My two dogs look forward to a Monday evening and my weekly update writing ritual. I take a glass of chilled wine and a chunk of cheese (usually white stilton) and retire to the office for half an hour listening to whatever's in the CD drive of the PC. This week it's Prefab Sprout. Anyway, the dogs lie hopefully at my feet, waiting with tongues hanging out, panting and hoping for me to drop a few crumbs of cheese in their direction... no such luck!
Not a very exciting week this week on the Street but there's been a lot of depth to the events of the week, a lot of passion (Sally asking Kev to come home) and mystery (Jon the airline pilot). And so, on with the show...
Yes, she really did it. Sally asked Kevin to come home - no, she didn't ask, she begged. She cried. She blamed herself for him running off with Natalie, she threw herself into a chair in their dining room and begged him over and over again. And what did the little weasal do then - he said no. He said he loved Natalie and he wasn't coming back. Oh Sally, you poor, poor girl, I cried real tears for you (again, I'm such a softy). Gail had already seen Kevin and Natalie kiss and make up in the cafe, so she warned Sally to be careful when talking to Kevin, but of course Sally still thought that Kevin had left Natalie when she asked him to come home. Actually, our house has turned into a battleground. We've got 'him indoors' in the Natalie camp, and I'm in the Sally camp, two opposing factions supporting different causes. I hiss and boo and shout "tart!" when Natalie comes on screen and he whimpers and cries when Sally appears, it's a bit ridiculous really but it keeps us happy.
Natalie finds out that the Rovers needs a new barmaid and applies for the job. Alec recruits her immediately, much to Vera and Betty's disgust. Within her first few days at the Rovers, Natalie manages to upset most of the women on the Street when they find out she's the new barmaid. Rita walks out without ordering a drink, (and later refuses to serve Natalie in the Kabin), and then Sally and her Underworld posse walk out and drink in another pub instead. Only Audrey seems happy to have someone "with some style" working at the Rovers. Where's Bet Gilroy when you need her? Bet would have sorted Natalie out once and for all with a few stern words and a raised eyebrow.
Zoe has a baby girl which Judy and Gary decide to call Katy Joyce. Judy wants Gary to put his name down on the birth certificate as the father of the baby, this would give him the same rights as a birth father (I think..) but Gary is a little wary about this. Audrey puts two and two together, stirs a few potions, eats a bat's wing, and cackles in the Rovers that she thinks Gary really is the father of the baby, spreading her evil venom gossip around the Street. Judy is worried that Zoe might become attached to Katy so she prises her off the baby at every opportunity. The nurse comes to visit to check that all is okay with mother and baby and the Mallets and Zoe pretend that they're all living happily ever after. Amen.
The wool over Deirdre's eyes has been there so long there's mice making a nest in it. (I know about mice nests, we found one in our garage last week, had the council chap come to put poison down.. I know, not very humane, but we tried humane traps first and they didn't work, the mice ate the white stilton in the trap and ran away. Then, the dogs ate the poison and had to be rushed to the vets for expensive anti-dotes and a week's worth of injections). Sorry, where was I? Oh yes... well, Jon hasn't been in touch with Deirdre for some time and when he does turn up at the flat he asks her to move in with him as soon as possible. Deidre is delighted and starts packing immediately, and puts in her notice to the owner of the flat. He tells Deirdre he has to call in to the chief at the airport to confirm flights or something technical but he really rings "Tie n Fly" and tells them the till was down £4.99 at the end of the day. Just what is this bloke up to?
Des and Samantha decide to continue with their relationship but Samantha tells Des the relationship has to be more or less platonic for now. She wants to take things very slowly and not rush into having s.e.x. (snigger snigger) with him until she feels right about it. Des tells her he'll wait until she's ready. Yes, well, that's what he says now dear, but can you trust him not to run off with a strumpet? Chris is finding that three's a crowd at chez Barnes, he wants to move out with Angie and they go to view Deirdre's flat. Angie isn't keen on moving to live above a betting shop but Chris needs his own space, away from Des, he's jealous of Angie's friendship with Des and wants to move out.
