I was a good little chalet girl and I...
The CBB -> Anything Else
#1: I was a good little chalet girl and I... Author: Betty Sue, Location: Sydney, Australia PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:58 am

(And no-one has to feel Embarassed embarrassed because we've all done it I'm sure) In English lessons we had to keep a journal and I used to do it strictly in alternate French, English and German. I didn't actually speak French so it was une mish-de-mash de les words francais du je connaise. Of course I got into trouble with the teacher because the whole point of the journal was to practice writing in English. I tried cold baths and managed to keep it up in summer I turned my mattress religiously I tried a campaign amongst my friends to call Home Ec (cooking & sewing) Dommy Sci, but didn't get anywhere I still think of afternoon tea as Kaffee und Kuchen And you?

 

#2:  Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:22 am

Embarassed A friend and I used to walk through town talking
Quote:
une mish-de-mash de les words francais.
, thinking we were very clever and that everyone would be impressed. Mind you, we also rode home from Saturday Morning Pictures on our trusty steeds as two not so very Lone Rangers. Confused I also wanted a fringe like Joey Bettany and my mother didn't agree so I cut myself one - it was much too short and came out as just tufts which stood up instead of down. My mother cried! I assumed that when I started to learn French, it would just ooze in through my pores and was amazed and distressed that it didn't. I did use EBDs trick of trying to learn 10 words a day - probably 3 managed to stay lodged in my brain and I made better progress than most folk but that wasn't much.

 

#3:  Author: Joan the Dwarf, Location: Er, where am I? PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:00 pm

ROFL When I first went to High School I caused much amusement by calling female teachers "mistresses"!When I was much younger, I kept on bemusing my peers by coming out with EBD-era slang and turns of phrase. I kept on forgetting what things I'd heard people say and what I'd read Rolling Eyes Cold baths... ah, the memories... I boarded for 6th form, and the school had an antiquated heating system that kept breaking down. On such mornings I took the plunge into a cold shower and consoled myself by thinking it was all very Chalet. (Those mornings were funny. All the girls turned up to breakfast shivering and all the boys turned up unwashed!)By the way: I recently invested in the book "How Clean is Your House" (after finding that the answer was "not very"!), and was much amused by how many things Chalet are recommended - stripping the bed to air while opening the windows, turning the mattress (every month rather than every fortnight, but near enough), semi-religious dusting. So being a Good Chalet Girl (and Boy) is back in fashion Wink

 

#4:  Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:46 pm

I remember in my first German classes when the teacher asked us if anyone knew how to say hello in German, I said "Gruss Gott" and got a very strange look back Embarassed Star Wars

 

#5:  Author: pim, Location: the Derbyshire wilderness PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:13 pm

The whole trilingual thing was my original inspiration for studying languages (gah, EBD the curse of my life!!! )) only I realised that I really couldn't be doing with German after seven years and abandoned it in favour of Spanish. 3 of my flatmates study French this year so we tend to speak a bizarre version of Franglais around the house (with bits of German, Spanish, Italian and Russian chucked in for good measure) which I always think must be like what the CS girls spoke amongst themselves. Winter sporting, even though I didn't learn to ski until I was 21 - and was almightily rubbish at it. But I was hugely diasppointed to discover that in downhill skiing with the ski paraboliques (don't know the English word Embarassed) you can't cross the toes and fall over. Cross country skiing is an entirely different matter however...

 

#6:  Author: Tiphany,  PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:14 pm

As, I rather think, a direct result of the Chalet books I do strip my bed and leave it to air with the windows open every day. However, by "strip" I just mean fling the duvet right back, I don't take the sheet off and turn the mattress as we should... I can't imagibe having to make up the bed from scratch with sheets, blankets and hospital corners every morning! When I was a kid I used to keep my diary in French, and it did help me I think since then I've always meant to do "a bit of every language every day", but of course I never do!

 

#7:  Author: Kat, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:27 pm

It actually advised not to make your bed, as the duvet will prevent moisture from escaping and therefore the bedbugs and other nasties will absorb it and grow. If however, you leave your bed unmade, then the moisture will escape and as there will none for the nasties to absorb, they will die.

 

#8:  Author: Steph, Location: Blackpool, Lancashire PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:30 pm

I was also one who tried the cold bath thing. I actually timed myself to try and keep up with the Chalet girls and found if I didn't wash my hair or wash too thoroughly I could do it Embarassed That only lasted a couple of days lol. Also tried to be more helpful to my mum (which is pretty bad as I should have been that anyway) after re-reading 'Peggy'- EBD's shining example of Mother's Good Girl. Offers to carry things and calling Mum darling/dearest Mummy got me some strange looks. Also tried Jo's slang on my Dad but vile, topping and absolutely it passed him by Sad ETA: despite all this I would have failed miserably as a Chalet Girl as my friends and I used to pass notes all the time in classes and so I would have been outcast from the start Sad

 

#9:  Author: Tiphany,  PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:11 pm

Kat wrote:
It actually advised not to make your bed, as the duvet will prevent moisture from escaping and therefore the bedbugs and other nasties will absorb it and grow. If however, you leave your bed unmade, then the moisture will escape and as there will none for the nasties to absorb, they will die.
It's also advised not to leave your windows open during hailstorms, as I have just found out to my cost Embarassed . I clearly need those wooden block things they had at the chalet.

