Rather A Personal Question, Peggy

Edward Kelsey (Joe Grundy)

You have to feel a bit sorry for Natasha, as she is paraded round Ambridge, being introduced to Tom’s extended family. Natasha reports back after her lunch with her ex, Trev and Tom tells her that they have been invited to lunch at Bridge Farm tomorrow (Wednesday), plus Peggy has invited them for afternoon tea on Thursday. Tom accepted both invitations. Natasha isn’t very happy, as she has a lot of work to catch up on, but she says, presumably through gritted teeth, that she will fit in with his plans.

Natasha had a one-on-one chat with Emma, who says it must be weird, as Natasha realises that she is related by marriage to half the people she meets. As it turns out, the Bridge Farm lunch is a bit of a wash-out as Natasha finds herself alone with Tony, as everybody else is busy on the farm. Frustrated, Natashe says that, had she known, she could have got more work done. Never mind that, Tony says, he’s got something to show her. It’s an Angus calf and Natasha is distinctly under whelmed as Tony burbles with joy. 

He also says that Natasha has been good for Tom - he’s more determined and decisive, “which is why he was so quick to book the honey -” Too late, Tony realises that he has let the cat out of the bag and begs her not to say anything to Tom. Tony also says that he and Pat used to wonder if Tom would ever find his path in life “but now you’re married, we can stop worrying, can’t we?”

Never mind, there’s always high tea at The Lodge, but even this doesn’t go according to plan, as Tom is held up, due to a problem with the pigs. Great - a chance to reschedule and get some work done, Natasha thinks, but Peggy has other ideas - it gives her and Natasha the chance to get to know each other better. The first thing Natasha learns is to keep away from Hilda. “You startled her when you got up suddenly” Peggy tells Natasha reprovingly, as she puts a plaster on where Hilda clawed her. “She’ll be your best friend when you next meet” Peggy assures her, but agrees that perhaps Hilda should be locked in the kitchen for now.

‘Getting to know each other’ is a euphemism for ‘having the third degree’, as Peggy interrogates her on a number of personal matters. All that’s missing is the bright light and thumbscrews. Peggy understands that Natasha’s last relationship was a lengthy one, so why didn’t they get married? Instead of saying ‘mind your own business, you nosey cow‘, Natasha says that the subject never arose. Undeterred, Peggy carries on, saying that she isn’t getting any younger (and neither are Tom and Natasha) “so what are your plans for starting a family?”

Talk about breathtakingly intrusive! We were not told Natasha’s reaction to this, but we can assume it was not favourable. On Friday, Tom is in the shop, trying to buy scented candles - he gets candles, but they are not scented and he is desperate to create a striking ambience when Natasha returns to the flat. The scentless candles are not the only evidence that every expense has been spared on this venture, as Susan says how lucky Tom was to pick up the last bunch of flowers (lilies) as Susan had offered them to Mia for £1, but she passed.

When Natasha comes in, she spots the candles and asks if the electric has been cut off? The lilies, she adds, make the kitchen look like a funeral parlour and reminds her of her great aunt’s funeral. Tom immediately bins the flowers, which is the first sensible thing he has done all evening. He tells her that he has booked a honeymoon and she is anxious, as her passport might need updating. No need, says Tom smugly, as it’s not abroad. OK, Natasha muses - there are lots of parts of Scotland that she has never visited.

Triumphantly, Tom shows her a photo on his tablet of the lodge that he has booked - it has its own sauna and spectacular countryside views. Natasha is a tad disappointed that it will be a self-catering break and disappointment turns into incandescent anger when Tom reveals that, not only is the destination not abroad, but it isn’t even outside Borsetshire, as it’s only 20 miles down the road. 

As Natasha throws a wobbly, Tom doesn’t help when he tells her that they couldn’t really go far, in case there’s a problem with the pigs. Natasha yells at him that he can take the pigs with him “because I’m not going!” She tells him that she is suffocating in Ambridge, where she is expected to be the perfect wife and, after the visit to Peggy, apparently the perfect mother as well. 

“Trev was right,” she tells Tom, “he said Ambridge would crush the life out of me and it’s happening already.” She starts packing a bag and tells Tom to get out of her way. Tom tells her she is overreacting and where is she going? Is it something to do with Trev? Natasha says no and she doesn’t know where she is going; “anywhere I can get my head together - I need some space.” I suppose we should be grateful that Tom didn’t say ‘shall I see if mum and dad or Peggy can put you up for a few days?’ As it is, the week ends with Tom saying that he loves her and we hear the sound of the door slamming and Tom sobbing. Well, that was a waste of £1 on the flowers, plus I hope Tom has a good appetite, as he ordered a couple of gourmet takeaways.

