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New Beginnings at the Platz
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Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:10 pm ]
Post subject:  New Beginnings at the Platz
New Beginnings at the Platz

I've been dipping in among the drabbles on here and having a whale of a time. There's some brilliant writing and some very deep emotions being explored. I thought I'd keep away from the seriously emotional stuff and take a look at some practical difficulties that have often occurred to me. (Later on there will be crossovers - if I get that far!)

Gaudenz had carved the name on a board for his “gracious ladies” and there it was on the wall now, for all to see. ‘I hope they don’t mind,’ the visitor said aloud as she looked up and admired it. ‘I’d hate to have to change the name now, when everyone here at the Platz has adopted it so thoroughly.’ She laughed and shook her head. ‘They’ll be fine about it,’ she reassured herself. ‘After all, nobody ever suggested either of them was lacking a pretty strong sense of humour!’
The visitor was a slightly-built woman in her late forties, attractive without being precisely pretty, with a fresh face and wavy fair hair. As she hesitated on the doorstep a car drove past, the driver tooting the horn madly and the passenger, a young girl, waving frantically and blowing kisses. With another laugh and an answering wave, the visitor pushed open the front door and slipped inside.
She had an errand downstairs but after a few minutes’ chat with Gredel in the kitchen she ran upstairs to the hall again and made her way to the chalet’s main living room. At the threshold she paused and smiled with great affection as she surveyed the occupants of the sunroom beyond.
‘I see you’ve made yourselves at home already?’ she laughed and then ran towards the two women who rose from their comfortable wicker armchairs beside the big picture windows, throwing aside their books with cries of delight and welcome.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Ooh, who's the visitor? Do tell more please!

I can't wait to read more - though I don't know how you can possibly do any writing without deep emotion :lol:

Thankyou.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks, Chubby Monkey. All will be revealed! I think I meant it won't be too angsty rather than no emoting at all! :D
Author:  PaulineS [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks fro a new drabble.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A bit more to be going on with. Apologies for possibly dodgy German in the house name, it's centuries since I did A levels!

‘Rosalie!’ The younger of the two women reached her first and caught her in a warm embrace. ‘It’s wonderful to see you again, it’s been a long, long year; more than a year in fact.’ Hilda Annersley, former Headmistress of the Chalet School, whipped her recently-acquired reading glasses off her elegant nose and reached for a handkerchief. ‘Silly fool,’ she chided herself, with a choke in her deep, beautiful voice. ‘Nothing to cry about, after all.’
‘There certainly isn’t,’ agreed her companion, a small, wiry woman in her mid-sixties, silver-haired and with keen blue-grey eyes. ‘Well, Rosalie?’ She too hugged the visitor then stood back to survey her. ‘You’re looking very well; marriage must be suiting you still, even after three years!’
‘Oh, it is,’ came the reply. ‘But I’ve come to spend the day with you, if you’ll put up with me, and to make sure I'm welcome - ' She laughed out loud at Hilda's reaction and hugged her again. 'I’ve just dropped some gorgeous cakes in to the kitchen. Gredel is bringing them up in a minute, with coffee; they’re from the new patisserie in the village.’
‘It’s good of you to spare a day to us,’ Hilda Annersley said, tucking a hand into Rosalie’s arm and leading her to a seat in the sunroom that opened out of the salon. ‘What are Frank and Lucy doing today? I hope they won’t feel neglected?’
‘Oh no,’ Rosalie’s blue eyes looked grave for a moment and her voice deepened with emotion. ‘It’s just that it’s five years to the day that Phoebe died and we’ve made it a tradition that they spend the day together. I felt they should have time to remember her without having to worry about whether my feelings were hurt. Which they’re not, needless to say; Phoebe and I were such good friends and I’m sure in my heart that she would be happy that Frank and I are married.’
‘I’m certain that you’re right,’ Hilda agreed quietly. ‘Phoebe was such a gentle soul and we all felt her long suffering; her quiet death came as a blessing in the end.’ She patted Rosalie’s shoulder. ‘And you’ve made such a difference to Frank and Lucy, with your energy and gaiety. And speaking of your energy,’ she waved a hand round at the salon with its pine rafters and shining wooden floor, and at the sunroom filled with stands of geraniums and other flowering plants. ‘We have so much to thank you for, on our own behalf, my dear. Nell Wilson told us that although she did what she could, the burden of finding us a home up here on the Platz fell squarely on your shoulders, not to mention all the actual business of buying the chalet for us after we shamelessly decamped to America and left you in charge. And you ended up supervising all the alterations too. You’ve performed absolute marvels.’
‘Hear, hear,’ echoed Gwynneth Lloyd, former matron and beloved tyrant of the Chalet School - known as ‘Matey’ to generations of Chalet girls (but not to her face); that liberty was open only to a select few. ‘I don’t mind admitting that Hilda and I were more than a little apprehensive about what we were going to find, but Das Damenhaus is just right. Well done, Rosalie.’
‘Oh, I’m so glad you like it,’ cried Rosalie, looking relieved. ‘And you don’t mind the name? It just seemed to appear out of thin air, nobody will admit to coming up with it, but that was how the workmen referred to the chalet. I used to hear them talking about ‘the house of the ladies’ and the name spread all along the Platz till even the School was calling it that.’
‘It’s a splendid name,’ laughed Hilda Annersley. ‘And a very individual one too. And as for the house itself, well – as Gwyn says – we both remembered the rather ramshackle Villa Edelweiss and worried more than once whether you’d taken on more than you could chew, but you’ve done us proud.’ She cast an approving glance at the wide windows looking out on the valley below, with a glimpse of the Jungfrau in the distance. ‘I was sorry to hear of Herr Julstein’s stroke, but the pension had been going downhill for several years so I imagine his wife was relieved the decision was made for them. But what an opportunity for us, property is always so scarce up here and we really wanted to buy, rather than rent.’
Rosalie nodded her thanks to Gredel who now appeared with the coffee pot and cups, along with the delicious pastries Rosalie had picked up at the village patisserie.
‘Here, shall I do the honours just this once? I feel as if I’m back in the old job, pouring out for Hilda at Kaffee und Kuchen. Tuck in, the new patisserie in the Dorf is going great guns and the cakes are selling – well, like hot cakes!’
She broke into the laughter at this feeble joke and leaned forward, looking earnest. ‘I can’t tell you what a relief it is to me to see the pair of you looking so brown and fit and cheerful,’ she said. ‘When I think back to the limp objects I shoved on to that plane for New York, twelve months and more ago, well – you hardly look the same creatures. I was worried sick, I can admit it now; I really thought you’d be turned off the plane and sent home!’
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Always nice to see new drabbles :D .
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Did that raise more questions than it answered? I think so!

I can't believe that Rosalie is married :shock:
Author:  JS [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Das Damenhaus - like it :)
Thanks Sealpuppy.
Author:  Emma A [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is really interesting, sealpuppy - thanks.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A bit more while I'm in the mood! Having just read the whole series for the umpteenth time, the question of what on earth Hilda and Nell would do when they retired began to nag at me.

‘Corney van Alden took one look at us and threw up her hands in horror when she met us at the airport,’ Hilda admitted. ‘She put her foot down and packed us off to bed for forty-eight hours, not letting us get up at all, and I must say we felt better for it. I certainly slept for most of that time. Then she tucked us up in her sumptuous limousine and carted us off to their summer place in the Adirondacks for the next three months. It was exactly what we needed, peaceful and beautiful away by the lake, with no responsibilities, and completely out of our usual experience. Corney’s husband and family came and went, for weekends and odd weeks at a time, from the office, from school, from college, but mostly we just relaxed. Then for the last three weeks of our stay Corney organised a series of visitors so we were able to catch up with Louise Redmond and her brother, as well as the picturesque Iseult, who is now a perfectly normal human being and very happy with her sensible husband and family. Her sisters came too and it was good to see Val and Ronny as such civilised creatures.’

‘After that we had the three months in New Zealand with Mollie Maynard and family and that was a treat too.’ Matey took up the tale. ‘Because of the restful time we’d had with Corney we were able to appreciate the hubbub of Mollie’s household and the rash of visits and sight-seeing that she’d organised.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Hilda. ‘Mind you, by the time we arrived at Con McKenzie’s place at Manly Beach, we were ready to collapse again, which we did, but it was only natural tiredness, not that awful nervous exhaustion that had us both in its grip for the last weeks of that final term.’

‘Here,’ Rosalie refreshed her friend’s cup. ‘Have some more of this delicious coffee and stop remembering the glooms, they’re over and gone. But I’ll admit you’d really had a doing of it. What with your own gallstones op and Matey’s frozen shoulder followed by that wicked bout of flu that floored half the school, you were ready to drop, the pair of you.’

‘A lot of the trouble, in my case at any rate,’ mused Matey. ‘Was that I had no idea where on earth I was going to go when I retired, and I knew that once I reached sixty-five the school couldn’t keep me on; I was already over the official retirement age as it was. No,’ she sipped her coffee reflectively. ‘I was worrying myself sick because I’d no savings to speak of, and not a place in the world that I loved as much as this one. The only certainty was that I was determined not to hang around as someone’s pensioner till they spoke of me as ‘poor old Matey.’

There was a shout of laughter from the other two. ‘What a picture!’ gurgled Rosalie. ‘That would never happen in a million years, but I do see the problem. It makes it even more of a blessing that your brother-in-law came up trumps when he sold his house.’
‘I’d honestly forgotten, you know,’ Matey said slowly. ‘It had completely slipped my mind that I gave Lilian half the purchase price when they were moving house all those years ago. I had the money left over from the sale of our parent’s old home, and Lilian’s share had gone into her family pot. I never meant it as a loan, it was a gift, but Eric insisted on giving me half the proceeds when he sold up to move to a smaller place and to be in closer touch with his grandchildren. It made me open my eyes I must admit, when he told me how much the house had increased in value over the years but it was a godsend to me. It meant I could join in with Hilda and Nell’s plans and contribute a third share in this chalet, and that means a very great deal to me. I value my independence, as you know.’

Rosalie smiled at her, with understanding. ‘You were very wise, you know, when you insisted that you would both stay away from the school and the Platz for at least a year. I know there was an outcry when you told people but it was the most sensible thing you could have done. For a start the two of you have completely recovered your old zest, I can see it by the sparkle in your eyes. And for another, it left Nancy Wilmot a clear field to establish herself securely as the new Head, which I may say she’s done to perfection.
‘The School isn’t the same as it was but then it wasn’t the same when Mlle Lepattre died years ago and you took over, Hilda or, for that matter when Mlle became Head on Madame’s marriage, but the School goes on and Nancy is making a grand job of being Head.’

‘I’m so glad.’ Hilda spoke with heartfelt gratitude. ‘I felt that if we were removed entirely from the scene, everyone would grow accustomed to Nancy being in place, and like Gwn I didn’t relish the idea of being the skeleton at the feast, rattling my chains around the Platz and moaning that things were better in my day.’

‘What on earth are you drinking, Hilda Annersley, to be talking such rubbish at this time of the morning?’ The speaker was a tall, slim woman, trim in a green cotton dress, her thick white hair piled high and revealing streaks of chestnut. ‘Rosalie? I thought you said you were bringing cakes along? You said nothing about smuggling in secret bottles of schnapps!’
Author:  JS [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Sounds like quite a trip :) . Thanks sealpuppy.
Author:  Emma A [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
How lovely! I do like the remininscence about what happened, and agree that it's quite likely.

Thanks, sealpuppy.
Author:  MaryR [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you, sealpuppy. I love the idea of Rosalie picking up the pieces for Frank and Lucy and finding happiness herself.

As for Hilda keeping away for a year, 'tis what I always said she would have done, with her sensitivity. Looking forward to more.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
What a lovely trip! Hoping that they settle in ok :D
Author:  Abi [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Wow, this is a great version of what happened next. I love the fact that Rosalie married Frank - somehow that seems perfect!

Thanks sealpuppy :D .
Author:  shesings [ Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is lovely, sealpuppy, and you've captured them perfectly! Looking forward to the next installment!
Author:  Alison H [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I love the idea of Hilda and Nell going off travelling together: I can't imagine either of them just hanging around the Platz, and, as you say, it would make things awkward for the new Head if they were around whilst she was trying to establish herself.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for nice comments. Real Work is plodding a bit and playing on the Platz is much more fun! More practical stuff; this is the stiff upper lip generation so, as I said, the emotion is there but it's under wraps. These are, after all, the role models for the thousands of Chalet girls who did not become spineless jellyfish!

‘Nell,’ Rosalie leapt to her feet to greet the newcomer. ‘Sit down and stop being silly; we saved you the most luscious of the goodies I brought with me and here’s a spare cup. I’ll squeeze out a drop for you and I’m sure Gredel will be bringing some more coffee. She’ll have noticed your arrival, you’re not exactly fairy-footed.’
Nell Wilson, newly retired head of St Mildred’s, the finishing branch of the Chalet School in Switzerland, laughed and sat down, reaching a frankly greedy hand for the enticing pastry Rosalie held out to her.
‘I hope they’ve told you how clever you’ve been,’ she nodded to the younger woman and turned to her other two friends. ‘I couldn’t have brought this conversion job in on time without Rosalie. She’s been site foreman, architect, Big Bad Wolf to the workmen, and even interior decorator at times. I’ve lent a hand where I could but winding down my affairs at St Mildred’s has taken far more effort than I anticipated.’ She grinned at her two dearest friends. ‘Well, you two are looking more rested than you were when I picked you up at the airport last night; are you pleased with what you see now you’ve had a chance to look around?’

‘Of course we are,’ Hilda assured her. ‘We knew we could trust you and Rosalie to find us somewhere comfortable to live but the transformation of this place is amazing. I think the most satisfying development of all is the way you’ve managed to give us each not only a good-sized bedroom but a sitting room each as well. We all get on together tremendously but I can see that having our own private rooms will be a great boon.’

‘It wasn’t too difficult,’ Rosalie said. ‘The ground floor is much as it was before: large salon with the sun room opening out of it, and a good broad balcony off that. The speisesaal is rather large for a private dwelling but we’ve left it so that one end can be a television room if anyone wants it. Then there’s what was the office when it was a Pension, and that’s fitted out as a quiet room for reading or writing, with a couple of desks in there. Then there’s the little room at the rear corner but so far nobody’s come up with a use for that one.
‘Upstairs there were ten bedrooms and we managed to make five separate apartments out of them, squeezing in a tiny bathroom for each of you. That, I may say, was my piece de resistance,’ she laughed and continued. ‘The rabbit warren of rooms on the top floor has translated into four decent sized guest rooms, all sharing a bathroom though each room up there has its own basin so you’ll be ready for visitors as soon as you like.’

‘For my part,’ put in Matey. ‘It’s the lift that carries off the prize. Think how useful it will be when we’re all too old and decrepit to stagger up those steep stairs. The lift will be a boon and a blessing.’
She sat back with a mischievous grin at the peal of laughter that greeted her remark but Rosalie sobered quickly and leaned forward.
‘Yes, it’s funny now,’ she said earnestly. ‘But that’s precisely what Nell and I had in mind when we commissioned the lift. I know that you hope to spend the rest of your lives here on the Platz, and where better than such a beautiful part of the world? Not to mention being among friends and only a mile or so down the road from one of Europe’s foremost centres of medical research, so we planned the house to cater for all eventualities, even the hopefully remote possibility of someone becoming bed-ridden or wheelchair bound. Have you noticed the width of all the doorways?’

‘Still, that’s for the future,’ Nell Wilson broke in with a smile. ‘In the meantime, what do you two girls think about your rooms? Not to mention the furniture around the house?’
‘I seem to recognise the gentian-besprinkled curtains in my bedroom and sitting room,’ suggested Hilda. ‘And Gwyn was delighted to see her room has that lovely nasturtium pattern, weren’t you? What’s happened? Did you find some more of the fabric?’

‘Nope,’ Nell’s grin was insouciant and she twinkled at her own use of forbidden slang. ‘What happened was that some bright spark put her foot through her cubicle curtain in the Gentian dormy and the material was found to have rotted. A check was made and quite a few others were found to be pretty fragile so Nancy decided to change the lot over in the Easter holidays. Sadly the floral fabrics are no longer available – and would cost the earth to replace these days even if they were to be bought – so they’ve gone over to checks or stripes in very pretty colours instead.’

‘Yes,’ Rosalie added her mite to the discussion. ‘What Nell hasn’t told you is that she strolled into School one day to find the curtains put aside – the ones in good condition that hadn’t gone for cleaning rags - and calmly appropriated as many as she thought we could find a use for over here.’ She waved a hand round at the spacious salon. ‘You’ll have spotted the ivy curtains from the staff sitting room in here, of course, and Jeanne has Alpenrose while Anna bagged Edelweiss. The top floor rooms are also curtained in cast-offs from the school and the two big leather sofas came from the Pension Caramie which is being done up. Nell and I didn’t want to splash out for lots of new furniture that you might not like and besides, we thought you’d like to join in the fun.’

‘That’s a sensible plan,’ approved Hilda. ‘And I also recognise a couple of armchairs from the staffroom; is that being altered too? It was long overdue, I must admit but I somehow didn’t have the energy to set a complete renovation under way.’

‘Jeanne and Anna have gone down to Interlaken,’ commented Matey, pouring out more coffee. ‘Jeanne wanted to buy some more embroidery thread and Anna is on a hunt for bulbs as well as a couple of books on alpine gardening. She says she’s always wanted a garden but has never had the chance of one, and I for one won’t be contesting her claim. I’m as fond of a garden as the next woman, as somewhere to sit and relax, but I’ve no desire to start digging.’
Author:  Cath V-P [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is lovely - I can just see them enjoying their retirement in these surroundings and making a life independent of the school.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
It's really nice to see them all getting on so well together - they're characters that we don't get to see much of otherwise.

Thankyou!
Author:  JS [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Gosh, five of them in the one place - at least they'll have someone to supervise cooking sessions and someone to make luscious coffee!
Author:  PaulineS [ Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Glad they can all have their own rooms and yet spaces to share together.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A bit more of the gentle settling-in process. Sadly my version of Matey's new leisure activities isn't as exciting as starring in the Sound of Music, but it's just as unlikely! Should mention this is set in 1965 (a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to get a mortgage, hence the joint house purchase) so Matey's 65, Hilda 60, Nell approx 57, Rosalie approx 48/9. And from now on whenever there's a new romance mentioned, there'll be a crossover, though some might be obscure.

‘It’s going to work, isn’t it?’ Rosalie was still feeling her way and anxious to hear that her recently-returned friends were happy with her efforts and not merely being polite. ‘Jeanne and Anna were in much the same boat as you, Matey; in that they aren’t millionaires, have fairly limited savings, and have no family to speak of. When the chance to rent rooms here with you came up – and I can tell you Nell and I broached the subject very tentatively in case they hated the idea - they were more relieved than you can imagine. Mind you, they insist on calling themselves The Lodgers and are hoping that you won’t be strict landladies!’

‘Silly creatures,’ Hilda gave an indulgent smile. ‘I’m thrilled that Anna is prepared to take on the housekeeping, she says it’ll be a novelty only having to cater for five, instead of ordering in bulk for school dommy sci classes. And I’m only too glad to have dear Jeanne living with us – we’ve all lived the communal life for so many years now I doubt we’d be happy living in a small flat in ones or twos though, as I said earlier, I’m sure we’ll all appreciate our own private sitting rooms. We’ll shake down eventually into a comfortable division of labour.’

