A fête worse than the Chalet School

[EmilyAlice]

Roll up, roll up!
Bid for a mortgage on the doll's house! Pin the tail on the St Bernard! Guess the weight of the handsome doctor! (Or pin the tail on the doctor and guess the weight of the St Bernard). Knit a lime green liberty bodice against the clock!
The Chalet School fête is open.....

Neither of my DDs (now in their 20s) would read CS - I always thought we would have cosy evenings together reading the books and chatting about them but it wasn't to be.

Same here, mornington. Sitting by the fireside, reading some CS - didn't happen. Perhaps the CS love will skip a generation and my grandchildren (if I ever have any) will curl up with me and read them....

Nah.. My DD read them and loved them but my GDs just roll their eyes and snigger...
Anyway, we made it up the mountain in our bare feet, drinking in the veiled loveliness of the Jungfrau etc. We had to haul Margot up with some handy knitted lime-green rope, but here we are waiting for the festivities to begin. Joey is gamely yodelling from the foot of the mountain and Len has got a fire going to cook sardine and bacon sandwiches.
Yodel eh ee dee....

I think I might read the first one to DD as a bedtime story once we have finished Ballet Shoes and see how it goes......she does enjoy Enid Blyton school stories....

Ooh how old is your DD Hels? I'm hoping I can indoctrinate share the CS joy with at least one of mine, but the oldest is only 4. All DCs and DH refer to pigtails as Kenwigses already, though they don't know why. And our Elf on the Shelf is called Elfie Woodward

She is 8. She quite likes old fashioned stories....loves Milly Molly Mandy for example....so I have hopes....

You're going to fall about laughing helplessly when I tell you... that I've... gasp... forgotten the sauvignon blanc lemonade. Bet no-one saw that coming, huh? Never mind, I'm sure we'll all love the onion-flavoured milk from yonder herdsman's hut.

Never mind, Mornington, EmilyAlice's chateau is at hand, and she's bound to have oodles of gin.

Gin? This is Calvados country! (Or cider or poiré or pommeau etc).

Even better. We can refer to it as 'Joey's special recipe nectar like fruit drink' and the Abbess will be none the wiser. Let's slide hilariously down the slope on our skirts, and go and have a chat with Emily's garden director on his special chair. Kapok humping beckons!

Ready when you are! Glorious sunshine, apple nectar unlimited, rosy-cheeked locals, cows with black eyeliner (race normande) and director's chair out on the lawn...
Camera, action, SLIDE.....

I think there would be a market of women of a certain age for guided tours in the Austrian Tyrol. You could get your packed lunch from Karen in the kitchen, don your nailed boots, criss-cross your scarf over your chest and grab your alpenstock and knapsack and set off on a ramble. What do you think?

Would there be helpful herdsman/doctors and regular intervals on said rambles??

Uh-oh, maybe mixing the Special Fruit Drink and sliding wasn't that good an idea. Len's put her back out, Margot's fallen in the lake, and Con was last seen heading for Guernsey. Cue the doctors!

The guided tours would also need to have instruction on how to bend your knees when walking.

Thinking about what the knapsacks should contain got me wondering, did the girls ever take whistles with them on their walks? I don't recall them ever whistling for help, just shouting, yodelling or sending someone off to the nearest herdsman's hut.

Doesn't Hilary produce a whistle in her over filled rucksack in Barbara?

Other than that I can't remember one.

Nice drinks though.

I seem to recall penknives being produced?

I've just been reading The Chalet School Wins the Trick.

Joan Baker is in the fifth form and about to leave school to do a secretarial course. There's a bit of ambling on about how she has improved since she joined the CS but is still a bit cheap at heart. One example being that she likes to wear 'thicker maker than would normally be allowed, even for sixth formers'.

Were Chalet girls really allowed wear make up in school? I always pictured them as fresh faced and wholesome.
Even when I was at school, relatively recently, ages ago make up was not allowed.

No make up, but as soon as they were 18 they all seemed to start smoking. Dr Jack and Dr Jem probably claimed it was good for their delicate lungs.

I was surprised to find at dd's school they are allowed "discrete" makeup from year 9.
I think it's because they decided they were fighting a losing battle and thought it was better to put restrictions than ban it completely. Or it may be because they're all cheap girls being at a state comp and all that.

I thought most Chalet Girls were so 'exceedingly pretty' or 'delicately beautiful' they didn't need make up.

They wear make up in The CS in the Oberland if I remember rightly...

I think someone officious like Peggy tells geeky Edna that she should wear powder, because the rest of us have to look at you - something like that? The rebel girl (who is also called Edna in my head but that can't really be right) smokes like a chimney, but it's Bridge on a Sunday which really gets the bosoms hoiking.

Oh yes, no fuss over smoking, but loads over cards, especially as one of the card players had a bishop for a father! I think the rebel was Elma.

Haha I love that. I think(?) the spine illustration is of Elma hanging out the window smoking, with Stuart the cad's letter in her hand - it's all a bit risqué and glamorous.

How are rehearsals for the nativity coming along, my lambs? I think last year I got palmed off with 'Mary's friend' or something, so I'm hoping for a promotion this year. Especially since the trips are out of action following that terrible/hilarious sliding down the grass of the jungfrau...

Well, I've been creative in the art room with Herr Laubach. From a few wire coat-hangers and some side-to-middle bed sheets, I have manufactured life-sized angels that will impress the poor people on the Platz.