 

#10:  Author: Simone, Location: Newton le Willows PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:59 pm

When I was around 14 I decided to grow my hair, which had always been short up till then so I chould put it up Chalet Style at 18. The result - just below shoulder length rats tails which was always in a pony tail. Went back to a nice short easy to keep style around 17 and it's stayed that way since - 22 years on

 

#11:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:12 pm

I used to look through my wardrobe and work out which of my clothes would fit in with the uniform - if I was very elastic in the use of 'gentian' blue (i.e. including navy) I managed a fair amount! Liz

 

#12:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:51 pm

I urged my mother to speak only french to my every Tuesday and Friday, had cold baths, still turn my mattress in the thought that it will be helpful feel bad about sitting on my bed! Embarassed and desperately wanted a st bernard! I was (and still am) very cool... Embarassed Very Happy ETA: Equally at one point I was on the quiz team for my form and: 'What happens every (however many years, I can't remember!) at Oberammergau? came up! And I was mysteriously the only person to know the answer Rolling Eyes

Last edited by Laura on Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

 

#13:  Author: Pado, Location: Connecticut, USA PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:52 pm

I bend my knees at every step while climbing uphill.

 

#14:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:54 pm

Pado wrote:
I bend my knees at every step while climbing uphill.
I tried that too! But it didn't help at all...

 

#15:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:55 pm

Kat wrote:
It actually advised not to make your bed, as the duvet will prevent moisture from escaping and therefore the bedbugs and other nasties will absorb it and grow. If however, you leave your bed unmade, then the moisture will escape and as there will none for the nasties to absorb, they will die.
I really wish I didn't know that...

 

#16:  Author: Kat, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:19 pm

Sorry Kate!! Laughing

 

#17:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:33 pm

Kat wrote:
It actually advised not to make your bed, as the duvet will prevent moisture from escaping and therefore the bedbugs and other nasties will absorb it and grow. If however, you leave your bed unmade, then the moisture will escape and as there will none for the nasties to absorb, they will die.
Yes but that doesn't work if you leave the covers in tangled heap! Wink Liz

 

#18:  Author: Kat, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:37 pm

It does, so long as they are in heap in just a smaller part of the bed!

 

#19:  Author: claire, Location: South Wales PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:50 pm

LizB wrote:
I used to look through my wardrobe and work out which of my clothes would fit in with the uniform - if I was very elastic in the use of 'gentian' blue (i.e. including navy) I managed a fair amount!
Yep, and at one point I used to put it on to do my 'prep' (did the only a certain length of time on any one subject come from there as well or was that a different set of school stories)

 

#20:  Author: joelle, Location: lancashire, england PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:09 pm

-tried bending my knees while climbing-discovered i did naturally -increased my want for a st bernard (which i would probably call rufus) -worked out how much french and german i knew for when i went to cs (french a little, german very little but im not worried-it only takes a couple of weeks at cs! Wink ) -am annoyed at my shower since i cant throw the curtain over shower rail (closest thing to cubicle rails) -never understood this putting their hair up thing properly-does it mean wearing it in a bun or something similar? sounds quite dull to me -tried "gruss gott" as well -boy i got funny looks! -used to use ebd slang (still do if i go through a phase of reading al my cs books at once!) ....am starting to realise why people think im strange... Embarassed

 

#21:  Author: LL, Location: Tottenham & Finchley & who knows where else! PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:26 pm

Quick freezing showers in mornings! Use EBD slang ALL THE TIME - plus all sorts of other slang, nobody understand me! Tried all sorts of languages - have come out with some French, Hebrew, German, Spanish, Italian & Portuguese! Good heavens!

 

#22:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:31 pm

I wanted to be trilingual and was quite disappointed I couldn't fit German into my O'levels Liz

 

#23:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:32 pm

joelle wrote:
-never understood this putting their hair up thing properly-does it mean wearing it in a bun or something similar? sounds quite dull to me
Girls used to almost always wear their hair in pigtails or a long plait down their back, or had it bobbed (like Joey). This would continue until they were nearly 18, when they would put their hair up, like an adult - not necessarily a bun, probably more like a French twist, held up with hair pins. It was a big deal because it was a sign of adulthood. *points out that most of the above has been assumed from CS books* Embarassed Smile

 

#24:  Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:26 pm

Ooooh, loads of stuff! I loved langauges and did take French and German at GCSE.... only took German to A-Level though (by then I'd stopped reading CS). Still on occassion speak to my mother in German (she did it as degree) and she became christened 'Mutti'. Tried to strip the bed and fold the mattress - failed dismally and never tried again. A girl in my class was called Helena.... I so wanted to be good friends with her just so I could call her Len, lol Smile Tried the cold baths. Not popular Smile Bending knees when walking up hills (even post-CS!) I wanted to go to the all-girls school because it would be more like CS. Played Book Review game thingy. I know there were a lot more, as I was totally obsessed by CS at the time, but I can't think of them offhand. Some of them I probably still do and don't realise. And I get a lot of quiz questions I can answer because they're CS-related, lol!

 

#25:  Author: Chelsea, Location: Your Imagination PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:52 pm

-use EBD slang -air my bed and flip my mattress (though monthly, not every other day!)

 

#26:  Author: LL, Location: Tottenham & Finchley & who knows where else! PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:04 pm

bended knees when walking up hills and put my hair up!

