The week started so well
for Clarrie, with her granddaughter's christening on Sunday. Even better –
Eddie's embarrassing brother Alf couldn't make it.
We realised that Nic, Will
and children obviously don't go to church very often when Mia kept asking
"why is that man (Alan the vicar) wearing a nightie?" Neil tells Alan
that he feels it is the wrong way round, having the child christened before
they are even married. Alan, however is more relaxed about it, saying it's just
nice to welcome a child into the Church. Yeah – like Emma and Ed will ever go
again.
Ed is alarmed when George
lets slip that Will is making three goats and a troll for the scarecrow contest
and Emma moans (yes, I too found it amazing) because Keira won't sleep through
the night. She also cries a lot – Nic picks her up and she stops at once. Jake
asks Nic if he can have a baby sister – No! Nic promptly gives Keira back and
she starts crying again. She's probably starting to recognise her mother.
Monday saw high drama, when
the Environmental Health people swooped on Bridge Farm mob handed. It seems
that people at the gymkhana at the weekend went down with e-coli and they had
all had Bridge Farm ice cream. The EH demand access to all areas and Pat agrees
to a voluntary recall of all Bridge Farm products.
Susan and Clarrie are
interviewed by the EH people and Clarrie said that she had a stomach upset on
Saturday and came back to work on Monday. She didn't tell Pat because she
hadn't missed any work days. It looks bad for Clarrie, as you are supposed to
wait at least 48 hours before returning to work. The EH leave, bearing lots of
samples and with the ominous news that they will call back when the results are
known. In the meantime, Pat sends Susan and Clarrie home but is still paying
their wages, which is good of her.
Perhaps we can see where
Bridge Farm are making economies as the next day is Jack's 92nd birthday and we
learn that one of the cards is from Tony, Pat, Helen, Tom, Brenda and Henry.
Six people on one card – how cheap is that?
Despite the fact that there
are no Bridge Farm products in the shop, and that Pat has told the fete
committee that they will have to find another supplier, and that Underwoods are
unhappy about the product recall, to the extent that they have cancelled their
order for Tom's sausages, nobody in the village seems to have spotted that
something's up. Mind you, Jennifer does wonder why there's no cream at the shop
and does Susan know why? Susan doesn't, but sees this as an ideal opportunity
to tell Jennifer what a wonderful chance it would be for someone to invest in
Chris's business. Jen appears not to be listening, but next day she moans to
Lilian about the unsubtlety of Susan's approach.
Jennifer can be a nasty cow
at times and she blames Chris, telling Lilian that "I can see that he will
be looking for a leg up at every stage of his career." Jen also says that
she thinks Alice was disappointed at 'only' getting a 2:1 degree, instead of a
First. We know who the disappointed one really is.
In case you were thinking
that it was all about Bridge Farm last week, over at Brookfield Josh is acting
strangely – apparently leaving the house clutching a backpack and a plastic
bucket. Perhaps he's leaving home? I await the outcome, whatever it is, with
interest. Ruth also gives David the news that the milk yields are down again,
making him even more depressed, if that were possible. "Sometimes I feel
like jacking it all in", he says, despondently.
Back at Bridge Farm, the
product recall notice appears in the Echo, plus there is a story about people
being taken ill with e-coli at the gymkhana. And still nobody makes the
connection. On Thursday the EH ring up and confirm that the cleaning was OK and
it looks like Clarrie is the source of the outbreak. Pat has a rant, telling
Tom (who has started speaking again, by the way) "Why was Clarrie so
stupid? She's put the whole business in jeopardy!"
Why not ask Clarrie
herself? Pat storms round to the Grundy's, where she tells Clarrie in no
uncertain terms that it's down to her. "You do realise how serious it
is?" Pat asks a horrified Clarrie. Just in case she doesn't, Pat tells her
that her thoughtlessness has put lives at risk, plus the whole business, which
they have been building up for years, could go under "And it will be all
your fault!" she screams at Clarrie. So, no employee of the month award,
then?
No comments:
Post a Comment