Maude tells Fred that she's most unhappy that he'll soon become her son in law, and starts to get all stroppy with him about being a tub of lard and so on. Fred puffs out his chest, lets go of the throttle and with all the force he can muster, he tells Maude, in no uncertain terms that he loves Maureen, he isn't just after her because of the shop and they don't plan on putting Maude into an old folks home as soon as they're wed. Maude is, for once, stuck for words. Later, Fred proposes a toast in the Rovers, announcing the upcoming wedding to all.
And that's just about that for this week!
Glenda :-)
Here we again, another Monday, another update, another week, another piece of (Wensleydale) cheese and a chilled glass of white.
I'm either going slowly demented and soft in my (fast approaching) middle age or else the acting on the Street this week has been of a particularly high standard. A most poignant and emotional scene this week when Mavis announced to Rita that she wants to leave the Kabin and leave the Street, to head for the hills in the Lake District to open a Bed and Breakfast. Mavis cried, Rita cried, I cried - it was very, very sad. Rita didn't try to change Mavis' mind about leaving, in fact, she later told Mavis that she would come to the Lakes with her to run the B&B side by side, two old dears pottering over the fried breakfasts together. When Alec finds out about Rita's plans, he rushes into the Kabin and urges her to change her mind, convinced that Mavis would drive her to distraction after the first week.
Poor Deirdre - she obviously needs new specs because the rose tints around the ones she's wearing now are obstructing her ability to see clearly. She takes Liz to see the new house, and they both ogle at it from the outside. Just as they leave, a taxi pulls up at the house carrying an airline pilot, to be greeted by his wife and children who come rushing out of the house to meet him. Very odd, eh? Then, we see the pilot handing Jon the house keys telling him to look after the house while he's away up in the blue yonder and while his wife stays with her mother. Then Jon writes a brief note and sticks it on the front door. Curiouser and curiouser... Deidre packs up her belongings in boxes, ready to move out of Weatherfield (and Angie and Chris have decided to live together and pack up all of their belongings to move into the flat when Deirdre moves out). Jon drives Deirdre to 'his' house, but oh! shock horror! there's a note on the door, left by Jon's ex-wife stating that she has taken posession of the house and has changed all the locks, and why! Jon's key doesn't fit the front door. Just what is this bloke up to? So, Deirdre moves back into the flat, upset of course, and tells Jon he can move in with her until things are sorted out. Chris and Angie are upset that they can't move in together, and rather than move back into Des' house, Chris roughs it by sleeping in the garage. Meanwhile, Ken is moaning to Deirdre that now he's retired he's got time on his hands he doesn't know what to do with. Deirdre asks him if he'd like to work as a courier for her travel agency, picking up and collecting from the airport, and Ken readily accepts anything that will get him out of the house and away from Richard and Judy on daytime TV. Well, I think you can probably guess what will happen next. Ken of course will spot Jon at Tie n Fly in the airport and will have a bit of a waffle about whether or not to tell Deirdre the awful truth.
A cheer went up from my side of the sofa this week when Natalie was sacked from the Rovers. She didn't exactly hit it off with Betty and Vera, so Vera tells Jack he has to fire her. Of course, she walks out on him as he's trying to sack her, made more difficult for Jack as he had to cover the ketchup stains on his shirt (sprayed on courtesy of Mrs. Duckworth) with a bar tray as he sacked her. This terrible threesome in the Rovers - Jack, Vera and Alec are all doing their best to wind each other up it seems, all of them want responsibility, none of them want blame. Vera has signed up for cookery lessons so that she can offer a more varied menu in the Rovers, and it seems that Mavis may have also signed up for the same course too. This should be ripe for a few laughs as the two of them grapple with the zabaglione.
