Come On Brian; It’s Not All Bad News

Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge)

It has been a busy week for the Aldridges and the Madikanes. The week began quietly, with Kirsty, for reasons known only to herself, deciding to reprise the New Year’s Day swim in the Am. She is disappointed when, one after another, those who joined her on NYD cried off, having presumably regained their senses or sobered up. Kirsty tries to persuade Roy to join her, but he is preoccupied with the ongoing saga of the surrogacy and says ‘no’. Undaunted, Kirsty goes ahead, saying that, if she wimps out, the others will laugh at her. She might also consider that, if she jumps into a freezing river in January, they might well have her sectioned.

Anyway, she does go ahead and there is much squealing and splashing, then Roy urgently shouts at her to get out - now! It turns out that the river is full of dead fish. It seems strange that Roy and Kirsty never noticed these before - after all, they could hardly be hiding in the weeds, could they? - but she rings the Environment Agency incident line and, before long, the banks of the Am are swarming with EA investigators taking water samples.

On Tuesday, Brian has a nasty shock when he is interviewed under caution by the EA, who have established that the contamination is coming from Home Farm land and who have found a blocked culvert. The words ‘blocked culvert’ took me back - who do we know who has form in this area? Quick; get on to Immigration and check to see whether a certain Rob Titchener has slipped back into the country.

Next day, Jennifer has obviously been thinking about the situation and she wonders if there is skulduggery afoot - Justin sold Brian the land adjoining Home Farm at a rock-bottom price; was it because he had an ulterior motive? Did he know the land was contaminated? Jennifer thinks Brian should confront Justin and ask him and seems unable to grasp that there’s no way that Brian could broach the subject without making it look as if he’s accusing Justin outright. As far as Brian is concerned, Justin’s low asking price was down to ‘mate’s rates’. Jennifer is not convinced and says that she has a good mind to go and ask Justin herself. Brian’s response to this is that she should leave the situation well alone.

But this is Jennifer we are talking about, so what do you think she does? Quite right - hardly has Brian finished talking, when Jen is round at the Dower House. Tactful as ever, Jennifer accuses Justin of stabbing a friend in the back and refuses to believe his protestations that there was nothing wrong with the land and he gave Brian a good price as they are friends. Jen continues to bang on about ‘poisoned land’ and, in the end, Justin (who is jet-lagged after returning from honeymoon) snaps and says how dare Brian send his wife round to accuse him. Justin has a message for Jennifer to give to Brian - “Caveat emptor - buyer beware.” Well done Jen, this episode should make future BL board meetings interesting, albeit a little frosty. One can also assume that Jennifer’s relationship with her sister Lilian will be a bit cool henceforth.

Clearly, Jennifer feels strongly about the subject, but her blundering approach is compounded by the fact that she is barking up the wrong tree; on Friday, a frazzled Brian tells her that the source of the contamination has been pinpointed and it has nothing to do with the land that Justin sold them. Instead, it is coming from an old pond that was drained and then used by builders to dump stuff in. This stuff included TCE, which is an industrial degreaser and which, under anaerobic conditions, in time degrades to vinyl chloride, which is highly toxic. No doubt, like me, you suspected this was what had happened - obvious really.

Brian, who as far as we know is not yet aware that his wife has accused his fellow BL director of sharp practice, is a worried man; as the landowner, it is down to him to sort out the problem and get specialists with diggers and earthmovers to investigate and establish the scope of the problem. Oh yes, there’s also a chance that Home Farm might be prosecuted and, if so, they will be left with the bill. Jen asks how much. £20 k? £100 k? In a faltering voice, Brian says that it’s hard to say, but the final reckoning “could run up to millions.” Have a good weekend, Brian. Why not invite Justin round?

Interwoven with this story is the conflict between Noluthando and Kate. Jennifer complains to Peggy that, when Kate walks into a room, Noluthando promptly walks out. Peggy says that Nolly is still a child and she needs her mother. “I’m sure they’ll find a way of coming together” Peggy adds. “I wish I could believe that” Jennifer replies, forlornly.

Poor Peggy is getting it from all sides, as Kate pours out her heart to her grandmother, telling her that Noluthando doesn’t like her and what can she do? Peggy wants to watch a film that Nolly has downloaded for her and is getting annoyed when Kate keeps interrupting her with her moans. Peggy says that it’s very simple: “Nolly is a child and you’re her mother. She doesn’t want you to be her friend, but her mother.” Kate, who has clearly inherited the Aldridge talent for being patronising, tells Peggy that she doesn’t understand - it’s harder to be a mother nowadays than it was in Peggy’s day and relationships are more fluid.

