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#1: Driving in CS Author: RoseCloke, Location: In my pretty box-like room

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 3:40 pm
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I've nearly finished rereading The New Chalet School and just after Sybil's kidnapping there's a paragraph that reads:

"So she struck out at them all, and yelled lustily, till Miss Annersley, with Louise at the wheel, got into the school car with her, and drove off to St Scholastika’s, where the prodigal was received with a rapturous welcome which made her crosser than ever, until Rosa bore her off to bed, bath, and supper."

Does this mean that Louise, as Head Girl, was allowed to drive the school car? Was this usual for the time and where could she have learnt? I was under the impression that the roads in the area were really bad

*is thoroughly confused*

#2: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:37 pm
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Driving tests were introduced 1934/35 ish in the UK, but I don't know about Austria (or, in Louise's case, the USA). If Louise was 17 or 18 at the time then I suppose that she'd have been old enough to have passed a test or considered old enough to drive if there were no tests, and IIRC we see Robin driving Jo's car in Highland Twins .. but I can't imagine many schools letting a pupil drive a school vehicle Shocked

#3: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:22 pm
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There is a little discussion about driving here. I presume it was a case of 'if you can do it, then do it' - maybe Lousie learned at home during the holidays. Definitely in this case, I'd say she was driving because Miss A needed her to step into the breach and give a hand Very Happy

#4: Author: RoseCloke, Location: In my pretty box-like room

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:44 pm
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Thanks Alison and Roisin (how do you make the accents on your 'o's 'i's, btw?) Smile

I suppose Louise driving isn't so shocking if you think of her age, it was more that she was driving the school car Very Happy

I can just imagine the look on my old headmistress' face if I'd offered to drive her car whilst I was at school... Laughing

#5: Author: lizarfau, Location: Melbourne

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:54 pm
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I always thought that driving herself to school in one or more of the war books (can't remember which, sorry) was the coolest thing Robin Humphries ever did.

It is odd to think of Louise driving Miss Annersley about, though! If Miss Annersley didn't drive, you'd think that one of the staff would have been able to. I can't imagine my old headmistress being driven anywhere by a pupil.

#6: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 12:14 am
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Hmmmm, perhaps she did need those glasses after all.... Wink

#7: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:30 am
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lizarfau wrote:

I always thought that driving herself to school in one or more of the war books (can't remember which, sorry) was the coolest thing Robin Humphries ever did.

Robin drives Daisy, Primula, Flora and Fiona to school in Highland Twins.

And Miss Annersley was carrying Sybil. Perhaps she either didn't trust Louise with the baby or else thought she would have more success in calming a screaming baby. If she knew Louise could drive, it would seem fairly natural to let her drive back to school.

#8: Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:01 pm
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Róisín wrote:

I presume it was a case of 'if you can do it, then do it' - maybe Lousie learned at home during the holidays.

I've a feeling that Louise had a brother at the San, and her home during the holidays was on the Sonnalpe. I don't know how anyone would have learnt to drive up there. I think there was only one road that meandered through the village and then went down to the lake, and neither of them would be good for driving practice.

Perhaps her faimily had a lot of land in Canada (or America? - forget where she came from) and she learnt to drive herself around at a relativly young age.

#9: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:25 pm
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Louise came from Louisiana Rolling Eyes

, though she ends up in Canada. In the U.S., the normal age for a driver's license is 16, so it didn't seem odd to me at all. I'm not 100% sure when this age became the norm, but do have 1930s books in which, say, the older girls in a Girl Scout troop drive groups. Also, in the 1930s versions of Nancy Drew, Nancy receives her "shining new blue roadster" as a 16th birthday present. (Later editions make her 18, and update the car.)

#10: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:02 pm
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Miriam wrote:

Perhaps her faimily had a lot of land in Canada (or America? - forget where she came from) and she learnt to drive herself around at a relativly young age.

Yes, that's what I meant. I always imagined her as originating on a large-scale piece of land, like a ranch or some kind of farm, that she would have learned to drive early on as a necessity.

#11: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:28 pm
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Is there ever any reference to Miss Annersley driving in the books?

#12: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:46 pm
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Yes, there is, in Shocks:

Quote:

'I'll see to it.' Miss Annersley took the neatly typed list and tucked it into her bag before pulling on her driving gloves. 'Give Matey a call, dear. We shall miss the ferry if she doesn't hurry.'
'I'm here,' Matron's voice said behind them.
Rosalie pulled the car door open and Matron slipped in while the Head took the driver's seat and started up at once, since her secretary had thoughtfully left the engine ticking over.

#13: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:49 pm
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Obviously had her contact lenses by then. Wink

#14: Author: RoseCloke, Location: In my pretty box-like room

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:12 pm
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Lesley wrote:

Hmmmm, perhaps she did need those glasses after all....

I've been rereading the books in order and came across my first 'eyes' reference this weekend. I giggled like a first former Laughing

I'd forgotten about Americans driving before British girls - that could have made a difference. KB, you're probably right about the screaming Sybil. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be entrusted with a screaming baby in a moving car at eighteen! Very Happy

Especially one that belonged to my school's ex-Head Shocked

#15: Author: Fi, Location: Somerset

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:57 pm
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I spent some time working on a summer camp in Michigan, USA, a few years ago and some of the girls I was counselor to reliably informed me that they could get a permit to learn to drive at 14 years and 9 months, I would say that Louise had had a few lessons at some point and I don't believe that drivers licences were compulsary in UK back then. Maybe they weren't in Austria.

#16: Author: JayB, Location: SE England

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:47 pm
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The UK driving test was introduced in 1935. The minimum age for driving a car was set at seventeen in 1930. I don't know what the regulations were in Austria, and I don't suppose EBD did either, but as Louise was seventeen or eighteen, presumably she was legally permitted to drive. (In the UK, a seventeen year old can drive without having passed the test providing they have a provisional licence and are accompanied by a qualified driver, which Louise was.)

#17: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:19 pm
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I always assumed that Louise was driving because Miss A was fully occupied in clutching a screaming, raging baby, having decided to get her home asap as no-one could calm her. I was a bit surprised that she was allowed to, though obviously everything everyone else has said about earlier driving possibilities in the USA and lack of driving tests generally is true.

#18: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:23 am
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That seems a valid reason for why Miss Annersley couldn't drive - but why Louise? Couldn't any of the rest of the Staff drive? Or was Miss Annersley giving Louise a lesson?

#19: Author: Sugar, Location: second star to the right!

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:23 pm
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Was it just a way to show the reader how grown up the Prefects were?

#20: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:17 pm
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But don't forget that this is all happening during school time, so most of the mistresses would be busy. Presumably Miss Annersley was teaching the Prefects and so would feel that they were the natural people to come along and help. After all, the school doesn't do official exams at this point!

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