Katie Redford (Lily Pargetter)
At Lower Loxley, Lily is feeling unsettled- she has been talking to Johnny, who tells her that Bella (his girlfriend) is perfect and he loves her to bits. “But how do you know?” Lily asks. “You just do” he answers, unhelpfully. Lily wonders why Russ isn’t getting on with his divorce from Lara. “It’s complicated” he tells her, but he won’t elaborate, saying only “I need you to trust me, Lily - please?”
Lily’s trust takes a strange form - she phones Freddie and tells him she needs him to give her a lift that evening. “Where are we going?” Freddie asks, but his twin will not tell him, only that it is important. The pair end up sitting in the car outside a house that Lily says is Lara’s. Lily has knocked on the door but nobody answered, so they sit and wait. Eventually, a woman turns up and lets herself in and Lily is out of the car like a shot and into the house. She emerges some time later and, when Freddie asks how she got on, she tells him to drive. “Just drive” she says angrily when he continues to question her.
Next day, Lily is sweeping up leaves and Russ says they need to talk - Lily was so angry yesterday. She retorts that she is still angry; why didn’t Russ tell her how young Lara was (she’s about 26)? Russ says it’s irrelevant - he doesn’t just fancy young women and he loves Lily. She also mentions that Lara wasn’t - as Russ suggested - very fragile, but Lara said that she didn’t really miss Russ at all and was seemingly very positive. Russ says to Lily that perhaps they should go out for a dinner tonight? Lily replies that it’s Freddie’s party at the Stables and, when Russ asks what time should they get there, she says that, as most of Freddie’s friends are ex-students of the college, they might be freaked out by seeing their ex-Deputy Head there.
At Freddie’s party, Lily and Johnny get absolutely slaughtered and, again, the talk turns to how you know you are in love. Johnny says that the best thing is to imagine that the other person is no longer around - how would you feel? Johnny has promised Eddie that he would give his hangover cure a trial and he suggests that Lily tries some too. “It’s absolutely disgusting” she says, which I suspect is about par for the course when you are dealing with something made by the Grundys. Suffice it to say that Johnny never made it to The Bull to see Bella and he spent the night on Shula’s sofa. We learn the following day that Lily spent the night (second night in a row) in Freddie’s bedroom at Lower Loxley. Russ rings a (very hungover) Lily and says they should meet at 1pm at their favourite café. Lily, who just wants to go to sleep, eventually agrees and the lovers meet, despite Lily’s raging hangover.
Lily tells Russ what Johnny said about how you can tell if you love someone and he asks her if she wants him to move out of their room? She says “no” - she couldn’t imagine life without Russ. He is relieved, but she says that “I need you to be open with me, Russ.” He agrees and Lily goes in for the kill, when she adds: “I need you to divorce Lara and I need you to do it now.” I think that Russ might be getting the message, Lily, but keep at it.
But let’s go back to the hangover cure - after the cock-up last week when guinea pig Jazzer was so drunk that he was in no fit state to try it, what happened this week, when Eddie persuaded Johnny to give it a go after Freddie’s party and, maybe, enlist a few other volunteers. As we said a couple of paragraphs ago, Johnny and Lily certainly gave it a good go and just managed to drink it before they passed out.
The following day, Eddie was jubilant when Johnny rang him and said that he woke up at 6 am with a totally clear head - Eddie was exceedingly smug and went off to find Ed and tell him the news. Is this the turning point in the Grundys’ fortunes? Have they discovered the Mother Lode? Well, be honest - what do you think? It turns out that, while Johnny had a clear head, everybody else just wanted to crawl into a dark room and die. Nevertheless, Eddie was very chipper - as he told Clarrie, “At least it worked on Johnny, so all it needs is a little tweak and then everything will be fine.” Clarrie laughs and tells Eddie that he sounds just like his dad - why was she laughing and not crying?
Rex is not a happy bunny (Toby tells Rosie he’s “uncle grumps”) and Rex eventually reveals that he’s not as OK with Anisha marrying someone else as he pretended. Toby does his best to cheer his brother up and asked Josh to find Rex a trailer for his pigs at a decent price, which he did, which begs the question; if Toby’s so efficient, how come he’s bloody useless when it comes to his own business dealings?
A quick digression into cheese here - Helen has been contacted by a national wholesaler (and I’m sorry, but I cannot resist the cliché of ‘a big cheese in the cheese world’) who may be interested in her Borsetshire Blue. Helen is on tenterhooks the day of the visit and is spooked when Johnny turns up, saying that they have got a seriously ill heifer and she should call Alistair asap. The Big Cheese arrives as Alistair is operating in the field with blood everywhere (the heifer has swallowed a piece of a sky lantern and this is post Halloween). Anyway, he loves the farm and the cheese and he will e-mail his terms tomorrow.
