Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

A fête worse than the Chalet School

999 replies

EmilyAlice · 29/06/2015 13:30

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.....

OP posts:
MargotsDevil · 26/08/2016 18:59

Thanks Mornington that's a great link Grin

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 27/08/2016 19:28

"Minor frequent" totally justifies getting a nice shiny new GGBP copy. Plus the irresistible charm of the Brisley illustrations. 'Minor frequent' basically means half the detail has been pointlessly hacked out, doesn't it? And isn't half the appeal of the CS, at least to the adult reader, in the glorious self-indulgent detail?

(Greetings from the dear little lake Tiernsee, my lambs! I am thrilled to be here. Picture is Achenkirch, not Pertisau Briesau, and not even a particularly appealing image of Achenkirch, just the one I quickly snapped in a wander around earlier. Thunderstorm now not due til tomorrow evening which is almost perfect, if only it weren't for the fact that it's scheduled to begin then and pretty much never end...)

I want to stay awake and re-read half the Tyrol books, which I never got around to doing in my rushed almost-nonexistent-prep for this holiday. But I didn't sleep enough on the train last night, so it's unwise...

A fête worse than the Chalet School
NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 28/08/2016 20:02

Gill Bilski has a sale on... - and I'm obviously not at home to check whether I've got a copy of Jo of or ought to order one for £5.

Today I have almost exactly followed mornington's excellent instructions for the boat trip (for which a hundred thank you's, again!): Scholastika to Gaisalm first which was beautiful, then on to Pertisau (saw the dripping rock on the way past) for the obligatory photo of the CS plaque, a look at the main streets, and kaffee at the Kron Prinz Karl who did not have any kaiserschmarrn. Then back to Scholastika, where we paddled at the edge of the lake. We have said 'gruss gott' a lot and I hope this helps compensate for my otherwise complete lack of German.

Thunderstorm earlier was not very eventful, although I think mountains lend themselves well to the acoustics. I am half hoping there might be a more dramatic, EBD-style expression of weather this evening.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 29/08/2016 23:07

Nell, was your lack of sleep on the train caused by the incursions of a) the Stuffer and Maria or b) Herr von der Witt banging windows open to their fullest extent? Any near-death experiences yet? If not, don't worry - a handsome doctor will appear in the nick of time to fish you out of the lake!

Margot, I would buy Eustacia because it is one of my favourites . I don't think it's as heavily cut as Head Girl, Exile, Highland Twins, Trials and Theodora, but it's still annoying. I think one of the more discombobulating experiences of getting my first GGBP book (Highland Twins) was discovering a whole chapter dealing with Elisaveta that I'd never known existed.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 30/08/2016 06:30

Ah, the joys of taking the train with a 4yo is that they are capable of slamming windows open and shut, repeatedly, with passionate belief in the importance of the window being opened and closed almost simultaneously. Like the Stuffer and Maria and Herr von der Witt all rolled into one.
I think as close as we have got to near-death experiences was a very short venture up a proper mountain path - you know, the sort which is about a foot wide with a steep drop on one side which proves almost magnetic to a small child. Luckily neither of us fell as I didn't spy any handsome doctors in the vicinity. We almost walked straight into some cows on the mountain later on, who stared us off in what felt like a menacing fashion, but probably that's the warped perspective of city-dwellers, and again, no handy doctors.

Argh, I want to stay here forever. Anyway, I need to come back again, not only to walk properly around the lake but also to visit Mayrhofen and most importantly the Stubai glacier.

What's the appeal of Eustacia, Cheddar? It was one I deliberately tracked down as a child simply because it was a glorious name, and obviously the Stubai thing is quintessential Tyrol CS (and probably the best example of it, as it ticks all the boxes - extreme weather, injury, convenient hut, onion soup etc), but I can't help finding the very firm morality rather offputting, and it rather jars to hear EBD explicitly disliking a (recently bereaved!) child, as she does Eustacia prior to her CS transformation. Those are both v adult criticisms, I realise. I am sure I liked it as a child although my only real memory is of the eagerness to find it because of her name. Grin

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 30/08/2016 15:40

Has anyone looked at your DS, clasped their hands together and cried "Ah! Das Engelkind!" yet?

Oh gosh. I'm not sure what precisely it is that attracts me to Eustacia, because I agree with everything you say about how she is treated. That went utterly over my head as a kid, though. I guess it's because it was one of the first CS books I read and I was utterly blown away by them - Rivals was another, and they were these grown-up books (I was 8) that used to belong to granny and I thought I was being dead cool reading her old hardbacks. But also I did adore the ones with lots of agony and fainting. Blush I think it's just set in my mind as one of the 'good' ones. It's got Tyrol, it's got Jo not being quite as perfect (snapping at Eustacia and being childish about toothache), it's got Evvy and Corney and Margia, and it's got a bit of family life at the Sonnalpe, and it's got the Stubai glacier episode. I had a bit of a crush on Nell as well.

maythefleasofathousandcamels · 30/08/2016 20:18

I found this r.e. the cut and uncut books- makes for interesting reading.

www.librarything.com/topic/157655

SolidGoldBrass · 01/09/2016 00:07

Ooh, good, there is still an ongoing Chalet discussion on here.
Because I want somewhere to SQUEEEEE. My lovely mother-out-law is taking DS, his father and I on holiday over Xmas this year.

To.....

INTERLAKEN! We will be spending Xmas Day UP THE JUNGFRAU.

I think my head might explode...

hels71 · 01/09/2016 18:06

That is very exciting!