Zoe finally leaves the Mallets home after Gary signs as Katie's father on the birth certificate. Instead of officially calling the baby Katie, Zoe writes "Shannon Jade" in the register and refers to the baby as Shannon instead of Katie whenever she can. She cries when she has to leave, and doesn't do a runner with the money and the baby like we all expected her to do, even after Leanne (or was it Toyah?) Battersby told her to do. Audrey is spreading gossip again that Gary is the father of Katie, so Judy tells Audrey, in strictest confidence, of course, that Gary is the real father. Judy knows this was the best way for the news to be spread and when all the excitement has settled down, they can get on with being a real family. Oh no they can't! Oh yes they can! Oh no they ... sorry, it's too early for pantomime just yet isn't it?
Natalie receives a one-off final payment from her husband, and tells Kevin she's going to pay for them both to go away on holiday to Gran Canaria (or as Sally said "the Canurries".) When Kevin tells Sally he won't be around for a while, she has a good go at him about finance and money for the girls. When she finds out that Chris is sleeping rough in the garage, she tells him he can stay on the couch in her house, which he accepts. His first night there finds them both sipping (non passionate white) wine together which puts a smile on Sally's face and I'm sure it won't be too long before the pair of them move on up to rosé, and then, perhaps even, the strong stuff! RED WINE! I can just see them both sharing a large bowl of Heinz Spaghetti in Sally's little wicker dining room, in scenes reminiscent from 'Lady and the Tramp'.
Angie asks Samantha if everything is OK with her and Des, as Des seems "bothered" about something. Samantha takes this to mean that Des has been confiding in Angie, and storms round to see him to give him an earful about not repeating anything she says to him in confidence. Anyway, they eventually make up and are back on track.
And I think that's just about that for this week - Glenda
It's a little hard to type the update whilst trying to eat a pomegranate. It makes the keyboard all sticky, so I'll put it down and nibble on it as I write. I love this time of year when my absolute, utmost, tip-toppermost favourite fruit comes back into season, (even if they are a whopping 49p each from Asda).
It's been a bit of a heavy going week on the Street with very little light hearted relief. Trying to make up for the absence of Alf, Audrey Roberts has been in just about every camera shot of the 4 episodes this week and I've had just about enough of her.
Fiona is pregnant! But just WHO is the father? PC Alan McKenna or me old mucker Jim McDonald? Alan assumes he's the father of course and Fiona hasn't given Jim a thought, but as soon as Jim found out the wee girl Fi was up the duff, his eyes popped out and he went all wobbly like I do when I've had too much guinness on a Friday night. Fiona's parents have offered to pay for a larger wedding than the one they had planned, and it looks as though the wedding bandwagon will just roll on now no matter what Fiona wants. (That's why we escaped 10,000 miles away for our wedding, dearie!!).
More heavy storyline this week when Samantha's ex husband, Ritchie, turned up on the doorstep, just as Sam and Des were going to take their friendship one step further. Ritchie thinks he can woo Samantha to get her to come back to him, and she has a bit of a waffle about who to choose, but in the end she chooses Des. With the red wine going down smoothly, she tells him she's ready to.. er.. you know, and the credits rolled.
The inevitable happened this week (didn't we know it would?) when Ken went to the airport to pick up a client for Sunliners, and bumped into Jon, working in Tie n Fly. Jon bluffed his way out of the awkward situation, telling Ken he was on his pilot's coffee break or something and was looking for a tie in the bottom drawer of the sales cabinet, but Ken guesses there's something up in the way that Jon is behaving, very suspiciously! Jon tells Deirdre that his ex-wife wants to sell "their" house and wonders how much Mavis is selling her house for on the Street, perhaps they'll end up moving in there?
