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Glenda was away. This week's update written by Barry Smith
Vera is desperate to try and find her wayward son Terry so
that he can be tested to see if he is compatible for donating
a kidney to the son he's never seen. Help is at hand though as
Curly tells Emma about Vera's situation and she bends the rules
with the vehicle licensing agency computer and turns up an address
in Huddersfield. Tyrone drives Jack over the Pennines to try and
find him and after waiting outside his flat for several hours,
he eventually comes home. Unsurprisingly enough Terry couldn't
give a damn about Paul and Tyrone and Jack head back to Weatherfield
but agree not to tell Vera that they found him as Jack doesn't
want to hurt her again. Meanwhile Vera has been to the hospital
to see her grandson and while there she's had some tests to see
if she could be a kidney donor. The news comes through that Vera
is a tissue match for Paul and Jack pleads with her not to go
through with it but she insists. Jack goes back to see Terry to
have another try to convince him to help his son but even though
his mother is taking the risk of a serious operation, he won't
give an inch. Jack then tries the only thing left that could possibly
change his mind and offers him money. They haggle a bit and Terry
agrees to sell his kidney for £25,000 if the tests are ok.
When Terry arrives at the hospital to be tested, he makes out
that he's doing it for his mam and Jack keeps quiet about the
money. The tests show that Terry is a match, the operation is
scheduled for the following day and Vera is over the moon as her
belief in her son is restored.
On the day of the operation, Terry goes to see Paul and his
mother, Andrea and he acts as though he cares but later on Terry
insists on having the money up front and so Jack rushes off to
the bank and returns with the deposit receipt. At this point you
might have thought that Jack would stick to Terry like a limpet
to make sure he goes through with it but after telling him what
contempt he holds him in, he walks out. With the coast clear,
Terry does a runner. Vera chases after him only to see him disappear
in a taxi. Vera has her heart broken by her feckless son yet again
and Jack comes clean with her about the money. 'Who wants to believe
that their own son is a monster' she says. For the third time
Tyrone and Jack head over to god's own country to talk to Terry.
He says he's not proud of what he's done but he was scared and
as most of the money is spoken for to pay off his debts, the most
that his parents are likely to get back off him is a couple of
grand. They return to give Vera and Andrea the bad news and Vera
again offers her kidney for Paul. Jack thinks that such an operation
at her age would be too much and the risks are too high but Vera
is adamant and so reluctantly Jack agrees to support her even
if he doesn't agree with her. Jack is worried sick about what
might happen to his beloved wife and while she is as well, she
puts on a brave face. Tyrone is worried too but Curly has a word
with him and tells him he has to be strong for Vera. Vera is worried
about what might happen if anything goes wrong and so she writes
down what she wants to happen should the worst happen and makes
Jack take the letter even though he cries as he tells her he doesn't
want to think about such a consequence.
Roy and Hayley have their first visit from the social services
to assess their suitability for adoption. Mr Hartnell brings up
the question of what they'll tell any child they adopt about Hayley's
past. This gives them lots to think about and Hayley seems to
be having second thoughts. But by the time the next visit is due
her worries seem to have left her and she's more concerned that
Roy is spending more time trying to organise the locals into fighting
against the planned removal of the cobblestones from Coronation
Street.
Audrey - 'Those cobbles are a liability.' Roy - 'Only for those
who choose inappropriate footwear.'
Ken has been trying to drum up support for the campaign as
well but not even Deirdre is enthusiastic. He contacts 'Northern
Heritage' who tell him that they'll have to lobby the Conservation
Officer at the council and come up with some good reasons for
keeping the cobbles. When the plan is brought forward, a mass
meeting at The Rovers launches the SOS (Save Our Street) campaign.
Les, who is now working for the council, tells Janice that they
are wasting their time fighting the inevitable and that the work
will be starting in a couple of days time.
Natalie is expecting a present on Valentine's Day and it's
not flowers or chocolates. She tells Liz that she's pregnant,
Vinnie is the father and she wants to keep it quiet, though quite
how she'll manage it is anybody's guess given the size of her
bump. Pretty soon she's told the staff at the pub and before you
can say floccinaucinihilipilification everybody knows about it
and they're all, except Sally of course, congratulating her.
With the medical centre about to open, Sarah-Louise's plans
to go out with Glen again are thwarted as she has to stay home
and look after Bethany while Gail goes for a guided tour of the
new facilities. They rearrange the date and Sarah-Louise gets
Hayley to babysit for her but when Glen turns up at the house
to pick her up, Sarah-Louise tells him that the baby is Hayley's.
Hayley is none too pleased and she tells Sarah-Louise that she
has to be honest with Glen about Bethany and with her mam about
Glen. Gail meanwhile is all excited about her new job at the Rosamund
Street Medical Centre (and to think it used to be The Graffiti
Club) which her mother has just declared open.
