Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

[EmilyAlice]

Now girls, line up and listen because this term is a busy one. Firstly we are combining our hobbies club and the Christmas play, so we will need our fretworkers to get busy on the scenery, some beautiful découpage for decorations, our nimble-fingered needlewomen on costume duty and some scrapbooks for - er...
Now one other thing girls. As you know the Chalet School has moved from the Tyrol, to Guernsey, to Armishire, to some island or other and thence to Switzerland.
This term we have moved again and the first thing I want you to do is to find out where the bloody hell we are....

Me, me, I can cartwheel! My EBD style French translates 'entrechat' as 'between cats'. I'm sure it will be piquant and charming!

Well I can add in some pas de chat too. But entrechat is when you jump up with your feet together, toes pointed downwards and beat your feet back to front several times before you land.
Anyway, next bit.
Coupé, chassée, pas de bourrée to the right, pliée, chassée into arabesque and hold.
Find your partner and polka around the stage. (You will see thst folk dancing at the Chalet School on the Steppes is an eclectic mix of styles).

I can cartwheel. Or at any rate I could cartwheel when I was at school and in the absence of testing for 20 years recently I will assume I still can.

Worst case scenario anyway, there'll be plenty of doctors in the house.

I can polka too. draws veil over the rest of Emily's choreography I can also offer a good line in drunken tangoing after watching Evita or ceilidh dancing. Which is as "folk" as "Charlie's neat and Charlie's sweet and Charlie, he's a dandy" as sung by the young Jo. I can't remember the name of the compiler.

Roll up, roll up for a New Comp! Best opening paragraph to a Chalet School novel? I would like to start the bidding with the incomparable, ineffable, incomprehensible (and I paraphrase due to not having the book to hand), Joey Goes To The Oberland, with "Joey stood up, pushed back black pigtails which had come loose and were tumbling over her shoulders, sat down on the edge of a large packing crate and promptly doubled up and disappeared into it with a startled yell."

Anyone got any other decent contenders?

Hey! What's this with all the baby angels defecting to EmilyAlice's dance troops troupe? I announce a baby angel rehearsal this afternoon in Mushy Pea - I've got the distillery going, so there'll be plenty of dainty refreshments to get us into the party sweetly pretty mood. Who'll join me? You don't need to be able to cartwheel, or polka, or strip the willow or anything like that, but you have to be a dab hand at felling the odd tyrannical warlord, with or without the help of Rufus/Bruno.

That's a top contender, Cheddar, but may I offer the original classic line: " 'If only I knew what to do with you girls!' said Dick in worried tones." Yep, great start to a novel all about the most extraordinarly resourceful young woman upping sticks and making a new life for herself and her sister.

Bless Dick. So concerned that he fecks off to India and only returns when he wants to saddle Madge with more of his children. I'm sure that at one point it's 8 years since Peggy and Bride saw their parents. Some inspired parenting there...which is a comp in itself.

I'll be at the rehearsal.

I will be there in disguise. .

Is anyone else of to Freudesyurt for the triplets' birthday? Hoping we can play aeroplane and slidey mats! Obviously I won't go until the baby angel rehearsal has finished...

*off

You beat me to it , Primrose. I was just about to post about it being the triplets birthday. How sad we are

How old are they now?

We had this discussion before. If Joey is 98 then they must be in their late seventies. They were about six months old when they were evacuated from Guernsey in 1940.
A bit old for slidey mats.

I expect they've moved onto the light country wine by now. I think I can support them in that decision.

D'ac. Lidl's Prosecco on offer in the chateau..

Hmmm. The trips have been busy with the baby angels rehearsal, and we've all (trips included) been imbibing skipping so merrily that we've passed out had to lie down for a nap in Mushy Pea. I do hope dear Joey hasn't gone to too much trouble making her special fruit drink over at Freudesyurt because I don't think any of us is in a fit state to get there, despite it being just across the rose garden Steppe. Could we prevail on Genghis and the troupe to make our excuses for us?

No sorry. Genghis is out on the steppes training the troupe troops.

Wouldn't it take simply weeks to get out to Mongolia by train? It would make holidays scarcely worthwhile.

Wouldn't that just make the school like it was originally, where grizel was going to stay for the whole year as it was scarcely worth making the long journey for holiday save the summer ones? And in the early books don't lots of them just go off to different place for Christmas for example rather than home? I always thought that was rather sad.

There's probably a Chalet charter plane nowadays. Piloted by Jack Maynard or Nell Randolph's dad. Lots of scope for diversions to rural runways in the fog and having to share out everyone's snacks and sleep on the plane for a night.

I'm trying to work out how to make a joke at Mary-Lou's expense here - wasn't it hilaire when she replied "not a sausage!" when the Abbess asked her what she thought flying would cost - but I can't. So here it is, free gratis, for NotCitrus to consider when making her flying plan. [joke fail]

Yes Cheddar I too failed to think of a Mongolian sausage reference. [fnar fnar sausage in unChaletian fashion]

All this sausage talk is making me hungry for a midnight feast. So I've invited Tessie from St Clare's (I think it was her) to come to Mushy Pea as a special guest, and bring a frying pan. I'm sure such an enterprising young gel can think of a way to get to Mongolia - after all, if you can persuade a kitchen maid to give you a pan, why wouldn't you be able to get yourself across one continent and halfway across another in an evening? So, bring your bacon, sausages, tins of Nestle's milk, light country wines, and anything else you can get hold of fancy, and see you in Mushy Pea to munch our way through the US election results. Just make sure Mary-Lou doesn't hear you coming, she's so on the spot. And for goodness' sake, remember to wear your dressing-gowns. We don't want anyone catching a chill.

Bringing sardines and raw bacon here. Surely frying pans are for Blyton wimps, not real Chalet School girls?