The Battersbys take a look around Mavis' house when they hear she's moving out. Les thinks he might be able to get his hands on some antiques he can sell on, and the whole family barge into Mavis' little nest, upsetting her and the budgie. When Fred Eliot comes to the door to take a look around the house too, Mavis is overjoyed to see him, and uses him as an excuse to get rid of the Battersbys. Rita and Mavis view a property in the lake district and agree that they'll put in an offer, which is accepted. Alec warns Rita about putting in too high an offer "Have you heard about gazumping?" he asks her. "Have you heard about a thump in the mouth?" she replies. Rita also comes out with another corker - Alec warns her about spending too much money on property - "Just look what happend to the Duckworths" he says, and Rita comes out with "Alec, YOU happened to the Duckworths!".
Vera and Mavis start their cookery class together, with Vera egging Mavis on to sit beside her at the back of the class "It's more fun at the back" chortles Vera, reminiscing about her school days and wondering why she never did very well in class.
Chris and Sally are becoming closer now, as Angie and Chris cool off towards one another. While Kev and Eva Braun are away in the Canurries, Chris tells Angie he doesn't want to go out with her, telling her he's tired, but he tells Sally he would rather stay in with her and the girls instead. They haven't got stuck into the red wine yet, but it's just a matter of time. Sally will be breaking out the rose and they'll be taking little sips of it. Oh, they won't want to but they won't be able to control themselves. It won't be long before Sally nips down to the corner shop for a bottle of red. Just wait and see.
The midwife comes to visit baby Katie and is surprised that Zoe isn't around. Judy and Gary tell the midwife, and everyone else, that Zoe has ran away and left the baby with Gary, who as the father, is happy to look after her. With Zoe gone, Judy and Gary can start to relax with the baby. "Eeh, our Katie" coos Judy. "Aye, our Katie" mews Gary.
There's now a jukebox in the Rovers! Vera says she misses the piano, but the last time I saw the piano there was when Betty's husband Billy played it, which must have been last year sometime. I can't recall it being around since then. Anyway, the jukebox is on the wall and looks like it's here to stay.
Which is more than can be said for Andy McDonald. He returned this week looking all bronzed and relaxed after working in Spain, and as always happens when you've lived away from home for any length of time, you come back and you get bored. Andy will get itchy feet and trot off back to Spain soon when he's written out. Steve McDonald's girlfriend is getting a bit bored too, with her relationship with Steve. When Steve finds out that Fiona's pregnant, his girlfriend guesses that the news has upset him. She tells him he either has to forget about Fiona, or forget about her.
And I think that's just about that for this week. If anyone has any tips on how to extricate pomegranate pips from a keyboard and/or dissolve pomegrante stains from just about every item of clothing I own, I'll be delighted to hear from you.
Glenda :-)
Dis weeks uddate id brought to you courdesy of Kleenex. Atishoo! As soon as I've finished writing this today, there's a hot mug of milk with more than a splash of brandy in it, with my name on it. Atishoo!
Another heavy going week on the Street, where's the laughter gone? Where's the jokes? It's getting a bit depressing, it really is.
The major storyline this week has been Fiona's pregnancy and all the trouble it seems to be causing. PC Alan gets suspicious when he starts to wonder if he really is the father of Fiona's child. He puts two and two together, ends up with 27, and fingers Steve McDonald for the crime, managing to get him locked up overnight in prison on trumped up charges as his punishment. Naturally, Steve is furious and frustrated at getting locked up when he's done nothing wrong, and it's only when Alan comes into the prison cell that Steve realises Alan was behind him getting locked up, and he figures out that Alan thinks that it was he who got Fiona in the pudding club. Anyway, when he gets released, Steve stands up to Alan in the Street but soon ends up on the ground inspecting the sole of a policeman's shoe with his nose, which leaves a definite impression on his face and messes his hair up a bit. Jim is furious when he finds out that Alan beat Steve up, and wants to rip him from limb to limb, but Steve tells him to leave him alone, he's defeated and starts thinking about moving away from the Street altogether. Meanwhile, Fiona takes Alan's suspicions to heart and wonders if the baby's father could indeed to Jim and asks him if it could be possible. Jim tells Fiona he's had the snip, so he has, so there's no worries there, so there isn't, but Fiona wants Jim to have a test to make sure he hasn't become un-snipped lately. We see Jim on the phone to the snipping clinic, they tell him they'll confirm their telephone call with a letter (which I'm sure will be left lying around chez McDonald ready for Steve to read in a later episode). Jim is still incensed with Alan and wants to get his own back on him without beating him up. He goes to see Fiona, and tells her that he is indeed fertile and reckons he could be the baby's father, so he could. I reckon that the clinic told Jim that he was unable to father a child, but he's told Fiona he is fertile as a way of getting back at Alan. Confused? Me too. Atishoo.