A possible drawback occurred to Rosalie, as it had done again and again throughout her labours on their behalf. ‘You don’t think you’ll be bored here, do you? I mean there’s nothing much to do, though once the ski resort up on the Roseleinalp is up and running I expect things will liven up round here? I believe there are plans to establish nursery slopes at this level and that will mean a big influx of visitors when it’s completed. It won’t be for a couple of years or so though; they have a lot to do, with cable cars, ski school, hotels, and so forth, all to be built, long before they can open to visitors. There’s one blessing in that the Platz is not very big so we shan’t end up bang in the middle of a huge resort; I believe this is intended to be more of a smallish family centre.’

Nell Wilson looked at her contemporaries and shook her head. ‘I don’t think we’ll find it boring,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Oh, I know the young wives find themselves bored to tears sometimes, though that’s not a problem now Hilary and Biddy have gone back to teaching at the school and of course Daisy went back to medicine; but we’re all getting on a bit, you know and we all have plans to keep ourselves alert and busy.’
‘Yes, you do, don’t you?’ Rosalie was interested. ‘I know about your plans, Nell; working one day a week and starting work on that textbook you’ve always planned. Then there’s Jeanne and her marathon undertaking – a Bayeux-style tapestry telling the story of the school from its earliest beginnings! That’ll keep her busy till she’s about ninety-four, I should think.’ She joined in the laughter but carried on. ‘Anna is going in for gardening as well as housekeeping for Das Damenhaus, but what about you two?’

She and Nell looked curiously at the recently returned travellers, as they realised they had no idea how Hilda and Matey planned to fill their days.
‘It’s no secret,’ Hilda smiled. ‘I’ll be doing something similar to Nell. Some years ago, when I was away for a term you remember, I was asked to consider producing a book of essays based on my religious knowledge lessons. Tom Gay seems to have mentioned my classes to a publisher acquaintance and while we were passing through London I got in touch to find that he is even more determined on it than ever. If that works out he wants something similar based on my literature lessons.’ She shot an encouraging smile across the table to her fellow-traveller. ‘Gwyn, on the other hand, is trying something much more adventurous!’
‘I’m going to paint pictures,’ said Gwyn Lloyd, embarrassment and defiance mingled in her expression.

‘Paint?’ The other two chorused, then Rosalie went on. ‘That sounds exciting, Matey, but what’s brought this on? I don’t remember you ever mentioning an urge to paint?’
‘You’re quite right,’ agreed the older woman. ‘I never did, but when we were staying with Con in Manly I had a birthday, if you recall, and my present was a six week intensive course at the local art college. I may say I was horrified at first, thought it would be a complete waste of time and money, but to my surprise I took to painting like a – like a duck to water! I love it and whether I’m any good or not makes no difference. That’s what I plan to do, at first anyway.’

‘She’s very, very good,’ put in Hilda, shushing her friend’s modest protests. ‘I was surprised too but Con insisted it was a good idea and she and the Russell girls clubbed together. Yes,’ she murmured as an aside. ‘We’ll tell you about Sybil and Josette later.’ Rosalie raised an eyebrow but Hilda continued: ‘Gwyn paints the most startling pictures you know; don’t go expecting pretty little vases of flowers or quaint watercolour sketches. She’s been experimenting with aboriginal styles and her pictures are dramatic to say the least.’

‘Yes,’ Matey gave a surprisingly impish grin, her momentary diffidence vanished. ‘Emerence dropped in one day, to show off her baby, and announced that there was obviously something Freudian going on with the painting I was doing – she’s picked up some surprising bits of information from that husband of hers. It was a desert dreamscape involving some large ant hills, I remember.’ She frowned for a moment, then exclaimed: ‘Your unused room, Rosalie. Do you think I might use it as a studio? Just to start with, I mean?’

At Rosalie’s nod, Matey went on with her story. ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that Emerence seems to have settled down a bit though she’s saddled that poor child of hers with a mouthful of a name: Augustinian, I ask you! It struck Hilda and me as rather funny that she’s ended up with a doctor, as so many Old Girls seem to do, though there’s no danger of them turning up here. Dr Elliott has a country practice in a back of beyond area called Wandin Valley.’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:lol: I love Matey's plans! Also pleased to hear that Emmy is settling in well - though I wonder how long it will be before it dawns on her that "you can't use that for everyday"!

Thankyou :D
Author:  Alison H [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Glad to hear that Hilary, Biddy and Daisy are all back at work :D, and it's lovely to hear everyone's plans for their retirement.
Author:  JS [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Augustinian will have to be Gus like our lovely dog!
Will they be getting a dog, Sealpuppy?
Thanks for the update :)
Author:  Emma A [ Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I just love the idea of Matey painting and Jeanne creating a massive tapestry! Thanks, sealpuppy.
Author:  BethC [ Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
At Rosalie’s nod, Matey went on with her story. ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that Emerence seems to have settled down a bit though she’s saddled that poor child of hers with a mouthful of a name: Augustinian, I ask you! It struck Hilda and me as rather funny that she’s ended up with a doctor, as so many Old Girls seem to do, though there’s no danger of them turning up here. Dr Elliott has a country practice in a back of beyond area called Wandin Valley.’


Do I detect a hint of crossover? :D

Thanks, sealpuppy!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Do I detect a hint of crossover? :D

Only if you watched far too many ancient Australian soaps, Beth! :)
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
More from Das Damenhaus:

Rosalie leaned back in her comfortable wicker chair and lazily watched the other three as they caught up on the travellers’ news. Yes, she thought, comforted; they’ll be happy here and I’ll be just down the road too which will be a great pleasure to me. I’ve spent so much of my life in their company and they’re among my dearest friends. I wonder if they'll be able to keep away from the School? It hasn't been a problem for me but that's because Frank and Lucy have become my life; but what about Hilda and co?

It had been hard work, sometimes infuriating, often frustrating, trying to marshal workmen and decorators to make the Ladies’ House perfect, but it had been worth it all. A surreptitious glance across the coffee table at Nell Wilson was satisfying too. Nell had been growing thinner and more exhausted during the previous Christmas term, partly because of missing the other two, but also because she had finally confessed that her foot was troubling her, the old injury causing real pain. A small operation had set it right but while in the San Nell had taken the decision to wind down and take a partial retirement.
Rosalie could clearly recall the conversation they had. Nell had been threadpaper thin and very nervy, her eyes bright with feverish intensity.

‘I’ve been feeling like this for a long time,’ she had said, gazing at a photo of Hilda and Gwyn Lloyd that stood on her bedside cabinet. ‘And I know Hilda did too.’ She turned to Rosalie. ‘You must have felt much the same,’ she suggested. ‘Giving your life to the school and wondering what in the world was to become of you when retirement loomed. Tell me,’ her voice dropped to a murmur. ‘I realised – we all realised, I think – that Frank was falling in love with you after you picked up the pieces for him and Lucy when Phoebe died; and I know you cared for him too, but was there somewhere just a tiny speck of relief? That you could escape from the school?’

Rosalie had felt no indignation at the question, intimate as it was. ‘To you, Nell,’ she said slowly. ‘And only to you, I’ll admit there was a trace of that feeling, but I did, and do, love Frank, you know and after three years it’s grown into something very strong and comfortable and true. But yes, I’ve always been conscious of a certain gratitude to him for rescuing me from ending up as a Chalet school pensioner.’

‘That’s how Hilda and Gwyn feel,’ confided Nell, looking calmer. ‘I’m too young to retire fully just yet but the sale of my cottage on Dartmoor has made it possible for me to invest in the chalet with Hilda and Gwyn and to work part-time; that’s going to make all the difference.’

Nell’s friend and coadjutor, Julie Berne, was to take her place as head of the finishing branch, and Nell and Jeanne de Lachennais had offered their services on a strictly part-time basis. Nell was to offer science coaching at St Mildred’s to any girl heading for a science course at university and who wanted some extra tuition to get her well up to scratch, while Jeanne said she would be willing to take advanced needlework and embroidery as well as French conversation.

Nell had put it bluntly. ‘I've spent decades forcing facts into lumpen schoolgirls who would rather be anywhere else in the world and I'm sick of it so I’ll spend one full day a week at St Mildred’s teaching girls who are going in for science at university and who really want to learn. And Jeanne feels much the same about French. She’s happy to teach girls who are keen, but not otherwise.’ She had managed a grin, a shadow of her usual insouciant smile, but a smile all the same, and it had rejoiced Rosalie’s heart. ‘We’ve promised Julie that we will never, ever interfere with the administration of the finishing branch and that if she asks our advice, we certainly won’t give it!’

Julie Berne was a sensible woman who knew they would keep their word, so she had eagerly closed with them on the offer.

Rosalie was roused out of her reverie by a question from Gwyn Lloyd.
‘Wake up, child,’ she said. ‘I asked if everyone is well at Freudesheim?’
The blue eyes opened wide and Rosalie shot a glance at Nell. ‘I know that tone of voice, Matey, and you’re looking just too innocent. What do you know about it all?’ She cast a look across at Hilda Annersley who was looking very conscious, with a gleam of humour in her eyes.

‘Of course,’ she exclaimed. ‘You two spent the last few weeks or so staying with Jem and Madge.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘And I’m betting young Charles dropped in for a night or two, he’s very close to his uncle and aunt.’ She sat up energetically. ‘That’s it; you know all about it, don’t you?’

‘We might,’ temporised Hilda, with a maddening smile. ‘Go on then, you’d better tell us what happened at Freudesheim when Charles dropped his bombshell!’

(I've allocated Nell the cottage on Dartmoor but it could have belonged to Hilda; can't remember, so am leaving it as Nell's)
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Was that a cliff edge I just passed?

Thanks!
Author:  jmc [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
Do I detect a hint of crossover? :D

Only if you watched far too many ancient Australian soaps, Beth! :)


A Country Practice was my favourite show when I was growing up. :D
It's nice to see everyoe moving on and having a life outside the school. Thanks sealpuppy
Author:  abbeybufo [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
I've allocated Nell the cottage on Dartmoor but it could have belonged to Hilda; can't remember, so am leaving it as Nell's


No worries, it was Nell's OK in the beginning.

Thanks for this :D
Author:  cestina [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh this is nice. Looking forward to some more..... :D
Author:  Alison H [ Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Hope Charles's bombshell is something very shocking :wink: !
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just a little taster; this isn't actually Charles's bombshell though. Don't worry, this is as angsty as it gets. It'll get cosier later on.

Part 2 Developments at Freudesheim

Rosalie poured another coffee and settled down to bring her friends up to date with events at Freudesheim.

She had, she told them, been having English tea with Joey Maynard in the Saal, both of them relishing the shade after the blazing sun outside, when they heard a commotion in the entrance hall of Freudesheim.

‘What on earth…?’ Jack Maynard was standing in the doorway of his study gazing in disbelief at the trio on the front doorstep. Cecil, who had answered the intemperate clanging of the bell, had shrunk back into the hall, alarmed by the anger evident on the faces of the two men who stood either side of a lanky, red-haired boy of twelve, whose mulish expression looked ominous.

‘Father Sigismond?’ Joey had rushed out to the hall where she recognised the Acting Abbot from the monastery down in the valley. ‘And Brother Brendan? Why, good heavens, how did you get that black eye, Brother?’

‘Your hooligan of a son punched Brother Brendan,’ spluttered the furious abbot, retaining his fierce grip on Geoff, who was trying to wriggle away from him.

‘But why, Geoff?’ Joey’s luminous eyes softened and gleamed with unshed tears. ‘How could you do such a thing? You're supposed to be at the abbey summer camp for another week.’

Geoff’s mouth was shut in a firm line and as the acting abbot started to speak, a fresh interruption came, in the shape of a tall, slim young man in jeans, with a bag slung over his shoulder.

‘Charles?’ Joey and Jack both turned to him in astonishment, while Rosalie wondered whether she should retire discreetly from the scene. Good manners suggested such a move, but curiosity won. She stood well back and awaited the next excitement.

Charles Maynard dropped his bag and small suitcase on the hall floor and took one look at his youngest brother. Another glance took in the angry monks and his grey eyes turned cold.

‘What was it, Geoff?’ he asked gently, ignoring the adults. ‘Did you have to try those jujitsu moves we showed you?’
At the sympathy in Charles’s voice, the younger boy’s composure vanished and the tears spilled over. He nodded and Charles put a comforting arm round him. ‘Don’t worry, old chap. Um – you OK? Nothing – er?’ When Geoff nodded, Charles heaved a sigh of relief and gave the boy a little push. ‘Here, I’ll sort this out, don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. Go and find Anna, she’s bound to have something in the cake tin to cheer you up.’

‘What do you mean?’ demanded Jack Maynard. ‘He’s not in trouble? I should damned well think he is. I’m not having any son of mine assaulting men of the cloth.’

‘Really?’ Charles shot him a cool, measuring look. ‘I’m really sorry to hear that, Dad.’
With that, he turned to Brother Brendan who was glaring at him. Charles walked up to him and halted, looking coldly angry. ‘You utter bastard,’ he said in a conversational tone. ‘One black eye isn’t enough.’ And with that, he punched the monk, felling him to the floor. ‘We should have done that years ago,’ he remarked, rubbing his fist with a rueful expression.

Joey and Jack had, along with Father Sigismond, been staring open-mouthed at the scene. Joey clutched at her heart and screamed but Jack started forward, blind fury disfiguring his face. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, you young lout,’ he demanded, but was brought up short by his second son’s expression.

‘I’m doing what you should have done years ago, Dad,’ Charles told him. ‘Steve and I told you about that bastard but you refused to believe us, and so did he…’ he gestured to Father Sigismond. ‘Luckily Steve had a friend who had learned jujitsu and he taught us quite a lot of moves – only just in time, in Steve’s case. We went on trying to tell you and in the end we just kept on our guard at the abbey summer school and we were fine. But we made sure the kids all learned the moves too. Just as well, from the sound of it.’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:shock: :shock: :shock:

Blimey! I hope that this isn't going where I think it is!

Though I am pleased to see that CS mistresses and those affiliated with them don't always adhere strictly to what good manners dictate :lol:

More soon please?
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Also hoping this isn't going where it sounds like it is ...

(Sorry for the appalling grammar!)
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:wink: Would I do that to those poor kids? They've had enough to bear, what with being sidelined by Mama's books and Papa's workaholic lifestyle. All will be revealed and hankies won't be needed.
Author:  JS [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank goodness for that :)
In that case, looking forward to the next bit. :D
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Sorry, didn't want to worry anyone. Mind you, I didn't say they weren't in danger! Just that they weren't ever harmed. Bit more to set people's minds at rest, and now Charles's bombshell at the end looks a bit tame. It's only a bombshell to Jack and Joey, really. :)


Jack Maynard pulled himself together and cast a look of horror at his second son.
‘For Christ’s sake, Charles,’ he said, pleading in his suddenly sombre blue eyes. ‘You surely don’t mean that you or Steve…?’
‘No, Dad,’ Charles moved across the hall and clapped his father on the shoulder. ‘Steve and I soon learned how to avoid that kind of thing at prep school and even more when we went to public school, don’t worry. And we made sure the kids were fully armed; but it does go on, you know. I don’t know why you’re so surprised?’

He received no response and shrugged, a hard expression in his grey eyes as he glanced at the two monks who were looking stricken. ‘Look, Dad. You might have got the wrong end of the stick and I’m sorry for brawling in the hall, but Brother Brendan never actually – to my knowledge at least – did anything to any of the kids. It was more that we all knew he liked to look. And sometimes to fumble. And I know you’re always frantically busy, but we did tell Father Sigismond and he caned us for our pains. So I’m not sorry I hit Brendan and if I could get away with it, I’d probably thump old Sigismond too.’ He glared at the senior monk who shrank away from him, but then recovered his equilibrium.

‘Naturally I knew nothing of any complaint,’ he proclaimed, drawing himself up to his full height of 5’6”, which looked pretty feeble against Jack Maynard’s 6’ and Charles, who was four inches taller than his father. ‘In the light of these disclosures I think we can safely promise that no further action will be taken against young Geoffrey.’

‘You’re joking?’ Charles looked aghast. ‘You’re lucky not to be taken to court, and if Father does the right thing, there’ll be a complaint winging its way to the Vatican tonight.’

Jack looked exhausted and could only be thankful that Joey had not chosen to make a scene and dramatise the whole issue. As it was he raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded, turned on her heel, and headed for Anna’s domain. Thank God, Jack thought, then prayed that Joey had interpreted the message correctly and would be returning with a large bottle of Scotch, rather than some of Anna’s delicious lemonade. He turned back to his son, with a sense of relief. Charles was so large and determined, so resolute and – it had to be said – so ferocious.

‘I’ll see you out,’ Charles was addressing the crestfallen monks with punctilious courtesy, then he paused as Father Sigismund essayed a question.

‘Very well, Charles,’ he attempted a dignified air. ‘But what about this inheritance of yours? From the Bishop? Your father has promised it to me, to the abbey I mean, when you join the community. I hope you are not thinking of joining another order?’

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Charles pushed the older man towards the door. ‘ You, and father, and mother, have consistently refused to listen to me, so listen now, and listen carefully. I am not going to be a priest, got that? It was a silly idea Mother got into her head when I was about ten and fairly delicate in health. It’s the last thing on my mind. Ever.’

Joey had returned bearing a large bottle of Lagavoulin, to Jack’s relief and she proceeded to hand out large measures to the assembled company, including Rosalie, who, as she explained (weeks later)to her attentive listeners, had swigged it down in one gulp lest she miss any more of the unfolding drama.

‘No thank you, Mother,’ Charles told her firmly as he intercepted her advances towards the monks. ‘They’re not stopping and in any case, they shouldn’t be drinking alchohol. Here, give me Brendan’s and Dad had better swallow the abbot’s share.’

He glugged down the fiery, peaty amber nectar and took a deep breath. Jack still appeared to be paralysed by shock and Joey by surprise. The monks were edging towards the front door though the abbot still looked hopeful.

‘Here it is, Father Sigismond,’ said Charles, now slightly pot-valiant from drinking his own and the abbot’s whisky. ‘The bishop left that money to me, clear and unconditionally. He knew I had no intention of joining the church, still less of becoming a monk.’ He looked at his father and raised an eyebrow. ‘Though why in God’s name you ever thought a son of yours could possibly be celibate, beats me, Dad.’
Author:  Emma A [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Go Charles! :shock:

Am enjoying this very much, sealpuppy!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well, I'm glad that Joey got the right message! :lol:

Thanks - am very keen to know what Charles has been up to with whom, though!

(Also very pleased to see someone else at least appearing to advovcate my belief that Charles was never destined for priesthood)
Author:  Elle [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
He looked at his father and raised an eyebrow. ‘Though why in God’s name you ever thought a son of yours could possibly be celibate, beats me, Dad.’



:shock: :shock: :shock:

What has Jack been upto? Sealpuppy, you havn't happened to have read an infamous drabble by one 'Annonybunny' have you?

Or was that comment just because of Jack's numerous offspring with Joey? :D
Author:  Alison H [ Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm wondering exactly what that comment about Jack's supposed to mean as well :lol: .
Author:  Miss Di [ Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Good to see what the foundation stones are doing in retirement! I am enjoying this very much

But I have to stick up for the Hunter Valley - Wandin Valley isn't very far from Sydney. Wandin Valley is now a winery at Lovedale (in the Hunter Valley), about an hour from Newcastle and less than two and a half hours from Sydney. No distance at all in Australian terms!
Author:  Liz K [ Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Wow, this is great, can't wait for more.
Author:  Joanne [ Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is another great story. I think I've fallen for Charles with the way he marched in there - what a SLOC he'll make for some lucky woman!
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well done Charles. Very glad he and Steve protected the younger boys the way he did.

