Friday, 14th May 1999

Boy, was the Close busy tonight. All those sirens and flashing lights!

Sinbad started it. He was still moping around the house tormenting himself over Mandy's forthcoming wedding. He even had a pillow fight. On his own! I *think*, he won - but only just!

Tinhead reappeared from er, yeah, wherever he's been (In the chippy? In the garage?) and bought Sinbad a steak and kidney pie. That's *just* a steak and kidney pie. No chips! You'd think Sinbad would want chips, wouldn't you? Loads of chips. Anyway, Tin knocked on Sinbad's bedroom door with the pie (well, okay, *not* literally, although I wouldn't put that past him), however, there was no answer. He tried the door handle. It was locked. He tried calling to him. Still no answer. Tin gave up and retreated to the kitchen where he noticed an empty pill bottle. Thinking the worst, he rushed to call for an ambulance. Well, you would, wouldn't you?

Outside in the Close, Alec had offered to give Jessie some driving lessons. He didn't get far though because the car refused to start. . . again. In the end, they just sat in the car and went through the motions, all the time hoping that no-one would see them together! LOL. By way of a thank you, Jessie offered to cook Alec some chops for his tea. Maybe, if she was also planning to do chips, perhaps she could give Sinbad some?

Jessie and Alec's secret almost came out when Emily and Kelly came home from school and saw them. A good job it wasn't Greg or Margi! At this point, the ambulance came belting into the Close and drew up outside Mick's. Behind it, was Margi returning from work. Margi, saw the ambulance and immediately thought that the Mussie's had been "up to something" (quite *what*, we don't know!).

"The less we have to do with that family, the better", she opined. Margi then reminded Emily that she was banned from being friends with Kelly. Fortunately, Kelly had gone home by this point, so that little secret is safe for now. Turning to Jessie, Margi said that she'll cook the dinner and that Jessie was invited. Stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place, Jessie couldn't refuse without letting on what her plans for the evening had been.

"Poor old Alec won't be getting his chops tonight", Jessie said to Emily.

Or his chips! Or his oats!! He He!

Katrina, wearing another particularly tight skirt [has she *always* worn such tight skirts? I can't believe that I haven't noticed before now!], announced to Jessie and Nikki that she had an interview, next week with a modelling agency. It's supposed to be a secret and no-one else knows yet - especially Jason.

[ I wouldn't have thought that making little plastic figures was quite Katrina's cup of tea, but hey, I must be wrong! ;-) Each to their own. ]

Jimmy got an earful from Jackie (yep, *another* one), because he had failed to even notice that Lindsey and Kylie had moved out! Now, given the gob on Lindsey, that is *some* achievement. Wow, man!

Nikki got an earful too - from Ryan, who accused her of "walking round, having a laugh" whilst Luke was lying in a hospital bed. Luke apparently, has insisted that he doesn't want any visitors other than Joey and Niamh. Ryan, decided that he was an exception and that Luke *would* want to see him. So he set off for the hospital. . .

He didn't, however, get to see Luke, since it transpired that Luke had done a runner from his hospital bed.

The Close was besieged by a number of police cars which stopped outside the Mussie's house; the bizzies stormed inside looking for the escapee. . .

Oh, the sirens, the flashing lights - after a day like that, one needs to lie down. I think I know how Sinbad feels!