- Susan can manage her own jugs
- At least Vicky has sympathy
- Freddie and Lily back to school
- They’ve let Helen out
- Tom and Brenda to leave the country!
- “I’d like it to be a big one”
- Phoebe’s being very good about it
- Elizabeth can now hear Nigel
- Dan or Ian?
- Should the kids be there?
Susan can manage her own jugs
So says she, but she’s still happy to have Vicky around to help out elsewhere.
At least Vicky has sympathy
[Vicky] “What a tragedy … those poor children”
All Susan can find to say about Nigel dying is that she’ll have to re-arrange the Village Shop rota, as Jill’s too busy with Elizabeth.
(and I don’t mean this to be an anti-Susan posting – she just sets herself up sometimes!)
Freddie and Lily back to school
Seemingly the biggest problem was that they seemed more worried about leaving Elizabeth.
Which has, in turn, helped Elizabeth to realise that they are better off in the ‘real world’, rather than looking after her.
So, Jill was right (again!).
And bless Ruairi’s wee socks – he made sure Freddie joined in his football game. Because he “knows what it’s like”.
Aw. How’s a nice, sensitive chap like that being brought up by Jennifer and Brian?
They’ve let Helen out
We didn’t get to hear her having to say her goodbye to Henry (for the time being).
Helen still sounds perfectly happy and sane (I’m still hoping it lasts), and is still acknowledging that she was a bit of a madam to Tony and Pat during her pregnancy.
It’s Pat’s birthday today, and Tom reassured:
[Tom] “But, you can do no wrong know that you’ve presented them with Henry!!”
Later on, Helen’s proving again that she’s changed.
[Helen] “I don’t expect everyone to find him as interesting as I do”
Cripes! Helen. Not expecting someone else to be as obsessed with something in her life as she is. There’s a change and a half.
Tom and Brenda to leave the country!
They will return – as it’s only a treat for Brenda’s 30th birthday – but I’m amazed they’re actually going anywhere. They generally don’t venture beyond The Bull
“I’d like it to be a big one”
So says Vicky!
She’s decided it’d be a great idea to throw Brenda a surprise party.
The guest list so far includes Susan, Neil, Chris and Alice (all great friends of Brenda’s … hmmm), and Vicky’s enlisted Susan’s expertise to make sure the party is spectacular.
Which means games.
Sounds like Tom managed to put Brenda off of the idea of having Brenda’s baby pictures on the walls of the party.
[Tom] “It’s a nice thought, but honestly? No.”
‘Party on down’ indeed!
Do we think this will be a birthday Brenda won’t ever forget – for all the wrong reasons?
Phoebe’s being very good about it
I’d totally forgotten about Phoebe and her heartache over Kate leaving her. Again.
Vicky reckons she’s putting a brave face on it, but Susan isn’t impressed.
[Susan] “More than Kate deserves, if you ask me”
Did anyone actually ask Susan?
Elizabeth can now hear Nigel
First she was feeling, and nearly seeing, Nigel – now Elizabeth can hear him:
[Elizabeth] “I could her Nigel talking to me. ‘Come on Lizzie, you’d know I’d like a wicker one’”
Later on, coffin chosen, Elizabeth is also planning Nigel’s “final journey”
[Elizabeth] “Ideally, of course, he’d have linked to go on his bike… the next best thing would be to have the coffin on the wagon and to have Cranford Christie pull it.”
Elizabeth is doing superbly well, organising Nigel’s coffin, funeral, letting the kids go …
But as always, it’s the calm after the tragedy that often proves the most difficult.
Dan or Ian?
Having a look through some of Tony’s many (many!) photographs of Henry, Vicky and Susan are playing ‘spot the grandfather and father’.
Reckoning that there’s no Tony to be seen,
[Susan] “something of Dan Archer about him …Oh, he was a nice man. Gave my Neil his start in life, really”
[Vicky] “It’s strange isn’t it … he might just look like his father and we’ll never know”
[Susan] “Well, I think he looks like his father …”
[Vicky] “But we don’t know who that is!”
[Susan] “Don’t we? I’m surprised at you Vicky .. .you’re usually quick about these things … what’s his name?”
Vicky is still, at first, a bit slow. After Susan told her to think of Ian rather than Henry …
[Susan] “I never bought that name about the sperm donor … it was a cover story”
[Vicky] “Do you think they actually …”
[Susan] “All I can say, is they are close friends”
Yikes! Close friends. Ian likes kids. He painted the nursery. AND Susan reckons Henry has his chin.
Case closed. Though I’d imagine they didn’t actually …
It’s always hard to take Susan and Vicky seriously, but others have mentioned Ian as the potential father.
I’m not convinced.
Though the speed with which Helen was accepted and then got pregnant was extraordinary fast – if she did get a chap to assist directly, I’d doubt it was Ian.
Ian’s devoted to Adam. Adam was against Ian being a father last time. And Ian wouldn’t hide this from Adam.
And surely his reaction to Henry would have been different if he’d actually been his child?
Nope. I think there might be something in the idea that Helen didn’t have an anonymous donor, but Ian’s not the chap.
I also think there’s a bit of assumption based on Ian’s sexuality. There’d be nothing to stop a straight man (single or attached) ‘helping’ Helen out. Having a baby with a friend isn’t just the reservation of gay men …
Should the kids be there?
Jill’s very upset to hear Elizabeth say that Freddie and Lily won’t be at Nigel’s funeral.
Elizabeth’s just as upset that Jill assumed they would be there.
[Jill] “They need to say goodbye to their father”
[Elizabeth] “Not like this. Not at a huge bewildering public occasion … I don’t want those to be their last memories of Nigel”
[Elizabeth] “Mum – I don’t want to be there. I’m certainly not going to out the children through it … I don’t know how I’m going to be like on the day … I don’t know what I might do … They’re my children and I don’t want them there”
Another tricky one.
Deny your kids the chance of saying goodbye – or put them through the fairly scarring experience of seeing their mum through herself onto a wicker coffin …
By default, I’d just do what Jill says!
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