Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Original poster

Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

914 replies

EmilyAlice · 11/10/2016 15:08

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....

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
starsorwater · 13/10/2016 21:35

Do we really have to hump our mattresses every single morning?
Can I bring my dog?

morningtoncrescent62 · 14/10/2016 10:51

stars, you'll find we have a wonderful tradition called humping the kapok here. We love to show it to visitors, it's so girlishly pretty. Come on over to Mushy Pea and we'll teach you. You can do it dressed as a baby angel if you like, but that's optional.

Glad to see you back, Princess, sounds like you had a topping time on the steppes. Did you notice whether you were followed by that mad uncle of yours? Luckily Pets Corner is filling up nicely with starorwater's dog and my snow leopard, so we're well resourced for your rescue.

I remember hard toilet paper, EmilyAlice. It was a bit like tracing paper and it usually came in little cardboard boxes from which you pulled out one sheet at a time. I can't imagine who thought it was a good idea because it was the least absorbent material you can imagine. I dread to think how much of the stuff is still lying around in landfill taking a million years to decompose. But yes, it was handy for playing the comb.

EElisavetaOfBelsornia · 14/10/2016 11:33

Followed? oh no I don't think so thank you Mornington. On a completely unrelated note, isn't it wizard that my new Dormyurt neighbour in Celeriac is Belsornian? Of course she does have a very low voice and a bit of a facial hair issue, but we are too young to care much about looks. And she's topping at cricket.

By the way, watch out for Matey at the moment, she's a tartar at this stage of term. She confiscated all those mags I bagged from Dr. Jem, she doesn't think my Human Anatomy scrapbook is a good idea.

Original poster
EmilyAlice · 14/10/2016 11:38

Do you think we need to change Kapok to Yak hair? Hmm
The hard toilet paper had a very weird taste when you used it to play the comb though, didn't it Mornington? Was it called Izal?

OP posts:
Original poster
EmilyAlice · 14/10/2016 12:22

Princess I have just seen your Belsornian chum admiring some of the fastest horses in the stable. She was talking to a smiling stable hand about a milky drink made with special berries. It sounded jolly interesting but they stopped talking when they saw me. Hmm

OP posts:
Witchend · 14/10/2016 14:02

My ant collection for the pets' corner has gone missing. I left them near the sugar bowl in case they were hungry. Sad

PrimroseDay · 14/10/2016 18:29

Has anyone spotted any of those pesky middles hanging around pets' corner? My pet anteater is off his food and I want to know why.

On another note - are the La Rochelle books worth getting? Are they ridiculously expensive?

Original poster
EmilyAlice · 14/10/2016 18:36

I think some are on the hard drive?

OP posts:
Witchend · 14/10/2016 19:06

WHAT!!! You've brought an anteater. My poor pets Sad
I shall have to deleted for being against the spirit of the school forgive you.

PrimroseDay · 14/10/2016 20:07

I'm very sorry Witchend. I've been spoken to by Miss Annersley (though what she said will never be repeated) and I must now apologise to the whole school as the ants could have belonged to anyone. Lickily she said I can still be in the Christmas play.

I don't really know how the pm thing works, but if anyone can pass on the one drive info I'd be grateful.

EElisavetaOfBelsornia · 14/10/2016 20:07

EmilyAlice you said hard drive instead of shared drive!! This will go down in the annals of the school as a legend!!

PrimroseDay · 14/10/2016 20:08

Luckily.

Can't type with baby on knee.

EElisavetaOfBelsornia · 14/10/2016 20:09
JasperDamerel · 14/10/2016 20:33

Good evening, girls. I'm new. I missed the start of term because I was at a day school in England, but my parents had to go to South America at short notice to research A new treatment for mosquito-borne illnesses, so they sent me here. My godmother used to play tennis with Miss Annersley when she was a girl, so this was the only boarding school they would consider.

I've been brought up to unquestioning obedience, and I have a deep but quiet faith, which never talk about, but which gives me a profound appreciation for amateur dramatics.

I've got special permission for my brother to come and visit me occasionally. He's quite grown-up, and is a doctor at the local clinic. He came here specially to train with Dr Maynard, because of his pioneering work in hot milk as a carrier for sedatives.

