Will Howard (Dan Hebden Lloyd)
I
thought the army was cutting down on recruitment, but it would appear not,
judging by the breakneck speed at which Daniel’s application is progressing.
It’s all a bit much for mum Shula who, at the beginning of the week, tries to
persuade Dan to go to university, get a degree and then see if he wants to join
the army.
Alistair
is on Shula’s side and both are stunned when Dan reveals that he has already
been to a Selection Board. Never mind - Alistair reminds Shula that Dan had
juvenile arthritis and he might fail on medical grounds. Afraid not - Dan told
the Selection Board about his medical history and he has already passed the
medical. Oh and by the way, he’s off to Sandhurst on Tuesday for a
pre-commissioning course. “I really want to do this mum and I’d really like
your blessing” he says. Not much chance of that, I’d say.
At
the end of the week, Dan takes Shula for a pub lunch to talk about it. He
describes being at Sandhurst as ‘wicked’ and ‘really special’ and depresses his
mum even more when he tells her that he passed the fitness tests and is going
to be an officer. We learn too that he has been accepted by the Tank Regiment
and next week he is going to see the Royal Hussars. At this rate he’ll be a
Lieutenant Colonel by Easter. Shula makes one last attempt to get him to
postpone his decision, pointing out the potential dangers, to which Daniel
replies that his real father Mark was a safe, respectable solicitor and he died
in an accident on a quiet country road. Jolene’s comment “You must be really
proud of him, Shula” does little to reassure her.
Over
at Brookfield, David and Rooooth are debating whether to invite Jill to move in
permanently - this is while they
are demolishing her home-cooked peanut butter biscuits and real coffee. Jill
has been saying that she ought to get out from under their feet and go back to
Glebe Cottage and Rooooth and David wonder what her reaction might be; would
she think that they thought that she couldn’t cope? Rooooth is worried that
Jill might think they are exploiting her and David agrees, absent-mindedly
reaching for another biscuit and clicking his fingers for a coffee refill. They
needn’t have worried, as Jill says she would be delighted to move in if they
really want her, so David goes off to make the cupboard under the stairs a bit
more comfortable for her and sets her alarm for 5.30 am so she can get
breakfast on the go.
Things
are not going smoothly for Tom and Kirsty’s wedding - we have already had the
cock-up over the invitations and on Monday Kirsty tells Tom that their
photographer has got a better offer - a job on a cruise ship - and can’t do
their wedding. Tom wonders where they will find someone at such short notice
and, speaking of the wedding, says “This is a disaster”, which is what so many
of us have been telling Kirsty for weeks. The pressure is getting to Tom and he
has a row with Tony about work on the farm. Tony tells Pat that Tom behaved
totally unreasonably (surely not?) and, when Pat confronts her son, he says “I
suppose I did fly off the handle” (surely not?). Kirsty and Tom go to view the
plot where their house will eventually be and, the way things have been going,
I was anticipating an earthquake, but nothing happened and they have been given
a moving-in date of 14th August. Time’s running out Kirsty, if
you’re planning to do the same.
A
major story of the week was the Extraordinary General Meeting of Borsetshire
Land, attended by Justin Elliot, CEO of Venture Capitalists Damara, which is
the majority shareholder in BL. The meeting is chaired by Annabelle and Justin
says that BL has been under-performing, which made it a sitting duck for
Damara’s take-over. Brian defends his record, pointing out the success of the
market and the mega-dairy. Justin’s response is that these should only have
been the start - the market should have developed into a full-fledged business
park and why is there only one anaerobic digester on the dairy complex, when if
they had more, they could import other people’s slurry (or whatever) and make
more money.
The
EGM ends with the election of a new Chair for BL. Brian puts his name forward,
as does Gerry Moreton, but the new Chair is Annabelle (or ‘Justin’s puppet’ as
perhaps we ought to call her from now on). There was an amusing counterpoint to
this story, as the scene of the action kept cutting from the BL boardroom to
the open air, where Will had invited Chris to join him on his rounds, during
which time Will persuades Chris to take on the role of Jesus in the Passion
Play. Will has set a number of squirrel traps and one has captured a ‘rat with
a bushy tail’ as Will describes it. The parallel between the captured rodent
and Brian is evident, when Will says the squirrel enters the trap confidently,
not knowing that he is going to be well and truly stitched up. Fortunately, the
parallel isn’t that exact, as Will despatches the squirrel by hitting it with a
priest, whereas Brian is just encouraged to consider his position and think
about whether he will remain on the BL board.
After
the EGM, we have further evidence that Brian didn’t marry Jennifer for her
intellect, as he comes home and heads straight for the whisky. Jennifer
protests that it’s a bit early and he says “I’ve just had one of the worst days
of my life.” Jen’s reply? “Didn’t it go well?” proving that not only is she not
the sharpest knife in the drawer, she’s not even the sharpest teaspoon.
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