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....

Out of interest Eating:
Did you like your mum behaving like that?
And what about your friends at school-did they regard her as super cool, or did they cringe when she appeared?

Genuinely interested whether it worked in real life at all.

I found her really embarrassing- but she was my Mum that was her job! My Dad is ultra traditional and equally embarrassing I'm not sure about my friends TBH, they seemed to get on OK with her. My Mum was 19 when she had me, so I wonder if it was an age thing- Joey was young when she had the trips too.

My mum was 17 when my twin and I were born and she did this too - wanted to be mates. I didn't find it embarrassing at the time, I thought she was cool, but in later life I concluded that she'd rather be liked than actually discipline us. I do think she got worse as we got older, though - she wanted to be the cool friend mum as we hit teenage-hood. My friends did like her, but it was all set up rather carefully where I had periods of babbling everything out to Mamma all my teenage years and never developed secrecy. She strongly encouraged that and I never questioned it until I hit my 30s. There was no privacy and she wanted to know everything and pass judgement on my marriage and DH and was outraged when I sided with him instead of her - at that point I started questioning our earlier relationship rather closely! So um, yeah, echoes of Joey there too.

I liked Jo-the-parent when I was a child too - because you are told how much fun she is, etc.
It's only when I grew up enough to understand subtext as opposed to simply accepting what the author states as true, that I realised she was both unrealistic and annoying.

I still think Mary-Lou gets a hard time though - but then I was a lonely only child who didn't really know how to interact with teachers in a different way to kids, and many teachers were happy to just take me as I was but certain ones (often the insecure ones that didn't like me being brighter than them) really took against me. I got on fine with most girls at boarding school oddly enough, and was the one that younger girls would be sent to for advice because I could tell what was probably going on with them and why they were unhappy (like OOAOML), and lacking tact would quite possibly butt in. Docs now think I'm probably autistic like my ds - which is an interesting lens to read ML through.

I don't think I read any of the Switzerland ones except Problem when I was a teen, and that's when Joey really starts being cringy imo. Although whether that's because I cringe because the triplets are teens and her behaviour becomes more inappropriate or her behaviour just is worse I'm not sure.

Problem she's fairly distant for the later books though. When ML comes to ask for help with Joan it's actually Jack who gives it, so that dilutes Joey for that book.

ML I have mixed feeling about.
The first book I really like her. She's a fun kid, and, unlike Joey, I think you can see the beginnings of her as she gets older.
I like that she'll talk to anyone, always makes sure people are included as much as possible.
I know people who would talk to everyone the same way-although ime at school that always had some teachers on their dignity. I do think that's a sign of not being quite "normal".
Following on from that, I dislike that everyone goes "only ML" and loves her for it. Reality is that, as with any strong personality, she would have people who hated her. the only one we have is Phil Craven, who clearly is a baddie (she likes maths, which is always the sign of a bad character in EBD's world!) and who disappears before ML has really got going.
And other than she's a strong personality, you don't see why she's so popular. You can see why young Joey is popular, but ML you are told she's popular.

I dislike the Gang. I see them what we used to call the "in-crowd". It's often people's reaction to them that I dislike though. There's one point they're splitting the form into groups and the teacher is "oh we must keep the gang together" and then splits the other friendships up. How to make a trip out miserable for the non-gang members.

I find her quite, I'm going to use the term "snobbish", about knowing Joey. Perhaps more like a name dropper. "Well Aunty Joey says, you know Josephine Betttany the author, she let's me call her aunty..." and imo she uses the "special relationship" to get away with more.

I think I wouldn't have wanted to be in her form ultimately because I'd have been too boring for her gang and everyone else is just fitted in round the gang in that form. She might look out in some ways for the others in the form, but actually the quiet ones in the corner wishing they could be asked occasionally to join the gang-she was into solving the large ostentatious issues.
Possibly that's unfair, but

No I've no idea how that last sentence was meant to complete.[ smile]

I too dislike the Gang. Even the name is horrible, and they certainly do seem to be in charge of the 'turf' with no-one else getting a look-in. And I loathe the way Mary-Lou is allowed to police who is in and who's out, and the way it's often referred to as Mary-Lou's gang.

I liked her quip about two and six, though. I fondly imagine EBD hearing that joke in the staffroom (maybe an apochryphal tale amongst teachers at the time) and inventing ML's character just so that she would have the perfect, intelligent, cheeky--but-likeable imp to utter it. After which she lost the ML plot very quickly.

I've lost track of where we are these days. Are we somewhere in Italy? I must have had too much special milk because I really don't remember.

Belsornia?

Sicily. Lovely weather, charming dormies in the old sardine factory and Anna's limoncello buns. 😊

Sicily. Lots of scope for misadventure there. Volcano eruption?