 

#27:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:39 pm

-desperately tried to become tri-lingual -grew my hair, put it up for my eighteenth and have sort of carried on.....ish. personally i favoured the coronal of plaits swung around the head, a la frieda -cold showers -air my bed (since the age of 9 and no-one could understand why I refused to make it in the morning) -bend my knees going up up hills -EBD slang Confused -earphones....yes....really -introduced all my friends to Impertinent Questions -tilted, which I swear I never ever would have thought of had I not read about it in the early CS books -stuck my head through the back of a chair just to prove it WOULD fit, although I didn't get stuck i Embarassed think Embarassed that is about it....although there may be more

 

#28:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:15 am

Really, really wanted to be trilingual (and did take French and German to GCSE - was never fluent though and spoke with a very British accent!) Got really excited when I realised that my school had Upper Third, Lower Fourth etc Embarassed Really, really wanted to learn Latin (and no, I'm not sure if that does actually relate to the CS, but I can't think where else the desire would have come from! Managed that one - took Latin to A Level!)

 

#29:  Author: Eilidh, Location: Bathgate, Scotland PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:56 am

I visited Austria when I was about nine and got very upset when my mum and dad wouldn't take me on a day trip to Innsbruck. Although on the same holiday I heard someone saying "Gruss Gott". Tried to get put into a class taking German at High School. Failed and had to take French. Asked my mum to send me to boarding school. Learned to ski. Stayed in Guides years longer than any of my friends (because the chalet girls were always guides).

 

#30:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:56 am

I'm going for trilingual status - only with Welsh instead of German! And my next one will be Breton!

 

#31:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:09 am

I did the languages thing of course, which chalet girl has not tried that. Even did a bi-lingual secretarial course when I left school. I was disappointed that the CS didn't speak Italian, made my second language seem inferior to French and German. Swotted hard at French. I do take cold showers, I couldn't bear the thought of a cold bath. And I entusiatically took up all sorts of hadicrafts like in the hobbbies club. And I'm one of the continental chalet girls who can sew. When my school had a sale of work when I was in the third form, I was thrilled to bits. But my form got the white elephant stall which was a big disappointment to me. It isn't very glamourously chalet to be left minding a stall of musty taxidermy and elderly vases. And we didn't do a costume theme. It was such a let down. Wished ferverntly that my school uniform could be gentian blue and not navy and red.

 

#32:  Author: Gabrielle, Location: Washington DC PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:05 am

Used the slang (believe me I got strange looks from my friends!) Will admit to having tried to do earphones, however my hair is too thin and not long enough. Am hoping my very large dog lives as long as Rufus! (Admits this is not very likely Sad ) Motivated to learn German ( I already speak French) I do not have Joey's linguistic ability, I've also tried to learn Russian.

 

#33:  Author: hpdeskjette, Location: S'pore PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:28 am

I tell my friends that they certainly can borrow my pencil, but the question is if they "may"!!

 

#34:  Author: Nina, Location: Peterborough, UK PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:58 am

Dragged my husband to Oberammergau in 1990 (but did NOT adorn myself with blue paint!)

 

#35:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:07 am

francesn wrote:
-introduced all my friends to Impertinent Questions
Yes, me too... It was subsequently banned in my school. Smile

 

#36:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:09 am

Nina wrote:
Dragged my husband to Oberammergau in 1990 (but did NOT adorn myself with blue paint!)
So you just went for the charcoal and the later grey look...

 

#37:  Author: Katya, Location: Mostly Bradford PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:14 pm

Learning languages and making a career of it, although I think this was only inspired in part by the CS - my grandma teaching me how to say good morning etc in Greek to the hotel staff in Rhodes when I was about five may also have sown some seeds. (And no, she was from a little village near Risca in South Wales, actually.) I spend quite a bit of time in Vienna, where EVERYONE says Gruss Gott and lashings of whipped cream abound, both of which please me greatly! On one trip I went up to Innsbruck and felt very Chalet, although didn't have time to go to Pertisau - there's always next time... And whenever I come out to Switzerland to work, I'm always tempted (even if I don't always get round to it) to check the books for descriptions and ideas for places to visit! Oh, and the other morning I tried making hot chocolate by melting some stick chocolate in hot water. I wouldn't recommend this one, although perhaps it works better if you're stuck on a bus in the middle of the night and using an etna. Or melted snow - I drew the line at going outside in my pyjamas with a bowl to collect some. Katya.

 

#38:  Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:54 pm

I too attempted the languages things. Didn't get anything to GCSE though, as we were only allowed to do one after Yr 9, and then the German clashed with the music.I too stayed in Guides until the end, but the Young Leaders Group was awkward to get to, so that was knocked on the head.I also got excited when in Germany in 2002 and people were saying Gruss Gott :DJackieJ

 

#39:  Author: niscii, Location: Aberdeen PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:05 pm

I lived in a really quiet street and so would take my tennis racquet and ball and pretend the high walls of the houses opposite were the practice boards *niscii who doidn't have many friends at the time willing to play chalet school stylee* Embarassed

 

#40:  Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:30 pm

Just remember something else that I (still) do inspired by the Chalet School. I've got a book at home where I write down quotations that mean something to me like Frieda in the Hobbies Club Very Happy Star Wars

 

#41:  Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:36 pm

The first holiday I went on without my parents was to the Austrian Tyrol. I was quite disappointed not to be given milky coffee with rolls broken up in it for breakfast, but then it was the 1990s by then. Some people did actually say "Gruss Gott" though! My English teacher at primary school used to go mad because she said that my written English read like a cross between Elinor M Brent Dyer and Enid Blyton. I also introduced various people to Impertinent Questions. My sister and I used to play it but it wasn't much fun with only 2 people! I used to feel sorry for the Maynards though: I would have been really embarrassed if my mum had kept interfering in everything that went on at school all the time.

