We have a big mystery on our hands this week. No, not what’s happened to Kenton who’s been missing in action for the best part of this year, even missing the village fete, but the disappearance of Susan’s green lasagne dish. Could Kenton have made off with it? Oh hang on, it’s not a mystery, Shula’s still got it from when Neil took a lasagne round to her when she broke her arm. Susan goes round to collect it and grills Shula on what exactly Neil has been doing round there all this time when she was on her knees with the exhaustion of it all. Don’t worry Susan I don’t think Shula was on her knees, as much as Neil would have wanted her to be, he maybe just wanted to spend time somewhere more peaceful than at home.
When Neil comes in exhausted from a shift at the piggery, he walks into an atmosphere as cold as Susan’s pantry. He’s expecting his dinner to be on but instead Susan’s busy cleaning the oven. He suggests making a start and Susan asks why he doesn’t make her his special lasagne. He says they might have it on at The Bull if she fancies going out but she says she hates lasagne - especially his! He hasn’t got a clue what’s going on so storms off to the pub to get some anyway.
When Neil makes a determined effort to find out what’s wrong (can he really be that insensitive?) Susan doesn’t help. Instead of asking whether he and Shula are having an affair, she comes at it completely left field by asking how he felt when Shula fell off her horse. The answer, obviously, is shocked, upset and worried as well as guilty that he might have contributed to it because she was on the phone to him when she fell. Her follow up question is how did he feel on his subsequent visits to Shula’s? Susan’s point is that he’d rather spend time with Shula than with her, and finally she asks the question - “are you in love with Shula?”. Outraged, Neil tells Susan that she’s the woman he loves, she’s been his ‘better half’ for 37 years, and that’s the way it’ll be until the day he dies. Shula is his friend but Susan is his lover and soul-mate.
Neil then turns it back on Susan asking whether it’s more of a case that she feels differently about him now, but no - she’ll never stop loving him she says.Neil feels compelled to go round to the stables and apologise to Shula for not listening to her warnings about the gossip in the village and says that he won’t be dropping in unannounced any more, but if she needs him, she knows where he is. “Look after yourself” she whispers longingly as he leaves.
Amy Franks is back from Nottingham for a visit and her and Chris exchange notes about Alice, Martha and Amy’s experience of being a midwife during COVID. Later on she gets to meet Martha and takes her to the playground with Chris. Chris and Amy have a bit of a heart-to-heart and he tells her that he’s planning to move out of Ambridge View and into a place of his own - well actually his own place - The Nest, the former holiday cottage that he and Alice had made their home. He’s interrupted by an email from Alice’s rehab clinic (she’s due out next week) suggesting he pays her a visit together with Jennifer. The idea is that they and Brian write letters to Alice saying how her drinking affected them and then read them out to her now she’s sober. Apparently this will be a vital part of her recovery but Brian’s not convinced, thinking that if they set out exactly what Alice’s drinking has done to them all, the guilt will cripple her and they'll be back to square one. He can’t get her words out of his head - “I hate you Dad I hate you!”.
Ben takes Beth up Lakey Hill for a picnic. She tells him how her ex-boyfriend had had a fling with her best friend and goes on to say how she doesn’t understand how people can be so fake with their relationships (like Ben finishing with Evie so he can go out with you, you mean). She fancies going for a swim in the Am but Ben says the river Perch would be better and they make a date for next Wednesday. When Wednesday comes round Beth dares him to go skinny-dipping and holds out a bottle of gin she’s brought along as an incentive. But first Chris feels that he has to come clean about ending his relationship with Evie and sounds genuinely contrite but Beth appreciates his honesty and as punishment pushes him into the river fully clothed.
Eddie’s feeling maudlin as it would have been Joe’s 100th birthday soon, and he would have been busy helping get things ready for the turkey season as this year’s poults arrive. Oliver suggests a special cider club celebration in his honour but Eddie’s not in the mood. He does have idea of how to win big (by cheating of course) at the upcoming Flower and Produce show but first he has a job to do as Joy Horville is calling in the ‘relaxing treat’ she exchanged for the prize she won at the village fete - a mystery tour in Eddie’s limousine.
Much to Eddie’s horror she doesn’t take up position in the back, but up front in the passenger seat right next to him, where she says they can have a lovely chat. Eddie tries to get out of it without success so has no choice but to go ahead, with the theme being (which he makes up on the spot) modern rural life. What does that mean? Well, a visit to the market to see the sheep auction, a sausage and egg sandwich from a roadside tea wagon, and some free labour topping up his poults’ food and water.
Hi have to say that Joy is turning to to be one of the more dependable characters in Ambridge and seems able to fit in wherever she goes and whoever she meets. Apart from her ability to talk the hind legs off a donkey, she doesn’t seem to be a bad neighbour to have. But of course Eddie only sees a situation of which he can take advantage, and when she mentions that she will be entering the Flower and Produce Show Eddie asks in which categories. When she tells him he tries pulling on her heartstrings by saying that they’re the ones that his grandchildren Keira and Mia are entering and have set their hearts on winning, in memory of their great grandad Joe who always dreamed of winning but never did. It looks like his plan is working as Joy says that in that case she might miss this years’ show, but judging on past events, I wouldn’t be surprised if she manages to teach Eddie a much-needed lesson or two.
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