The new doctor, Matt Ramsden, and his wife Charlie, who is
one of Sarah-Louise's teachers, move in to Natalie's house at
number 6 and Maxine is straight in there to help, seeing an opportunity
for social climbing with the professional couple next door. Matt
seems happy to integrate into the community but Charlie is more
reluctant and stand-offish. Blanche is certainly pleased with
the idea of having a doctor living across the road as it means
she knows where to go when the surgery is closed. She fell out
with her last doctor when he asked her to leave his practice as
she took up too much time. As if! With Maxine desperate to get
pregnant she's upset that the decorators have arrived and after
finding very little by way of help on fertility in the magazines
in The Kabin (the look on Norris's face is a picture), she collars
Matt in the cafe. He drops round some leaflets about fertility
and the first thing Maxine does at home is to decide that she
and Ashley will stop drinking.
Andy has arrived back for his parents' wedding and wastes no
time in asking Toyah out on the town. They seem to hit it off
and Andy has to sneak out of The Rovers early in the morning but
with Andy going back to Barcelona after the nuptials the romance
seems unlikely to flourish. He gives her his mobile phone number
before he leaves which is something I suppose. Despite taking
place in the big house the wedding goes off without a hitch. I'm
sorry for those that are interested in such matters but I'm unable
to describe, or even remember, Liz's wedding outfit, though it
was surprisingly sober and without even a hint of animal print.
With the wedding over the McDonald clan have more serious matters
on their minds as Jim is in court the following day. Before the
trial Jim's barrister thinks that he should only get a sentence
of about 12 months but as the trial progresses things don't look
good as the prosecution paint a pretty poor picture of him. There
is a passionate plea from the defence, pointing out that he gave
himself up, he's shown remorse and he's just signed up for a life
sentence with Liz but this cuts no mustard with the judge who
sends him down for 8 years. 'He should have got life' cries Jez's
mother, 'Nuuuurrrr' screams Liz. Later on Steve points out to
his mam that serving at least 4 years as a category B prisoner
is going to be no picnic, even for his dad. Liz wants to lodge
an appeal against the sentence but Jim doesn't seem too bothered.
He offers her an annulment but she says she'll wait for him. With
Jim now safely tucked away behind bars, Liz goes to see Natalie
who immediately offers her her job back behind hers.
I don't know what's taken them so long but Dev and Geena seem
to have finally realised that they are quite attracted to each
other. He asks her out but heeding Natalie's warning about him,
courtesy of her sister Debs, she turns him down. Undeterred by
the knock back he asks her out to dinner again but she's still
playing hard to get and says she'll have to check her diary (why
do women play these stupid games?). She clearly fancies him, as
does Bobbi (or was it Karen) - 'He's so smooth you could spread
him on toast', so she goes round to the corner shop and asks Deirdre
to tell him that she can make it tonight and she'll see him later
in the Rovers. Quite what's going on in Deirdre's head at the
moment is anybody's guess. She seems very protective towards her
employer and even though she's clearly not in with a chance her
eyes turn green the moment any woman shows an interest in him.
She doesn't pass the message on and so Dev is quite surprised
later in the pub when Geena asks if he's early at which point
Deirdre passes on the message rather late. 'I know a really stylish
Indian' he says 'and a good restaurant as well'. Natalie quizzes
Geena the following day and she tells her that he was a perfect
gentleman and that she rather likes him. Meanwhile Dev tells Deirdre
that he thinks Geena is nice and Deirdre is all cut up again.
For their next date they go for a game of squash (nudge, nudge,
wink, wink, say no more) which Dev wins and then they head off
for a night out clubbing. The following morning Dev is very much
the worse for wear but he has a big smile on his face and yet
again Deirdre is green with envy. Geena isn't much use behind
the bar either and Natalie thinks she's smitten. With such competition
it's no surprise that we next see Deirdre preening herself in
front of the mirror before going to work but it's all wasted as
Dev only seems to have eyes for one person at the moment.
Things seem to be looking up for Duggie as he's tipped the
wink by a friend at the council that his name isn't quite as muddy
as it once was and so he tries to drum up the finance for a new
project. Aware that Dev made a killing on the house he sold him,
he tries touching him up for some money (he needs £75,000
in all) and after much brow-beating and after checking the business
plan, Dev agrees to get involved.
Curly and Emma are busy planning their honeymoon and eventually
plump for New York (why I don't know, it must bloody freezing
at Christmas and New Year) but they have difficulty getting a
flight. Toyah gives Emma the address of a website that a friend
of hers used and by the magic of the internet a flight is duly
booked. Isn't technology wonderful?
That's all from me for the moment and it's over to John for
next week's gripping instalment which will include happenings
on the excellent live 40th anniversary episode.
Barry Smith
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