 

#42: I was a good little chalet girl and I Author: HelenY,  PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:43 pm

I was very chuffed when a new girl called Verity joined my school. I also had an Austrian pen friend, and questioned her very closely about where the Tiernsee was. Funny, she'd never heard of it. Also tried to persuade my best friend to call me Len, but it never caught on.

 

#43:  Author: Miss Di, Location: Newcastle, NSW PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:56 am

Took German. Was really really bad at it and subsequently stuck with English and History (so kinda like Joey) Did my boatswains badge as a guide. This was most unusal - living in Tamworth in NW NSW we were about 5 hours drive from the coast. I was the only one in our region with it! Desperately wanted to go to boarding school. Strangely my parents wouldn't send me.

 

#44:  Author: Kirstie, Location: Ayrshire PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:46 am

Nagged my mum constantly for a year when I was 12 to go to boarding school. I was totally ignored and now due to the JK Rowling effect get the same from my son. I wore my hair in two plaits wound round my head for ages but was also influenced in this by Princess Leia. I still turn my mattress but not every day. Once hung my duvet out the window but it rained and I got shouted at by my mum. I visited Oberammergau with the school when I was 13 and thought it was brilliant. The rest thought I was strange because I knew so much about it - the plaits didn't help. Learned German at school and always skipped the french bits in the CS books because I was rubbish at pronouncing them even in my head. Re cold baths I always considered this a very strange practice and would have gladly been thought a wimp for a lukewarm bath. We had a very tempremental boiler at home when I was in my teens. Played slides with my sisters cos we had wooden floors. We still do if enough alcohol is involved. Tried sking at university and was spectatularly bad at it.

 

#45:  Author: Betty Sue, Location: Sydney, Australia PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:05 am

O/T to Miss Di
Quote:
Did my boatswains badge as a guide. This was most unusal - living in Tamworth in NW NSW we were about 5 hours drive from the coast. I was the only one in our region with it!
I lived in Uralla - pity I didn't know you, we could have been strange little EBD fans together! Smile Although after I went to my first Brownies meeting the leader told my mum she didn't really think I was a suitable candidate - too rambunctious apparently

 

#46:  Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:30 am

Just remembered another one, I was extremely proud when I was in charge of a group erecting the old style ridge tent at Guide Camp (all heavy canvas and poles) as I felt it would be similar to what Joey & Co. camped in in Camp. JackieJ

 

#47:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 12:14 pm

Lordy, I know how you feel. We always used the good old canvas and ridge pole tents and practiced putting them up in the park next to our Guide hall. I can only imagine how many people shook their heads in wonder/horror at us!

 

#48:  Author: Katya, Location: Mostly Bradford PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 12:46 pm

Quote:
We always used the good old canvas and ridge pole tents
We still do, not least because to replace all our camping equipment would be pretty expensive! When I was in the company (late 80s - early 90s) our Guider was very traditional and did rather frown on innovation - although, to be fair, I don't think she used to stick to the old ways just for the sake of it - most of what she did was based on common sense. But we used to practice drilling before church parade and everything, based on what she'd been taught by the old army officer who used to drill her company when SHE was a Guide!Katya.

 

#49:  Author: LadyGuinevere, Location: Leicester PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:31 pm

Oooh, I remember knowing that the guy ropes needed to be loosened when it rained, but my guide leader got their first (we were far less hands on at camp than the CS girls). I was a very enthusiatic guide Smile

 

#50:  Author: Donna, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:34 pm

I used the old canvas ridge tents in the year I was a guide - we hated them! It was so awful putting them up - but then i didn't particularly like camp. The second time I went, none of my friends were going and it rained all weekend. I left guides shortly afterwards!

 

#51:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:17 pm

We had those tents too. And bedding rolls.... I used to be one of about 3 Guides in my area who could actually produce a passable bedding roll - it was amazing what jobs you could 'swap' on a morning... :angel:

 

#52:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:04 pm

I'm impressed that you seem to have had bona fide ridge poles on your old canvas tents. Ours just had a pole at each end, plus various ropes and stakes. No floors. Later on, our troop graduated from using Council's canvas round-ups to our very own tube tents. I don't know how many of you will know them, since GSUSA outlawed them a few years after I graduated, but a tube tent was literally a tube of bright orange or yellow plastic, rather like a heavy duty but bottomless bin liner. You ran a rope through it, tied each end to a tree, and held the bag open with a few rocks or your sleeping bags. When it rained, you attempted to clothespin the ends shut.

 

#53:  Author: Eilidh, Location: Bathgate, Scotland PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:41 pm

We had ridge tents as well. And I also had to make bedding rolls. I wasnt paricularly good at it though!

