- Helen’s using the dining room!
- Henry found a dead bumble bee
- Does anyone have sympathy for Lilian?
- Caroline’s far too busy. Lynda makes it worse …
- When Rob came to tea
Helen’s using the dining room!
Rob’s due to Bridge Farm for dinner tonight. Helen’s pulling out all of the stops.
She's using paprika in her cooking.
[Pat] “Don’t overdo it, you know your dad.”
(but Rob likes his food hot, so Helen, seemingly, thinks of him first)
She’s event set the dining room. Which a rare room to be used in Bridge Farm:
[Pat] “It’s usually high days and holidays, that’s all.”
Pat’s really not impressed with Helen’s palpable excitement over Rob, though she blames him instead of her. Even though it was Helen who invited Rob, Pat reckons he’s taking the Michael. Helen reckons he’s a great cook, but:
[Pat] “He doesn’t need to be, if he can get you to do the cooking.”
Meow!
Henry found a dead bumble bee
Poor bumble bee.
We’ll miss you.
Does anyone have sympathy for Lilian?
[Tony] “I saw Lilian in the village. She was steaming.”
[Pat] “Oh dear, broken a nail?”
Now that’s just mean.
And I wasn’t sure if Tony meant drunk, or just really really angry.
Caroline’s far too busy. Lynda makes it worse …
Sabrina called round to see Caroline, to ask her to help with the Swishing.
Seems she couldn’t comprehend that Caroline was too busy.
(well, it’s not as if Sabrina is every really properly busy herself)
Things seem to be going from bad to worse at the hotel. Even Lynda’s playing up. A customer has complained that she was rude to them.
[Caroline] “Well, you know her manner can be a little …”
[Oliver] “Idiosyncratic.”
The customer’s table wasn’t ready, so Lynda suggested they have a drink in the bar. Fairly standard, I would have thought, but:
[Oliver] “It’s the way she says it.”
[Caroline] “I can to stand there and talk him down, and I suddenly thought, why am I doing this, why?”
Caroline’s fed up. She feels she’s having to work ever harder, without then seeing any benefits.
Oliver sense Caroline might be ripe for finally getting in a Manager. When they get home, she starts on about how they were going to try without a manager for six months (after Roy left), but that was two years ago. Caroline’s stressed, working all hours but he wants them to travel.
[Oliver] “We’re no further forward, apart from we’re 2 years older.”
[Caroline] “Come on, we’re not decrepit.”
As well as travel, Oliver also wants to do more hunting. And have more dinner parties.
[Caroline, tired and harassed] “Fine, invite someone.”
[Oliver] “That’s not the point. You used to love entertaining, we’re good at it.”
But having to entertain after a long day is the last thing Caroline wants to do. And as for the Manager, Caroline reckons the business just won’t support the cost (especially with Elizabeth also now going after weddings … I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose that will be huge competition for Grey Gables)
[Oliver] “There’s not talking to you, is there?”
[Caroline] “Not if you’re going to say the same thing.”
Ouch.
Caroline has to work. Oliver doesn’t want her to.
Where’s the compromise?
When Rob came to tea
(dinner, if you’re posh)
Helen made goulash for dinner. Rob certainly enjoyed it, and asked to be shown how to make it:
[Helen] “If you’re sure you could cope with taking instructions from me …”
(Helen flirting is an uncomfortable thing to eavesdrop in on. Far prefer her morose)
[Pat] “Surely you won’t need to be cooking for yourself much longer, with your WIFE moves up here.”
(Pat’s emphasis on ‘wife’)
[Rob] “Ah well, that in itself is a bit of a moveable feast.”
Seems Rob’s wife’s dad is still ill. Pat pushes him to say how much he misses her, but he didn’t exactly shout it from the rooftops.
Inevitably, Pat moves talk onto organics versus factory farming.
[Rob] “I know it’s not your world view, but most farmers would agree that intensive farming is part of the global picture if we’re going to feed a growing population.”
As Pat seems to be getting steamed up, Tony tries to get them to agree. But there’s little chance of that.
[Rob] “I can see there’s decent money in organics.”
[Pat] “It’s about principles, ethics.”
[Rob] “And that’s very commendable, but all the principles in the world isn’t going to put food in their mouths at prices they can afford.”
[Pat] “Excuse me, I can’t see what’s so wrong with working with nature, rather than trying to obliterate it.”
[Helen] “You’ll have to excuse her Rob. She can get fierce when she gets on her hobby horse.”
(Helen! What an awful thing to say)
[Pat] “It’s not a hobby horse, Helen! And if it was, I would have thought it was your horse as well.”
(back at ya!)
[Helen] “It is, but not right now.”
(turncoat!)
Tony tries to defuse the situation by trying to get everyone to drink more wine.
(aye, add more alcohol to the situation. That’ll help!)
After dinner, Rob offers to help clean up. But Pat suggests he just gets gone (!). After he takes that rather non-subtle hint:
[Tony] “I thought it was okay, apart from your little spat.”
Pat’s angry that neither Tony nor Helen backed her up. Tony reckons that this wasn’t the time nor place.
Actually, Rob couldn’t have done anything right by Pat. Even him offering to clean up was wrong:
[Pat] “You could see he think it’s women’s work, which Helen seems all too happy to go along with … there’s something odd going on, isn’t there … why’s it taking so long for her to move up here … she’s a social worker for heaven’s sake, they’re desperate for them.”
(she has a point about Helen)
[Helen] “You see, Rob’s not a ,monster, is her. Once you get to know him.”
Smitten, I tell ya. Smitten!
1 comment:
I think 'steaming' might just mean drunk in Scotland, does it? I don't remember coming across it before I moved there.
Post a Comment