Ruairi Gets A History Lesson

Arthur Hughes (Ruairi Donovan)

Ruairi is conscious of a gaping void in his life as he comes across a photograph of Siobhan - his mother and Brian Aldrige’s mistress - and Elizabeth at Lower Loxley. Ruairi realises that he knows practically nothing about Siobhan and he can hardly raise the subject with Brian and Jennifer, so where to turn?

The answer is Elizabeth, who was Siobhan’s best friend and she and Ruairi spend a happy few hours looking at old photographs, while Elizabeth reminisces about her friend - how full of fun she was, even when she was terminally ill and how she wanted to ensure that Ruairi was cared for, after her death. Elizabeth shows Ruairi his mother’s favourite walks in the Lower Loxley grounds and takes a photo of him, holding Siobhan’s photograph. 

Will Ruari tell his father and stepmother about his visit to Lower Loxley and his talk with Elizabeth? He says not - while he loves them both and is appreciative of how good a stepmother Jennifer has been, he says that the subject of Siobhan is never raised and feels like a taboo area. Nevertheless, he thanks Elizabeth for what she has told him and she says that he can come round and talk to her about his mother whenever he likes.

Elizabeth then does something that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago - plucking up her courage, she goes to see Brian and tells him about meeting Ruairi and how Brian’s son feels about his mother. Brian is taken aback and tells Elizabeth that he and Jennifer thought that keeping quiet was the best idea, but Elizabeth says that Ruairi is keeping his emotions bottled up and this cannot be good for him. Brian agrees that their approach was wrong and he will have to have a talk with Jenny. For her part, Elizabeth says that she will tell Ruairi about this conversation.

At first, Ruairi is annoyed, but, as he talks with Brian and Jen about Siobhan, he opens up. He feels that Siobhan is like a shadow, almost on the edge of things, while Brian says that Ruairi’s laugh is identical to his mother’s; a fact that Jennifer remarks that Brian has never said before. As she tells Elizabeth later, she found the fact that her husband still thinks about his erstwhile mistress from time to time hurtful, “but it’s part of the price I pay for staying with him, I suppose”, which makes you wonder why she bothers. Jen thanks Elizabeth for bringing the family together and says that Ruairi’s happiness has always been paramount. Elizabeth tells her that Ruairi loves her and that he told Elizabeth what a fantastic step mum Jennifer has been throughout his childhood.

Earlier we said that a few weeks ago, Elizabeth’s actions would have been impossible, due to her depression. But now, as she tells Jamila, her therapist, she feels so very much better and able to cope with these situations - so much so that she has stopped taking her medication for depression and this will be her last session with Jamila. Jamila is pleased with Elizabeth’s progress and gives her her blessing, asking how does she see her future? Elizabeth doesn’t know, but she wants to do something different at Lower Loxley this Christmas - “I just want to start living my own life again.”

And now a prediction - Joy Horville’s corpse will be found in an Ambridge ditch and the whole village is in the frame for her murder, with SgtB running out of pencils, taking statements from a myriad of suspects. The latest candidate is Peggy - she is minding her business at home, when Joy calls to try and get her interested in a sewing and craft session at the village hall. Peggy declines and says that she is getting the tangles out of Hilda’s fur and this is not a good time. “Oh, is my favourite cat around? I’ll have to pop in and say hello, won’t I?” Joy says. And this she does.

Soon, she is having a cuppa with Peggy, saying that she isn’t the sort of visitor who just drops in and then disappears. Unfortunately, it seems that Hilda is just that sort of cat, as she has vanished. Peggy is worried, as this is most Hilda-unlike behaviour, and Peggy roams the garden, calling her cat’s name. Joy says she will help and waves away Peggy’s suggestion that she goes home (“What are friends for?” she asks Peggy). Joy also remarks that Hilda vanished as soon as Joy turned up. “She was perfectly well until you got here“, Peggy says, a tad waspishly. Meanwhile, Joy unsettles Peggy even more by talking about how vulnerable Hilda would be to a careless driver and is she road aware?