Love his last line to his Dad :lol:

BTW Love the reference to Wandin Valley/A Country Practice. So how does Emerence cope with Matron Sloan?? :lol: :wink:
Author:  sealpuppy [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Fiona Mc wrote:
So how does Emerence cope with Matron Sloan?? :lol: :wink:


After being trained by Matey?? Matron Sloan is an amateur.
Lovely to hear there really is a 'Wandin Valley', but in spite of their world travels, anything more than 3 miles away from the School, is 'back of beyond' to Hilda and co. :)
Author:  sealpuppy [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
More developments for Jack and Joey to come to terms with.

‘Huh?’ Jack Maynard stared at his son. ‘What do you…?’
‘Dad,’ Charles gave a sudden darting grin as he surveyed his startled parents and broke off to close the front door firmly behind the departing monks. ‘Look at you; look at us. All of us; proof, if you like, that you’re definitely not a natural celibate! I bet you’d have fought tooth and nail if anyone had ever suggested you should be celibate, so why on earth did you ever think I would?’ He shrugged. ‘I like girls. I like children too. Heavens, I even like babies! I’ve had enough practice with them and I’m damned sure I want some of my own in good time.’

Rosalie decided that it really was time she departed, loath as she was to miss the latest developments. ‘I wouldn’t have said anything in the middle of all the upheaval,’ she told Hilda & co. ‘But I couldn’t justify hanging around any longer, it would have been eavesdropping plain and simple.’

‘I must go, Joey,’ she had said quietly to her hostess, planting an affectionate kiss on her cheek. ‘Charles? Lovely to see you home, dear. Does this mean you’ve finished your finals?’

‘Yes, thanks, Aunt Rosalie.’ Charles enfolded her in a bear hug; Rosalie had always been a favourite with the Maynard boys, slipping them tips and buying them copies of comics like the Beano and Dandy, as well as The Eagle, all of which were frowned on by their parents as too frivolous. He shot a wry glance at his parents, clearly wondering if they too had realised his university career might be at an end. ‘Stand back and shade your eyes, Auntie Ro,’ he grinned. ‘Behold in me the glory of a 1st class degree! I’m now a B.Sc(Eng), graduate of London University, winner of the Luxton Prize for Electronics and – ta-dum! – newly appointed graduate trainee at SchweizerTech GMBH.’ He looked gratified at the surprise and dawning pride visible in his parents’ expressions, and concluded with: ‘Starting work in their Interlaken HQ on the 1st of September.’

‘Well done, Charles,’ applauded Hilda, and Matey nodded approval, when Rosalie sat back to observe the effect of her tale. ‘And how like those boys to sort out their own problems so efficiently. I’m glad they came to no harm and I have to admit that I never took to Father Sigismond the one time I met him.’ She shook her head. ‘Do you really mean to say that Jack was going to make the lad sign over his legacy from the bishop? That really is the limit.’

‘I think Jack just took it for granted that because he and Joey had talked it over so often, they must have discussed it with Charles. He, as you’ve heard, has other ideas but he’s been very kind and tolerant with his parents. Which,’ Rosalie smiled impishly. ‘I have to say, has been a sight to see! They’re not quite sure what to do with him, he’s always been such a quiet, studious lad, cast in the role of family peacemaker and it’s as if a dove had started pecking at them.’

‘I’m glad to hear he’s planning a family,’ commented Gwyn Lloyd. ‘But not too soon, I hope, he’s barely twenty-one.’ She looked up as Rosalie began to laugh. ‘What?’

‘Charles is in love,’ declared Rosalie impressively. ‘It’s quite sweet and what’s even more entertaining is watching Joey trying not to crow over Grizel and her cronies!’

‘What? Grizel’s Cattery?’ Hilda jumped in. ‘I always thought it was a pity she got so friendly with Mrs Dickinson; she puts on such airs as the wife of the San’s chief accountant, and her bosom friend, Frau Lierner, is worse, just because her mother was once a lady in waiting to some middle European royalty.’

‘That’s just the point,’ gurgled Rosalie, then she deigned to explain. ‘A day or two after the upheaval, Charles announced he had to drop in at the School; his head of department at college had asked him to check on his former secretary and say hello. She’s started as Elinor Pennell’s junior assistant, and Charles was looking surprisingly keen on the errand.

‘Jack asked him why and it turned out that there had been two girls in the office and he didn’t know which this was. So why was he keen to go and see her, Jack asked? “Well,” replied young Charles. “One of them was plump and plain but the other was a stunner.” You should have seen Jo’s face,’ Rosalie’s laugh pealed out. ‘Five minutes earlier, she’d had Charles earmarked for a cardinal and here he was champing at the bit to check out a pretty girl.’

‘And was she the pretty one?’ Gwyn was smiling.
‘Absolutely,’ Rosalie grinned. ‘Charles was smitten at sight, turns out he’d not had the nerve to talk to her in London, but here on his home turf he had plenty of confidence.’

‘But I don’t understand why this should affect Grizel and her dreadful friends,’ asked Hilda, adding, with an anxious frown. ‘Poor Grizel, she’s so much happier than we ever thought she could be, with Neil and the boy, but she still has her moments!’

‘Sorry, Hilda,’ Rosalie patted her hand. ‘I’ll explain. Charles’s young lady (because, rather satisfyingly, she seems to have fallen for him too) turns out to have some rather grand antecedents such that the Cattery found themselves completely upstaged. Which is why Jo is trying not to gloat.’

‘Well, astound us, then,’ Hilda sounded impatient. ‘I can tell you now, Rosalie, I’m expecting royalty at least.’

‘Ah well,’ Rosalie’s smug grin was maddening. ‘As it happens, my dear….’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Good on Charles! I wish him very good luck with his young lady!

Thankyou for the update :D
Author:  JS [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Quote:
They’re not quite sure what to do with him, he’s always been such a quiet, studious lad, cast in the role of family peacemaker and it’s as if a dove had started pecking at them.


What a nice line. Thanks Sealpuppy.
Author:  Millie [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I love this story! Can't wait to see more...
Author:  Joanne [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Ahhhh! Surely a princess for Charles, but who? And is she ready for her prospective parents-in-law?
Author:  shazwales [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Only just found this sealpuppy it's brilliant! thankyou.
Author:  shesings [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've always had a soft spot for Rosalie and I'm pleased but not surprised she bought Beano and Dandy comics for the boys! Too frivolous, indeed - the poor little tykes!
Author:  Emma A [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is lovely, sealpuppy - really enjoying this. Could the young lady perhaps be a Helston? (or is this another cross-over?)
Author:  Alison H [ Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Rosalie is great, and I can't wait to find out about the girl Charles is after.

Grizel seems to be behaving worryingly like I imagine her stepmother to've been, though!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I realised Joey was getting too unsympathetic and I don't want that to happen so here's a little filler-in to set things right. And yes, from now on all romances will involve cross-overs! I apologise for the welter of blue blood. Charles's young lady involves one straightforward crossover and one less so, depending on what you've been reading. :)

To Hilda and Gwyn’s intense irritation they were interrupted by the appearance of Gredel, summoning them to lunch in the Speisesaal and while they tucked into her delicious pea and lettuce soup with twists of crusty bread, followed by fruit, Rosalie refused to explain her hint.
‘Now, Rosalie,’ demanded Hilda as they took their coffee into the sunroom. ‘You can’t leave us like that.’
‘You’d better take over, Nell,’ nodded Rosalie as she sipped her coffee. ‘Nell was there when it all unfolded,’ she explained. ‘I only heard about it afterwards.’

Nell Wilson’s keen grey eyes twinkled as she regarded her two eager friends. ‘I’ll put you out of your misery,’ she told them kindly. ‘I somehow got myself inveigled into going along to one of Mrs Dickinson’s dreary At Homes; don’t ask how or why, I think it was Gill Culver insisted I should represent the school, even though I’d just semi-retired. Something like that. Anyway, I walked up and encountered Joey at the Dickinson’s front door, shepherding the new junior secretary; it was a Saturday afternoon just a week after term ended, so she had the weekend off. I thought it was very decent of Jo to take the girl to her heart but they seem to be hitting it off excellently.
‘Which,’ she interrupted herself to say, ‘I’m very glad to see, though I hope Jo doesn’t overdo it and frighten her off. No, what I was about to say is that I suspect Joey gets lonely sometimes and it’ll do her good to take an interest.’

There was a chorus of dissent from her listeners but Hilda stopped and looked thoughtful. ‘You could be right, Nell,’ she said slowly. ‘You mean she misses the triplets and hasn’t really found that Felicity and Cecil fill the gap?’
‘Exactly,’ Nell nodded. ‘As I said though, we all know how overwhelming Joey can be; however, I think Charles’s young lady will be able to cope with that and take Jo and Jack in her stride.’ She laughed and continued her story.

‘Well, we were ushered in and introductions began. Mrs D was disposed to be patronising when Jo explained who her companion was and I did wonder why Jo had that wicked gleam in her eye. All was soon revealed however.

“Jane Palliser?” enquired the lady, looking taken aback. (The name, of course, meant nothing to me.) “Any relation to the Omnium family?” Again, it rang no bells,’ Nell smiled. ‘But the child (she’s about twenty) spoke up: “Oh yes,” said she, shy but polite. “My father was first cousin to the present duke.” That was her first bombshell,’ Nell leaned back and grinned at them.

‘Goodness,’ Hilda looked slightly awed. ‘I can see that would be a facer for Mrs D. What happened next?’
‘She thawed perceptibly and interrogated Jane about her family. I must say the kid stood it very well but what amused me was the perfectly polite but rather stately way she tolerated the vulgar inquisition, all the time making the woman writhe as further grand relatives were discovered.

‘I must point out,’ Nell said hastily. ‘Jane was reserved and polite and volunteered none of this grandeur, it was all dragged out of her by Mrs D and Jane was far too well-bred to tell her to go away. Anyway, there we were, with Jane turning out to be the great-granddaughter of a late Duke of Omnium – apparently she was brought up in Barsetshire. As if that wasn’t enough, Frau Lierner butted in and started to boast about her mother’s lady-in-waiting stint to a princess in one of those Balkan principalities that vanished in the war. And no, it wasn’t Belsornia.’

She put her cup down and looked happily reminiscent.
‘Frau Lierner mentioned a name, which I can’t recall at this moment and young Jane looked relieved and pleased to shift the focus away from the Palliser family and pipes up: “Oh yes, my grandmother was related to her. I can’t remember the exact degree of cousinship though.” “Really?” The Lierner woman looks dumbfounded and Mrs D hovers ever nearer…’

Nell was clearly relishing her story. “Who was your grandmother then, and your mother?” asks Frau L baldly and then out it came. I tell you,’ Nell was gurgling now. ‘Joey and I were trying desperately hard not to show how much we were trying not to laugh and Jane was doing her well-brought-up best to be polite to inquisitive elders.

“My mother was the Baroness Antoinette Fauconbois,” Jane said and when they opened their mouths and forgot to shut them, she explained kindly and patiently that her mother’s mother had been the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Ornowitza but had renounced her title and position on marriage to Richard Fauconbois, who – you might just recall – was known as The Stormy Petrel in those far off days of derring-do just before, and then during,the First World War.’

She turned to her friends. ‘You see what this means? And why Jo and I were so tickled at the Cattery's discomfiture? Young Charles has netted himself a girlfriend who, if her grandmother had not renounced all for love (and if the last war hadn’t intervened), would be a Serene Highness in her own right. Not to mention having some of the bluest blood in the British Isles also flowing through her veins, from the other side of her family.’

NB It's never clear exactly when the books about Dick Fauconbois are set, but the first ones were written pre 1914 so that's where I've put him. And the Palliser connection is a double cross-over, just to confuse things.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Having never read either book, I'm afraid that I don't get the crossovers, but good on Jane! :lol: I really enjoyed that.

Thankyou!
Author:  Jennie [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This just gets better!
Author:  cestina [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Ooh lovely, I adore Violet Needham, probably my all-time favourite children's author. Shame the Stormy Petrel can't appear in person :(
Author:  Jane [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I suspect Ariel is too young to remember the terrific 26-part classic serial in 1973 of the Pallisers - but I was absolutely obsessed by it and ploughed through all six Victorian blockbusters when I was about 12!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Aha, Jane. Close but not close enough! Yes it's the Pallisers but they turn up in 20th century fiction too. :wink:
Author:  JB [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've just read through this from the beginning and it's brilliant.

I love the Pallisers too. Any descendant of Glencora should be able to hold her own with those snobs.
Author:  JS [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This just gets better and better. Thanks sealpuppy.
Author:  cestina [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
Aha, Jane. Close but not close enough! Yes it's the Pallisers but they turn up in 20th century fiction too. :wink:

Angela Thirkell?

I too loved that TV series though was slightly distracted by Lady Glencora being aka as Fleur in the Forsyte Saga :?
Author:  Abi [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't know the Pallisers, but I love the Stormy Petrel - Violet Needham is amazing! Love Charles in this :D .
Author:  Joanne [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't know these latest crossovers, but I'm sure it won't impede my enjoyment!

(edited as I forgot which drabble I was commenting on! :oops: )
Author:  Mrs Redboots [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've only just found this, and am loving it. I don't know the STORMY PETREL series, I'm afraid, but I assume the Pallisers are from Angela Thirkell, a novelist whose works seem to have dropped into obscurity!
Author:  cestina [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Mrs Redboots wrote:
I've only just found this, and am loving it. I don't know the STORMY PETREL series, I'm afraid, but I assume the Pallisers are from Angela Thirkell, a novelist whose works seem to have dropped into obscurity!

Easily collectable on ebay. I read many of them fifty years ago, in my teens, and decided to collect and reread them a few years ago. I am missing just one, towards the end of the series of ca 33 books. Rather like EBD, she fell off considerably towards the end but the early ones are a sheer delight. I commend her to anyone who enjoys PG Wodehouse or EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia. It's good to start at the beginning of the Barsetshire series but in fact it doesn't really matter, you get lost anyway! There is a good fan website: http://www.angelathirkell.org/
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
cestina wrote:
Shame the Stormy Petrel can't appear in person :(


Who says he can't? :wink: Or won't?

Oh look, I managed a quote. Thanks, Elle!
Author:  cestina [ Sat Oct 24, 2009 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
cestina wrote:
Shame the Stormy Petrel can't appear in person :(


Who says he can't? :wink: Or won't?

Oh look, I managed a quote. Thanks, Elle!

Ooh sealpuppy, don't tease.......sprinkling anything she can think of to speed up bunnies :D
Author:  JennieP [ Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is great! Loving the Barset crossover - whose daughter is she? I always get confused with the Pallisers/Silverbridges/Warings for some reason.
Author:  Elle [ Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
cestina wrote:
Shame the Stormy Petrel can't appear in person :(


Who says he can't? :wink: Or won't?

Oh look, I managed a quote. Thanks, Elle!


Glad to be of use!
Author:  Jane [ Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well, I wish I'd known about the Angela Thirkell connection as a young teenager, given that I even wrote a Palliser sequel (to Trollope) myself!. The only time I'd come across her then is when Hilary Bennet buys one of her novels in 'Problem'...

Ah well...
Author:  ibarhis [ Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Woo hoo - I love the Angela Thirkell Barsetshires - I think I have them all - collected them about 10-15 years ago - mainly second hand but someone had a go at republishing some of them.

Unfortunately I'm about 120 miles away from my copies at the moment but from memory (and if I have the right generation) there was the Duke and Duchess who had three children (two boys and a girl). If Jane is their grandaughter then she must be the daughter of the younger son - Cora is her aunt and married to the naval baronet and her uncle married inherited money and went into politics before inheriting the title. Unfortunately I can't remember much about her father (if I have remembered correctly)
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:D All will be revealed in due course! And yes, it's Angela Thirkell whose books I adore; and no, not a granddaughter. To save yet another info dump in the next instalment I should explain that as it's still only 1965 Thirkell's duke is still alive (70-80ish) and that Jane is the granddaughter of one of his younger brothers. But, just for Thirkell fanatics, I'll reveal that her godmother is Jane Gresham, nee Palliser. (And there'll be another Barsetshire cross-over soon, but it's half term and I've had a house full of ankle-biters needing food, drink and CBeebies!)
Author:  ibarhis [ Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Ahh ok... a generation out... Thanks for that.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Been neglecting this drabble for the insane one elsewhere. The crossovers are just beginning...

Hilda strolled along the village street on Saturday morning, revelling in the sunshine, the pure air and the complete lack of responsibility, instead of the slight sinking feeling that had, for years, assailed her in September. In a few days time the Chalet school would be spick and span and awaiting the influx of girls, old and new, but Hilda could – and would – enjoy watching the whole palaver from a distance. She examined her feelings. No, not a qualm, she discovered; not the slightest shred of wistful nostalgia.

Life, she decided, was very, very good. She grinned at her own Pollyanna moment and dithered. Home to coffee at Das Damen Haus? No, the others were out and about and she felt inclined for company, so it was surely time to investigate the salon de the attached to the splendid patisserie just along the Platz. Certainly the cakes and pastries were superb but the ten days or so since their return had been so busy that neither Hilda nor or her house-mates had managed to spare time for lazing in the sun or coffee-stopping anywhere.

‘Kaffee mit schlagsahne, bitte,’ she gave her order with a smile and leaned forward to look round the coffee shop. Yes, it lived up to its promise, she decided; bright, sunny, decorated in a typically Swiss style and dominated by that tempting array of pastries set out on the counter. The almond one she thought, regretfully deciding that the strawberry confection topped with whipped cream, chocolate and almonds was a sinful extravagance too far.

‘Mind if we join you, Auntie Hilda?’
The good-looking young man smiling down at her was very tall and just beginning to fill out after his gangling teenage years, and in spite of his dark hair and amused grey eyes, his clear cut features revealed him to be very like his fair-haired father.
‘Oh my dear boy!’ Hilda leaped to her feet and hugged him. Charles had always been a favourite with her and Nell, overlooked somewhat in the shadow of the brilliant triplets and solidly hardworking Stephen. ‘Yes, come and sit down, do.’

‘This is Jane Palliser,’ Charles introduced the girl beside him and Hilda, under cover of rearranging the chairs and ordering more Kaffee & Kuchen, took a look at her. Tall, slim, dark hair, dark eyes; very pretty and clearly both intelligent and full of adoration for her young man. Humour lurked in the dark eyes too as Jane sat quietly watching and listening as Charles and his brevet aunt exchanged news of holidays and his new career.
‘I’ve done my first two weeks, or just over because the first of September was a Wednesday,’ he was saying. ‘And it’s great, just what I always wanted to do; do you remember the row when Dad caught me drawing circuits in my hymn book in church once?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I kept telling them I was going to be an engineer but it never sank in.’ The grey eyes gleamed in mischief. ‘You know all about the row when I got home, don’t you? Yes, I was sure Aunt Rosalie would fill you in, but you haven’t had time to get Mother’s version yet.’

‘Joey’s home from her visit to Madge and Jem, isn’t she?’ Hilda had talked to Jo on the phone but they had yet to meet and catch up on more than a year of eventful doings.