Does anyone know what dorm I'll be in? I have a kazoo and some traditional Mongolian instruments in my trunk. Have any of the other middles got a band going?

hels71 · 14/10/2016 20:50

You can join me in spinach if you like...but I suspect all the cool girls are in mushy pea... I am learning saxophone for the band...

Witchend · 14/10/2016 23:07

I think I'm in Broccoli too.
I've bought a Didgeridoo to play. It makes a sound like a cow lowing in pain. Can't wait to try it on the echoes.

ImpYCelyn · 15/10/2016 09:28

So glad I found this thread! I was on one years ago before I went to work succumbed to a terrible chill from standing in an open door and became incredibly delicate. I'm now about to be very busy again, so have some time to indulge - hurrah!
However, I suffered two huge CS traumas this year. Firstly, we had a bastard moth infestation, and they have nibbled the corners of Two Sams, which it turns out is practically impossible to replace for under £60, I could cry! The other ones they got was stuff like Eustacia, so that was fairly easy to sort out. Thankfully the three 1st Eds I have are stored somewhere else, otherwise I could have fallen into a dead faint and had to be sung back to life! Secondly, I had all the unabridged pdfs on my Kindle, transferred and deleted off my laptop, and my bastard Kindle gave up the ghost!! They were emailed to me by a lovely MNer in the days before pleurisy and pneumonia struck. This is incredibly cheeky, but does anyone still have the great PDF email please?

ImpYCelyn · 15/10/2016 09:29

Also, I have never understood what the interest is in a scrapbook. Made by someone else. It's been bothering me for years and I would love to find out what I'm missing!

Original poster
EmilyAlice · 15/10/2016 12:44

Blush In my defence I was watching a Jonathan Meades programme from the hard drive at the time!
Scrapbooks. Yes I used to do those in the fifties. Mine was full of ballet dancers. It was indeed very boring. Grin

OP posts:
morningtoncrescent62 · 15/10/2016 12:45

Don't cry, Witchend, your ants are nice and safe on the hard drive, EmilyAlice said so. The hard drive, however, is looking a bit munched.

Welcome, JasperDamerel, you remind me of someone. It must be that quaint way you have of shrugging your shoulders and saying 'Mon dieu' at the start of every sentence despite never having learned a word of French. It's weirdly familiar though I can't quite place it at the moment. I'm sure it'll come to me.

Girls, such a strange thing happened. I had to go back to Mushy Pea this morning to fetch a clean hanky because terrible things happen to girls who don't have a clean hanky and half the staff was there using our juniper-fermenting machine. They were singing a song with words I didn't recognise, but it wasn't The Red Sarafan or Parry's England or even the beautiful old Adeste Fideles, so I don't know what it was. It seemed to have something to do with the visit of JasperDamerel's brother but of course it would have been dishonourable to listen so I legged it.

ImpYCelyn · 15/10/2016 17:59

Ah, as I suspected then Emily Grin

I'm rather good at knitting. I thought I'd make some bits in a nice lime green to brighten up the dormtent. There appears to be room in samphire so I'll nab a cubey in there (as matey seems to be awol). Has someone already got the window?

PrimroseDay · 15/10/2016 18:20

Well, I seem to be in courgette with Clem as dormyurt prefect. A bit wooried though, as the yurt doesn't seem to have a balcony so I don't know what I should do with the plummeaux (sp?) thingy? I haven't seen matey yet either - anyone know whether we've got the proper one or one that needs to be suppressed?

Also, thanks to Princess for the shared drive details and to anyone who's contributed to it. Nearly finished Janie of La Rochelle and enjoying it (though a bit puzzled to be nearly at the end with no avalanches or special milk).

Witchend · 15/10/2016 19:09

I shall go and collect me ants.

The sixth have organised such a fun evening for us. Can't wait to get threading 100s of needles or picking up peas with chopsticks. I'm sure we will all end up in such a fit of giggles we'll fall off the chairs. Or maybe that's the effect of Matey's special milk?

ImpYCelyn · 15/10/2016 19:28

Ooh, could I please have the shared drive details, that sounds simpler than the emails back in the day! I'm not sure I have anything especially hard to find, but will happily contribute if I do Smile

madgerussell1920 · 15/10/2016 19:49

Shared drive details for me too please.
I know how to play polocrosse, which is like lacrosse on horseback. Lessons start next week so please avail yourself of a horse each.
The usual rules apply so no under 14s will be allowed to play.