- Alice is feeling very guilty
- Eggs, honey and vans
- A subtle hint to Jennifer?
- Troll-gate
- No help from Neil
- Adam losing his edge?
- The horror of Alice on a low income …
Alice is feeling very guilty
That she got Chris into trouble with Chas. That they’ve now got a loan. That they’ll need to get another loan. That Chris is working hard. That she’s not working, and still has more uni to go.
The solution? She buys in food for lunch, then makes Chris feel guilty for not having the time to stay and eat.
[Alice, jesting] “You’re a busy, tough, hardworking farrier banging away at your anvil all day, where I’ve got nothing to do all day than sit around and paint my toenails”
Never mind Alice. Your mum calling round every few minutes is more than enough of a burden for you to cope with.
Eggs, honey and vans
Alice shouldn’t grump too much about Jennifer popping round – she does come bearing gifts.
[Jennifer] “Half a dozen eggs and some honey from Jill”
A subtle hint to Jennifer?
Jennifer tells Alice that she thinks Chris’ van is “very smart”. Which Alice takes as an opportunity to tell Jennifer that the interest they are paying, for the van loan, is higher than she and Chris thought it would be.
I reckon Alice knew exactly what she was doing.
She knows Jennifer’s been worried about her mood of late (which is about the Chas situation, unbeknownst to Jennifer), so giving Jennifer reason – and maybe a way of helping out – was very astute.
So maybe not bank of Peggy. Maybe it’ll be the Bank of Brian, brokered by Jennifer.
Troll-gate
Now Brian thinks he needs to do a scarecrow for Ruari (after chatting to Will).
Brian manages to get Adam’s help.
Neil is also busy, working on George’s troll scarecrow (on behalf of Ed and Emma). He’s even borrowed Chris’ (seemingly very impressively large) wire cutters.
Over at Will’s – he’s found “monster boots” in his shed – and George also lets slip that Emma and Ed are also doing a troll. AND a goat.
So Will is now going to also make all three goats.
George is loving it!
But, bad, bad parents for making George keep secrets from his other parents.
That’s a therapy session waiting to happen.
No help from Neil
Chris asks Neil’s advice about whether he should get another loan, to be able to buy the farrier business next year.
[Neil] “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”
Adam losing his edge?
So reckons Brian.
Mainly because he’s “spoiling” the fruit pickers. Adam’s even given Zofia the afternoon off so that she can get her hair cut (ahead of her night out with Harry).
Fancy that. Whatever next? A whole day off a week? Sickness pay? A safe working environment …. Probably not. They are on short term contracts.
The horror of Alice on a low income …
Alice’s subtle hint to Jennifer has hit home – Jennifer does now think that Alice is on edge, purely due to money worries.
But, maybe Alice didn’t foresee that Jennifer would use this as evidence to prove that she was right that Alice was wrong to marry Chris.
[Jennifer] “This is just what I was afraid would happen, they rushed into this impulsive, off the shelf marriage, as thought, well, as a big romantic gesture and now Alice is finding out what’s it’s really like to be struggling on a low income”
[Brian] “Hold on, don’t get too carried away … for heaven’s sake, it’s not as if Christopher’s staking shelves in a supermarket …he’s in a skilled and relatively secure trade earning good money”
As Brian points out – Alice and Chris have a home without a mortgage – they may have a loan for the van, but they have no other personal debt – and Chris does indeed have a job.
[Brian] “A bit of pressure won’t do her any harm, it’ll be character building … they may have chucked themselves in at the deep end but they’ll soon learn to swim”
Quite right Brian. Jennifer may want to protect Alice from having to be skint (Jennifer had to suffer that when she moved away from Ambridge with baby Adam), but she also needs to be realistic.
Alice could have married some hooray-Henry chap, but there’s no guarantee that anyone (posh or lowly) will have any ready cash from one day to the next, in these turbulent times.
But – Jennifer will use any excuse to knock Alice’s marriage. She’s just waiting for it to crumble.
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