‘Got home yesterday,’ he nodded. ‘And naturally, being Mother, she’s invited all of us to a family weekend get-together. She’ll be shattered but you know what she’s like and she didn’t manage to catch up with us while she and Dad were in Wales. The Trips are all coming for a few days but Steve can only get away for a night so he’s flying with the girls and dashing back tomorrow night.’ He pursed his lips. ‘I’m not looking forward to the shenanigans,’ he confessed and shot Hilda a rueful grin. ‘We’re hoping my own explosion will have paved the way and prepared them a bit.’

Hilda was far too tactful to ask questions and she turned to Jane. ‘I have to tell you, my dear,’ she smiled. ‘That I and my friends at Das Damen Haus were thrilled to hear that you’re the granddaughter of The Stormy Petrel. As very young girls during the First World War we were always agog at reports of his adventures; such a brave man, he seemed the reincarnation of The Scarlet Pimpernel to romantic young women!’

‘Oh he was,’ Jane looked delighted at this praise of her grandfather. ‘And he still is. Of course he’s in his eighties now and his adventures are behind him, but he’s still wonderful and my grandmother is still as much in love with him as ever.’ She looked anxious for a moment. ‘I’ve been wondering if I should suggest they move up here,’ she said. ‘They’ve lived in the south of France for years, of course, but Grandpa is getting rather wheezy and short of breath, so his doctor has suggested a few months in the mountains.’ She turned to Charles. ‘Do you think your father would take him on as a patient if they came here for a few months?’


Helena Maynard leaned back in her comfortable armchair: I wish you were here, Fitz, she sighed, the long slim fingers that fiddled with the diamond on her engagement finger, belying her relaxed appearance. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her sister Connie looking tense and Margot, the third triplet, gripping the glass of Merlot she had poured herself. Well, that was a breakthrough, Helena smiled inwardly. They had all, Steve included, turned up with a load of wine they’d picked up at the airport, having decided that something extra would be needed to get through the weekend’s imminent revelations. Jack Maynard had frowned when Margot, with cheerful defiance, had set out glasses and corkscrew and handed the wine round but he had held his tongue. Joey seemed not to have noticed, but then she had always been less of a puritan than their father, Helena reflected. Oh well, as long as the alcohol didn’t loose tongues too much.

‘Well,’ Jack demanded, taking up a position beside his wife’s chair. ‘I can see you’re all looking apprehensive, so spit it out. What in the world have you been up to? And all of you? This isn’t a revolution, is it?’ He grinned, defusing the tension and added: ‘Because I warn you, we won’t go quietly!’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Uh-oh, what have they been up to?

Thanks! I think.
Author:  JB [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
It isn't too soon to beg for another update, is it?

That was great - but so intriguing.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This doesn't count as spreeing, does it? I'd already written the next bit so might as well stick it up here. Glad it's going down well and hope you enjoy Spot the Crossover. They're pretty easy to see, in this piece.
:)

As usual the others were looking to her for guidance so Helena put down her glass and took a deep breath. The lurking smile in her father’s eyes encouraged her though she realised, with a sigh, that Joey was looking puzzled. Oh well…

‘It’s not a revolution, Dad,’ she summoned up a smile. ‘It’s just that things are happening in our lives and we’re none of us sure how you’ll react.’ She held up a hand in an apologetic request for silence as Jack opened his mouth to speak. ‘Please, Dad, let me get it out. There’s nothing dreadful going on, it’s just that you and Mother have always had such distinct plans for each of us and I don’t think any of your specific hopes are going to be fulfilled.’

She was conscious of Connie’s dark eyes on her, warm approval in them, and Margot too, was still fiddling with the stem of her wine glass but some of her tension had dissipated. Difficult to tell with Steve, she grinned inwardly. He was wearing what the girls always called his Farmer Giles face, deadpan and giving nothing away, but Helena knew he was glad to get all of this into the open. None of them had enjoyed keeping their parents in the dark but the dread of one of Joey’s scenes, combined with Jack’s occasional outbursts of fury, particularly when Joey was upset, had made discretion seem the better part of valour.

‘Okay,’ she continued, taking a deep breath. ‘I’ll start. I’ve handed in my notice at St Agatha’s and I’ll be leaving at Christmas. No,’ she shook her head as Joey opened her mouth to remonstrate. ‘I’ll be starting a new job in January, at the Barchester High School but I’ll be commuting from just over the county border, in Devonshire.’

‘But that’s nothing to make such a secret of, Len… I mean Helena,’ Joey sounded surprised. ‘I’m sorry you’re leaving St Aggie’s but Barchester High School has a wonderful reputation.’

‘No,’ Helena was secretly touched at Joey’s stumble over her eldest daughter’s name. (“I hate Len as a nickname,” she had told her family when she set off for university. “From now on, I refuse to answer to it.” Poor Jo had been hurt but she had tried to oblige, especially when Con, emboldened by this, had announced that henceforth she was Connie.) ‘Not a secret, of course not; but…’ she took a deep breath. ‘The reason I’m changing jobs is that I’m getting married three days after the end of term and…’ she hesitated. ‘And I’m really, really sorry, Mother and Dad, but I’m not getting married here at the Platz. Fitz, that’s his name, farms as I said, just over into Devonshire, and the tenants and everyone will be really upset if we don’t get married in the village church.’

‘Fitz?’ Joey hadn’t taken in the full implications of what Helena had just said though it was clear that Jack was becoming aware of it.

‘His Christian name is Fitzwilliam,’ Helena told her. ‘His father’s family come from Derbyshire and the house belongs to the National Trust now, though his great-uncle has kept an apartment there, along with a house in the park. Fitz’s father married a Southern Belle from Georgia; she was a Miss Melanie Wilkes and though her family were the proverbial church mice, she married into the Rockefeller family at first, then when she was widowed at twenty-two, she married Fitz’s father.’
Author:  JB [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A descendant of Mr Darcy? Or am I missing another crossover with the Rockefeller connection?

I'm pretty sure it's not spreeing when you're adding updates to your own drabble (and we're all very grateful for the updates).
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well spotted! Yes, he's a Darcy and yes, there's another crossover but the Rockefeller name is a red herring. :D
Author:  JB [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Of course. Melanie Wilkes. I've got it now. :)

My brain was heading off towards Edith Wharton and Henry James, with all those American heiresses coming to Europe.

This is so very clever.
Author:  Jennie [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Ooh! Pride and Prejudice and Gone with the Wind.

I remember the Tara drabble.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh, no, not a Darcy! They almost top my list of Victorian anti-heroes (and it's quite long). She'd have been better off with Reg you know.

But what about the rest of them? More soon please!
Author:  PaulineS [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Pleased Helena decided to be called by her full name and Con decided to be Connie. There were posts asking for an update between your posts so definately not spreeing. And no one minds when it is updates, we are always pleased to see more.
Author:  JS [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Gosh, you're so right - buttoned-up Ashley should have been descended from Mr Darcy. I do hope that Helena's Fitz takes after Elizabeth/Melanie.....

Thanks Sealpuppy.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
House full of small children so real work is at a standstill, but CS playtime is thriving! More crossovers in this bit.
There, she’d said it. Helena cast an imploring glance at her father, asking for his understanding and although he was frowning, the half smile he gave her was affectionate, Maybe it would be all right; she would talk to him later. Her mother was beginning to look excited, so perhaps that rigmarole about Fitz’s family tree wasn’t a stupid idea; Joey, although the kindest and least snobbish of women, had a sneaking fondness for putting Aunt Grizel’s nose out of joint and as with Jane’s family (according to a highly amused Charles) a drop of blue blood would be a useful weapon against the Cattery. It didn’t come much bluer than the Darcys of Pemberley or the Wilkeses of Georgia.

‘Um,’ she hesitated. ‘Fitz runs the family estate,’ she said, sneaking a sidelong look at her mother. Sure enough Joey had sat up at this. ‘His parents bought a run-down country estate in Devonshire in the 20s and built it up, but they’ve taken a back seat and left the running to Fitz these days. The reason they bought it,’ she broke into her own story with an aside. ‘It was called Twelve Oaks Hall and that was the name of Mrs Darcy’s family home so they decided it was meant; though the original plantation was burnt by the Yankees in the Civil War.’ She smiled at her mother. ‘You’ll love it, Mother, someone built a couple of turrets a hundred or so years ago, and the best spare bedroom is circular! Didn’t you have a turret room in one of your historicals? The smuggling story, I think it was.’ She nodded again to her mother. ‘I hope you’ll love Fitz too; apparently he’s the spitting image of portraits of one of his Regency ancestors but in character he’s said to be just like that particular Darcy’s wife – very determined and tough!. He’s tall and dark and very good-looking; he’s kind and good to animals and I love him to bits!’

Connie glanced at her elder triplet and nodded, so Helena sank back in her chair.
‘My turn,’ announced the second Maynard daughter and her parents, who had relaxed a little, both began to look anxious. ‘No don’t,’ she urged with remorse. ‘Don’t look like that, please. Honestly, we haven’t any awful news to tell you, I promise you. I’m not changing my job and I’ll be staying in London, but I do have to tell you that I’m engaged too.’ She waved a proud hand displaying a beautiful emerald and diamond ring. ‘But don’t worry, the wedding won’t be till next summer and it’ll probably be here at the Platz, if that’s all right with you.’

Joey, who had sat stunned and motionless throughout Helena’s recital, now leaped up and hugged both her daughters but obediently sat down again, to listen with wide-eyed interest.

‘I’m engaged to Lance Underwood,’ Connie said with a smile that brought more tears to Joey’s eyes, though she just scrubbed her face with her hankie and said nothing. Len, too, had a softened look and both girls exchanged relieved glances. ‘I’ll do as Helena did,’ Connie began. ‘A short potted history to put you in the picture. He’s the Hon. Lance because his father is Viscount Underwood, the head of the newspaper and business empire. Lance is a journalist too, but on television; he’s just started to work with Richard Dimbleby on Panorama. His elder brother is called Felix and he runs the family estate – Vale Leston - in Devonshire.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Well, you’ll meet him soon enough, but he’s not much taller than I am, as fair as Dad and Mike and he’s very musical, plays the violin and sings beautifully. His family are all musical and artistic as well as business brains, and his great-great-aunt was the Victorian artist Geraldine Underwood; her work was exhibited in the Royal Academy lots of times.’

The Underwoods are from a series of books that I absolutely love, but may not be familiar to many of you. We'll see! And no apologies for the blue blood: I'm rewarding the Maynard children with spouses oozing blue blood and/or wealth, and usually blood and wealth!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update :D I don't think that I know the Underwoods, so I shall be intrigued!

And who have Margot and Stephen found? Goodness how EBD would have liked all this engagement.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
ChubbyMonkey wrote:
Thanks for the update :D I don't think that I know the Underwoods, so I shall be intrigued!
And who have Margot and Stephen found? Goodness how EBD would have liked all this engagement.


Not sure she would, nobody's moving back to the Platz. Yet. Or marrying a doctor. Yet. :wink:
Author:  JB [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't recognise the Underwoods either - but I loved the update, Sealpuppy.
Author:  shazwales [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm another one who hasn't come across the Underwoods.
Thanks Sealpuppy i'm really enjoying this,
Author:  Miss Di [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 2:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I am useless at recognising cross overs unless someone stands there with a laser pointer, so I notice them...but am enjoying this very much anyways.
Author:  JS [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Also wondering what the other bombshells are. Poor Reg, though - I can see that all this 'blood' might make him feel a bit chip-on-the-shoulder.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
JS wrote:
Also wondering what the other bombshells are. Poor Reg, though - I can see that all this 'blood' might make him feel a bit chip-on-the-shoulder.


Don't worry, JS, Reg is catered for. Whether it's a reward or a punishment is in the 'eye' of the beholder! :) This next bit is another info dump because I want to get back to Hilda and co later on and see what they're up to! NB The Underwoods are from a Victorian series, and there's yet another crossover for Margot!

‘It all sounds very exciting,’ Jo had clearly decided to take a practical view and make the best of these revelations and Helena smiled warmly across at her mother. ‘I was upset, as you know, sweetheart,’ she addressed her eldest daughter. ‘I did think you and Reg were ideally suited and that someone older would be right for you, but he and Mary-Lou seem very happy together, now that he’s doing as she wanted. I had a letter last month and Reg is beginning to find his feet in the clinic in Damascus; of course, it’s been Mary-Lou’s dream to work on a dig in the Holy Land so she was determined marriage wouldn’t stand in her way.’

The third triplet was biting her lip impatiently but she looked up when Joey called across to her, a hopeful, though slightly apprehensive note in her voice. ‘Well, Margot? No surprises about you, I hope? Though I must admit I expected you to enter the convent as soon as you had qualified, and not leave it so late.’

Margot sighed and Helena felt a pang of sympathy. She opened her mouth to wade in and help but Margot shook her head. ‘Mother,’ she said, speaking quietly and calmly. ‘Please don’t be upset about this. I know I’ve said for years that I felt I had a call to be a medical missionary but for some time now I’ve realised that I was mistaken. The calling was to be a doctor; I believe that’s my vocation, but I’m not going to take the veil.’

Jack Maynard put a restraining hand on his wife’s shoulder. ‘Go on, Margot,’ he told her, with an encouraging nod. ‘We’re listening.’

‘Thank you, Papa,’ the childish name slipped out unconsciously and Margot marshalled her thoughts. ‘I struggled for a couple of years because I didn’t want to let go of the dream I’d had for so long, but increasingly I knew it wouldn’t be right. I suppose I’m like you and Mother, and like Helena and Connie. I want a home and family but I want to go on being a doctor too. I don’t want to find I’m trapped, as Daisy was, but it’s so much easier to do both, nowadays.’

Holding Joey’s hand in a comforting grasp now, Jack nodded to Margot to continue, saying with a slight smile: ‘Are we to gather that you have a candidate in mind to go with this proposed home and family, Margot?’

A faint blush spread across Margot’s delicate features as she nodded. ‘We’re not engaged,’ she told him, looking shy. ‘But that’s only because it wouldn’t be appropriate just at the moment. I’m one of his junior registrars, you see.’ She looked up as he gave an exclamation. ‘Oh yes, he’s a doctor too. His name is Thomas Eliot and he’s a paediatric consultant at University College Hospital and if I get the job I’m applying for, at another hospital, we’ll be engaged at once.’ She gave a sudden mischievous grin. ‘Shall I do the potted history too? He’s older than I am, by eight years; he’s very ambitious and very successful and he’s wonderful with his little patients. He’s tall and broad, a rugby player, with red curly hair; redder than Geoff’s even. His family live in the New Forest, not far from Pretty Maids, and his brother is the well-known painter, Benjamin Eliot. Oh yes, his cousin is Sir David Eliot.’

‘Eliot? You mean the famous actor?’ Joey looked impressed as Margot nodded. ‘His father is a retired general and the whole family seem to live fairly close to Lymington in Hampshire, though of course, Tommy has a flat in London as well.’

NB Must go and check on the FAQ whether Margot would be a junior registrar by now - they'll be 26 in November.
Author:  abbeybufo [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
The Eliots of Damerosehay! [How do you pronounce that?]

Lovely :D :D

Really enjoying this, sealpuppy - thanks
Author:  JB [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm feeling woefully ill read! :(
Author:  brie [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Really enjoying this, but also feeling rather ill read too :lol:

Thanks
Author:  cestina [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
abbeybufo wrote:
The Eliots of Damerosehay! [How do you pronounce that?]

Lovely :D :D

Really enjoying this, sealpuppy - thanks

I love Elizabeth Goudge but have never read any of the Eliot series - ebay here I come....

And Pillars of the House.....riches indeed :D
Author:  shazwales [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Joining brie and JB as feeling ill read!

Really enjoying this .Thanks.
Author:  Elder in Ontario [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm really enjoying this - and agreeably surprised to find that, so far, the Underwoods are the only 'crossovers' I don't already know. I 'love' the Eliots of Damerosehay series, though I'm another who doesn't know how to pronounce Damerosehay - I've always put the accent on the first syllable and a lesser one on the third, but that could be wildly wrong.
Author:  abbeybufo [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Elder in Ontario wrote:
I'm really enjoying this - and agreeably surprised to find that, so far, the Underwoods are the only 'crossovers' I don't already know. I 'love' the Eliots of Damerosehay series, though I'm another who doesn't know how to pronounce Damerosehay - I've always put the accent on the first syllable and a lesser one on the third, but that could be wildly wrong.


Yes, but how many syllables is it? I never know if it should be split as Dame-rose-hay or Dam-er-ose-hay :oops:
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Haven't heard of the crossover, but love the update :D Thankyou!
Author:  PaulineS [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Margot would be a junior registrar at 26, normally she would do two or three years in one hospital rotaing round different specialities. If she decide to specialise in paediatrics though she might apply for a junior registrar post in a specialist unit or hospital, just caring for children, rather than ding different braches of adult medicine, with just one child placement,
Author:  Abi [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well, I don't know any of the crossovers, but hey! Thanks sealpuppy!
Author:  Elder in Ontario [ Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Abbeybufo asked:

Quote:
Yes, but how many syllables is it? I never know if it should be split as Dame-rose-hay or Dam-er-ose-hay


I've always gone with 4 syllables myself. :) :oops:
Author:  JS [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Think I've got about a 10 per cent 'hit' rate with the crossovers so far (and that's only if you count the Chalet School :oops: )

Thanks Sealpuppy.
Author:  Mrs Redboots [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Elder in Ontario wrote:
Abbeybufo asked:

Quote:
Yes, but how many syllables is it? I never know if it should be split as Dame-rose-hay or Dam-er-ose-hay


I've always gone with 4 syllables myself. :) :oops:


So have I. All the same, Margot and Tommy Eliot..... the mind boggles, rather! But it could work, yes, it could work. And won't Margot adore The Herb of Grace, I can see her finding peace there.
Author:  LauraMcC [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm yet another one who has not read many of the cross-overs, but I am enjoying this, Sealpuppy.

Even if I have been very late in commenting. :oops:
Author:  ibarhis [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I had to search for the Underwoods, but I love the Eliots as well as the Pallisers (and I usually go for the 4-syllable version!)
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Glad this is going down well and clever people to discover the Underwoods - (Charlotte M Yonge, in case anyone doesn't track them down; Pillars of the House, in 2 volumes, my favourite Victorian novel ever.) Just read it again and cried buckets, as I always do!
Re Tommy and Margot: I think it would work, two very self-centred people meeting their match but with the dedication to their careers as the glue between them.

Stephen's story now, and yes, his young lady is a crossover!

Helena glanced across the table and caught her father’s eye. The brief interlude they had snatched before Abendessen had been a godsend. Anna’s entry into the Saal to call Joey to the telephone had broken up the tension engendered by the Triplets’ announcement of their future plans and Helena had seized the opportunity to grab Jack and inveigle him into the study where she rapidly explained her reasons for planning an Anglican wedding. It hadn’t been easy, Helena had known her father would be hurt, but better to appeal to his sense of fairness and to pray that he could reconcile Joey somehow. Looking at her father now, Helena knew he was grateful for that brief but intimate moment and she began to relax. Time enough for Margot to give her own explanations.

Stephen raised an eyebrow as their eyes met and his shoulders lifted in the faintest of shrugs. Yes, she sighed, he might as well get it over with; and thank heavens the kids were all otherwise engaged. Felix and Geoff were back at school, Felicity was spending the night with Lucy Peters and the two younger girls were having a sleepover with the youngest Courvoisiers. Helena was glad she and her elder siblings had all met in Interlaken earlier in the day and agreed that they would try to avoid in depth confessions and emotions; this was hard enough as it was, even keeping things as cool and unexcited as possible.