 

#54:  Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England PostPosted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:51 pm

I: Put my hair up in the last year at school (cheating though as I was only 15 as we didn't have a Sixth form there), and still now at 34 feel I should have my hair up to be grown up Read Charlotte M Yonge books Spoke Frangais. I still do under the influence of alcohol, as does my sister (because she's a good CS girl too). Once, we were in a nightclub, speaking Franglais to 2 men who were trying to chat us up ("Je ne comprends pas. Je m'apelle Marie-Claire. J'habite en Lille, en France. Ceci ma soeur...") and we walked into the toilets still speaking it. A strange girl said "Oh, are you French? Can you speak French to my friend, she doesn't know any English?" So, with Embarassed red faces we had to admit our knowledge of French had departed us at that point... Embarassed

 

#55:  Author: niscii as guest,  PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 12:16 am

I too experienced the *joy* of the good old fashioned canvas and ridgepole tents. After collapsing one on top of my leader (deliberately, moi?) it was politely suggested that I wasn't quite the right material for a guide. I also sucked at making gadgets, if only I'd gone to the chalet school and been well drilled in the usage of different knots, sigh. Then again I've never been involved in a dramatic cliff-top rescue where my knowledge of knots could have been to effective use with the cord from my gym slip. If I ever learn different knots then I may try to manafacture such a situation Twisted Evil

 

#56:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:53 am

Maybe this marks me out as un-Chalet, but I made sure my daughter had everything she needed for her Duke of Edinburgh expedition. No settting of into incipient thuderstorms without a mac, or into fog banks without a compass. And she was the only one who returned with the contents of her rucksac still quite dry. Possibly all the Chalet inspired disasters whilst outdoors encouraged me to be most thorough in my preparation. They had to be rescued by the fire brigade due to flash floods. A jolly Chalet time was had by all.

 

#57:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 12:14 pm

*lol* If we're going in for camping disasters, a camp I went to we were staying at the bottom of a hill right next to a river (half of us in tents, the rest in cabins). The river flooded, washing away three tents, but not mine. The State Emergency Service came in the dead of night and covered us with blankets. And I discovered that a layer of snow on top of your sleeping bag (a la Laura Ingalls Wilder's Long Winter) is actually very warm to sleep under!

 

#58:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 1:28 pm

I had a cold shower this morning. It was cold. Those weren't the EXACT words I used at the time! Trying to wash my hair whilst bending over backwards to keep the water away from the rest of me was rather good fun! And my scalp hasn't recovered yet... Still, halls felt jolly warm when I got out, despite the open windows and snow on the mountains!!

 

#59:  Author: Katie, Location: A Yorkshire lass in London PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 1:52 pm

I'm hoping that it was an enforced cold shower and not a conscious decision! Hope you don't catch a chill...

 

#60:  Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:00 pm

Rosie, a tip if that happens again, if you lean forward and hang your hair upside down to wash it, it's easier to keep away from the cold water! *sends Rosie a fluffy blanket*

 

#61:  Author: Rosie, Location: Huntingdonshire/Bangor PostPosted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 6:54 pm

Apparently I can look forward to ANOTHER cold shower this evening as the guys didn't report it.... I may just ask my surrogate mother if I may use hers!

 

#62:  Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Sun Feb 27, 2005 11:12 pm

*hugs Rosie and sends her a lovely hot shower*

 

#63:  Author: Ruth, Location: Physically: Lincolnshire, England. Inwardly: The Scottish Highlands PostPosted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:21 am

I bend my knees when walking up a steep hill Sit up in bed when I'm reading Brush my hair until my scalp tingles and call dinner Mittagessen

 

#64:  Author: Jools, Location: Sadly Broke PostPosted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:12 pm

Insist my children use may instead of can't when appropriate. Sit up in bed when reading

 

#65:  Author: Nina, Location: Peterborough, UK PostPosted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:13 am

Do the knee-bending thing as well. And spent my pocket money on French bread and black cherry jam Shocked

 

#66:  Author: Tiphany,  PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:21 pm

I've never really understood the bending-the-knees thing - I mean, you can't walk WITHOUT bending your knees - is it just that you don't straighten them at all? I don't sit up to read in bed, but every time I don't I wonder whether it's true that it's bad for your eyes to read lying down...

 

#67:  Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 10:09 pm

No, it means that when you actually put your foot on the ground, you give slightly at the knees. It means your muscles don't get pulled completely tight.

 

#68:  Author: Shander, Location: Canada PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:15 pm

I have: bent my knee when I go up hill (and still do, there are lot's of hills here) Grown my hair and put it up ( I think I was 21ish at the time) Use some EBD slang - no one has a clue what I'm talking about Wanted to go to boarding school (although I was quite sure that the Canadian version just wouldn't be the same) wished I hadn't quit Guides Thrown a curtain over its rod Wanted to take German, but couldn't get into the class (it conflicted with something else and i'm quite sure there were others!! on another note, I've also been known to use various bits of British and Australian slang, and also confused people greatly.

 

#69:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:57 am

Shander wrote:
I have:Wanted to take German, but couldn't get into the class (it conflicted with something else
Me too. It conflicted with geography, and I could see the german class from the geography room. I liked geography, but I'd have liked german better. I got into trouble for squirming round in my seat and gazing at the german classroom's windows.

