Jazzer Is Bereft

Ryan Kelly Jack 'Jazzer' McCreary

It was a bad week for Jazzer, as we saw his harem leaving Bridge Farm when Tony, in his new, dynamic, super-farmer mode, sold off Tom’s pigs. Jazzer says an emotional goodbye to ‘my girls’ and realises that his days as a stockman are numbered when Tony offers him work with the other vegetables. “We’re concentrating on beef now” Tony tells Jazzer and Pat, pausing only to have a brief moan about how Tom left them with the expense of Sawyers. For her part, Pat is astounded that Tom gave up the ‘Tom Archer’ brand name and I must say that I too found it out of character.

Pat is sad about the pigs too - not because of any romantic feelings, but because they were the last link with, and reminder of, John, which sounds a bit of a back-handed compliment to me. Tony says that we need to get the farm back in good shape in order to hand it on. “Who to?” asks Pat despondently and even Mr. Insensitive Tony suggests that it might be time to start building a few bridges with Helen.

Pat agrees and, being Pat, she goes round to see her unannounced. But Helen has gone to work (Ambridge Organics is in a state of chaos since Kirsty left; Helen is realising how much she depended on her) and Rob opens the door to Pat.

Instead of spitting at him, Pat accepts his invitation to come in and she is surprised at how homely it is. Rob gives the credit to Helen and the atmosphere between the two is bordering on the cordial. Has Pat forgotten that it was Rob who arranged for Tom’s interview in Canada, not to mention turning her daughter into an adultress and tempting her and Henry away? Pat suggests that she and Tony have Henry for an overnight, in order to give Rob and Helen a break and he says that Friday would be good. As Pat leaves, Rob says “it was good to see you” - they’ll be exchanging friendship bracelets next.

There is intrigue over Rob, as Helen tries to get in touch with him, but his phone goes to voicemail. Helen rings Charlie and asks if Rob is there, to which Charlie replied that he has gone off “on a personal errand”. Later on, Helen asks Rob how his day had been and he tells her that he had been at Berrow Farm all day. Helen doesn’t know what to think and she says that why don’t they just stay in on Friday and relax? Has Rob been up to no good? The answer is ‘no’, as on Friday he gives Helen an engagement ring (three emeralds, platinum setting) and buying it was the personal errand he was away on.

When Charlie answered Helen’s phone call, he was talking to Adam and, afterwards, Charlie has a moan about Rob’s attitude and says some uncomplimentary things about Helen. Adam reminds him that Helen is probably his favourite cousin, to which Charlie observes that “everyone around here is your cousin”. The talk turns to a forthcoming Cereals Event and Charlie suggests that he and Adam take a couple of days off to attend the event. Adam agrees - I’d watch out for Charlie if I were you Adam; it might be a Pawel occasion all over again.

Adam tells David that Charlie has engaged a PR person to publicise Open Farm Sunday and the news does not make David’s day. It wasn’t a good week for David - firstly he is up to his neck in fighting the proposed route B of the new road and then he finds out he has got Scab. Not him personally, but the sheep, I hasten to add.

On the subject of the road, Lynda has been doing a bit of digging and it seems that it wouldn’t just be a new road, but a Service Station area and, from the stunned reaction of those at the meeting, something like a new Garden City as well. Furthermore, Lynda has found that a company owned by Justin Eliot has been quietly buying up land adjacent to the proposed new route. Not everyone is vehemently opposed to the new road, as Lilian says that it could “inject some pizzazz that the village needs”, which goes down like a lead balloon with Lynda, while Brian tells Jennifer that she ought to step down from the anti-road committee, as it could make things awkward for him with Justin. To her credit, Jen tells him she’s prepared to fight for Ambridge and what she believes.

Mind you, Jennifer is living on borrowed time, I reckon, as the new kitchen lurches from disaster to disaster. We had the saga of the wrong sink and the flood and now there appears to have been a measurement error, which is holding things up even more. The foreman fell off a roof and the guy who had the vision in the first place seems to have wandered off. In vain does Jennifer tell Brian that it will all be all right in the end and, when one of the workers (both called Steve) puts his foot through the ceiling when doing some electrical work, Jennifer has never been closer to death.

Over at the Stables, I wonder if Alistair is playing away or has started gambling again? Daniel came back from Sandhurst for the weekend (I think he told them about the Single Wicket competition and they let him go) and Alistair is away at a conference. When he gets back, an exhausted Dan has gone to bed and Shula was very sniffy with Alistair, telling him that she is going to bed and there’s cold beef Wellington if he wants it. Beef Wellington? Blimey, how the other half lives - I had beans on toast on Friday.