Peggy has had enough. “I understand that you are talking a load of nonsense. Noluthando wants a mother she can rely on and turn to if she has a problem. She wants a mother she can respect.” Kate expresses amazement that her daughter doesn’t respect her and Peggy gives her a final piece of advice: “If you want Noluthando to respect you as a mother, then you’re going to have to behave like a mother.”

This would appear to be sound advice, as Noluthando (who’s 17^th birthday is on Friday) confides in Freddie that she is dreading the planned party at Home Farm and can’t bear the thought of “my so-called mother getting down with the kids.” Freddie has a flash of inspiration - amazingly, he has passed his maths resit and says that Elizabeth owes him a party, so why doesn’t Noluthando combine her party with his? Elizabeth is obviously as stunned as the rest of us at Freddie’s academic achievement and the party is scheduled for Thursday.

The day arrives and Noluthando comes across Freddie in the garden, dealing drugs. She has a go at him and says she is disappointed. Freddie protests that it’s a good way of making some cash, conveniently overlooking the fact that it is breaking the law. Noluthando dryly asks if it is really a good idea to deal drugs in your own back yard, but she is interrupted by Kate approaching her. “Please tell me that’s not my mother” says Noluthando and demands that Freddie gives her a pill - now. He tells her to take just one quarter of it, but she swallows the whole thing.

Noluthando is harsh with her mother, telling her that she wasn’t invited and to shut up, before running off. Kate is distraught and asks Freddie “What do I have to do to make her love me?” I was hoping Freddie would reply “Sorry seems to be the hardest word” but instead he answers “Big question. Really big question.”

Later on, Freddie is terrified to see spaced-out Noluthando hanging out of a second floor window and he begs her to come back inside. Kate turns up “Oh, my darling mother” says Noluthando and Kate realises that this is not normal. “What’s she taken?” she snaps at Freddie and, in masterful mode, tells him to wait outside while she talks her daughter down and back into the room. This she does successfully, but Nolly collapses and Kate yells at Freddie to call an ambulance and tell them the patient has taken a drug of some sort. This is a new, forceful Kate and, when Freddie (who I believe, on recent behaviour could be a shoo-in for the new Ambridge village idiot) hesitates, she tells him to get out and get on the phone, quickly.

Next day, Jennifer is worried, because Kate and Noluthando didn’t come home. Brian doesn’t care - he’s trying to contact a solicitor, as this is the day of the second EA interview under caution. In the hospital, Nolly comes round. Kate has been there all night and Nolly tells her that she really wanted to jump last night, then she wanted to listen to Kate. Kate breaks down in tears and tells Nolly that she realises that she has been a terrible mother, but she is going to change. Nolly says that Kate saved her life. “Did you call me Nolly last night?” she asks. Kate says yes she did, and she’s sorry. “Actually, I liked it - mum” her daughter tells her.

The two return to Home Farm, where they are greeted by Jennifer, who hasn’t a clue what has been going on, and who wishes her granddaughter a happy birthday. Noluthando seems very happy and replies politely to Jennifer’s questions and comments, to the extent that, when Noluthando goes to get changed, Jennifer remarks she is like a different girl. That’s what a near-death experience and finding that your mother isn’t the complete flake you thought she was can do for you, I suppose.

Kate seems to have morphed into a responsible, caring mother and tells Jennifer that she and Noluthando had a really good talk (Kate didn’t grass her daughter up about the drugs or hospital visit, incidentally). Furthermore, Kate went to see a travel agent and has booked Noluthando’s flight home to South Africa next week. And there’s more - Kate will be going back with her. Jennifer is stunned - how long for? What about Spiritual Home? Kate says that she doesn’t know how long she’ll be away and she can arrange that something is done about Spiritual Home. Her priorities now, she tells her mother, are Noluthando and Sipho and that’s what she is going to concentrate on. Jennifer is still taken aback - it seems that it is not only Noluthando who appears to be a different girl.

As Kate goes to get changed, Brian comes in and breaks the news to Jen about the potential costs of the clean up. And so, belatedly, we eventually come to the title of this week’s blog - ok, it could be expensive, Brian, but look on the bright side; Kate won’t be around to annoy you for much longer and, thanks to Jennifer’s ham-fisted approach to Justin, he and Lilian will probably never come to Home Farm again, so think of what you will save on gin and champagne. As we said, it’s not all bad news.