Charles aimed a gentle kick at his brother and Stephen took a deep breath.
‘My turn, I suppose,’ he said quietly, with a wary glance at his mother whose tendency to create scenes was one reason why the Maynard boys had always insisted they didn’t need to be escorted to school by their parents. Jack looked up and Helena’s heart contracted as she realised Jack was holding his breath. Oh poor, poor Papa, she cried inwardly, have we made you look like that?

‘No need to worry,’ Stephen assumed a slightly over-hearty tone and pinned a smile on his face. ‘I had my ‘rebellion’ years ago, didn’t I? when I told you clearly that I had no intention of being a doctor. Nothing’s changed and besides, you’ve now got young Mike as well as Margot, to carry on the family profession.’ Mike, about to enter his second year as a medical student, glared at his eldest brother but applied himself to his third helping of veal and rosti. He had spent the summer working as a porter at the San, much to Joey’s distress but with Jack’s entire approval.

Stephen continued. ‘You’ve been really good about supporting my choice,’ he told his parents kindly. ‘My two years at Cirencester were great and I was so glad you approved when I managed to get on to the trainee estate management scheme. The cherry on the cake, of course, was ending up on the Chatsworth estate for the last two years – I couldn’t have had a better training if the Queen had taken me on!’ He grinned and took another mouthful. ‘Anyway,’ he swallowed it, looked longingly at the dish before him but thought better of it, and went on: ‘That placement was only for two years, as you know, and I’ve now been offered another job. A proper job, as junior estate manager at a National Trust place in the south of England.’

His glance flickered towards Helena and she encouraged him with a tiny nod. ‘Yes, well.’ He took another deep breath. ‘I don’t know how you’ll feel, Dad, but I’m going to work at Pretty Maids.’ At Jack’s sharp intake of breath, Stephen held up a hand. ‘Let me tell you first,’ he begged. ‘I know it’s a shock but it’s such a great opportunity. I had a letter from Mr Hamilton a couple of months ago. He said he’s been following my career and as he’s Estate Manager at Pretty Maids and it's the former home of the Maynard family, he felt he should give me first refusal when this junior appointment came up.

‘I didn’t want to consider it, at first,’ he confessed, avoiding his father’s eye. ‘To be frank, I wondered how I would feel about working in a place that, in the normal course of events, would have come down to me. So I wrote a polite refusal and tried to forget about it.’ He fiddled with the stem of his wine glass, then looked up again. ‘Mr Hamilton wouldn’t give up. He had business in York and broke the return journey just to come and talk to me. In the end I realised I had to face it; I had to go to Hampshire and take a look at Pretty Maids, even if it broke my heart.’

Joey put out a hand, which she quickly withdrew but her loving smile seemed to give Stephen courage to continue.
‘Of course I fell in love with the place on sight,’ he smiled and shrugged. ‘But what astonished me more than anything was that I didn’t resent the fact that it no longer belongs to us. God knows why. But it’s kept in such good order and there’s so much money spent on it that I finally realised we could never have kept it up as we would have wanted.’ Helena was touched to see a sudden maturity in the fair face so like their father's. 'That,' said Stephen in a tight voice. 'That would really have broken my heart, to let it run to rack and ruin for lack of funds.'

The flood gates were open now and all through dessert Jack plied his eldest son with questions about his ancestral home, both of them clearly finding new insights into the other’s character, something that made Helena exchange satisfied smiles with her mother.

‘I’m so glad,’ Joey said when there was a lull in the conversation. ‘And I realise that at only twenty-two you’re rather young, but bearing in mind what the girls have been telling us, Stephen: is there someone we should know about?’

Helena was convinced this was simply mischievous teasing on her mother’s part but she had to conceal a grin at Joey’s startled expression when Stephen lifted his head and nodded vigorously.

‘Glad you mentioned that, Ma,’ he said. ‘You’re right, I’m young and Amabel’s even younger, she’s not nineteen yet, but we’re both clear in our own minds about what we want.’ His blue eyes danced at the sudden silence. ‘I met her last spring at a dance,’ he explained. ‘And we hit it off at once so we’ve been writing and meeting when we could, ever since. She’s just left school and last week she began a two year course at Sparsholt Agricultural College near Winchester. It’s only about twenty miles from Pretty Maids so we’ll see a fair amount of each other.’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:shock: Did Stephen just swear?

Oh, well, I'm pleased that he's found happiness too!

Thankyou!
Author:  Abi [ Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Once again I don't know the crossover, but never mind :D . Thanks sealpuppy, I now have many more on my list of books to read!
Author:  ibarhis [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Is that another Barsetshire crossover? Amabel Adams? Following in her mother's footsteps? If it is, I'd love to hear Stephen's view of his future father in law...
Author:  jmc [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I am really enjoying his but am shamed to admit I have no idea about most of the crossovers and think I will have to start reading something other that the latest mysteries and thrillers. :oops:

Thanks sealpuppy
Author:  JB [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Steven is lovely. That was very moving - I hadn't thought of Pretty Maids in that way before.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just a bit more about Stephen to get the confessions out of the way and yes, Amabel comes from Barsetshire too. (It's a bit self-indulgent, bunging in all these obscure crossovers but if you're tempted to try the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novels, you might love them as much as I do. Ditto with Pillars of the House.)

Charles decided to take a hand. He could see that his parents both looked rather shell-shocked at all this news cascading in on them, and knowing that Joey had already taken his own Jane under her wing, he decided to capitalise on that.

‘Actually,’ he put in. ‘Jane knows Amabel quite well. They both have the same godmother, Mrs Gresham; she’s a distant cousin of Jane’s and she’s a great friend of Mr and Mrs Adams, that’s Amabel’s parents.’ He exchanged grins with his elder brother and continued. ‘I timed my trip back to London in the holidays, (when I had to pick up my stuff,) to fit in with Jane’s visit to England to stay with Mrs Gresham, who kindly invited me too. She took both of us along to Marling Hall to the village fete and Mrs Adams invited us to lunch.’

‘Marling Hall?’ Joey looked interested and all six of her elder children concealed smiles as they recognised that here was another weapon in her constant guerrilla warfare with Grizel and her cronies. Joey had been furious after the last coffee morning when someone had made snide comments about ‘indiscriminately large families’ so Marling Hall was clearly going to be a help.

Stephen raised an eyebrow and bit his lip to cover a smile as he thanked his brother with a nod. ‘It was Mrs Adams’s family home,’ he explained. ‘Her elder brother didn’t want to live there and Mr Adams bought it for his wife. He’s very wealthy,’ he shrugged, not boasting but stating the facts. ‘He’s an industrialist and has interests world-wide but he always stays true to his Barsetshire roots. I think you’ll like him,’ he said hopefully, crossing his fingers under the table. ‘He’s a bit of a rough diamond in some ways but he’s been very kind to me, and Mrs Adams has been great, letting me help with a difficult calving and inviting me down when they were cleaning out the duck pond.’

Joey blinked at this unusual testament to generosity but recognised that Stephen had felt singularly honoured and had enjoyed himself, so she let it go, though she did wonder about that ‘rough diamond’ description. The fact that Charles’s dear Jane was connected to the Adamses was enormously reassuring though, so she sipped happily at the glass of wine that Charles had quietly refilled and put in front of her. Her children had no difficulty in reading her thoughts and Stephen wondered, slightly maliciously, how she would cope with Mr Adams’s benevolent though overwhelming personality, along with Mrs Adams’s kind but brusque manner. He suddenly remembered something.

‘I forgot to tell you, Helena,’ he turned to his eldest sister. ‘Amabel was at Barchester High School and she says to give you all her sympathy. You’ll need it, she says, to cope with the Head, Miss Pettinger, but apparently she’s at least a hundred so she must be retiring soon.’
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh, dear, what's Len going to have to face?

:lol: Love Joey's response to all of the big houses and things - I hope that she can meet some of these people!

Thankyou.
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
If Amabel's anything like her mother, god help the old tabbies that Grizel is friendly with.
Author:  KatS [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Quote:
It's a bit self-indulgent, bunging in all these obscure crossovers but if you're tempted to try the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novels, you might love them as much as I do.


Not at all - in Janie Steps In, Nan Blakeney settles down with "the latest Barsetshire book", so you are in good CS company :D
Author:  sealpuppy [ Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Have managed to work in yet another crossover but not sure where it's going yet!

Hilda Annersley tramped briskly along the back road of the Platz towards the village. Jo Maynard had urged a lift in her car but Hilda had shaken her head.
‘It’s a beautiful afternoon, thank you, Jo,’ she had told her friend. ‘I’m relishing the freedom to ignore the time and just enjoy myself, and a walk is just what I need.’ She smiled as she kissed Jo goodbye. ‘Heaven only knows I need to walk off that delicious lunch. Anna’s cooking just gets better and better, doesn’t it; I do hope you appreciate how lucky you are. And mention that to Anna now and then?’

Yes, she mused as she savoured the sunshine and the freedom from having to be somewhere, to see someone, to discuss this or that problem. Retirement was turning out to be exactly what she had hoped and to this end she planned to spend an hour in the village patisserie, reading Joey’s new book, pressed on her as a parting gift, and knowing that no duties awaited her other than the onerous task of choosing what pudding to eat that night. Bliss, she sighed.

Lunch with Jo had thrown up a couple of sticky moments. It was almost a week since the elder Maynard children had – with determined kindness – destroyed their parents’ ambitions for their offspring. Hilda had let Joey spill it all out, for the umpteenth time, while maintaining silence about her own considerable sympathy for the ‘children’.

‘I still can’t believe what Stephen told Jack,’ Joey had complained; now that the initial shock was receding and Joey had discussed her intimate family affairs with every single visitor to Freudesheim, she was beginning to be less unhappy and more annoyed at the whole situation. ‘When Jack discovered that Steve was cheerfully attending the parish church at Pretty Maids, he hit the roof and ordered Steve to go to mass from now on. And would you believe?’ she had stared aghast at her friend. ‘Steve had the cheek to point out that the Maynards had been staunch Church of England since the 1540s and that it was common knowledge locally that Jack had broken his father’s heart by converting when he was a lad.’

Hilda had nodded noncommittally while Joey turned it all over in her mind. ‘And Len, I mean Helena, of all people, agreeing to marry in the Church of England; how could she put some complete stranger above her family and the religion she was brought up in? As for Margot – if Jack was most hurt by Stephen’s defection, I think Margot’s decision may well break my heart. I had always intended to dedicate one of my children to the religious life and here she is proposing to marry, but to continue her career and, if you please, blithely telling me that she might decide not to have any children at all.’

It had been a relief to Hilda when the phone rang and it turned out to be Grizel announcing that she would like to call. Hilda had uttered soothing platitudes to Joey, counselled discretion and keeping her mouth shut when dealing with her children, and made a hasty getaway. It’s not my problem, she reminded herself and recalled with pleasure the visits, jointly and individually, that the triplets had made to Das Damenhaus during their brief holiday. In her own mind Hilda felt sure the girls had thought long and hard about their decisions and that the best course of action was to let Jack and Jo stew in their own juice and get over it. As she giggled mischievously at her own use of appalling, and forbidden, slang, Hilda turned right and headed into the middle of the village. The coffee would be hot and strong and simply blanketed with whipped cream, she sighed with pleasure, and the strawberry tarts were out of this world. Retirement certainly had its up side.

As she entered the salon de the Hilda smiled her thanks at the girl who stood politely aside for her, then paused, trying not to stare. ‘But…but…it’s Josephine, isn’t it?’ she held out her hand with a smile of welcome. ‘Josephine Burkett, how delightful to see you again. My last act as Head of the Chalet School was to recommend to Miss Wilmot that you should be Head Girl and I gather you were a great success. What are you doing here? I thought you were slated for a science degree at London University?’

‘I was,’ Josephine Burkett bobbed the curtsy that came automatically to every Chalet girl, past and present, and shook hands with her former Headmistress. ‘Unfortunately I went down with glandular fever the day after term ended and although I didn’t have it badly, the doctors decided I should postpone university till next year.’ She was leading Miss Annersley into the café as she spoke, heading for a table in the window, occupied by two ladies. ‘My mother suggested I spend the year at St Mildred’s and have special extra tuition from Miss Wilson, as well as the rest of the curriculum.’

Miss Annersley looked with polite interest at the ladies Josephine indicated then started with surprise at the introduction.
‘Mother, Aunt Maud, this is Miss Annersley; you remember, Mother, Miss Annersley used to be Head of the Chalet School. Miss Annersley: my mother, Mrs Burkett and my great-aunt, Miss Maud Silver; they're staying at the Pension Rosa for a month.’

Hilda shook hands with the plump, smiling Mrs Burkett and then hesitated as she approached the small lady in her eighties, hair neatly coiled and netted and wearing a dress of nondescript period and nondescript colours, her only ornament a bog oak brooch attached to her collar.

Elderly as she was, Miss Silver’s voice was calm and low, her handshake firm and kind, as she greeted Miss Annersley. ‘I believe Miss Annersley and I have already met,’ she said with the smile that had reassured hundreds of unhappy people who had sought her counsel. ‘On professional grounds, I believe it was?’ Her head tilted and her smile became interrogative, while Hilda felt time vanish and knew herself to be a girl of twenty-four once more – alone, afraid, and desperately hoping this little lady could help her.
Author:  Abi [ Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
More of this - yay! Interesting little baby cliff at the end there though :) .
Author:  janetbrown23 [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
OOOOOhhhhh I used to love the Miss Silver books, I must see if they still have them in the library. I love this drabble sealpuppy, thanks so much.
Author:  JB [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Quote:

Quote:
I had always intended to dedicate one of my children to the religious life


:hammer: :hammer: Joey. She is particularly annoying and self-centred here.

I might dig out my Miss Silver books. I was wondering what to read next.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't know the crossover but I'm still intrigued! Thankyou.
Author:  ammonite [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
ohh I don't know the cross over but this is good. I know some of the books but don't know the Angela Thirkell ones - maybe they will have to be on the reading list.
Author:  shazwales [ Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm another that doesn't know the crossover but,really enjoying this!
Author:  Bride [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
MISS SILVER!!!!! Genius!
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm another ignoramous who doesn't know all the crossovers but am enjoying catching up with all the updates.

I think Joey and Jack are being a bit hypocritical regarding religion. Haven't they always espouted that there are many paths to God and Joey herself was Church of England so what about Madge's feelings when she married in a Catholic curch
Author:  Emma A [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Yay! Miss Silver - and how nice to see Josephine "in the flesh" after all that knitting Miss Silver did for her! :D

Thanks, sealpuppy.
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Has no-one ever told Jo that the practice of accepting oblates was ended centuries ago?

No parent has the right to dedicate a child to god, only the child can do the dedicating. The call to religious life is often long, hard and difficult, so to expect one of her children to do it at her behest means that Jo has no idea about it at all.

That's me finished spouting. Sorry.
Author:  JennieP [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Read the whole of the Damerosehay books at a gulp, thanks to this, along with the Rosemary Tree and Linnets and Valerians for good measure, so thanks for that, sealpuppy!
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 12:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A whole week without an update! Wails and moans.
Author:  shesings [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Wot Jennie said!! :) Leaves a few plot bunny and sealpuppy treats and slips quietly out!
Author:  janetbrown23 [ Sun Dec 06, 2009 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
decides to go for the dreaded chant.
Author:  shazwales [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just re read this again,it's lovely but Miss Silver books? can anyone advise please?
Author:  JB [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
They're detective stories by Patricia Wentworth from the 1930s/40s (and possibly onwards). Miss Silver is her amateur, elderly lady detective.

* Adds more bunny treats to the pile *
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
JB wrote:
Miss Silver is her amateur, elderly lady detective.
* Adds more bunny treats to the pile *


:shock: Shock, Horror! Never an amateur, JB, Miss Silver is a professional private enquiry agent (and former governess). And a million times better than Miss Marple IMHO. They should make a tv series about her, rather than trying and failing to improve on the sublime Joan Hickson1

Bunny treats gratefully accepted and new episode brewing up anytime now but house currently full of very small boys and hostile Lego pieces strewn about the floor. Very painful to the naked foot. When they go home, I'll let the bunny loose. :D
Author:  Jennie [ Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Obviously you are far too competent a grandmother, Sealpuppy. Why not become rather more vague and forgetful, then you wouldn't have to look after them so much, and you would have the time to write more for us.
Author:  Emma A [ Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
While sealpuppy is grappling with plot bunnies, may I just say that I have acquired a box set of the fantastic Joan Hickson Miss Marple adaptations? So, so much better than the Geraldine McEwan or Julia McKenzie versions.

I guess any TV adapter would consider Miss Silver too similar to Miss Marple to dramatise, but I'd love to see The Chinese Shawl, The Clock Strikes Twelve or Latter End on TV.

Sorry about the OT bit. Over to you, sealpuppy!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I think Miss Silver would be terrific on TV, much better than the awful series with Geraldine McEwen and yes, The Chinese Shawl would be great.

Bit more of Hilda & co's adventures. Not sure where I'm going with this but adding a bit to soothe the bunnies nibbling at my brain.

‘So there you are, Nell.’ Hilda glanced across the top of her gin and tonic and nodded to her friend; Jeanne was criticising Anna's garden plans in the reading room and Matey was in her studio. ‘It was donkey’s years ago and I was completely terrified. I stood there in the Head’s study and was nearly physically sick as she held out the typed sheet of answers to the examinations and told me they’d been found in my desk.’

She shivered. ‘Look, how foolish of me, it still has the power to frighten me. Anyway, I tried to defend myself; of course I’d never cheat by telling my form the answers, but the Head was adamant and I was bundled out of the school like the criminal they accused me of being. Luckily I had a little money with me and managed to find a room in a cheap lodging house but the next morning I was sitting in a quiet little tea room, trying to swallow a piece of toast and a cup of tea, when the waitress asked if I’d mind sharing my table with another lady. It was Miss Silver.’

‘You say she used to be a detective? She sounds distinctly unusual from the way you described her just now!’

‘She is – and was,’ Hilda’s reminiscent smile was affectionate. ‘She drew the whole sorry tale out of me, so kindly and tactfully, asked a few probing questions that made no sense to me at the time, then she frowned, straightened her hat and put on her gloves and told me to stay where I was till she came back. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do and so I did as I was told. She was smiling when she reappeared an hour later and she handed me an envelope which contained a cheque for six months salary and a letter of apology from the Head.’ She shook her head in remembered disbelief. ‘Miss Silver had marched into the Head’s office, insisted she repeat the charge against me and display the evidence, then apparently made mincemeat of the whole thing. Whereupon the assistant English mistress broke down and confessed that she had planted the list of answers in my desk because she was jealous of me and of the Head’s dependence on me.’

‘All was well in the end though, isn’t that when you decided to work in Austria?’ Nell stretched like a complacent cat. ‘Just look at that sunset; I feel smug every time I think how comfortably settled we are, Hilda. Here, pass the bottle and let me top up our G&Ts; it’s astonishing how you always manage to hang on to the gin while I end up with just the tonic.’

Hilda grinned and did as she was asked. ‘Natural talent, my dear, what else? Anyway, I’m so glad the rest of you are happy that I invited Miss Silver and Mrs Burkett to dinner tomorrow night. I knew Jeanne had already asked Joey and Jack for their first formal visitation so I thought a bit of leaven might be welcome in the light of all the traumas with the various Maynard weddings. Even Joey will restrain herself in front of strangers, I hope.’

