Welcome to a brand new week and welcome to Sol, a new character who has arrived in Ambridge with a bit of a bang - as it were, and dominates this week’s summary. Solomon is a work colleague of Lily’s and she’s just woken up in his bed after what Sol described as a rampant sexathon.
Their reminiscences of the night before are cut rudely short when Lily remembers she should be at Lower Loxley running things while Elizabeth and Vince are on holiday. As it happens there was something groaning all night at Lower Loxley too. No, not Elizabeth and Vince, but the plumbing, which Freddie is tasked with getting fixed.
Over breakfast Elizabeth is talking to Vince about the film Love Actually which she describes as having ‘something for everyone’. Perhaps my most hated phrase so often used to describe something which has no outstanding features or is a phrase lazily clutched at by presenters on programmes such as repeat offenders Countryfile - “ooh, the (substitute the geographic area of your choice) has something for everyone”. I won’t single out any particular presenter but let’s just say it really grates on me when spoken in a Cumbrian accent. Also “you literally couldn’t make it up”. Yes you could. That’s what making it up LITERALLY means. Argh! But I digress.
Freddie’s horrified to learn that Elizabeth and Vince’s plans have changed as there was a mix-up with their booking, so now they’re having a staycation - at Lower Loxley. Freddie was hoping to have his mates over and when Lily comes home her immediate priorities are strong coffee and a shower, not listening to her mother.
Timing, as they say, is everything. On the morning after Lily’s extracurricular activities, Russ learns that his decree absolute has come through and he is therefore no longer married, and can’t wait to tell Lily! When they see each again Lily senses something different about his demeanour and assumes he must know about what she’s been up to. She confides in Rex that she was having a really good time with Sol but is now feeling awful about cheating on Russ. Rex doesn’t see much of a problem as she clearly seems to like him and maybe there’s something lacking in her relationship with Russ.
In a different sense Russ also feels like a new man. He’s begun painting again and is creating himself a new studio, leaving Freddie in charge of lighting an exhibition of oversized paintings by a new promising artist. The first painting to emerge from Russ’ new studio will be a portrait of Lily, and she will be the first person to see it. That might not be the unveiling Russ is expecting as Lily thinks she should confess all. But before she gets the chance, she runs into Sol who’s turned up to Lower Loxley on a works do for the first night of the drive-in movies, not realising she lives there. Things are a bit awkward between them as they stand in the field and he now knows about Russ, but says he’s cool with that and he’d like them to stay friends.
When she finally sees Russ he shows her the decree absolute and tells her how he feels and says its a new start for them. He then unveils the portrait which she calls exquisite - no, he say, it’s her that’s exquisite. “I love you” she tells him, which probably means she won’t be confessing her night of passion with another man after all.
While looking around the estate Vince happens upon Freddie with his Shire horse, Cranford Crystal. Vince is impressed with the size of the beast but does himself a mischief trying to climb onto the horse to have his photo taken. It might be the pain of his strained groin which makes him rather short tempered with Elizabeth later on when she tries to advise him on an issue he’s having with his Operations manager. Things lighten up over dinner when Freddie recounts the incident with ‘Crannie’ and Vince even suggests they watch the video Freddie took of the inelegant dismount.
The plumbing is still being fixed so Elizabeth and Vince decamp to the bridal suite where it will be quieter, but they don’t bargain on Vince’s mother, Iris, turning up the next morning looking for her ‘Vincie’ or ‘Babs’ as she calls him. Her visit is unexpected and Vince is very keen to persuade his mother to leave but she insists on ‘doing her rounds’. This appears to consist of seeking out anyone she can to ask about Elizabeth to make sure she’s right for her boy and not after his money. Her forensic questioning leads her to conclude that they are indeed right for each other, but Elizabeth should take care with her soft-hearted son.
Elizabeth accompanies Vince to the drive-in movie night in Vince’s Rolls Royce and they reflect on the week. Vince thinks he’s messed things up but Elizabeth reassures him. In fact she does more than that by telling him she loves him. She loves him but she can’t live with him, which is an arrangement they both seem more than happy with.
This week, as one relationship settles down, another threatened to implode. But how refreshing to have an affair started and finished, with all loose ends tidied up, all in the same week.
How unlike The Archers.
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