Timothy Bentinck (David Archer)
This week we had definitive proof that, as a detective, David makes a pretty good farmer. Consider; the secret of the Anglo Saxon coins is out in the public domain (yes Ben, you may well hang your head in shame) and Brookfield is crawling with metal detectorists. One of these is Eddie Grundy, who has dragged son Will to the field where the coins were found to act as an (albeit unwilling) lookout.
Eddie is incensed to find fellow detectorists hunting for treasure and his indignation is not lessened when Will reminds him that the two of them have no right to be there either. Eddie goes to give the man a piece of his mind (careful Eddie – you need to keep as much as you can) and a fed-up Will takes the opportunity to go home.
It turns out that details of Brookfield’s location are available on the Internet and Ben tries to atone for his earlier indiscretion by producing laminated posters saying ‘Private Land – keep off’. You might as well have said ‘Detectorists – please form an orderly queue’ Ben. In yet another attempt to ingratiate himself with the family, Ben agrees to help out by walking the fields with David, looking for trespassers.
It was on one such expedition when David spotted a person apparently hiding in a ditch and goes to accost the trespasser. It turns out to be Eddie – what’s he doing? Eddie says he is scouting for holly and mistletoe. Of course he is – there are only 47 days left to Christmas, after all. Eddie also adds that he has noticed some fresh holes in the field. Suddenly, David lets out an exclamation – there’s a metal detector partially concealed in the ditch – he says that he will contact the police and see if they can trace the owner.
And this is the evidence of David’s lack of policing expertise. Let’s look at the facts – 1. Eddie is hiding in a ditch at Brookfield, with a not-very-convincing excuse for being there. 2. A metal detector is also found in the ditch. 3. Eddie is well known as a bit of a scally. What are we to deduce from all this? In David’s case, the answer is ‘nothing’, which is why we urge him not to give up the day job.
Let’s face it – any normal person would have the cuffs ready and the cell already prepared with Eddie’s name on it; never mind all this ‘innocent till proven guilty’ rubbish – the man is obviously guilty as sin and should be made an example of. Does Ambridge still have stocks on the Village Green, I ask myself?
You have to admire Eddie’s optimism, as he tells Will that he believes that the Grundys’ time has come, (conveniently forgetting that he doesn’t have a detector at the moment) but they need to catch the other detectorists first. In order to do this, Eddie told David that he would help him patrol the fields – oh yes, Eddie also volunteered the services of Will and Ed as well.
Lily is worried that Freddie has made no progress with the Lower Loxley Christmas show and she is acutely aware that the Trustees are keeping a very close eye on her twin and, if truth be told, they are expecting him to fail. However, she has a cunning plan, and approaches Johnny for help. Lily knows that, if she approaches Freddie with her idea, he will reject it out of hand, but if Johnny were to present it as his idea…
Good plan Lily, marred only by the fact that her idea is to have a show presenting Christmas-based readings and poetry and Freddie knows that Johnny probably cannot even spell ‘poetry’. Freddie keeps asking awkward questions, which Johnny cannot answer, and in the end he has to admit that the idea was Lily’s. However, Freddie thinks it is a good idea and he pitched it to Elizabeth and Glen, who liked it as well and gave it the go-ahead. Freddie’s contribution to the whole thing is to make the event Covid-proof, by having readings in different areas for separate groups.
Unfortunately, there will be no funding for the show, so Freddie will have to rely on getting people to perform out of the goodness of their hearts. But hey, says Freddie, Lynda always managed to rustle up performers, “so how hard can it be?”
A few days later, he realises that the answer to that particular question is ‘pretty damn difficult’ as he has phoned most people in the village and the only volunteer he has had is Bert Fry. Freddie goes to see Lynda, to show her the new Grey Gables brochure and she asks how is the show coming along? He admits that he is not having much luck and asks Lynda how did she manage it? He goes further, saying that, as Lynda always managed to fill her cast, the problem must lie with him.
Not at all, says Lynda – she always suffered the same way. So how did she manage it? ”The gentle art of manipulation” she replies, and tells him that you have to be a bit devious to achieve your aims. For example, Lilian is easy – just have good costumes and a good part, while Neil can be persuaded by appealing to his sense of civic pride. And by the way, she wouldn’t bother at all with Jim Lloyd. “It just takes practice Freddie, and you can do it – I know you can.”
So, it would appear that the euphoria that some of us felt when Lynda announced her retirement was a bit premature and I fear that we are not rid of the annual Christmas extravaganza – it’s just that the creative torch has been passed to the next generation in the shape of Freddie Pargetter.
The Philip/Gavin/Kirsty saga grinds on. Philip and Kirsty go to St. Stephens, where they are met by Shula. Philip has been asked to quote on some repair work and, when he is carrying out a recce in the bell tower, Kirsty and Shula talk. Kirsty mentions the possible move to Wales, but she is worried about leaving Gavin, and tells Shula about his gambling problem.
There’s not much that you can teach Shula about living with a problem gambler, and she tells Kirsty that it will take time. Perhaps, Shula suggests, it would help if Phil and Kirsty gave Gavin greater responsibility? Kirsty accompanies Gavin to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, but he decides that he cannot face going in and talking about himself. That’s OK, says Kirsty, he doesn’t have to – she’ll take him home, which she does. It’s time, Kirsty adds, that Gavin shows Phil that it’s Gavin’s life, not Phil’s.
Philip isn’t happy about this and he storms out when Kirsty says that she was impressed with Gavin’s maturity and self-awareness and that they are going to have to let him handle this his own way. When Philip returns later, he apologises for being a grump. “I’m just a stubborn, moaning old git” he tells her, and, when she doesn’t contradict him, he adds that Kirsty is right about Gavin and he (Philip) will try to go easy on his son.
Kirsty says that they might now be able to trust Gavin on his own, so what is there to stop them moving to Wales? They can start looking for a place of their own. Philip is delighted – does she really mean it? “Yes, seriously” she replies. If Philip was delighted before, he is over the parrot at this and says “That’s all I dream about these days”. “Me too,” Kirsty answers, adding; “Our own little place; a fresh start for the two of us.”
I cannot help thinking that this is all too good to be true and that it will go decidedly Comice-shaped before long.
No comments:
Post a Comment