Oliver is feeling guilty, as he and Tracy are on very formal terms (‘Mr Sterling’ and ‘Ms Horrobin’) and Oliver hates it. On a ride out with Shula, he says why can’t there be a platonic friendship between a man and a woman - the same as there is between him and Shula? He thinks that people might be snobbish about it because of the “disparity in our circumstances” (that‘s Oliver and Tracy, not him and Shula). Shula says that, if Oliver is happy being friends with Tracy, then Caroline would want that.
He agrees, and tells Tracy that he’d like a word. “Yes, Mr Sterling” she says and goes on to say that she realises that she’s still in her probationary period and she’ll leave without causing any trouble. Oliver says that, far from sacking her, he wants to apologise “for valuing idle tittle-tattle above our friendship” - He’s behaved badly. “Well, you have been a bit of a prat” Tracy tells him, but Oliver corrects her, saying “More than a bit - I’ve been a complete prat” and asks if they could go back to how they were? Tracy says that they could start again and they introduce themselves to each other and harmony is restored.
So now we move on to the week’s main event, which is, of course, the sending off of Joe. There is a potential problem, in that Joe’s Wake is being held in the Tea Room and Jim promised Joe that he would play at his Wake, but the Tea Room holds horrific memories for Jim, as it was there that he came face to face with his childhood abuser - can he face it? Alistair suggests that they go there for a recce - Fallon has said that sales of chocolate flapjacks have plummeted since Jim has stayed away - and if Jim feels uncomfortable, they can leave. He decides he can deal with it.
Clarrie is a bit worried about how they will pay for the Wake, but The Bull has a scheme called “One for Joe” which invites people who buy a drink to buy another one ’for Joe.’ This proves popular (presumably especially with Alf, who never buys his own drinks anyway) and we eventually learn that it has raised enough to pay for the food and drinks. Emma has a suggestion - Joe loved Steak & Kidney pudding, so should they (Fallon and Emma) produce some miniature puds for the Wake? Clarrie is touched.
We are spared details of the burial service and (thank God) spared details of Bert Fry’s ode to Joe, although Rex did offer some sneak previews of the rhyming couplets that he said Bert was continually spouting - and no, I have no intention of repeating any of them here, as you’ve never done me any harm. Let’s just say that Joe is probably spinning in his grave as he listens to Bert‘s ‘tribute’. As an example, Bert tried to rhyme ‘cider’ with ‘Ambridge’.
The Wake is held in the Tea Room and is a roaring success - the mini S&K puddings go down well and Clarrie tells Emma that Joe would have eaten all of them, which would have been a good trick at your own Wake. It is soon time for Jim to produce his party piece - Jim has assured Jazzer that he has memorised the tune, but his mind goes blank and he is very apologetic. Never mind - Lilian to the rescue - who fancies a proper drink at The Bull?
The answer to this is ‘everybody’ and soon there is a party in full swing, with drinking games (members of the Cider Club have to propose notable incidents in its history and - in a homage to Joe - everyone has to be addressed in true Joe Grundy style by Christian name and surname; for example ‘Lilian Bellamy’ or ‘Edward Grundy’).
Back at the Tea Room, Emma tells Clarrie that she’ll slip off home, as she doesn’t want to intrude or upset Ed. Clarrie is aghast and says that, earlier that day, Ed was saying how made up Joe would have been to witness Emma’s efforts today. Emma says that she’d love to raise a glass to Joe and the two of them decide to go down to The Bull together.
At The Bull, Jazzer has brought along a bottle of Tumble Tussock cider, which is served in shot glasses, as it’s the only bottle. Eddie sees a man he can’t quite recognise, but it turns out he’s from The Queen pub at Hollerton (where they met Gaz; Carmen’s son - do try and keep up) and Eddie reads out a telegram, saying ‘all best wishes from the Queen’. Lilian, who has had considerably more than a sniff of the barmaid’s apron, is amazed, until Eddie explains that this queen is a pub. Alf, who, amazingly, is still upright, says that Joe always wanted to get his telegram.
Meanwhile, Jim Lloyd starts playing the piano - he has remembered Joe and Susan’s special tune, and plays it, to much acclaim. Clarrie whispers to Emma “We’ve done Joe proud” and Emma says “it’s funny, but I’ve enjoyed today.” The week ends with a triumphant Jim - in true Cider Club tradition - offering a toast to “Mr. Joseph Grundy!” while we hear Eddie whisper to himself “To dad.”
No comments:
Post a Comment