Tuesday, 11th May 1999

There's still three weeks to go before Jackie and Jimmy fly off to the sun, but Jackie's packed the suitcases already. And I thought it was normally the kids who did that sort of thing! Although, since we've not seen *either* Kylie or William for weeks, maybe Jackie has packed them too!

Lindsey decided to treat her parents to a posh dinner in the new Millennium Club restaurant and took great delight in telling them of her plans in that oh-so-patronising way she's got when she's doing someone a favour. Urrgghh, that really makes me cringe!

As predicted, Jimmy had failed to get Wills a passport, but in his usual 'sailing close to the wind' kind of way, told Jackie that it was already sorted. When Jimmy did phone the passport office, he was shocked to find that he was too late to obtain one by post. Of course, Jackie found out and gave him what for.

"It was the *one* thing you 'ad to do. I can't trust you to do anything, can I?"

Jackie decided that she would have to go to the passport office herself and told Jim to phone the garage to say that she wouldn't be going in.

"What shall I say to 'em, like?" touted Jimmy, flustered.

"Just do what you always do, Jimmy. Lie" retorted Jackie, despairingly.

Over at the Mussie's house, Alec was holding the fort and serving charred remains of what had once been toast to Kelly and Matt for breakfast, as Ryan had taken Niamh and Joey to hospital early, to visit Luke. Luke's in the General [hospital] with head injuries following the beating he took in prison on Friday.

[ Yep, Alec's back from the pub car park, as is Jessie. He's had his glasses fixed too. ]

Matt's got a new T-shirt. It must be one of his own designs, 'cos it said "A new Millennium starts every second". Yes, that might indeed be true, but I don't think that's quite the slogan to make the million.

Rachel got a call from Mandy saying that she and Brian were getting married at the end of the month and Rach, thoughtfully, made a point of finding Sinbad to tell him in person. Unluckily, for her, Mike thought that Sin already knew and put his size tens in it. Sin was not best pleased to say the least and disappeared. He did, however, turn up again later, decidedly the worse for drink. Totally cut up about events, he's certain that he will now lose little Ruthie for good. She'd already forgotten him when he last visited at Christmas. Ahhh.

We got to see the new Millennium Restaurant today (unless Susannah did decide to change the name, that is), which Jacqui described as 'classy'. It didn't look particularly classy to me, I thought it looked rather cheap - as if everything (except for one blue and clear glass 'feature' wall-thing) was made of beech. Still, I'm sure that Jacqui knows best. As she said, Susannah's "got an eye for these things". Really?

Lindsey, Jacqui and Susannah had another meeting about the ownership of the Club, although I'm not quite sure why it was essential for Susannah to be there again, as it seems pretty clear now that Lindsey, having conceded to Jacqui's demands for a 50% share, is now the 'proud' owner of exactly half the Club with young Miss Dixon. 50/50? Those two? It will *never* work!

In fact, there can be no doubt that dark clouds are on the horizon as far as this little business venture is concerned since Jacqui was heard to say to Susannah: "The way the restaurant's building up, I reckon you're gonna be minted in no time. All of us will".

[ And notice that I haven't even needed to use the word 'Finnegan' ]

The Corkhill clan duly turned up in their best clobber for their posh nosh, in a surprisingly *packed* restaurant. (No, I can't imagine where everyone parked either!)

Jimmy kept the conversation going by talking about his two favourite subjects - the tapestry and Karen. Of course, Jackie was not best pleased and the inevitable public row followed culminating in Jimmy knocking a glass of red wine into Lindsey's lap. She stood up in a rage and for one terrible moment, I thought that R'Linds would declare Jackie and Jimmy barred on the spot! Then, for another terrifying minute, I expected Susannah to storm across and create a scene, but fortunately we were spared that as well. In the event, Lindsey stomped off, disowning them. Gone home to pack, I should imagine. That's if Jackie hasn't already done it for her!