Fred and Maureen are married this week, after Fred buys Mavis' house for £47,000 and Mavis reluctantly agrees to the sale, moving in with Rita until they move to the Lake District. Maude isn't best pleased about the wedding arrangements, but Maureen is convinced that Fred will look after them both. So, she's a little disappointed and more than a little worried about her mother when Fred tells her that he expects her mother to live in her own house, and that he bought Mavis' house for the two of them only. It's a lovely wedding ceremony, which even brings a smile to Maude's face and manages to almost change her opinion of Fred, when the barbershop quartet saunter in singing "If you were the only girl in the world". During the wedding ceremony, it transpires that Fred's middle name is Handel (after the composer) which gets a titter from Liz and Deirdre. Fred tells Maxine that Ashley also has a middle name after a composer and they spend a while trying to guess what it is while Ashley looks embarrassed that Fred has given away his secret. When the wedding party is having drinks in the Rovers, Ida Clough wangles a free drink for her cronies from Fred. "What would you like to drink girls?" asks Jack "sweet or dry?" "Whatever you think is more suitable for our character" coos Ida. "Rough" says Jack.
Samantha's husband goes back to where he came from after Sam says she's staying with Des. Ritchie tells Sam that he'll never divorce her, and then storms off along the cobbles. Sam and Des go off on a boating holiday together, Sam tells Angie she hopes it will bring them closer together, even Curly wishes them both well (quite a sad scene).
And what about Sally this week!! Kev and Natalie send a postcard from the Canurries which makes Sally see red. With the girls off on a day to Blackpool with Bill, Chris asks Sally if she wants to go shopping, and she agrees. First, Chris has to feed Natalie's cat at her house and Sally goes along with him, sitting outside in the van before her curiosity gets the better of her and she's in the house, looking around at the place where her husband is living. She wanders up to the bedroom and is hurt to see a photo of Kevin on Natalie's side of the bed. She then goes into the bathroom, and sweet little Sally writes the word "whore" on the bathroom mirror, empties all of Natalie's bubble baths into the sink and leaves the taps running. She confesses to Chris when they arrive back home, and Chris dashes back to Natalie's house to clean up most of the mess before Kev and Natalie arrive home from their holiday. Just as they walk in the door, Chris tells them it looks like they've had a burst pipe and they should call a plumber - they do, but the plumber can't find a leak at all. It's only when Natalie is taking a bath later, in the steamy heat of the bathroom, the word "whore" on the mirror becomes visible. Natalie knows who flooded her house, and she's out for revenge. Kevin can't believe Sally is responsible for the flood but Sally admits to what she has done. In the Rovers, Natalie and Sally have words, and Natalie follows Sally out onto the street where a crowd gathers to hear them argue, and then to watch them wrestle around on the ground, pulling each other's hair out, before Kevin and Chris pull them apart. As all of this is going on, the barbershop quartet sing "there's no place like home!".
In the cookery class this week, Vera and Mavis are taught how to make yorkshire puddings. Now, don't get me wrong, I know Mavis and Vera have to learn how to cater for tens of people each lunchtime - but come on - yorkshire puddings? Any northern woman worth her salt can rattle up a dozen yorkshire pudding beauties in a heartbeat, it's something we learned to during the adverts while waiting for "Watch with Mother" to come on the telly.