‘You could be right,’ Nell raised her glass in salute. ‘It won’t be too sticky though because Stacie will be arriving at Freudesheim tomorrow and I gather Jo intends to drag her along here. Didn’t you say Miss Silver has a nephew descending on her and that he’s coming to dinner also? They can be company for each other, unless the nephew is very young.’

‘Not a nephew,’ commented Hilda. ‘A dear friend apparently and no, he’s not that young. Fiftyish I believe and a Detective Chief Superintendant at Scotland Yard, no less. His name is Frank Abbott and yes, maybe he and Stacie will take to each other.’
Author:  Abi [ Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you Nicky! :D
Author:  jmc [ Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Love Hilda's matchmaking. Thanks sealpuppy.
Author:  shazwales [ Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you, :)
Author:  cal562301 [ Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Lovely. Thank you.
Author:  JB [ Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Quote:
Shock, Horror! Never an amateur, JB, Miss Silver is a professional private enquiry agent (and former governess). And a million times better than Miss Marple IMHO. They should make a tv series about her, rather than trying and failing to improve on the sublime Joan Hickson1


Sorry, sealpuppy. :oops:

Thanks for the update. It just isn't possible to improve on Joan Hickson.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Wed Jan 06, 2010 10:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update!
Author:  Emma A [ Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Frank for Stacie, eh? I can see it!

Thanks, sealpuppy!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Having marshalled my troops into their comfortable retirement, I'm not entirely sure what to do with them! I'll probably just report on some of their adventures now and then.
DCS Abbott gave a resigned sigh as he brushed his smooth fair hair into place and admired himself in the mirror. The hair might be turning almost imperceptibly from gold to silver, but there was still plenty of it.

So, dear old Maudie was going to trot out yet another bunch of allegedly eligible women to parade before him tonight, was she? His pale blue eyes narrowed a little, above the bony beak of the ancestral Abbott nose, but he suddenly relaxed. Dear Maudie – and wouldn’t she be prim if she heard him call her that, even after all these years.

The frown returned as he stared at the face before him. Tired, yes, he shook his head. It had been a tricky case, taking him all across the Continent, hampered at every step by international bureaucracy, and the follow-up meeting in Geneva had been the last word in frustration. Chance had reminded him of a recent conversation with his old friend and mentor, and he had been seized with a whim – most unlike careful, cool, deliberate Frank Abbott. A week up in the mountains above Interlaken, relaxing in the undemanding company of Miss Silver and her comfortable niece, Mrs Burkett, had suddenly struck him as being better than a month at a health farm.

The last word in pale grey, Savile Row elegance, Frank Abbott lounged gracefully in a comfortable chair in the distressingly pine and folksy salon of the pension. A young couple emerged from the entrance hall, hands entwined, eyes bright and excited as they gazed at each other – until the young man spotted Frank and at once straightened up as if a poker had been inserted in his nether regions. Hmm, Frank was intrigued. Criminal? I don’t think so. Job, then; he took another look and agreed with his own conclusion; bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, young, keen Plod. I don’t know him, he thought as he sketched a kind of salute and was amused to see the boy go bright red with pleasure as he acknowledged it. Oh well, thought Frank: more people know Tom Fool, than Tom knows. He must have been at some seminar of mine, I imagine.

Miss Silver, who was looking smarter than usual in her best summer frock of a daring dark cherry red silk (chosen by Ethel Burkett who had said: ‘such good style, Auntie, and such a bargain. This silk will last for an age.’), fastened with her ancestral bog oak brooch, adorned with its river pearl, looked just as she had looked since they had met in about 1940. Ethel Burkett looked pleasant but unremarkable in a well-upholstered flowered print shirt-waister, topped by a cardigan in a pink, lacy, shell pattern, that spoke of Miss Silver’s knitting talents.

The Ladies’ House was only a couple of hundred yards away, so Frank gave Miss Silver his arm and they made their stately progress down the village street.
‘That’s a nice-looking young pair at the pension,’ he ventured. ‘Honeymoon couple are they?’
‘Oh yes,’ smiled Miss Silver. ‘Tom and Joyce Barnaby, from Causton, in Midsomer. He’s just passed his sergeant’s exams and is hoping to go into the CID. I did take the liberty of mentioning that you would be a good man to talk to, if he needed advice.’
‘That explains it,’ Frank’s voice gave no sign of the slight twinge of exasperation he felt at this benign meddling. Still, the boy had looked a promising lad, with considerable intelligence in those very bright blue eyes, and the girl seemed happy. Let them pick Frank’s brains if they must.

Arrived at Das Damen Haus, Frank received the first of several shocks the evening was to deliver. One of his several hostesses gave him her hand in welcome but looked at him with narrowed blue-grey eyes. ‘Good heavens,’ she exclaimed, her frown disappearing as a delightful smile spread across her pleasant, rather austere features. ‘But of course. I believe we must be cousins in some degree, Mr Abbott. My grandmother was related to your own grandmother, Lady Evelyn Abbott, on her mother’s side. Do come in. My friend, Miss Wilson, will give you a sherry. I’m sure you’ll need it, surrounded as you are here by a monstrous regiment!’

Frank at once fell into family discussion and he and Hilda Annersley soon worked out that they must be third cousins once removed – or if not that, something very close to it.
A tall woman, with white hair piled high, handed him a glass. Her keen grey eyes twinkled at him as she nodded: ‘I’m Nell Wilson,’ she said. ‘Drink up, Mr Abbott. It won’t choke you, we’re very partial to a decent dry sherry. And if Hilda’s latched on to you as a cousin, you’ll be hard put to escape from her. It was always a joke at the school, that she seemed to have cousins in every county.’

He sipped at his drink, raised his eyebrows, and gave her a slight, ceremonious bow, acknowledging the quality of the sherry. ‘Miss Wilson, this is nectar. If this is what you and your companions drink, I shall be knocking on your door every evening of my visit. As for cousins, I believe I can outdo even Miss Annersley, as it’s been said – with some truth – that I have more cousins than any man in England!’

The excellence of the sherry revived him and he soon plunged into an animated discussion with Nell and the small, rather fierce-looking woman introduced as Gwynneth, about music and paintings. They explained that there were two other friends who shared the household at Das Damenhaus, but that Mlle de Lachennais was at present delayed by a telephone call and Frau Mieders had already accepted an invitation to stay a few days with a former pupil in Basel.

A flurry announced the remaining guests and Frank was surprised but pleased to recognise Jack Maynard, who had been a great help in one of Frank's early cases, just after the war.
‘Good lord,’ smiled Jack, shaking hands with the younger man. ‘We seem to run into each other about once every three or four years, don’t we? Don't hesitate to call me anytime you need a hand with another case, old chap. I never had so much fun in my entire life as when you and I ended up chasing that poisoner across the Brecon Beacons. I was damned disappointed when the fellow swallowed his own potion - but he proved me right, didn't he? I said all along, it was arsenic!'

Frank had never met Jack’s wife and was a little daunted by the woman who greeted him. An attractive creature, in her way, he thought, assessing her with a cool eye. About his own age, no beauty but the vibrant warmth was appealing, in spite of the gushing. Pity about the ghastly, out-moded hairstyle though. Those must be the last remaining pair of earphones in captivity. The conversational style was outdated too, reminding him forcibly of his aunt by marriage, Honoria, Mrs Bertram Wooster.

‘…do so want you to meet my friend,’ Mrs Maynard was telling him, as he came back to the conversation. ‘Stacie, this is an old friend of Jack’s, Mr Abbott.’

‘But we’ve met before,’ Frank was startled. The tall, fair-haired woman, a little behind Joey Maynard, had an austere beauty that intrigued him. And he knew he had seen that cool, blue-eyed appraising glance at some time in his life.

‘Dr Eustacia Benson,’ announced Mrs Maynard, pushing forward her friend.
‘Dr…?’ Frank took her hand and held it in his own while he searched his memory. ‘But of course. I met you at Shrewsbury, back in the War. You and…’ His voice faltered to a halt as he met her steady gaze. ‘Oh my God,’ he said, filled with contrition. ‘That was his last night, wasn’t it? The raid…’


NB I'm not sure how old DCI Barnaby is meant to be, but John Nettles would have been about 22 in 1965, old enough to be married, though I'm not sure about sergeant's exams. And I'm not sure how old 'uncle Bertie Wooster would be either, older than Jack by about 8 years, I'd have thought. For the purposes of this drabble, that's it, anyway!

Edited to accommodate the fact that in the previous episode I had Jeanne inviting the Maynards, but in the first draft of this, she was away at Frieda's. Tsk, tsk, poor editing. :oops:
Author:  keren [ Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A mixture of all possible drabbles, done very well.

that could be a drabble challenge, writing one, that mentions bits of other drabbles as if they are real history
Author:  shazwales [ Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks sealpuppy,really enjoying this and counting all the crossing over characters you've included so far :) :) :)
Author:  Abi [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Honoria, Mrs Bertram Wooster? Oh no, poor Bertie!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm still lost with the cast, but enjoying it!
Author:  JB [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks Sealpuppy. I am awed by all the cross over characters you're bringing in here. This is such a good drabble.
Author:  Emma A [ Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
You have got Frank off to a tee, selapuppy! (and I love Ethel's comment about Miss Silver's dress). Also love the brief mention of the Barnabys.

Thanks for the update.
Author:  RuthFL [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Is there any chance of more of this please? I read all of the drabble in one go and find myself teetering on the edge of a cliff.....
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Well, I've been thinking about starting to whinge and moan again, if that's any help.

And I'm sure other people will join in. Or we could start a chant.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the reminder! I've been wondering where to go with this but suddenly had an idea for another cross-over. I think this is just going to bumble along as I come up with more unlikely relationships. I've 'borrowed' from the Stacie at Shrewsbury drabble because I found it such a touching idea - because, of course, it must have ended in tears.

‘Well,’ Frank Abbott leaned back against his pillows as he spoke aloud to himself. ‘That was quite a surprising evening, wasn’t it?’

The dinner had been excellent; so excellent, in fact, that Frank was aware that he’d made something of a pig of himself over the blackberry pavlova. He recalled, with a rueful shake of his head, looking up suddenly and catching Stacie Benson’s quizzical grey eyes as he tucked into his second large helping. Oh well, it had been worth it, he thought, to see her face crease into genuine amusement at his slight embarrassment. He’d gained the impression that the eminent Dr Benson was a serious, rather sad woman, little given to lighter moments.

A pity, he mused, remembering that very clear picture, the one that had sprung instantly to mind the moment he saw her again: a laughing girl at a wartime cocktail party in Oxford, where alcohol was in short supply but made no difference to the high spirits of the guests. She had been a shock to him then, he remembered, when he realised that Jerry St George was in love with her. Yes, Frank thought now. He’d known Jerry on and off for years, the cousinship was distant but affectionate, and he had been introduced to girl after girl by his erratic relative, and not one of them had made any impression. Until that night, because Jerry had his arm round the Shrewsbury girl who nestled against him, and the way they were gazing into each other's eyes was unmistakeable. Old Jerry was in love, at last – and lastingly, if Frank was any judge. And she – oh yes, there had been no question of how she felt.

He had cursed his clumsy words last night at dinner. God, how could he remind her of that night? The night Viscount St George had flown on his last mission, the one where he had won the posthumous DFC. The night he had been shot down over the Channel and his body never recovered.

She had been kind though, and gracious. ‘Shh,’ she had said very quietly and calmly. ‘I know, I know, but don’t mention it now. This isn’t the time, they don’t know. They’ve never known.’ And from then on, she had smiled and talked and smiled again, as they discovered this friend in common, and that enemy jointly loathed, and all the while Frank had been aware of Miss Silver radiating a quiet satisfaction. Jack Maynard’s odd wife had been doing much the same although he had noticed that at one time, when she started to say something, Mrs Maynard had squeaked and subsided, almost as if someone had kicked her in the shin. Her husband had worn an air of would-be innocent unconcern that, to the experienced Detective Superintendant Abbott of the Yard, looked spurious, to say the least.

Time to get up, Frank yawned and stretched, remembering with a grin of pure pleasure, that Stacie Benson had quietly mentioned, with apparent unconcern, that she quite often dropped into the patisserie on the Platz just after breakfast. ‘To get out of Joey’s hair,’ she told him solemnly. ‘The coffee is excellent,’ she added. ‘And the pastries are to die for.’

Miss Silver and Mrs Burkett were before him at the breakfast table and they greeted him with smiles, which deepened – in Miss Silver’s case – as the young Barnaby couple nodded a polite ‘Good Morning’ before scuttling off, rather pink-faced, and hand in hand.

‘Such a delightful pair,’ she told Frank, as she sipped her coffee. ‘Young Mrs Barnaby was telling me just now that she and her husband both come from police families. Her mother’s uncle was the late Inspector Japp, who worked closely with the famous M Poirot, and her husband has a cousin in the Bureau des Etrangers in Jersey.’
Author:  JB [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
That was so moving and then this made me laugh out loud. Very clever.

Quote:
she and her husband both come from police families ... and her husband has a cousin in the Bureau des Etrangers in Jersey
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you. I do love all these crtossovers, and this story can bimble along for as long as it wants to.
Author:  PaulineS [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the bumbleing.
Author:  ibarhis [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I love the explanation for the particular likeness between the young Mr Barnaby and his cousin in Jersey! :lol:
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks, am enjoying the updates
Author:  ammonite [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update. Plus you have made me reread a lot of these and get into Trollope and Angela Thirkell!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just realised that Stacie has blue eyes before dinner and they turn to grey afterwards. As I can't remember what colour they really were, and am too idle to go upstairs and look it up, I maintain that it was a) the lighting in the speisesaal; b) the blue reflected from her blue dress; or c) the power of luuurve turned them softer, greyer and more approachable. :D
Author:  Elbee [ Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Enjoying all these crossovers - keep bumbling please!
Author:  Jennie [ Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Why no more of this?

BTW: I've just managed to get one of your books out of the library, Nicola. The one with the watering-pot governess with the artificial leg!
Author:  abbeygirl [ Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just read through the whole story so far - and now have a long list of books to "acquire". Very much enjoying this, so thank you....
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Jennie wrote:
BTW: I've just managed to get one of your books out of the library, Nicola. The one with the watering-pot governess with the artificial leg!

Oh, excellent news, Jennie. That's the one someone told me was 'mad as a box of frogs', can't think why. Hope you enjoy it.
Bit more of the genteel goings-on at the Platz, and two more crossovers, both featuring characters I love dearly.

It hadn’t been difficult for a detective to discover that there was a short cut through the woods to the other end of the Platz, so it was easy enough for Frank Abbott to be strolling casually along the main road past the Maynard’s enormous house when the side door closed quietly and a tall, slender woman slipped out.

‘Good morning, Dr Benson,’ was Frank’s formal greeting, belied by the twinkle in his pale blue eyes as Stacie, whose initial smile had betrayed her pleasure at seeing him, joined him in his morning walk, with an equally polite: ‘Good morning, Chief Superintendant. Are you heading for the Dorf?’
Frank agreed that he was, indeed, heading for the village, and that he hoped she would join him for coffee when they reached their destination. Amused and slightly shy, they carried on walking, chatting about Oxford and London, mutual friends and common enemies, while Stacie explained to Frank that she was going to be giving a series of lectures at University College, London, after Christmas. ‘Just to keep my hand in,’ she told him. ‘I’ve plans to do some translations and I’d like to explore London. It’s not a city I know at all well. I'll be staying here with Joey for a while and then I'll fly over and start looking for a flat.’

All too soon they reached the Dorf and headed towards the patisserie. Frank held the door open for Stacie and as they looked around the large room, pleasantly empty at this early hour, Stacie gave a slight gasp. As Frank followed her gaze, he was at first puzzled, then amused, at the sight of a girl of about eighteen, brazenly wearing the hideously unflattering blue frock that identified her as a denizen of the Chalet School, sitting in companionable conversation with a large man with blue eyes and a scarred complexion. His laughter had been occasioned by the skill with which she was tamping down tobacco in a large briar pipe, held in her hand.

Frank was about to say something when the schoolgirl spotted Stacie Benson and stood up, waving hospitably at the two empty chairs at her table. ‘Hi, Dr Benson, come and join us. I’ll shout for more coffee.’ (Her bellowed order soon produced a tray of coffee and delicious pastries and Frank eyed her with respect. Such lung power was unusual in one so young, but then again, she obviously had considerable lung capacity… he dragged his eyes away from her impressive bosom, and hoped Stacie hadn’t noticed his moment of distraction.)

‘Jack?’ Stacie sat down with a smile but looked worried. ‘Are you allowed in here? And for heaven’s sake don’t you dare start smoking that pipe! I thought Miss Wilmot had strictly forbidden that? I’m quite sure Chalet Girls are not generally allowed to smoke pipes.’
She turned to Frank with an apology. ‘Oh dear, I’m forgetting myself. Frank, this is Jack Troutbeck, I mean Ida. She’s Head Girl of the Chalet School, but even so, I’m quite sure she’s not allowed to be out and about in the village like this.’

Ida (Jack) Troutbeck shook hands with Frank with such vigour that he was unable to feel the blood flowing for at least half an hour. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Dr Benson,’ was the affable reply. ‘I’ve got Miss Wilmot in the palm of my hand, she never worries what I do as long as my Greek and Latin grades continue to be As.’

She remembered her companion and was about to introduce him when Frank Abbott forestalled her. ‘Good God,’ he exclaimed, nobly holding out his maltreated hand for another bracing handshake. ‘I haven’t seen you for about five years. Here, Stacie. This is Detective Inspector Hunt, (no, you’re a Detective Chief Inspector now, didn’t I hear?) an old friend and trusted colleague. What’ll you have, old boy?’

The other man gave a wolfish grin as he nodded to Stacie and looked over at the array of luscious cakes.
‘Call me Gene,’ he told her as he beckoned to the waitress. ‘I’m DCI Gene Hunt, luv, and I’m ‘avin’ ‘oops.’
Author:  abbeygirl [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh my goodness me - I wish I couldn't picture that quite so clearly..... Thank you!
Author:  Abi [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Yay - more of this (and I even know who Jack Troutbeck is, having had her explained to me at Winchester the other week!).

Thanks Nicky! :D
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I know neither of them, but it's still good to see more of this! Why do I get the impression that Jack could get on very well with Jack?

Thanks!
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't particularly care if this drabble actually goes anywhere at all, I'm just sitting back and enjoying it, though not often enough (hint) or in large enough quantities. (second hint.)
Author:  keren [ Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I need this stuff explained too, but do not worry about Stacie's eyes.
There is such a colour as grey/blue and the color does vary with your clothes etc (I have that color eyes and they get bluer with blue clothes etc)
Author:  Emma A [ Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Go on then, who is Jack/Ida Troutbeck?

And, thanks, sealpuppy - this is very entertaining. :D
Author:  Jennie [ Mon May 03, 2010 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Definitely starting a chant for more of this.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon May 03, 2010 11:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Will do, but am awash with small children at present. Have an inkling about the next bit though... :shock:
Author:  Jennie [ Mon May 03, 2010 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've said it before, you're just too good a grandmother. Be more forgetful, hand them over with dirty faces and full nappies, then you'll have more time for writing.