Come the morning, Hilda still hasn’t returned and Peggy is at her wits’ end - Hilda has never stayed out all night before. Tony has done some shopping for his mother and tries to reassure her that this is ‘a cat thing’. “I’m not blaming Hilda - if my legs were as good as hers, I’d run a mile whenever I saw Joy coming.” The hunt for Hilda is spreading - Johnny has alerted social media, Tom and Helen are going to put posters up, but Tony says the trouble is finding a photo of the cat that does Hilda justice (presumably he means one without her snarling and without claws extended and dripping blood). We aren’t told if the Coastguard has been alerted. 

A bitter Peggy says “It wouldn’t hurt to print off a few warning notices about Joy Horville, so no-one else loses a whole afternoon to her endless tittle-tattle.” So, not a fan, then, Peggy?

The Grundys are overwhelmed by the reaction of the village to Joe’s death. Clarrie feels that it is all getting too much, what with the upcoming move to No. 1 The Green as well. Eddie agrees and manages to negotiate “a stay of execution” with Oliver, who must be privately wondering if he will ever get his house back. Perhaps Eddie should also have suggested installing a revolving door, so great is the number of visitors turning up at Grange Farm. In fact, so many people have brought them flowers and foodstuffs that they must be thinking of opening a florist-cum-deli. You will not be surprised to know that Jennifer brought along a steak pie - we have said before that she seems to roam the village, carrying dishes of food to give to various relatives and friends.

One surprising visitor was Susan. She brought roses and Clarrie invited her in. The two women immediately make up their present coolness towards each other and both apologise for their pig-headedness. “What a way to lose my best friend” says Clarrie, to which Susan replies “You haven’t” and Clarrie suggests that Joe must be looking after them and knocking some sense into their heads. Clarrie says she is so pleased that Susan called round.

Emma turns up with Keira and George and there is a ‘tug at the heartstrings’ moment when Keira says to Ed “I liked it when you came home every night, daddy” and Emma quickly changes the subject. Keira wants Ed to tell her the story about how Joe got Daphne the ferret stuck in his trousers as part of his magic act. Ed protests that he has told her the story at least fifty times, but Keira still laughs.

All week, Clarrie has been on at Eddie to get in touch with brother Alf and tell him about Joe. Eddie is dragging his feet, calling Alf a waste of space and reminding Clarrie that, last time Alf visited, he stole money from Clarrie’s purse and walked off with a few hundred quid from the church. Also, Alf hasn’t bothered to keep in touch, so why should Eddie put himself out to find him? “Because he’s family” Clarrie replies. Doesn’t make him a nice person though, does it? Eddie says he has rung every number he can think of, with no result, so his conscience is clear.

Jim Lloyd goes for a walk with Jazzer, who is appalled when they go past the pub. Jim says that walking promotes creative thinking and Jim finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. Thankfully, Jazzer doesn’t ask why Jim is getting involved with cows and Jim explains that, when he gave up the piano last year, Joe used his wiles to tempt him back into playing by making the Prof promise to play at his wake (Joe’s, not Jim’s, obviously).

What should Jim do? The thought of playing in public worries him, but he made a promise. Jazzer has a pragmatic solution - who else heard Jim promise? When Jim says “nobody” Jazzer says “There’s your answer - so don’t do it.” “But I’ll know” Jim replies. You and five million listeners, Jim. Later on in the week, Eddie reveals to Jazzer that Jim will play at Joe’s wake. Surprised, Jazzer asks if he seemed OK about it, so it looks as though Professor Lloyd will indeed be making his public musical debut.

Incidentally, Jim could be another suspect in the ‘who killed Joy Horville’ fantasy murder - she grabs hold of Jim and Jazzer, saying that she has seen an animal in distress and takes the pair to see an injured crow. Joy just won’t shut up about the time that daughter Rochelle looked after an injured bird and an exasperated Jim eventually tells her sharply to keep quiet. They take the stricken bird to Alistair’s surgery and eventually get rid of Joy. “She’s just lonely” Jim tells the others - yes, probably because people she talks to tend to top themselves after fifteen minutes or so.

Let us return to Grange Farm, where Jazzer has rocked up with a few cans of premium lager, so that he, Eddie and Ed can pay their respects to Joe in their own way. This is early morning, mark you, and Jazzer is on his way to work at Home Farm. They break out some cans and we hear the sound of a car and Alf’s cheerful voice saying “It’s brilliant - you’ve even got the beers ready for me!” The week ends and we wonder whether Eddie is going to greet his brother with something along the lines of ‘and have you got the £400 you nicked from the church, you thieving scum?’