 

#70:  Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 2:05 pm

MissPrint wrote:
Shander wrote:
I have: Wanted to take German, but couldn't get into the class (it conflicted with something else
Me too. It conflicted with geography, and I could see the german class from the geography room. I liked geography, but I'd have liked german better. I got into trouble for squirming round in my seat and gazing at the german classroom's windows.
Ditto, it clashed with Music, which was more important to me as I wanted to do performance based courses at college. Was vair annoyed as I'd have had no problem at all had I wanted to do French. That said, it did mean that I did Word Processing instead which is the reason I've been able to find jobs. JackieJ

 

#71:  Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:08 pm

I took cold showers every morning , and kept it up for five whole years *smirk* (and I still do in the summer). I was worried that I didn't like whipped cream, and maybe there was something wrong with me. Ditto in regard to games. I refused to ever speak any kind of slang - even CS slang, though now I do speak some hebrew slang. I wasn't sure how to develop a 'sweet gentle and low' voice, so I compromised on develop[ing a perfect 'BBC accent'. I was comforted for having to give up my lunch break for German class, becuase I'd picked up enough basic German from the books to be well ahead of the class to start with. (We were very basic...) (My school had a system whereby if you were in the top set for french, you gave up one class of that and one lunch break to learn German - in all cases dropping it as soon as possible.) I had dreams of putting up my hair (wreathing around my head of course) but my mother laughed at me when I tried... It had to wait until I'd left home, but now I don't have time in the mornings. Went through a period of plaiting my hair at night. I took a CS style hike last summer. No snow, but getting lost in the desert with a limited water supply is at least as worrying. During the early part of the hike - before we got lost - I gave the rest of the family plenty of good advice about bending thier knees on the uphill parts, and taking regular and frequent rests. No one tried removing their hats, or I could have warned them about that as well. Can't think why they got annoyed with me. Rolling Eyes Wink On the plus side, I also made everyone sit down the night before to work out the route (not that that helped in the end), and calculate how much water we would need - and if I hadn't done that, it would have been an even more worrying situation than it turned out to be. One serious piece of advice: never elect someone who is colour blind to follow the coloured trail markers - especially if they are your father who can't admit when he made a mistake!

 

#72:  Author: Catrin, Location: Wirral (holidays), Oxford (term) PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:49 pm

I have been growin my hair since I was 14 and intend to put it up properly when I'm 21 in June - any links to helpful websites on the subject would be helpful, so far I can only manage a really weird knobbly bun stuffed full of pins (somewhat Joey-like though!)

 

#73:  Author: Kathye, Location: Laleham PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:06 pm

niscii as guest wrote:
After collapsing one on top of my leader (deliberately, moi?) it was politely suggested that I wasn't quite the right material for a guide.
So glad I'm not the only one to get kicked out of Guides !! I was also politely asked to leave after almost blowing up the Guide hut (that was entirely accidental though! Embarassed )

 

#74:  Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:31 pm

Kathye wrote:
niscii as guest wrote:
After collapsing one on top of my leader (deliberately, moi?) it was politely suggested that I wasn't quite the right material for a guide.
So glad I'm not the only one to get kicked out of Guides !! I was also politely asked to leave after almost blowing up the Guide hut (that was entirely accidental though! Embarassed )
Oh Kathye, don't leave it there, that is sooo tantalising, tell us the full story please. Laughing

 

#75:  Author: Guest,  PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:12 pm

I also was asked to leave the guides Embarassed cutting short a promising career and all because I apparently lead my patrol astray Twisted Evil I still think it was a misunderstanding!

 

#76:  Author: Kathye, Location: Laleham PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:02 am

mmmmm guest, you wern't my patrol leader by any chance ? Wink

 

#77:  Author: MissPrint, Location: Edinburgh PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:34 am

You know how the Guides are supposed to ask the older Brownies to come and join them and become Guides. Well, they didn't ask me. It was a trifle galling to see younger girls be asked. It took me a while to take the hint and stop being the oldest Brownie in town. I think I lacked team spirit.

 

#78:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:41 am

Catrin wrote:
I have been growin my hair since I was 14 and intend to put it up properly when I'm 21 in June - any links to helpful websites on the subject would be helpful, so far I can only manage a really weird knobbly bun stuffed full of pins (somewhat Joey-like though!)
Catrin, I twist my hair round and round into a knot and then put a scrunchie round it which holds it up all day sometimes and sometimes not! I also do a modified version of a French pleat held up with a large clip. Both are very quick and easy to do in the mornings. Liz

 

#79:  Author: francesn, Location: away with the faeries PostPosted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:49 pm

I plait my hair and either twist into a bun, swing round my head (very Heidi) or coil at the bottom of my neck. Or I do a variation on a chignon....but that is time consuming. The other three just require practice and hair-grips, or in the case of the coil, small butterfly clips. Having said that, it's quite uncomfortable to have masses of hair and hairpins up for a long time, so when I'm at home I relax the rules and leave it loose!

 

#80:  Author: tiffinata, Location: melbourne, australia PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:18 am

Introduced my friends to 'Book Reviews'. We made it a 'no holds barred' kinda session. Titles included 'how to eat rats or a guide to mum's cooking'
They got worse after that.
Tried to make boiled sweets and jellies, nearly setting the house on fire.
Walked through Paris thinking of Joey and Grizel and later on mad taxi rides from one station to another. ALWAYS take a first aid kit bushwalking, and since getting lost with a group in the Mallee scrub in South Australia a swiss army 'SOS' kit containing compass etc.
Have tried sarcasm a' la Nell Wilson which completely went over everyone's head.
Wanted triplets. Read Jane Austin , Charlotte Yongue and Georgette Heyer. Want to learn country and Morris dancing(anyone know where in Melbourne, Australia?)
Insisted on driving through the New Forest and Taverton when in UK last year, thinking of all the girls who 'lived' there.
Imagined the Bath YHA could very well have been Plas Howell......