The number of grandparents that I see childminding is enormous.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Mon May 03, 2010 12:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Nooo, I'm not a childminding grandma, this is for fun! But they go home later today so I'll be out to play!
Author:  Jennie [ Fri May 07, 2010 2:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Looking for Sealpuppy who promised to come out to play and hasn't appeared.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Wed May 12, 2010 4:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Only a short bit as I'm off on a train soon, and will be looking out for bluff Yorkshiremen trying to seduce me with baskets of gooseberries! :D (Chance'd be a fine thing...)
DCI Hunt, for those who don't know, is a character in the BBC's Ashes to Ashes drama. Jack Troutbeck is the star of a series of comedy crime novels by Ruth Dudley Edwards. Start with Matricide at St Martha's. Jack could never be called a spineless jellyfish and her adventures are not for the faint-hearted (or the weak-bladdered! I was recommended the books by someone who warned that she howled with laughter at them!

Frank Abbott shot a quizzical glance at DCI Hunt and ushered Dr Benson to a table overlooking the view of the Jungfrau. While he waited for the buxom Swiss waitress to bring their order he watched the ill-assorted couple from under his fair eyelashes until Stacie Benson coughed gently and grinned at him.

‘I can see you’re a little surprised at the current Head Girl of the Chalet School,’ she remarked. ‘I assure you she’s a one-off; however eccentric some of the staff may be, it really isn’t the norm for a pupil to be quite so insouciant as Jack. But she has special qualities, not least the ability to drink even Dr Entwhistle under the table – and I assure you that’s not something most people would attempt. She also has the most astute brain of any teenage girl I’ve ever encountered and I believe she and Jack Maynard have been playing a lot of what they call ‘guerrilla chess’. Don’t ask me the rules but Dr Maynard says he’s never met a better player. I do know it involves a lot of alcohol but Jack (both Jacks) have heads like teak.

‘I can see she’s unusual,’ nodded Frank. ‘What is making me wonder slightly, is the sudden presence of police officers who have been moved to take an impromptu holiday in this quiet neck of the woods. There’s young Barnaby for one; there’s Hunt, of course, and I spotted a signature in the Pension guest book today – a certain inspector from Oxford and to cap it all, we’re graced by the presence of His Nibs the Poet from Scotland Yard, Dalgleish, of all people.’

‘And there’s you, of course?’ Stacie raised an elegant eyebrow.

‘Oh yes, I’m here too,’ smiled Frank, then he changed the subject. ‘I have to admit to a curiosity about girls called Jack. Don’t ask me any questions though, for I can’t answer them. But tell me more about that young woman over there, if you don’t mind.’
Author:  PaulineS [ Wed May 12, 2010 4:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update. You are more likely to find Yorkshire men with rhubarb rather than gooseberries! Especially if you are going anywhere near Wakefield. Enjoy your time in the Broad acres of Yorkshire. (God's own county)
Author:  Abi [ Wed May 12, 2010 8:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I was going to quote bits, and then I couldn't decide on which bits to quote. :?

So I'll just go with :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol:

Thanks Nicky! (I have just bought Murder Most Welcome and am about to start reading it...)
Author:  Emma A [ Thu May 13, 2010 10:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Is there a gathering of international crooks, or is the area so free from crime that the police all take their holidays there for a bit of rest?

Thanks, sealpuppy!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Thu May 13, 2010 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:lol: Thankyou for the update!
Author:  Jennie [ Thu May 13, 2010 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I too, long to be seduced by gooseberries. Thanks, Sealpuppy.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri May 21, 2010 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
PaulineS wrote:
. Enjoy your time in the Broad acres of Yorkshire. (God's own county)

Actually it was France but we went by train, just for fun. Which it was - and no soft continental coal. Sadly no seductive men, apart from the one I took with me!
Author:  PaulineS [ Fri May 21, 2010 3:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I forgot James Kettlewell and thought of the cottage on the moors!
Author:  Jennie [ Fri May 28, 2010 1:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This has been a long holiday, Sealpuppy. Is there going oot be lots more of this soon?
Author:  gwynne [ Fri May 28, 2010 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
yes! echoes the call for more! pretty please? pretty please with bells on?
Author:  Abi [ Fri May 28, 2010 6:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Maybe it's time to start a chant?
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri May 28, 2010 7:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I do respond to a good kicking, so here's a little bit. I hope Det Supt Abbott knows where it's going 'cos I'm blessed if I do! And there's a cross-over here that might ring a bell but it's not a GO book, or cosy crime; plus another one that is GO. (May I be forgiven...)
‘Thank you for taking us into your confidence, Mr Abbott – oh well, Cousin Frank then, if you wish and I, of course, am Hilda.’ A frown creased Miss Annersley’s normally serene brow as she poured out coffee for Frank Abbott who, with Stacie Benson, had turned up at Das Damenhaus, having collected Miss Maud Silver on the way past the Pension.

‘As I understand it,’ put in Nell Wilson incisively. ‘You are here unofficially to investigate rumours of a drug-smuggling operation allegedly run from somewhere near here?’

‘Drugs – and er, sex scandals, if I may put it like that.’ Frank Abbott rarely felt on the brink of blushing these days, but with Nell’s lip curled, and Hilda’s steady clear-eyed gaze, he came perilously close to it now. ‘There have been instances of highly-placed diplomats and businessmen from the Nato countries either disappearing completely, or resigning their positions very abruptly, shortly after suspicious leakages of classified information. We suspect blackmail and we believe it is connected with the Eastern Bloc and it is our understanding that there is a base in Interlaken along with some kind of outfit actually here on the Gornetz Platz.’

‘Are you able to tell us, my dear Frank,’ put in Miss Silver as she knitted rapidly, her needles held low in her lap in the continental fashion. ‘Why it is that you have an interest in girls who are known as Jack?’

‘Not quite at this moment, I’m afraid,’ Frank told her with an apologetic smile. ‘But it’s girls with boyish names, or nicknames, in general, who have caught our interest. For example, there’s a Tom, several Jacks, a Cecil, and a couple of older ladies called Syd and Ray – though in that instance we are quite sure that ‘Ray’ has no involvement in this racket. Another couple of ladies, much the same vintage, are Ray and Benny, and those two are definitely involved. The others are still being investigated, though I’m pretty sure we can eliminate the current head girl of the Chalet School. Stacie tells me that though eccentric, Jack Troutbeck is upright and honest and would probably hog-tie and tar and feather anyone who tried to involve her in any dubious shenanigans.’
Author:  PaulineS [ Fri May 28, 2010 8:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Quote:
Stacie tells me that though eccentric, Jack Troutbeck is upright and honest and would probably hog-tie and tar and feather anyone who tried to involve her in any dubious shenanigans.’


As would I think the Tom and Cecil if they are the ones I suspect he is referring to.
Author:  cal562301 [ Fri May 28, 2010 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Don't recognise any of the cross-overs, but loving this anyway.

Thanks for the update.
Author:  Abi [ Fri May 28, 2010 8:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I know Ray and Benny - excellent! :lol:

Glad to see this back, Nicky!
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sat May 29, 2010 12:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I still don't recognise the crossovers, but am most intrigued - thankyou!
Author:  RuthFL [ Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
ChubbyMonkey wrote:
I still don't recognise the crossovers, but am most intrigued - thankyou!

Ray and Benny from Due South?
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat May 29, 2010 2:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
RuthFL wrote:
ChubbyMonkey wrote:
I still don't recognise the crossovers, but am most intrigued - thankyou!

Ray and Benny from Due South?


Oh, brilliant! I loved those two - but sadly no. This Ray and Benny are from a GO series, and as I've never liked either of them, I propose to punish them severely! :shock:
Author:  Joanne [ Sat May 29, 2010 3:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Surely not Rachel and Benedicta? And I don't know who Ray and Syd might be... but I'm looking forward to reading more!

thanks.
Author:  Abi [ Sat May 29, 2010 8:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Joanne wrote:
Surely not Rachel and Benedicta?


That was who I was assuming... looking forward to seeing what's going to happen to them after that dire hint, too! :mrgreen:
Author:  janetbrown23 [ Sat May 29, 2010 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Rachel deserves all you can throw at her but Bennyben is nice.
Author:  ibarhis [ Sat May 29, 2010 10:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I don't understand why you have such a down on Ray?
Author:  shazwales [ Sun May 30, 2010 5:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update,really enjoying this.
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sun May 30, 2010 7:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Don't know who half the crossovers are but am enjoying this anyway :D
Author:  JB [ Sun May 30, 2010 7:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
janetbrown23 wrote:
Rachel deserves all you can throw at her but Bennyben is nice.


I'm with you on this one. Rachel's languages would come in useful for a life of international crime.

Thanks, sealpuppy. I never know who's going to turn up in your drabble next.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun May 30, 2010 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
JB wrote:
Thanks, sealpuppy. I never know who's going to turn up in your drabble next.


You and me both, JB! A short bit for now. I do apologise for bringing in the Abbey but Rachel has always irrited me to death - ghastly, clingy, the sort who would say:'If you don't know how you've hurt me, I'm certainly not going to tell you!'

‘Ray and Benny?’ Miss Annersley’s frown deepened and she shot a glance at Nell Wilson. ‘Surely not?’

‘You know them?’ Frank Abbott raised his nearly invisible eyebrows as he strove to conceal his disbelief, then he realised that Miss Silver, his beloved and respected mentor, was looking similarly thoughtful. ‘You too, Miss Silver?’

‘If I may,’ Miss Silver spoke decisively. ‘During the last war I became privy to certain information which it seems politic to repeat here. I beg you to be discreet, if you please.’ Her stern gaze encompassed the two former Heads of the Chalet School, who now looked like anxious Middles as they bowed to a higher authority; Stacie and Frank also nodded and waited eagerly.

‘Thank you. As I was saying, it was known, but never proven, that there was – let us say – something amiss, emanating from one of the SOE establishments. Nobody ever proved it, but the chief suspect was a woman who was involved in establishing aliases for SOE operatives.’ Miss Silver’s mouth primmed. ‘The woman, whose first name was Rachel, (I shall say no more), attempted to return to her pre-war life as an author, living at an ancient abbey and working part-time as its guide. She was furious, to say the least, to discover that not only were her services no longer required, but that the owner of the abbey had taken advantage of her wartime absence and had ploughed up the rather showy garden (planted by Rachel’s sister). It had served throughout the war as a potato field and the owner stated her intention of putting it back to lawn.’

‘What happened then?’ Miss Annersley interposed. ‘I believe we have also encountered this woman. She and her companion, a rather pleasant young woman called Benedicta, though completely under the thumb of the stronger-willed friend, attempted to join the school as languages and gardening mistresses about fifteen years ago. Fortunately we were fully-staffed as I did not take to the more forceful lady.’

Nell Wilson laughed and put it more strongly. ‘The woman was an hysteric, as she proved when she turned up in person and treated us to a scene of unprecedented drama, ringing the gamut of tears, sobs, vapours and recriminations. We would never have known a moment’s peace and besides, we already had one drama queen on the Platz; it would never have done. But I’m intrigued to hear she’s a suspected traitor.’
Author:  janetbrown23 [ Sun May 30, 2010 10:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh sealpuppy you have made my day, I never really fancied Damaris's garden, never thought it would fit in at the Abbey. I am so glad it has been returned to a nice quiet lawn.
Author:  JB [ Sun May 30, 2010 10:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Had only just picked myself up from ROFL at this:

Quote:
Her stern gaze encompassed the two former Heads of the Chalet School, who now looked like anxious Middles as they bowed to a higher authority;


When I had to do it all over again at this:

Quote:
we already had one drama queen on the Platz;


Thanks sealpuppy.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun May 30, 2010 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Glad it's fun. Bit more (written on the hoof as I'm currently bidding to be canonised as a Sainted Grandma by giving No2 daughter a long weekend off). I didn't realise how much I disliked Rachel till I started this! Heaven knows what else will spill out... :shock:



‘Very well.’ Frank Abbott made a decision. ‘As you are all familiar with the two women, I’ll fill in a little more of their background. As Miss Silver says, Rachel X was strongly suspected of dirty work during her time with SOE and was eventually moved to a position where she could do no further harm to the war effort. I understand her motive to have been personal animus against one of her colleagues, rather than any treasonable desire. As Miss Wilson has said: a very unstable, over-emotional type, but with a very strong influence on weaker characters. Her sister, by the by, was a successful ballerina before the war but at the onset of hostilities she disappeared, with indecent haste, to Hollywood, leaving her hapless English husband to perish at Dunkirk. Their daughter, you will have seen as a child star of the worst kind, and the sister proceeded to marry and divorce with indecent speed.’

Frank looked down his long nose. ‘In the early 50s she was in the singular position of having one ex-husband under examination during the Macarthy witch hunts, while another of them was one of the interrogators. The woman herself was never implicated in any actual scandal; she was a shallow butterfly and continues to ‘adorn’ the sleazier end of Hollywood life. But that’s beside the point.

‘When Rachel X found herself unable to resume her earlier life she bullied her friend, Benedicta, who had recently inherited a property in Rome from a godfather, and the pair went off to Italy where they were apparently heartily disliked.’ He qualified the statement: ‘At least, the stronger-willed friend was. Benedicta was an object of pity but by then was an abject, adoring slave and signed over her rights to her friend.’

Frank smiled briefly with a nod to Miss Annersley. ‘I’m intrigued to hear that you turned them down as prospective mistresses at the school. You did well, but I suspect that your action set up a serious grudge in Rachel’s mind, and that she has been looking to punish the Chalet School ever since. My current investigation comes as a direct result of that circumstance.’

Edited to add: For non-Abbey fans, the Abbey Girls series ended about May 1939. This drabble is set in autumn 1965 and, yes, I always thought the real Abbey Girls thought the garden round the gate house was pretty ghastly but were too kind to say so!
Author:  Jennie [ Sun May 30, 2010 2:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you muchly, Sealpuppy. I do love this.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun May 30, 2010 6:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:lol: Thankyou!
Author:  Abi [ Sun May 30, 2010 10:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Absolutely adore Damaris' story - and Rachel's of course. Completely hilarious! Thanks Nicky. :lol: :mrgreen: :lol:
Author:  Miss Di [ Sun May 30, 2010 11:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm all for anyone who can do Bad Things to Abbey Girls. Any and all of them!
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Mon May 31, 2010 5:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks, all of this is intriguing and am really enjoying the background story
Author:  JS [ Mon May 31, 2010 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'm lost on most of the crossovers but enjoying this nevertheless. No idea who the drama queen on the Platz could be though :)
Author:  Emma A [ Mon May 31, 2010 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh, how nice to see so many new posts, sealpuppy! And we're really getting into the nitty-gritty of Frank's investigation, too.

Looking forward to more!
Author:  Jennie [ Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Twenty-one whole days since we had any of this.

I'm going to start whining in a very croaky voice.
Author:  Len [ Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've just had great fun catching up with this. Very funny, even without getting all the crossovers. But, Nicky, didn't this start out as a fairly serious drabble... ;) More please!
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Len wrote:
I've just had great fun catching up with this. Very funny, even without getting all the crossovers. But, Nicky, didn't this start out as a fairly serious drabble... ;) More please!

Er, yes, Len, I believe it did. I have no excuse, apart from saying My Devil made me do it. Short bit tonight.

Nell Wilson stood behind Hilda as they waved goodbye to their morning visitors.
‘Well,’ she exploded. ‘What goings on! I hope nobody expects us to explain to Matey that we might start getting phone calls from importunate Eastern European businessmen who have been led to believe that the Chalet School has a brothel on the side!’
Hilda gave a mock shudder as she closed the front door and headed for the Salon. ‘Oh good, Gredel’s brought up some more coffee. I think we need it after that highly illuminating session; in fact, I think we need something stronger than coffee.’
She looked up to see Nell holding the Glenfiddich bottle. ‘Ah, you were ahead of me, I see. Give us each a good strong glug in our coffee, and let’s think about all of this.’

Frank Abbott and Stacie were half way down the mountain by the time Hilda and Nell had drunk their second cups of fortified coffee. The little cog railway had been on the verge of leaving and they had just managed to clamber aboard, having seen Miss Silver safely to her door.
‘No more business talk,’ declared Frank. ‘I’ve said all I’m permitted to say and probably a little more. Let’s talk about us. Or rather, let’s talk about you.’ He shifted a little so that his arm rested casually along the back of the seat, and over Stacie’s shoulder as he said, with uncharacteristic diffidence: ‘Can you bear to tell me about Jerry St George?’
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks, glad to see more and don't mind the direction its headed in the slightest. Am curious to who is Jerry St George?
Author:  RuthFL [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Jerry St George was Stacie's love interest in a previous story someone please remind me what was the name of it, I'm having a mind blank here?
Ruth :?
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I 'borrowed' it (in true EBD style) from Stacie at Shrewsbury, which is a miraculous drabble. (A drabble I'd love to see more of, hint, hint?)
Viscount St George, nephew of Lord Peter Wimsey, last heard of in the Sayers books as wanting to be a pilot.
Author:  JB [ Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thank you, sealpuppy. I, too, would love to know what happened to Jerry and if it's the same fate that DLS had in mind.
Author:  Caroline [ Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Sealpuppy, I have just read this whole drabble in one sitting and it's a work of genius. The Barsetshire crossovers are somewhat lost on me, but the rest are inspired.

Looking forward to seeing who is going to turn up next!
Author:  Cath V-P [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I have just read this in one complete sitting, and love it - all those splendid crossovers in one vast intricate web.

Some more would be lovely, but in your own time Sealpuppy.
Author:  PaulineS [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Also looking forward to an update.
Author:  sealpuppy [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I've completely lost the plot with this daft investigation of Frank's but I woke up this morning with a kind of 'with one bound, she solved the problem', so here it is :D .

‘You know everything there is to know,’ Stacie said simply. ‘We fell in love and in spite of the differences in our backgrounds, Jerry was determined we should marry. In the end I said yes, mostly because I loved him, but also because he was so… he was like a creature from another world: golden and light and magical and I knew – I always knew – that he would be like fairy gold and change when the sun rose.’ Frank could hardly bear the sadness in her face as she said: ‘And so he did, except that the change wasn’t from gold to leaves, it was from Jerry being there, loving me and laughing, to Jerry being nowhere at all.’

Frank took her hand and she gave him a half-smile, making no move to take it away. ‘Don’t be sad for me, Frank,’ she said. ‘It’s all so long ago. I haven’t forgotten, how could I? How could you forget when a shooting star lands at your feet? But the desolation gradually lessens until now I can remember him only with love.’

Frank Abbott then performed the single most spontaneous action of his entire life, one which would have had his old chief, DCI Lamb staring goggle-eyed in amazement. He took Stacie in his arms and kissed her soundly and, to the breathless interest of the other passengers on the little train, he said: ‘Marry me, Stacie? I know we only met yesterday, ridiculous as that seems, but in truth we’ve known each other for more than twenty years. I remember that night vividly. You were so pretty and I’d never seen old Jerry so happy, so comfortable in his skin, and I remember grieving for the loss of that comfort, that potentially happy life.’ It occurred to him that his proposal might sound a little unromantic, so he took a deep breath and said: ‘And I love you. Did I tell you that?’

A mighty cheer echoed round the small train and Stacie and Frank came blinking back to awareness of their surroundings. ‘You’d better say yes, Stacie,’ laughed a familiar voice and Jack Maynard turned to grin at them from the seat in front. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more public proposal and you’ll ruin poor Frank’s reputation for ever if you turn him down.’ He nodded to where the young Barnaby couple were sitting wide-eyed at the drama and romance. ‘That young man will have it all over every police force in Britain!’

‘Oh, all right then,’ Just as unromantically, Stacie nodded, blushing. ‘I mean, yes, Frank. It’s far too soon but it’s true what you say, it’s been a long time too.’

