New Girl

[carong]

Off topic, I know, but Angela - what does the quote as your signature mean?

Babelfish gives this translation ...

I laugh, and to laugh mine within I burns, and arsion mine not par of fore

My Italian stretches to 'dove la toilette?' and ... um, actually, that's about it!

[Angela Woodford]

Hello!

"I laugh, and my laughter is not within me;
I burn, and the burning is not seen outside"

It's, like, story of my life, innit.

Sorry, now it will say it again -

[Ajarn Philip]

I'm touched and deeply moved. Pass the tissues and then give me that last slice of lemon meringue pie...

(Seriously, Ange, I think that's a lovely quote)

[Euterpe13]

Mary, how can you bring that up ? Terrible game played by the juniors during all out, basically aimed at "patting" whoever was the dog...
of course I remember it ! Also "in and out the dusty windows".... oh dear, is my second childhood on its way ?

Dusty bluebells?

yes, some houses sang "dusty bluebells", other " dusty windows" - still terrible

[Jo]

Kay, Jo, have you ever told this story to a Counsellor or Psychologist? I apologise for making the assumption that you, like many of the rest of us, have been counselled at some time.

Funnily enough no, I've never had counselling. It never seemed like bullying at the time, just the sort of daft hold the school, and any of its staff, had over us if they wished. I guess I've grown up pretty sane and balanced, all things considered

Not that I'm implying anyone who's had counselling is in any way insane or unbalanced - in fact my brother is a counsellor and I admire him immensely - just that I'm fairly practical and I just get on and deal with things. I don't feel particularly traumatised by school, just that I have more anecdotes than my friends and colleagues do!

Miss Screen didn't stay long - I can't remember how long exactly, but she left fairly abruptly during a holiday and we came back to a new housemistress at the beginning of my fourth (LV) year, which I think is when I started to grow up and settle down a lot more at school. I do remember going with one of my friends to talk to DR about Miss S - she used to threaten to send us to DR but then bottled out at the last minute, and it got to the point where we used to call her bluff and go anyway. We said Miss S was threatening to resign, and DR asked us why it would bother us if she resigned - the first (and quite reassuring) sign that actually DR realised as well as we did that the woman was bonkers and would do everyone a favour if she left. I'm pretty sure that she left either by mutual agreement, or she was pushed.

To be fair to DR and the school, it must have been incredibly difficult to get anyone at all, let alone anyone suitable, to apply for housemistress posts. I know accommodation was provided but I'd imagine the salary was fairly cr*p. It would have been quite a worry if one of them resigned, getting someone appointed in time for the start of the next term. I'm quite sure they often had to appoint people they knew were really unsuitable, in the hope they wouldn't stay long but it would buy a bit of time to look round for a better candidate.

[Jo]

I was just wondering if there's anyone out there who was in 2's mid-70's ish who remembers the name of that mad German woman who use to come in for Lawrie's night off?

Nutto von Stetten. She certainly was another eccentric one. Never taught me, but I remember she would occasionally have to supervise tea or sleep over whilst our housemistress was away.

One night she gathered the house together and accused us of stealing her bag. She'd come in and put it down outside her sitting room door, she said, before going over to the staff dining room for supper, and when she came back it was gone. Everyone denied having seen it, so she called us liars and said she wouldn't rest until the culprit (and her bag) was found. I distinctly remember Sheridan Chaffe excusing herself from the assembled company and returning just a couple of minutes later bearing said bag, which Frau vS had put down outside the housemistress's sitting room door in 6's. She didn't even have the grace to apologise, just looked at us as though it was our fault all the houses looked alike.

BTW, not sure why the quote in my previous post is attributed to Munch when I'm sure it should have been Caroline???

[Katharine]

I don't feel particularly traumatised by school, just that I have more anecdotes than my friends and colleagues do!

That describes me exactly, Jo. I don't have many friends and colleagues who went to boarding school so whether that makes a difference I don't know.

[carong]

Nutto von Stetten. She certainly was another eccentric one. Never taught me, but I remember she would occasionally have to supervise tea or sleep over whilst our housemistress was away.

That was her! Awful woman! We once did the water over the door thing on her ... she was practically apoplectic!

[kerrensimmonds]

I remember the name.. but am not sure that it was because it overlapped with me. Does anyone know her dates...?

[Euterpe13]

not sure of Miss von Stetten dates, but she taught me german from ´63 onwards, and was still there when I left in ´70. Used to teach us about german folklore, and strange marching songs which we suspected were of the HilterJungend variety... though never Horst Wessel !

[icomefromalanddownunder]

I'm touched and deeply moved. Pass the tissues and then give me that last slice of lemon meringue pie...

(Seriously, Ange, I think that's a lovely quote)

Me too, except it's a quotation

[Angela Woodford]

Nutto von Stetten. She certainly was another eccentric one. Never taught me, but I remember she would occasionally have to supervise tea or sleep over whilst our housemistress was away.

That was her! Awful woman! We once did the water over the door thing on her ... she was practically apoplectic!

Poor Nutto. I felt desperately sorry for her. Not only did she have a name that was more like an impolite nickname, but I remember her as seeming sad and shambolic. If I try to describe how she looked, I see in my minds eye a sort of birds' nest on legs. Or the cartoon of Kennedy Catching the Gerund from that unofficial textbook "How to Be Topp". I used to think how it must be for her - living her last days in a foreign country, in a flat at the bottom of the Music School, listening to the cacophany of lessons and practice, instead of enjoying a quiet refuge.

I don't think she had any friends amongst the staff. Not for her the brisk matiness of Jukes-and-Wilson, or the sombre arm-in-arm relationship of Merce and Chemi-T. Nellie and Miss Rutherford shared Middle House in a state of immaculate friendship. Nutto was so alone.

I admit to greeting her extra warmly, hoping to get a smile back. I remember, when messing about on the ground floor of the Music School, that Nutto burst out of her front door begging us to be quieter. She looked, unsurprisingly, a bit desperate. Go on, please tell me that her German classes were terrific, lively and inspirational! Barbara remembers Hitler Youth-type Marching songs, which has cheered my memories somewhat -

If anyone can reassure me that in fact Nutto spent the holidays tramping the Black Forest with a fun *volksbande of happy Helgas and intimate Ingrids, I'd be very pleased.

Love, Munch

*having no German, I made up this word - -

[englishangel]

Munch, I know others have said it, but your writing is terrific. The descriptions of the three 'pairs' have brought them back more than anything anyone else has said.

Have you ever submitted anything for publication?

[Angela Woodford]

Goodness, thank you Mary! My teen aspirations "to be a writer" took a nosedive by the end of the V1 form.

I'd like to try writing something for The Old Blue, but don't know what would be acceptable....

I totally adored the "Cars in the 50's and 60's"! Fabulous.

Love, Munch

[kerrensimmonds]

Talk to John Hopgood, Editor of the Old Blue, Munch.