NotCitrus · 03/09/2016 16:25

Wow! It should be magical at Christmas, even if the locals are no longer poor and of simple faith...

morningtoncrescent62 · 04/09/2016 17:23

Gosh, Christmas in Interlaken, sounds wonderful. Erm, does your family know about the CS connection, and understand that you will be spending vast amounts of time trying to find the exact ravine where OOAO saved Kathie Ferrars from an untimely death?

Glad to hear you're having a good time in Briesau, Nell. Did you manage to discover any previously unknown salt caves? Or catch the Tzigane playing at the Kron Prinz Karl? Very sad to hear that kaiserschmarrn is off the menu Sad and I hope you managed to find some elsewhere. I wonder why EBD never mentioned this food of the gods? I'm sure it's not a recent invention. Did you manage a trip on the steam train? Whisper it softly, I thought the trip itself was a bit over-rated, though I loved knowing that I was in the very train that EBD took on her journey to the Tyrol, possibly even sitting in the same seat in the same carriage.

I also liked Eustacia. I remember being very struck as a child with the bit about passing notes being dishonourable - I think it helped me to 'get' where the books were coming from, and to understand how much notions of acceptable behaviour had changed between the time they were written and the time I was reading them (1970s).

SolidGoldBrass · 05/09/2016 17:13

I think I might justify a few pre-holiday purchases of those Swiss books from GGBP that I don't already have (though can also bury myself in The Chalet School In The Oberland and a couple of the other winter-term ones.)

MargotsDevil · 05/09/2016 18:35

Nell and Cheddar - my copy has arrived safely (cue much eye rolling from DP) and I am enjoying immensely. I'm now contemplating a few others with "freq min" cuts.

Glad the Tiernsee is still as beautiful as ever Nell!

Yorkieheaven · 06/09/2016 06:00

Omg a chalet school thread.

Have just finished reading 'Joey goes to the Oberland' again and I think that illustrates just what've monumental cow Jo is. She totally rains on Simones parade calling her chateau a 'white eleohant' tells Andre his family jewels are hideous!! and shares with Frieda how improved Margots health is when she knows Gretchen is delicate.

She laughs till she cries when the furniture turns up early, why???

Oh and 'refuses to have another baby naked after me'

For goodness sake the woman is a massive egoist.

Yorkieheaven · 06/09/2016 06:03

Solid beyond envious.

Yorkieheaven · 06/09/2016 06:14

Yes and in 'Carola' it's the absentminded professor who jets in from Calabar to see his 'lassie' now as if his wife wouldn't have wanted to come too. Best in mind they haven't seen their daughter for flippin years. And why didn't they know how old she was? Didn't they write? Didn't they know Maud was dragging her from pillar to post?

And when is it that jack usually knows all these random fathers, so he knows Carola dad, and Coppers dad,

Yorkieheaven · 06/09/2016 06:16

Named after me not naked!

Oh yes a felicity a baby flirt and a hussy! Hmm

And relax.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 06/09/2016 13:03

Grin at Yorkie - is that the feeling of relief when you find people to actually blurt all this stuff out to?

SGB - oh my goodness! How too, too topping for you! Envy That sounds awesome.

Yorkieheaven · 08/09/2016 00:00

Too

Yes indeed and my teen dds just think the books are hilariously old fashioned but me and dsis had the whole collection and read and re read them but they still drive me insane. Grin

Yorkieheaven · 08/09/2016 00:07

Still i quite fancy jack Maynard but would have made him have a vaccectomy probably after Charles!

I wouldn't mind just nursing a baby while Anna does every fucking thing for me from making home made shampoo to cooking cleaning and bathing the babies.

I am thinking a night nursery where children sleep all night, unless they are teething of course would be fine.

Me and jack could DTD quite happily.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 08/09/2016 06:24

Ah, yes - to have a faithful Anna! But what is the appeal of Jack Maynard, my lamb? Is it his masterful bossiness, his strictness with the children, the fact that he is such a solid lump of comfort..? I think the only time I find Jack at all appealing is at the beginning of Kenya when Joey wants him to play guessing games about who her letter is from and he's not having any of it. Grin

SGB - super envious of your Christmas trip!

mornington - happily, my hotel not only supplied kaiserschmarrn the very next day, they also gave out a recipe for it. I was most amused by the timing. And it was lovely. I didn't do the railway simply due to not really being there long enough (#reasonstogoback) - I saw the train at Jenbach station, which is better than nothing I guess - was quite exciting to get off my train and see it there!

maythefleas thank you, that link isn't just helpful, it's also quite amusing. Post #20 particularly made me giggle.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 08/09/2016 06:26

And look what I found as I walked up the mountain, my lambs! It is the quintessential mountain hut. Probably stocked with black bread and oniony soup but I confess I didn't actually have the guts to peep inside.

A fête worse than the Chalet School
NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 08/09/2016 17:44

Ooh, I just happened across a thread in AIBU about uniform colours...

  1. Someone has said they don't like brown and flame orange Shock
  1. It has reminded me of that amusingly detailed passage in Ruey where the staff contemplate new uniform designs
  1. Nobody has mentioned gentian blue yet...
  1. ... or revers.
hels71 · 08/09/2016 18:00

what are revers??

NotCitrus · 08/09/2016 18:37

Revers are like lapels only on a dress instead of a jacket. I had a great smug moment once when my mum was ranting about my granny (granny hated mum for being both Catholic and American) and apparently Granny's latest complaint was my mum was so ignorant she didn't even know what revers were.
Mum tried arguing that no-one under 80 would know, but made the mistake of asking me. Wink

Almost as good was the time my parents were stuck on a crossword puzzle 'guide, 8, C-C---N-'. Obviously cicerone, as when the Chalet visited Bournville!

Swipe left for the next trending thread