cover. (Is 'Robinette Hood' actually Peggy? Peggy is the central blonde in Oberland iirc, but she doesn't look quite right here, if it is her!)

More importantly, are their scarves over their heads before being crossed over their chests, or are those separate (well-coordinated!) garments?

I am NOT LISTENING to Emily's boasts of warmth. Oh no.

Hope noro is over and you can escape to Penny Rest soon Rue!

Struggling to get into Adrienne, mainly because reading it as a word doc is tedious. I could convert it to ePub or mobi, but I cba. I've not read it before - someone tell me it's worth persevering?

Hmm Adrienne. Rescued in the nick of time from afateworsethandeath by Sister Robin and who does she remind you of? No, it can't be. Not really.. etc etc
No need to be jealous of the sunshine anyone. You could always drop in for a party on the roof terrace. Cava is only 1€56 in Lidl.

Adrienne is emphatically not worth it. Nell.

Now I'm going to betray how little I listened in Ferry's classes, but isn't the Sierra Nevada in Spain, Emily? (checks synthetic map). And even with an improved exchange rate, €56 us A Lot for cava.