 

#81:  Author: nikkie, Location: Cumbria PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:15 pm

tiffinata wrote:
.
Tried to make boiled sweets and jellies, nearly setting the house on fire.
....

wow!
You sound worse than me!

 

#82:  Author: Guest,  PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 3:26 pm

I tried to do the praying on my knees next to my bed, which given that I was an atheist, and still am, has to be odd.

I wanted, and still want, a St Bernard, I still try to speak a multitude of languages, not all to the same standard... as I live in a multi-lingual house, and can do that dropping in and out of different languages, mainly English German and French fairly well.

I tried to persuade my friends to take on the names of various characters - it didn't go down too well.

I and an un-named other once paraded the local town in as close to old Chalet uniform as we could find, including brown berets.

 

#83:  Author: Laura, Location: London (ish) PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 4:42 pm

Yes, I started praying too! And am also essentially an atheist... Embarassed

 

#84:  Author: Lisa_T, Location: Belfast PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:38 am

When I started this thread the only thing i could think of was the 'bending knees' lark but now more are flooding back..
..Grew my hair and put it up. Sometimes with scrunchies and clips, sometimes 'properly' with pins.
..Longed desperately to go to boarding school AND actually got my wish. We were sort of unofficially bi-lingual- English and British Sign Language- and you got into trouble when you used BSL. Not fines any more though!
..When I was a prefect, and later when teaching, I used the 'waiting in silence for silence' trick with certain kids. Wouldn't have thought of that without CS.
..I can partly credit the CS for my GCSE grade in French. I was very behind to start with cos of spending a year in Oz. CS helped me to make up some of the difference!
..Always got a thrill at having to do prep rather than homework. When I was teaching i sometimes got funny looks cos I occassionally called homework prep..this was in day schools!
..and of course, the inevitable can/may. I find I'm becoming equally fussy over saw/seen...

 

#85:  Author: Kathryn, Location: Kyabram (north of Melb) PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:15 am

Lisa_T wrote:
..When I was a prefect, and later when teaching, I used the 'waiting in silence for silence' trick with certain kids. Wouldn't have thought of that without CS.

Trust me, this does not always work!

 

#86:  Author: aitchemelle, Location: West Sussex PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:02 pm

Kathryn wrote:
Lisa_T wrote:
..When I was a prefect, and later when teaching, I used the 'waiting in silence for silence' trick with certain kids. Wouldn't have thought of that without CS.

Trust me, this does not always work!


I agree... my class just look at me strangely and carry on talking! bless the little darlings Evil or Very Mad

I used to try and make my mum talk to me in different languages on different days of the week!

Oh and I HAD to put my hair up!

 

#87:  Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:31 pm

aitchemelle wrote:
Kathryn wrote:
Lisa_T wrote:
..When I was a prefect, and later when teaching, I used the 'waiting in silence for silence' trick with certain kids. Wouldn't have thought of that without CS.

Trust me, this does not always work!


I agree... my class just look at me strangely and carry on talking! bless the little darlings Evil or Very Mad


Yes, I'm another who has to agree with this... That line about women's voices being 'ever sweet, gentle and low' certainly does not apply to me when I'm at work! Twisted Evil

I have considered, but not yet put into practice, Stacie Benson's trick of laughing at her troublesome students. I'm doubtful as to whether it would work (and also slightly scared of angry parents storming up to the school complaining I'd destroyed their child's self-esteem...)

 

#88:  Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:57 am

I used to do that with the Youth Club kids and in Sunday School. It did work especially when they realised how much fun time they lost through their own chatter. Those that carried on chattering were soon hushed by longerstanding members who knew I meant what I said.

 

#89:  Author: Lisa_T, Location: Belfast PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:46 pm

It doesn't work with completely off the wall classes. However, I found it worked with kids/ classes I had a good rapport with. I don't agree with the soft gentle low lark either. Try teaching in an all boys comp just after lunch on a Thursday afternoon! *doesn't think that 'teaching' is actually the operative word there*

 

#90:  Author: Emma, Location: Lichfield/Sutton Coldfield PostPosted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:48 pm

The only CS related thing I ever tried was having cold baths/showers in the morning as soon as I got up!! Needless to say the fad didnt last that long. I have to have ice baths after Ive been at athletics and it always makes me think of the CS!!! Confused

 

#91:  Author: leahbelle, Location: Coventry PostPosted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:32 pm

I used to make my mum talk to me in French - but never German as I was rubbish at it! I also used that "bending the knees" thing when mountaineering (or just walking up a steep hill) - in fact, I still find myself doing this! I also used to try to model myself on Len cos I was the eldest of a large family but I failed miserably and usually ended up causing my mum more grief than the rest of the family put together!

And, modelling myself on Joey I guess, I used to write school stories. Reading them back, most of them were just poor re-writings of my favourite CS books.

Oh, yes, and wanted to go to a school where I could wear a gym slip and hat - a gym slip in the 80s! I ask you! Whatever next!

 

#92:  Author: tiffinata as guest,  PostPosted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:07 pm

Try to remember the 'sweet and low' voice thing. Agree it doesn't work with many kids (or adults).
I am a gardener and frequently request people to 'come back to the path please' Try being polite and gentle the first time.
99% ignore it so I usually follow up with 'OY you, I SAID get of the garden'. (volume increases)
Often the parents don't give a @#^&$ and have a go at you while their little darlings are ripping the plants apart. Evil or Very Mad
I usually go home after a bad day and read a Chalet book!