‘Thank God for that,’ Jack Maynard said as he shook hands with Frank and kissed Stacie's blushing cheek. ‘Joey will be impossible to live with because she hoped this would happen from the minute we walked into Das Damenhaus last night; but she’d have been hell on wheels if you hadn’t taken the hint!’

The first port of call in Interlaken was a jeweller’s and while Frank admired the diamonds adorning his betrothed’s slim finger, over coffee and luscious pastries, simply blanketed in whipped cream, in the lakeside café, he heaved a sigh. ‘I’m going to have to leave you here for an hour or so, darling,’ he told her, surreptitiously squeezing her hand under the tablecloth. ‘Duty calls. When I nipped back into the pension to grab my raincoat, I picked up a message telling me that a certain address in town might be a fruitful source of information about this ludicrous sex and drug racket we were talking about earlier.’ He raked a hand through his normally immaculate sleek fair hair and shook his head. ‘I don’t know,’ he told her. ‘The whole idea is nonsense but it seems to be true. These disgruntled women actually did set up an organisation trafficking young women (with boy’s names of all things!) and drugs – and diamonds too; and they have tried to throw doubt on the integrity of the Chalet School by using the name. This means that in certain circles, there are distinctly raised eyebrows when someone claims to be a Chalet School Girl.’

Stacie was appalled. ‘For God’s sake don’t tell Miss Annersley any details,’ she said, biting her lip. ‘I think she’d have a stroke! But what do you mean, you’re going to leave me here? I’m coming too. Yes, I am,’ she insisted. ‘I can pretend to be looking for a job or something.’

A few doors down from the anonymous-looking house, Frank was still protesting, but Stacie was adamant. As they started yet another argument about her involvement, a tall fair girl sidled up to them. ‘You’d better shut up,’ she hissed, to Frank’s astonishment. ‘I’m going in as a decoy in a minute. Are you coming, Dr Benson?’ To Frank, she indicated a park bench opposite. ‘You can go and sit over there, with Great-Aunt Maud,’ she whispered. ‘She told me to fetch you and she’ll bring you up to date, and hopefully she’ll keep you out of trouble. Now, scat!’ Clutching Stacie’s arm she pulled the professor round the corner. ‘Good, I thought that would get rid of him, everyone always does as Auntie tells them. Now, just follow my lead.’

Stacie tried to conceal her nervous shivers as Josephine Burkett boldly rang the bell. To the burly individual who answered, she announced that she was Jo and her friend was Eustace and that they had been sent by the Chalet School. To Stacie’s astonishment, they were admitted without question, relieved of their coats and umbrellas, and shown to a large inner hall where she recognised a very famous Hollywood film star who was being led upstairs by a slim young woman with a very short hair cut.
At her side, Josephine snapped her mouth firmly shut over her gasp of : ‘Blimey, that’s Jack Lambert!’ She nudged Stacie and indicated another young woman, sitting on the lap of a portly gentleman in clerical dress. ‘Do you know her, that’s Rosalie Way, I wonder what her ‘short’ name is? Roger, do you suppose?’

The whispered conversation was cut short by the appearance of a very tall woman, with a crew cut, wearing a pinstriped city suit, shirt and tie (an Old Etonian tie too, Stacie noted with a sniff). ‘Right then, you two new bugs,’ came the greeting, in a deep voice. ‘I’m Tom. Get your kit off, the boss likes the new girls to show a leg, as it were.’
The gruff voice faltered to a halt as Tom’s eyes stood out on stalks. ‘For Pete’s sake, I know you two, don’t I? What the…’

Stacie found herself shoved to the side by the competent Josephine who calmly took out a whistle and blew it loudly. As if by magic, policemen appeared through all the doorways and Frank Abbott raced in the front door. He checked that Stacie and Josephine were unhurt, then proceeded to lead the raid, netting a surprisingly notable haul: an Anglican archbishop (‘Roger’s’ portly conquest); a visiting cardinal; the president of a very unstable country; several chief executives of major banks; politicians of every kind; and at last, a couple of middle-aged women who were the proprietors of the establishment.

Outside the house, Frank waved the fleet of police cars off and stood with his arm round his fiancée. Miss Maud Silver was inspecting her great-niece, and finding her unharmed, turned to Frank Abbott with a smile. ‘I do hope you don’t feel that I overstepped the mark, my dear Frank,’ she said with her usual quiet competence. ‘But I did want to clear up this nasty little arrangement; so damaging for the dear Chalet School.’ She gave him an indulgent nod. ‘I felt you might be a little distracted today, so I just helped things along. With the assistance of my dear Josephine.’

Back to the occasional dribbling drabble about the life and times of the ex Heads of the Chalet School (The real one, not the norty one)
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Awww, what a lovely proposal!

Thankyou for the update :D
Author:  PaulineS [ Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
A lovely proposal and a satisfactory outcome for the police and Miss Sliver.

Thank you for the update.
Author:  Jennie [ Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
It's ages since we had an update.

Let's start a chant.
Author:  Jennie [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
It's well over a month since we had any of this, so I'm starting a chant.

I want to see Stacie get married and live happily ever after. Said from a deep and not so secret belief that Franl Abbott will be able to deal with Jo.
Author:  gwynne [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I'll join in the chanting for more....la...la...la...
Author:  Abi [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Oh darn, I saw there were new posts on here and thought there was more! Possibly Nicky is busy...

...but not in THAT way. :shock:
Author:  Pingaware [ Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Chanty-chanty-chanty-chanty-chant. How long do we keep this up? Till someone goes and drags her to a computer and forces her to type?
Author:  Fiona Mc [ Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Missed the last update, so glad people started chanting, thanks, and pretty please, may we have more?
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
There is more to come, I promise and I'll get it on here as soon as poss, but I've been wrestling with proofreading for the book due out end Jan, and am currently knee deep in the 1850s for the WIP. However, one of my characters has just stuck a hatpin in a horse, which seems a good point to take a break. :D
Author:  roversgirl [ Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just found this and really enjoyed it! Thanks :-)
Author:  shazwales [ Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
And i thought it was an update :cry:
Author:  Jennie [ Thu Nov 25, 2010 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
BLATANT EMOTIONAL AND MORAL BLACKMAIL

Dear Sealpuppy,

You wouldn't want me to have to have a painful and difficult operation without knowing the end of this, would you? Well, that's what might happen if you don't write some more of this.

sobbingly,

Jennie
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
I can't possibly have that on my conscience, Jennie, so hang on in there and have another snort of Rhesus Positive while the story begins to unfold. :D

‘Stacie? Come in my dear, you look quite wild!’ Hilda Annersley looked up as Gredel ushered Stacie into the sunroom. ‘Coffee please, Gredel,and cakes too, this looks as though stern measures are needed.’

Stacie slumped heavily in one of the basket chairs and turned eagerly to her former headmistress.
‘Please, Miss Annersley,’ she implored. ‘You’ve got to help me. Joey’s driving me mad!’

Hilda looked through the glass door and held up a hand. ‘Just a moment, dear, here comes Gredel with a pot of coffee. Drink up and then explain yourself.’

Smiling a little, in spite of her agitation, Stacie did as she was told and found herself beginning to relax under the calm, comforting influence of the older woman.

‘I suppose Jo is in a whirl, planning a wedding fit for a princess, when what you and Frank want is something quiet and private?’ Hilda laughed at Stacie’s open-mouthed surprise. ‘My dear girl, I don’t know why you should be surprised, it’s hardly second-sight. I’ve known Jo for a very long time and I do know that the word ‘moderation’ is not in her dictionary. What is she suggesting? The entire kindergarten as bridesmaids? A full nuptial mass in a cathedral?’

‘Oh, it’s not that bad,’ Stacie shuddered and grinned and looked down at her empty plate in some surprise. ‘Did I just eat that creamy-nutty confection? I suppose I must have done.’ She reached out and took another cake, apologising as she did so. ‘I couldn’t eat anything at breakfast,’ she shrugged. ‘I was so wound up by Jo, and trying desperately hard not to snap her nose off. I’m very fond of her and she’s been so good to me in the past, but I really don’t want her to organise my wedding. Am I being dreadfully ungrateful?’

‘Of course not,’ soothed Hilda. ‘What would you like your wedding to be like?’
‘Quiet, as you said,’ Stacie looked thoughtful. ‘Frank’s flown back to London to check in at the Yard and to organise a special licence. He was also going to see his uncle Bertie who is his closest relative.’ She looked at Hilda and smiled. ‘You know Frank is supposed to have more cousins than anyone else in the country? That’s on the Abbott side, but his mother was a Wooster and Frank is awfully fond of Bertie, as he calls him.’

‘I remember meeting Lord Wooster near the end of the war,’ mused Hilda. ‘I believe he used to be a bit of a ‘bright young thing’ but when he inherited his uncle’s title and estate, he sobered down a lot. When I met him he was a Lt.Colonel in charge of the country’s most efficient Home Guard, though I remember he modestly insisted that most of the organisation was the work of his man, Jeeves.’

‘That’s what Frank told me,’ agreed Stacie. ‘But Frank says although Jeeves is a genius and Lady Wooster (that’s Frank’s aunt, Honoria) is a tower of strength, it was Bertie himself who took charge, in spite of his early misdemeanours.’ She waited while Hilda poured more coffee. ‘Frank really wants Bertie to be his best man,’ she said, ‘And honestly, I do hope he’ll agree, otherwise Jo will make him have Jack – except that she thinks Jack should give me away.’

‘Oh dear,’ Hilda looked worried. ‘I do see your problem. Jack is an amiable man - though too apt to take the easy way out with Jo, for the sake of peace and quiet - but surely your own uncle would be more suitable?’

‘Of course he would,’ Stacie almost pouted. ‘I’ve sent my aunt and uncle a cable to announce our engagement and to say the wedding will be very soon and that I dearly want them to be there.’

‘I wonder what we can… Yes, Gredel? Why, Charles…’ Hilda rose as Charles Maynard came into the room, followed by his pretty girlfriend, Jane Palliser.

‘We’re here on business, Aunt Hilda,’ Charles announced after greetings all round. ‘Jane has a solution to your problems, Stacie, but you’re going to have to be jolly tactful.’

‘Coffee first,’ said Hilda in the firm voice that brooked no argument. ‘And here’s Nell. You’d better put her in the picture while I ask Gredel to bring fresh supplies.’

‘You have my sympathy, Stacie,’ Nell Wilson grinned with fellow feeling. ‘When I think how Jo tried to bully me into moving into Freudesheim on my retirement, I shudder, to this day! So, Jane? Tell us how you’re going to save the day?’

Blushing a little, Jane explained. ‘I don’t know if you remember that my grandparents have been thinking of spending the winter in Switzerland? Grandpa’s doctors think the cold dry air would be beneficial, at least for a month or two, so Gran has been working out how to do it. My mother is an artist and has been commissioned to do an enormous mural for a Hollywood film star, so she has to go to Los Angeles for a few months, so this seems a good time for the grandparents to move closer to me.’ Jane blushed again and her voice faltered, so Charles took up the story.

‘You might recall that Jane’s grandmother was the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Ornowitza till she abdicated on her marriage to Baron Richard Fauconbois, otherwise known as The Stormy Petrel? Well,’ he grinned slightly maliciously. ‘Even if you’d forgotten, Ma certainly won’t have done. So we thought it might be an idea if Jane threw herself on Ma’s mercy and begged that the grandparents should be invited to Freudesheim for the duration.’

Always quick on the uptake, Nell laughed out loud. ‘You tricky pair of monkeys,’ she said. ‘I assume that the Baron and Baroness are expected to arrive imminently? So it would be only common politeness for Stacie to move out. Elderly visitors, blah blah, flurry of preparations for the wedding, blah blah blah?’

‘Well done, Auntie Nell,’ Charles laughed back at her. ‘And where else should Stacie go, but to her beloved headmistress and be married from Das Damenhaus?’

(In a delicious moment of synchronicity (I think that's what it is?) I've been browsing the Midsomer Murders website (as you do) and discovered that DCI Tom Barnaby and his longsuffering wife, Joyce, actually DID honeymoon in Switzerland!)
Author:  shesings [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Brilliant, sealpuppy, just brilliant!! Cheered me up enormously on a mornign when we have about four inches of snow and horizontal hail, sleet, thunder and lightning going on simultaneously!
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 2:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Brilliant, thank you very much.
Author:  Abi [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
:lol: Thank you, Nicky!
Author:  cal562301 [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just perfect, Nicky. Well done to Charles and Jane for coming up with that solution.

Really enjoying this and looking forward to more.
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Hurrah for an update! Thankyou for a wonderful solution.
Author:  roversgirl [ Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Thanks for the update :-) Joey's family really know how to manipulate her :-)
Author:  Cathy [ Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
sealpuppy wrote:
[color=#0040FF] Dr Elliott has a country practice in a back of beyond area called Wandin Valley.’


Oh good stuff -- I've only just started reading this drabble and loved the Country Practice reference. I loved that show.
Author:  Emma A [ Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
What a super update - I can quite imagine Joey wanting to organise everything! I do love all the cross-overs in this one, and am looking forward to seeing Anastasia and Richard again...
Author:  2nd Gen Fan [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Just caught up, thank you for posting some more. So is Das Damenhaus is coming back into the story a bit more?
Author:  Len [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Wonderful, Nicky, thank you thank you! That filled in a sleepy moment before bed very nicely. Now get on with the next bit! :P
Author:  JS [ Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Good to see more of this, Sealpuppy. By the way, have you seen the gorgeous picture of your namesake here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11957810
Author:  sealpuppy [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
2nd Gen Fan wrote:
Just caught up, thank you for posting some more. So is Das Damenhaus is coming back into the story a bit more?


Er, you don't think I actually have a plot, do you 2nd Gen Fan?
And thanks, JS, lovely frozen whiskers on that pup.
Thank you all for your nice comments. I think this is just going to meander along and I'll try not to get too sidetracked into mayhem, I have the St Clare's drabble for that. But first I have a wedding to arrange:

‘Better go and face the music,’ Hilda told Stacie after they had waved goodbye to Charles and Jane. ‘Give Jane half an hour to lay the groundwork and then you turn up and ooze magnanimity and co-operation. And stop off at the patisserie in the Dorf, Joey is very partial to those chocolate cakes, the ones that are simply blanketed in whipped cream, though she ought to start watching her diet. Jack’s team have just done some research that suggests cakes and cream and rich food aren’t good for you, of all ridiculous ideas!’

Nell laughed heartily and lit up another cigarette. ‘Yes,’ she added. ‘They’ll be saying next that smoking is bad for you! Still, Hilda’s right,’ she said. ‘Jo won’t be able to resist a combination of chocolate cake and royalty – it’ll be such a delicious thing to rub Grizel’s nose in, so you’d better get going, Stacie. I’ll go and rescue Anna from Matey and help her to get your room ready.’

‘Why does Frau Mieders need rescuing from Matey?’ Stacie paused at the door and raised an eyebrow.
‘Gwynneth is painting Anna’s portrait,’ Miss Annersley told her, with the suspicion of a smirk. ‘Anna’s not impressed though, as Gwynneth is currently in the throes of a love affair with painting ‘meaningful’ pictures. She’s apparently painting Anna, not so much as a portrait, but as the essence of herself.’ She sighed. ‘This seems to entail reading up on Picasso and his ilk and painting everyone green and with strange knobs and eyeballs everywhere. I expect she’ll get over it, and it’s such fun watching her unfold and enjoy herself. She says she spent too many years tending to the human body for her to want to look at it now, so faces with three eyes and half an ear suit her just fine.’

At Freudesheim Stacie found Jo looking flustered but excited while Jane and Charles talked earnestly to her. Even better, from Stacie’s point of view, was the sight of Grizel Shephard sitting primly in the long Saal, knees together and lips pursed, while beside her, the egregious Mrs Dickenson, wife of the San’s chief accountant, looked seriously envious.

‘Oh, Stacie, do come in,’ cried Jo. ‘What’s that you’ve got there? Oh you pet lamb, you’ve been to the patisserie. Do sit down, you know Mrs Dickenson, of course? Anna’s bringing coffee.’ Charles caught Stacie’s eye and winked, while out of his mother’s line of sight he held up a triumphant thumb. Jo was looking slightly uneasy so Charles waded in.

‘I say, Stacie,’ he said in a loud, innocent voice. ‘Ma’s got a bit of a problem but I think you’ll turn up trumps and help solve it.’
‘Er, yes, of course,’ faltered Stacie, gamely following his lead.
Charles nodded and went on: ‘I knew you’d be a brick,’ he said, still in that hearty, ‘good dog’ kind of voice. ‘The thing is, Jane’s grandparents are coming to the Platz almost at once and they’ve asked her to find them somewhere to live for a few months. I suppose they could stay at one of the pensions but it seems so impersonal. Besides,’ he glanced sidelong at his mother. ‘They’re very elderly and of course, there’s the other problem. Who they are, I mean. It would be dreadful if the newspapers got hold of the story, so I asked Ma if she’d agree to have them here at Freudesheim.’

‘What a good idea,’ Stacie was warm in her approval and she turned to Jo at once. ‘Look, Jo, I think this sounds perfect. The poor baron and baroness will have enough to worry about, without having to cope with papers and tourists, perhaps even television reporters, and on top of that all the flurry and fuss of preparing for a wedding.’
She saw Jo was weakening and pressed her point. ‘I quite see that Freudesheim is the ideal bolthole for an elderly couple and besides, you have so much experience of living with royalty, what with visiting Belsornia, so they’ll feel quite at home with you. They might not feel comfortable having to deal with less, um, cultured people.’
A glance at Mrs Dickenson’s face made her smile inwardly and she carefully avoided Charles’s eye as she stood up.
‘I’ll go and stay with Miss Annersley,’ she announced. ‘I’m sure she’ll be kind and give me a room, and I shall feel much more comfortable knowing that I haven’t caused upset and stress to your royal friends.’

Within ten minutes Stacie, toting a suitcase, was at the door of Freudesheim bidding Jo an effusive and grateful farewell. ‘You’re a lamb, Joey,’ she said, with a hug. ‘Charles says he’ll bring my trunk over to Das Damenhaus so you can get on with preparing for your visitors. I should think they'll fall on your neck with gratitude,’ she added. 'It would be awful for them to have to go to the pension or the hotel.'

Jo, still looking bemused, opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the arrival of an Interlaken taxi which drew up at the gate. Out of it stepped two elderly, upright men who advanced up the garden path.

‘Dr Benson?’ said the taller of the two, with the bearing of an archbishop or a senior statesman. The shorter man gave a slight bow and stood back for his colleague to introduce them.
‘Mr Abbott sent us on ahead,’ said the first man. ‘He has asked us to give you every assistance regarding the wedding preparations. My name is Jeeves, madam, and this is Mr Bunter.’
Author:  roversgirl [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
This is wonderful. Great to see Joey being well and truly played and now Stacie can settle down to planning her wedding as she wants. Thanks :-)
Author:  ChubbyMonkey [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Heh heh, so Joey fell for it! Thankyou!
Author:  Jennie [ Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Fantastic, thank you.
Author:  2nd Gen Fan [ Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Bunter is one of my favourite characters of all time... so good to see him.
Author:  Len [ Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Bunter!!! :D How I love Bunter! Jeeves too, of course, but specially Bunter! Thanks!
Author:  Emma A [ Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: New Beginnings at the Platz
Um, I'm not entirely sure that Stacie isn't falling from the frying pan into the fire! :D

Thanks, sealpuppy!
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