Rita catches Alec in a gentle mood behind the bar of the Rovers, and wonders if he wasn't about to go down on one knee and pop the question to her last week when they drove off to the Lake District. Alec just tells her that if he ever got down on one knee, he'd never get up again, but there was a certain twinkle in his eye which hinted at more to come, I hope.
Well, that's about that for this week. A bit heavy going once again. Atishoo! Now, where's that brandy?
Glenda :-)
After the romance of last week's wedding, things have quickly turned sour for Fred and Maureen. Maureen can't forgive Fred for forcing her to live without her mother, and now Maude tells her daughter that she is going to move into a nursing home. In a tearful scene, Maureen asks why Maude couldn't have moved out of her life years ago, when she was still young enough to do something with her life. Instead, she's landed with Fred and she's not happy. Bill Webster, hurt that Maureen has committed herself to a life without him, decides to move back to Germany before the end of the week, and it looks as if next week will see Maureen leave with him, leaving both Fred and Maude on their own to cope without her. Poor Maureen, poor Maude, poor Fred, I say, poor Fred. Fred had a great line this week, after playing 'Cluedo' with Maureen and Maude, he takes a brandy to Maude who is sitting in the conversatory. He pauses before he enters and wonders aloud how he'd best get rid of the old woman. "Fred Eliot, in the conservatory, with snake venom".
Jim tells Fiona that he isn't the father of her child after all, and shows her the letter from the snipping clinic proving that he is infertile. Fiona and Alan speed off to Mauritius for a three week honeymoon before they get married and who can blame them from wanting to get away from such a dreadful storyline?
Sally is interviewed by the police for causing damage to Natalie's house after she flooded the bathroom last week. Sally manages to persuade the police to think about dropping charges against her, but Natalie wants blood! Kevin tries to talk to Natalie saying that Sally can't afford to pay for the damage and it would be Kevin who would end up paying in the end, but Natalie just wants Sally to pay for the damage she caused. Kevin tells Sally that Natalie would accept an apology, but Sally laughs this off. In the Rovers, Bill gives Natalie a piece of his mind and blames her for ruining Sally's life. Kevin has found out that Chris is sleeping on the sofa in Sally's house and isn't best pleased that another bloke is staking claim to his old territory.
Is Percy losing his marbles? Emily thinks Percy has Alzheimers disease when he starts rambling on about someone stealing pennies from his jar, eating his fairy cakes and changing the colour on the TV so that Trevor McDonald turns blue. Or is someone breaking into the house and stealing things... and if so... who can it be? (My guess is that it's the Battersby's son who has escaped from high security juvenile borstal or something).
Don Brennan is back! He is transferred to Weatherfield General with pancreatic cancer and his days are numbered. Martin goes to visit him and Don asks that he brings Alma to see him so that he can apologise to her before he dies. Reluctant at first, Alma does visit Don and he apologises.... but I suspect he's going to cause a bit more trouble round t'streets before he pops his clogs.
Ken takes a day's work as a supply teacher but gives it up in order to help out at the Kabin with Emily when Mavis and Rita pop over to the lakes to their "bide a wee" guest house in Cartmel. The owner's wife questions Rita about her relationship with Mavis, wondering if they're more than just business partners, and if they share a' special' kind of relationship, but Rita soon puts the misguided woman right! Mavis is in her element,pulling up the leeks and hoeing the muck and doing all the country things she loves so much while Rita is happy to have a few more cups of tea for breakfast and a run out in the car. Mavis questions Rita's commitment to their business venture and they end up arguing, with Rita storming off saying that as far as she's concerned, the deal is off and drives back to Weatherfield on her own.
And just in case you haven't yet heard... Ray Langton is returning to the street next year. The actor who played Deirdre's husband now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is joining Jack, Vera, Maxine and Fiona who are filming the Christmas video there right now, and he will appear in the video and return to join the show next year.
Glenda :-)