Witchend - surely there isn't any risk of a volcanic eruption. In fact, I think we should all go on a picnic to Mount Etna. I have just googled it asked a friendly native and discovered that it is 'in an almost constant state of activity'. Sounds perfect! Not at all risky. Who else is coming? We need a couple of mistresses and Mary Lou ought to tag along. Make sure your pockets are full of chocolate, raisins etc and off we go.

I'll bring the special milk biscuits. See if someone can forget the lemonade so we can roar with laughter over it and add it to the adventure books.

I'm in. I found some rusty cans of sardines in the dormie cupboard and a bottle that says limoncello 1947. Should be fine I think.

Great stuff, EmilyAlice. I'll pack them in the basket with my trusty guide cord.

I'm reading Pamela Cox's Malory Towers sequels at the moment - anyone read them? In keeping with the originals, they're an easier read than the CS, so each book only takes an hour or two. I'm quite enjoying them and they seem reasonably faithful to the original. Two things have struck me:

1. She repeatedly uses a phrase that I find both irritating and out of place - 'Miss Potts [or whoever] gave the girl a scold'. I don't ever remember the word 'scold' used as a noun in any girls' school story - you can get into a row, or be given a ticking-off, but I really don't think anyone gets given a scold ever. Perhaps they might be given a scolding, but I don't even think that's used much. Or am I misremembering? (It's decades since I read the originals.)

2. It's striking me afresh how education in girls school stories is seen as a good in its own right, not necessarily because it's going to lead to a profession or job. So girls who realistically are going to get married fairly young and expected to give up any career they might be beginning, are still expected to study hard, presumably because being educated is a worthy goal in its own right. I'm not saying for a moment I agree with women being obliged to marry and become home-makers, but I do quite like the non-utilitarian view of education at a point where our own systems are moving towards employability as the be-all and end-all.

I've never heard of the expression "a scold", let alone in a school story. Is is a regional thing - or Scottish?

Kaffee, anyone?

No Kaffee for me please, but can I have kuchen (sp.?) with lashings of whipped cream?

I've read the Pamela Cox books - thought they were OK though I always find the Malory Towers series seems a bit 'thin' compared to the CS books. The CS have a bit more to them in my opinion.

Also just finished The Bettanys on the Home Front. What do others make of it? I wasn't that impressed. Although it was interesting to see what Madge and Dick might have been like at that age, the story didn't really 'gel' for me - seemed like lots of separate episodes without anything really convincing holding them together. Is the other Bettany one any better?

I like the books in a vague way, but found them a little bit trying too hard. Found Gwen coming back as a mistress not a good conclusion to her story. Really made me cringe.

The one I really disliked was the St Clare's one about the identical twins who are only spotted because they can tell Pat and Isabel apart so obviously the only people that can do that are identical twins. It also very much felt like the Trebizon story with the twins to me-and I've half a feeling it was written by Anne Digby though so not a surprise.

An imposter, masquerading as me, the Real CS Princess? There has to be a Redheads style plot here.

[evil cackle] Come with me, Princess, and I'll take you to your father who is inexplicably on his sick bed and asking for you. Meanwhile, the other princess (who is your twin but was separated from you at birth and brought up by my henchmen the Fartsoniras) will pretend to be you so that you don't cause any anxiety to Madame while we're away. Luckily there aren't any other identical twins at the school who might spot the switch and raise the alarm. Hurry now, and don't forget your clean hanky.

Careful Princess - you don't know who you should trust! I'll follow you and mornington from a distance. Just leave me some ribbons to follow.

Gwen coming back was the bit that really jarred for me too. Though I find her character annoying in the main series as well. I can't decide whether Bylton is wrong for making her stay exactly the same throughout, or Brent-Dyer is unrealistic in the way that almost all her characters are reformed and develop into 'real Chalet School girls'.

Just popping in to say my DS's headmistress is leaving for a job in school improvement- I know you'll understand that I'm imagining her travelling round Europe teaching schools to reason from cause to effect.

Gwen does change though I think over the EB books.

First year she's malicious and genuinely nasty.
After that she's really just a snob and you feel she's in a lot of ways pushed into her behaviour because the others don't give her a chance to have possibly changed.
You can imagine her thinking each year "maybe there's a new girl that I can be best friends with"-all the others seem to have close best friends which wouldn't be comfortable if you didn't.
Yes, she goes about it in the wrong way, but no one's really taught her how to be a friend. And you can see that the new girl would work out fairly quickly that she has the choice of being friends with Gwen and no one else liking her because of that association, or breaking up with Gwen.

And then you have the final letter from her after her dad is ill, which shows actually some good character. She could have not written to Darrell at all. it took some courage to do that.

I'd forgotten about the final letter bit - that's true. I think I just find the whole 'will she be my friend' plot a bit repetitive (not Gwen's fault, I know!).