Earlier on in the week, a four-year-old mystery raised its head, as Natasha, who was buying flowers to take to Bridge Farm (presumably not lilies) showed Susan something she had found tied to the door handle. It was a piece of the bunting that Fallon made about four years ago and which disappeared from the Green one night. No trace was ever found and the incident marks one of PC Burns’ less successful cases. For reasons that I didn’t catch, Susan wonders if Barry (who he?) might be the person responsible. To be honest, you couldn’t pay me enough to care and I suspect I am not alone.

Of course, last week was Easter weekend and Lower Loxley was, if not exactly humming, then at least ticking over. Russ acquitted himself well as the Easter Bunny, until he was stung in an embarrassing place by a bee or a wasp that got inside his costume. Never fear - Kenton bullied Tom into taking over for the last fifteen minutes or so, which he did with rather bad grace.

Elizabeth seems to be making progress and, on Tuesday she is walking with her mother Jill round the grounds of Lower Loxley and they come across Chris Carter, who is shoeing Cranford Crystal. Elizabeth, much to Jill’s alarm, is very frank about her mental illness and depression. Jill drags her away and asks her if it was wise to open up quite so much to Chris? It wasn’t explicitly stated, but you know Jill was thinking ‘if he tells Susan, then the whole of Borsetshire will know within the hour.’ Elizabeth, however, seems unfazed and says “there’s no shame in talking about mental health.”

Jill’s friendship with Leonard appears to be jogging along nicely, with the pair visiting the graveyard. Jill has brought flowers from her garden to lay on Phil’s grave and Leonard tells her to take her time - he’ll wait for her on the bench. We learn in passing that Leonard has made up his mind - he will join Shula’s church art project committee.

Jill does take her time and, when she returns, she tells Leonard that she had been telling Phil about what has been happening on the farm and in the village; in fact she often chats to her late husband before going to sleep. Leonard reveals that he does exactly the same with his late wife and the pair leave the graveyard hand in hand. I suppose that there’s nothing the matter with talking to late partners, although it would be different if the deceased spouses started answering back. 

While on matters relating to the church, Shula confides in Freddie that she has regained her faith after Alan talked some sense into her and showed her that her self-centredness was the real problem.

Will Grundy tries to get back into step-daughter Mia’s good books when he tells her that he was wrong with how he handled the whole situation with Mia and Ruairi and, if she likes, she can ring him and explain. She replies that it doesn’t matter. In fact, she ran into Ruairi earlier in the week and he made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want her to message him when he’s back at school - his fellow classmates would make his life a misery. Mia is upset by his attitude, but keeps it to herself.

Will says that he would also like to apologise for something else - the Lent Appeal in Nic’s name is going great guns and it is all down to Mia. Will admits that he was against the whole idea at the start, but Mia thought it would be a fitting tribute to her mother and she was spot on. There’s something else too; Will has arranged for Mia to have extra maths lessons at weekend - he has engaged a tutor, a Miss Jenkins. Mia is alarmed - she has heard that Miss Jenkins is very strict and tells her step dad. “Excellent” replies Will, but Mia has reservations.

Ed Grundy carried out his first ‘driving job’ for Tim and he is pleased that the money was very substantial. He shows a wodge of cash to Emma and says that they can now get George the computer game that he wants. Emma, however, is more practical and says that they should put it towards the new house. Spoilsport.

Farewell Edward Kelsey

Edward Kelsey, the actor who played Joe Grundy for 34 years, died on 24^thApril, at the age of 88. He joined the cast in 1985 as patriarch of the Grundy family and featured in a number of storylines, most of which involved complicated ideas and schemes for making money and the vast majority of which went spectacularly wrong. The character of Joe would have been 98 in September and, when he (presumably) is written out in the near future, he will be sadly missed by sons Eddie and Alf, daughter-in-law Clarrie, grandsons Will and Ed, numerous great-grandchildren, horses Bartleby and Gem and, of course, the ferrets. Joe often expressed the wish to die at Grange Farm and it looks as though his last wish has finally been granted.