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.

What about the one and only Yseult? She was brung up by her mother, I think? I think she and Gwen would have chummed up quite happily!

Oh yes, I had forgotten yseult!!!

Barbara was a bit indulged because of being delicate, wasn't she? But was redeemed by admission to the OOAOML Gang.

I was thinking last night (as you do), why was so much made of Len being the oldest and having the maturity,leadership and responsibility that went along with that? I mean FFS she was one of triplets so she wasn't much older than the other 2 so why weren't the responsibilities shared out more?
Also would someone in real life introduce a triplet as their eldest, I don't know if Joey actually says the words but I can imagine her saying "this is Len, my eldest" rather than saying "this is Len, one of my eldest three".

I wonder if perhaps a lot was made of the eldest in Joey's family? I can't remember which of Madge or Dick is older, but if perhaps they were referred to as "in charge" of the family that would have set a precedent so to speak.

I always felt that Len was responsible because she was given all the responsibility. So made rather than born.
Interestingly I think shen they're discussing the triplets as babies Joey proclaims that Con will be imaginative, Margot will be mischievous-and they both are. but Len is put down as adventurous, which she definitely isn't.

That's what I was getting at in my post, that Len had her leadership thrust upon her. It doesn't seem fair when the other two are just as old.
I think EBD has trouble balancing the responsible leader and the adventurous side of Len. Len did say she wanted to be an Alpinist....but then nothing seems to come of it.

Another thought on the MT front is how Gwen would have related to Joey. Or Alison from St C's.

I suspect Alison would have hero-worshiped her. Not sure she'd have gone as far as to put her hair in earphones though. . But it would have been treated as entirely normal the CS whereas St C's look upon that as being actually a sign of a bad/weak person who doesn't discourage her.

Gwen, I'm not sure whether she would have loved her because of her celebrity state and the fact everyone else wants to be in the inner circle, or hated her because of the latter fact.

How much would the Chalet School have loved World Book Day? You can just imagine the competitions for costumes.

My son hates dressing up, however, so just wore the 'Dennis the Menace' jumper I made him years ago. In the spirit of the Chalet School I just crochet another stripe when it gets too small for him

Go on then, who would the characters have dressed up as?

I reckon Simone would have been Madeline (sp?!).

(Mine were Where's Wally and Hermione Granger fwiw.)

What ever they could work out of one sheet and one pillowcase, with safety pins but no cutting or sewing... so thats 400 Ghosts , Roman ladies and Snowman.

Robin would have been one of those angelic children (who ususally die early) in Sunday School prize books. We had one from my Gran called "Bluebell" who was the virtue of everything... until she died of course.

Joey would have been something amzingly impossible to recreate from the materials used. Although of course some random person that hadn't set eyes on her more than twice would have lent her the perfect item because they adored her so much.

Vi Lucy would have been something like Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

OOAOML could have gone as Dimsie. How is Dimsie made so attractive compared to ML? They're so similar, but somehow Dimsie comes across as caring and just wanting to help, and ML comes across as bossy and interfering.

Len could have been Nancy Drew, with Rosamund and Ted as Beth and George.

Jo would be Jo from Little Women. If Len wasn't Nancy Drew (love that idea) she'd be Anne of Green Gables.

Jack Lambert could be George from the Famous Five, another girl who wanted to be a boy (did body dysmorphia exist back then? I do wonder...).

As discussed upthread, maybe Yseult could actually be Gwen from MT, rather than just Gwen's BFF :o

Don't they dress up as books in one because some one wears clothes with a question mark on and they are Whose Body? And someone else has clothes all wonky and is Oliver Twist

Oh yes, and Miss A and Rosalie are The Pillars of the House :o

World Book Day precursor, then?

Cold be a precursor of sorts.
I once went to a "come as an Ayckbourn play " party , and later the same year a "come as a John Godber play " party.

For the former I attached to a cricket hat a place setting and many watches and clocks - I was "10 times table"....
The latter I was less inspired by and made two little model beds for DH and I to carry. we were "teechers" we had our B.eds.

I can only assume no one in stage management was a Chalet school fan or I'm sure we would have had a sheet party.

OOAO could have gone as Jane Austen's Emma - she also liked sticking her nose in where it wasn't needed.

Len could be Pollyanna - another annoying goody two shoes.

I must have missed a few Austrian CS stories.. just reading them for first time and they really are better than the swiss ones aren't they. Tho rivals is nearly as bonkers as redheads and as for Eustacia... madness.

The Austrian ones are lovely. I so wanted to.go there to school as a child. I used to daydream my way through the journey and my first term!!!! Oh dear!

Dd2 went as Pollyanna one year, then Len the next (or was it the other way round)

Do people think they'd have really liked being at the CS?

I was thinking about it and one of my issues would have been food. I've a fairly small appetite, and breakfast makes me feel sick. The more pressure I feel to eat, the less I want to eat, and in that situation I can go several days without even feeling hungy. The thought of Matron bearing down on me because I hadn't eaten enough would probably have reduced me to hating the place pretty quickly.

Of course in the books, Joey would have explained that I needed to eat or I'd be ill, and that would have been that. In real life I know that perfectly well and it makes no difference.

And I think I'd have been their first failure at languages.

Ooooh, this story made me think of the Tzigane - I agree about the Austrian books being lovely, and the time (is it more than once?) when they go and listen to the Tzigane is a lovely moment.

As a child I dreamed of going to the CS. I'm afraid I love my food, and their mealtimes sound wonderful to me, DeeWe. I like to think that with all that scrambling around mountains and lakesides I'd be able to put away as many fancy bread twists, kartofflen, kuchen, featherbeds of whipped cream etc as I wanted without putting on a single pound. In fact, it was one of the things about the CS that appealed to me when younger. Of course, I also wanted to pray lots, be in a Christmas play, save someone's life and generally be a good Chaletian in addition to eating!!

I'd go for the featherbeds of whipped cream, but things like hot milk... bet by the time they got it it usually had skin on top. Wonder how many times I'd have had to vomit that back up (and I would have, and have done at times) before Matron decided that cold milk was better for me?

I suspect that as soon as you don brown and flame/whatever colour it is in Switzerland you automatically love cream, milk and all the rest...

It was so chuffing cold at the chalet school in winter, what with open windows and months of snow and just a stove per room, that one ate featherbeds of cream to gain some insulation .

Actually that is quits an interesting point. I love in a house with no heating and in the winter I can always eat more stuff but still.loose,weight I assume it is just trying to keep warm.