 

#93:  Author: pim, Location: the Derbyshire wilderness PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:17 am

leahbelle wrote:
Oh, yes, and wanted to go to a school where I could wear a gym slip and hat - a gym slip in the 80s! I ask you! Whatever next!


*g* Me too! My poor mother actually bought me two gymslip type things from Marks and Sparks. I wore them a few times as well to my very unCS primary school and got laughed out of the playground so I stopped wearing them. Alas.

 

#94:  Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:22 pm

I did wear a gym slip at boarding school - a brown one too! We did get changed for games though, which the CS don't seem to!!!! We had shorts that almost touched the ground when you knelt, and had huge box pleats in them so they were almost like short skirts!
Wonder if the CS girls had to wear brown plimsolls and brown hockey boots!

 

#95:  Author: Kirstie, Location: Ayrshire PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:41 pm

Did they not change into gym knickers for games- whatever those are?
I think I remember a mention of dancing knickers in the early books as well.

 

#96:  Author: Alice, Location: London, England PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:35 pm

leahbelle wrote:

Oh, yes, and wanted to go to a school where I could wear a gym slip and hat - a gym slip in the 80s! I ask you! Whatever next!


I remember wearing a gymslip in the 80s. Not school uniform but I did wear it to school. My mum dressed me in all sorts of interesting individual ahead or behind their time jumble sale things!

 

#97:  Author: Vashti,  PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:16 pm

Amanda M wrote:
I remember in my first German classes when the teacher asked us if anyone knew how to say hello in German, I said "Gruss Gott" and got a very strange look back Embarassed Star Wars


Gosh - my first year German teacher actually taught us all to say Gruß Gott instead of Guten Tag!

I remember being quite pleased at the Chaletness of it all. Smile

 

#98:  Author: Sarah_G-G, Location: Sheffield (termtime), ? any other time! PostPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 11:04 pm

I also tried the cold bath thing and felt very proud of myself every time. Then I stopped. And the bending knees while walking up hill (although, out of curiosity, I tried to walk with straight knees and couldn't really see how you'd get up the hill at all that way!). I tried very hard not to use slang and still don't swear. I joined the country dancing club at junior school and have now started ballroom (although the Latin-American section probably isn't *quite* so CS...) I was delighted to be made a prefect at school (even if we didn't get quite the same respect the CS prefects did. In fact, I believe the most common response to being told not to do something was a look of complete astonishment as though to say "who are you and what are you doing?!" and then being completely ignored. I discovered pretty quickly that most prefects did nothing except walk around with a badge and a tie). I tried to convince my friends at senior school that speaking French and German on different days would be a really good idea but oddly enough only received strange looks in return... I am now studying French and German at university and have started Russian. Always wanted to call teachers by nicknames but nobody did that at my school Sad Loved writing stories in class, a lot of which seem to include school girls having some sort of adventure, with names like Mary, Margot, Felicity and using CS/Enid Blyton slang.

 

#99:  Author: Bess,  PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 12:00 am

I tried drinking hot milk a few times. Ick. It just got nastier as I got older.

 

#100:  Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 7:46 am

Well it's very CS to hate hot milk isn't it?

Liz

 

#101:  Author: tiffinata, Location: melbourne, australia PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 8:27 am

I find hot milk improves if you add a dash of something to it-





Like Baileys!

 

#102:  Author: Charlotte, Location: no longer at home PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 4:51 pm

Kirstie wrote:
Did they not change into gym knickers for games- whatever those are?
I think I remember a mention of dancing knickers in the early books as well.


Gym Knickers are like big knickers you wear over your underwear, specially if you're wearing a gym skirt, (a sort of mini kilt affair except its generaly all one color) although there are people who wander round school (after PE lessons) wearing their gym knicks and airtex...

there's pictures of our lovely uniform all over the school website if you're interested...http://www.castertonschool.co.uk

 

#103:  Author: Kate, Location: Ireland PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 5:52 pm

Your school looks lovely, Charlotte!

 

#104:  Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 6:19 pm

tiffinata wrote:
I find hot milk improves if you add a dash of something to it!

I like hot milk, even plain, though I admit it's better with a little honey -- and much better with chocolate syrup, though then I suppose it doesn't count as hot milk any more.

 

#105:  Author: Bess,  PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 12:20 am

Beside my hot milk episodes, I did learn to sew - not very exquisitely - and crochet, but gave up knitting after a few wonky 'squares'. Can't co-ordinate my fingers and the needles and wool properly.

I now have my hot milk with cocoa powder. Surprised

 

#106:  Author: Joyful, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 9:05 pm

Charlotte wrote:
Gym Knickers are like big knickers you wear over your underwear, specially if you're wearing a gym skirt, (a sort of mini kilt affair except its generaly all one color) although there are people who wander round school (after PE lessons) wearing their gym knicks and airtex...


We had to wear gym knickers (of the right colour etc) under gym skirts for P.E. And just gym knickers and airtex for gymnastics or dance in the hall (slightly Embarassed at that age).

Also had to take off skirts leaving you in just airtex and gym knickers when doing athletics outside in the summer, things like hurdles where skirt would get in the way! ( Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed especially cos of the boys school...)

 

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