Friday, 8th October 1999

Emily arrives home from school and is distressed to find an empty house. Rather oddly, in my opinion, she shouts for Margi and checks the bedrooms but doesn't look in the kitchen or the living room - you know, the sort of places where one would expect to find a note, before she's on the phone to Jessie in such a panic, that Jessie feels obliged to rush straight round.

Of course, as soon as Jessie has got through the front door, Margi appears. She'd forgotten that she had promised to pick Emily up from school and instead had gone to the supermarket where she over-shopped and bought enough groceries to feed a family of five. Now, why would she do that I wonder?!

Jessie can see that Margi is not coping - her solution is to suggest that Margi considers going back to work.

Lindsey has invited Rose Finnegan over to Shelley's place. Surprisingly, perhaps, Rose hasn't been there before and wonders why Lindsey isn't staying in her own house.

"I'm here because I've been driven out of me own home" Lindsey explains.

Rose cottons on quickly: "Callum?" she asks.

"And there's you and Alisdair telling me he wouldn't come anywhere near me."

Rose looks puzzled. Lindsey drags up once more her theory that Callum planted the bombs in the club - something which Rose isn't prepared to believe unless R'Linds can offer some hard evidence.

Over on the parade, Vic is packing and informs Darren that she's decided to move back in with Mark. Again, he vainly tries to dissuade her:

"You're going to go in there and pity him for how long? A week? A month? A year? But eventually you will be left with resentment and believe me, you will end up hating him."

When Nathan turns up, Vic tells him about Mark and her plans and Nathan can only stand there looking around with his mouth hanging open!

Once Vic has left with her suitcase under her arm (oh alright, she towed it - it was on wheels and came with a lead, oh yeah *and* it looked like an oil drum!), Darren muses over his failure to have asked her to marry him when he had the chance.

At the hospital Susannah is visited by.... wait for it.... Niamh! Hmm, now I know that these two were neighbours, but I honestly can't recall them talking, let alone being buddies, but never mind, because the real reason for the scene was to allow Niamh, upon her departure from Susannah's bedside, to literally bump into another visitor - yes, the long-awaited appearance of Max (or husband numbers one and four, if you prefer).

Susannah may have been sedated, but she made her feelings quite clear:

"I don't need you help" she tells him. Max makes it plain that he doesn't agree.

In Number Five, Mick insists that Leo and Jerome tell him at once, if there's any more trouble with Josh and his pals.

"Look, if they come round here again, I want to know about it. If I'm not here, you call the police", he tells them.

Jerome just shakes his head as if to say "You really haven't got a clue, have you, you silly old duffer?" Whilst Leo says, scornfully "Yeah, right."

In fact, Mick doesn't have to wait long for this 'trouble' as a screech of tyres outside, signals the arrival of Josh and two mates, who proceed to loiter around the front of Mick's house.

"Thought you might have phoned the bizzies by now," Leo taunts Mick after the gang has hung around for a while.

"Yeah, don't they usually deal with this sort of thing?" adds Jerome.

"I might get them. But at the moment I'm hoping that they just get bored and go" replies Mick.

"You know they're probably laughing at us" says Jerome.

"Let them laugh" counters Mick. "Don't take the bait."

"Come on Dad, let's tale them on. Three on three, it's fair enough."

"Just eat your food."

By now Jerome's allowed himself to get wound up: "If you can't get rid of them after this, then me and Leo are going to have to do something because I'm not having *anyone* laughing at *me*."

Mick steps outside to try to reason with Josh and is followed out by Leo and Jerome. Jimmy comes across to offer support, presumably having been keeping an eye on things from his place. Niamh appears, too.

It works, in that Josh and his cronies drive off - but *not* without leaving a warning:

"Hope you keep a fire extinguisher by the bed, boys."

Jimmy, Niamh and Mick decide that a residents' meeting is called for - an idea which Jerome can only ridicule.

Ridicule? Surely not! Young Jerome never had the pleasure of witnessing Bing and his BRA, did he? Oh well, it's too much to hope that we'll have *those* days recreated, I suppose...