Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

And until I noticed it in Christian's hallway, I didn't know there was this smell, but Masine A back-of-house. Wow. Christian has a permanent CH smell in his hall. (It's the communual area, not actually in his house place.)

I didn't notice that!

well I told you about it, twice, and you agreed!

Ruthie-Baby wrote:well I told you about it, twice, and you agreed!

I must have been drinking!

surely not?

Right, end of short digression.

Very occasionally I catch a whiff of the Horsham dining hall ca. 1960. It is almost unique.

A curious olfactory experience was provided when Pat Cullen succeeded John Page as housemaster of Thornton B. The smell of stale cigarette smoke was replaced by an altogether more pleasant aroma of freshly-ground coffee combined with vanilla-flavoured pipe-smoke. (The visual transformation went along the same lines: institutional green and cream replaced by daring pastel shades; faded van Gogh prints replaced by original abstract paintings).

I would just love to be able to walk the length of the avenue tube !

I'm sure the smell would take me back over 40 years !

Sprim! Thanks J.R., I have been wondering for a long time what that stuff was called...

On the couple of times I have returned to C.H., the music school smell in particular took me back. Something about the brown carpeting and particular brands of cleaning products, at a guess. Funny how it always felt "safer" than other parts of the school, possibly because of the darkness and the narrow corridors.

The formaldehyde smell of the science block is another.

I always thought that the Hertford chapel smelt of freshly made jelly (dissolved in hot water but not yet set). Nobody agreed with me.

The Chapel did have a weird smell - especially the wood of the pews as one knelt in fervent prayer on those incredibly uncomfortable kick-up-and-down kneelers. Best was the smell at Harvest Festival. Not long ago I had some V8 vegetable juice and it took me right back to Ploughing the fields and Scattering at Hertford.

Munch

Reuben wrote:Sprim! Thanks J.R., I have been wondering for a long time what that stuff was called...

Ammonia AFAIR

Reuben wrote:On the couple of times I have returned to C.H., the music school smell in particular took me back. Something about the brown carpeting and particular brands of cleaning products, at a guess. Funny how it always felt "safer" than other parts of the school, possibly because of the darkness and the narrow corridors.

The formaldehyde smell of the science block is another.

matched by the stench of clove oil on peeps who had been playing with formaldehyded specimens - not sure which was worse.

At least we didn't have brown carpeting - simply polished wood

Angela Woodford wrote:The Chapel did have a weird smell - especially the wood of the pews as one knelt in fervent prayer on those incredibly uncomfortable kick-up-and-down kneelers. Best was the smell at Harvest Festival. Not long ago I had some V8 vegetable juice and it took me right back to Ploughing the fields and Scattering at Hertford.

Munch

Did we decorate the chapel for Harvest Festival? - I can't remember. I do remember Miss Taverner telling us not to take a breath after "scatter".

Also, if visitors were expected at the next service, we had to leave the kneelers down, because they were too tricky for strangers to operate.

Scone Lover wrote:Erm tripe incident? Do tell Davd!

Sorry about the delay - I've been away and couldn't read everything posted.

Sometime whilst I was there the kitchen decided that the evening meal would be tripe and onions. You could smell it way beyond Peele A and I'm sure that the Peele Bridge P**s had call to complain.

It was awful, simply terrible - an offence against human rights to be placed within a league or three but did we have human rights? Nah - we had to march to our fates in proper order, in step, arms swinging enthusiastically; how can anyone be enthusiastic about tripe? After all it is no more than a load of tripe

Thank goodness I wasn't on Trades so I only had about 30 minutes cooped up with the stench but that was enough to destroy my sense of smell. I doubt if anything was eaten or drunk that evening - it was necessary to close the mouth and breathe through a sprim laden** bit of coat in self-protection

** and sprim was bad enough!

Needless to say the whole lot went in the waste bin and was removed hence never to be heard of again.

sejintenej wrote: Needless to say the whole lot went in the waste bin and was removed hence never to be heard of again.

Well, not until the next day's breakfast...

Ajarn Philip wrote:

sejintenej wrote: Needless to say the whole lot went in the waste bin and was removed hence never to be heard of again.

Well, not until the next day's breakfast...

Only once that I recall did the school try to pull a fast one on the boys.

They had already learned not to cross 850 boys so the next morning's breakfast was the usual cancerous combined concoction: Summat like
´´´cereal (not good for you) covered in sugar (not good for you)
´´´egg swimming in fat (condemned as causing cancer)
´´´with fatty bacon ditto ( also condemned)
´´´and perhaps a banger swimming in fat (also condemned)
´´´ and don't forget the greasy fried bread under it all (need I remind you?)
´´´plus a crug with butter (fat is cancer inducing) and
´´´kiff well laced with sugar (sugar is at least dangerous)

To think that the combined brains of Bristol Royal Infirmary decided that with such a diet we were statistically likely to outlive our non-housey peers. So much for the latest report on the causes of cancer!!!

The fast one? After The Oil they brought in the Seamen who had distinctive ideas as to how he was going to take the school out of the 16th century into the 17th. The assembled hordes decided that his ideas were an affront to good order, to God (well, he was going to cut down on the number of chapel services) and to the pupils.
Those present will remember the near silence during the hymn in chapel that morning!

Trouble was that he was to thickskinned to die of apoplexy. I for one never saw him close up until I was summoned to his study on the evening of my last day to receive my bible; presumably he didn't like contact with the4 pupils