- Brookfield in for a bumpy 2012
- The cake arrives
- Joe’s fixing the chandelier?
- No dairy at Brookfield?!?
- The cake gets sat on
Brookfield in for a bumpy 2012
It’s raining
Actually, it’s a downpour. Which is a real worry for Brookfield.
They’ve had to spread extra slurry to empty the slurry lagoon. If it rains too much, that slurry will be washed into waterways (which will result in fines, as well as pollution).
But all looks fine so far, with no run off.
[David] “And certainly no dead fish, thank god”
Seems Pip and Josh have been worrying about the slurry problem. Specifically, where Brookfield will find the money to fix it.
[David] “I didn’t want all this to spoil Christmas for them”
Between the slurry problem and milk prices also being down:
[Ruth] “I’m afraid we may be in for a bit of a bumpy ride this year”
But rather than watch their new DVD, Josh and Pip would rather sit down with Ruth and David to talk through what choices Brookfield need to make.
The cake arrives
[Ian] “I promised Will I take delivery of his wedding cake with my own fair hands”
There’s already a problem with the cake, though. Rather than Eddie delivering it, they’ve had to entrust it to Joe (as Eddie had a last minute job). Will is not amused.
[Ian] “I’d be in a state if I thought my wedding cake was being transported in a pony and trap!”
Joe eventually struggles in with the cake – though it sounded like Ian and Caroline were more worried about Joe dropping it, than him feeling the burden on his 90+ bones. Seems he decided to carry all the tiers in at the same time rather than have to make 3 trips back and forth to the trap.
[Joe] “Clarrie out them in three boxes so it wouldn’t have hurt if I’d dropped one”
(eh?)
Anyhoo – Joe hands over the cake safely. So all is well …
Joe’s fixing the chandelier?
I thought Roy had said that it wouldn’t be a Del Boy and Rodney farce …
But all Joe wanted to do was have a look at it.
Caroline tries to stop him going up a ladder to do so.
[Joe] “Cause of all that health and safety nonsense?”
[Caroline] “Because I don’t want you spending Will’s wedding in hospital!”
Never one to listen, Joe tries to climb on the ladder that Caroline is already on. She manages to shoo him down before they both end up in hospital.
[Joe] “I just wanted to tell Will I’d checked the chandelier with me own eyes”
[Caroline] “You’re lucky it’s still there at all, if I’d had to hold onto it to steady the ladder!”
[Joe] “Sorry missus … Will’s last wedding turned into being such a fiasco, I wants everything to go absolutely right for the lad this time”
Ah, that’s the lovely thing about Joe. His heart is generally always in the right place. He just often sets about it cack-handed.
No dairy at Brookfield?!?
The family discussion at Brookfield (minus Ben, who isn’t quite ready to be taking life too seriously) went along the lines of: they’d get a better price selling direct to supermarkets, but recent experience has proved that it isn’t way forward – they need to find other ways of selling milk at a premium price – they couldn’t do a milk round as Mike already has that market locally– intensive?, good go no – they could cut costs by having s smaller herd, but would then have no decent return – they could scale up production, but would need to lose sheep
[David] “It’s a family tradition. Your great grandfather was very proud of his sheep”
[Pip] “We could come out of dairy altogether and concentrate on the sheep and the beef cattle”
[Josh] “We can’t do that! Brookfield without dairy, that’s impossible … no, absolutely no”
[David] “I wouldn't be happy. I promised my father I’d keep Brookfield a mixed farm”
[Pip] “Granddad was always such a practical man, he knew times change”
Pip wants them to at least look at new enterprises – as Phil did when he brought pigs in.
[Pip] “Mixed doesn’t have to include dairying”
And she reckons they’d have more time and energy to do other things, as well as more of a social life and (shock horror) have holidays, if they didn’t do dairy.
[Josh] “I’d rather have the cows”
[Ruth] “I would too”
As David and Ruth later mull it over together:
[David] “They’re pretty impressive, our kids”
[Ruth] “It’s so sweet Josh is so loyal to the dairy”
And while they both hope that they won’t have to end dairying at Brookfield:
[David] “Pip’s right. We can’t rule anything out”
The cake gets sat on
Ian and Caroline have opened the wedding cake boxes, and reckon it’s a stunner. Such intricacy.
[Ian] “Clarrie certainly knows how to ice a cake”
I’m still not clear why, but Caroline felt the need to pick up one if the tiers, and walk across the kitchen.
She slips. And comes down with a rather heavy bump. Onto the cake.
Oh dear.
[Caroline] “Never mind about me. Look at the cake. Oh Ian. What are we going to do?”
Ian blames himself for moping down the floor after Joe’s muddy boots,
[Ian] “A wet kitchen floor is an accident waiting to happen, second rule in the chefs rule book”
[Caroline] “What’s the first?”
[Ian] “Don’t drop the wedding cake!”
Ian doesn’t seem too panicked. He has time to make up a new tier, though it’ll have to be sponge rather than fruit cake. He reckons the guests won’t notice (they’ll have had enough to drink by the cake cutting part of the day), and if Caroline makes sure that Nic and Will cut another tier, even they won’t notice. Though Ian is worried about the icing.
[Ian] “Icing a cake. It’s like a signature”
[Caroline] “Oh good lord, the top tear. Some people ask us to save it so they can use it as a christening cake!”
[Ian] “Well at least they won’t notice it was sponge until after the wedding … Do we even know Nic and Will want children, haven’t they go enough already!”
[Caroline] “I don’t know Ian. I can hardly ask them on their wedding day”
So Caroline will have to whip away two tiers – one because it’s sponge, and another to save for a possible christening.
Dearie me.
It’s not like our ever dependable and precise Caroline to create a crisis. Especially after Joe and Bartleby managed to deliver that cake safely.
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