Sunday Comments, August 29

Lines of the week:

• Graeme "I'm getting a vibe... Horace and Norris" and "She hasn't got a (false) leg to stand on!"
  
• Graeme yet again, to Norris "Get down to the DIY store and get yourself a crack hoe" Horace "I've certainly heard the phrase before" (bloomin' wonderful stuff from Graeme this week!)
  
• Leanne "Let the competitive grandparenting commence"
  
• Hayley "It assumes we all have clarity when we die. That our final words are always profound and far reaching. What if we just talk rubbish?
  
• Joe to Ted (Gail's father) "I'm gonna romance the pants off her tonight" (oops)
  
• Hayley "It's a lot more money than i'm used to" Roy "How much money... for your soul!"
  
• Freda "You think i'm a bad person" Graeme "No i think you're a good person, with an evil twin" Freda "I assume i'm lip reading you wrong but really, you just say weird things!"
  
• Roy to Tony "The guilt must be unbearable" Tony "I have nothing to feel guilty about" (But he does, and we all know it)
  
• Roy "It's not the obsessive self righteous man who is grinding you down. It's the guilty, tired, trapped man. Yourself."
  
• Maria "What've i missed?" (quite a lot, love)
  
• Simon in the Kabin "There's two of them!" (the mouths of babes)
  
• Deirdre "Do excuse my mother. She's herself today!"
  
• Connie "I know you're in there Jack, i can hear you cowering"
  

Seems that Tony's going to live. This leaves Roy in a dilemma. Was Tony's "confession" real or drug induced? Tony tries to shrug it off but Roy just can't let go of the fact that Tony thought he was dying and seemed to want to get it off his chest, therefore it must be true. Well we know it is of course. Tony trying to buy Roy off by offering him a charity donation and theatre tickets "in thanks" is highly suspcious. That's only going to add to Roy's unease, no matter how much Tony tries to pretend his confession was down to the drugs or guilt over Liam's stag night etc. Hayles and Roy have deduced that Tony could have paid someone to knock Liam down, however. Roy, who cannot tell a lie and has a strong moral conscience is now going to haunt Tony, poking him and prodding him to confess on his own. This can't end well.
I think Roy is going to be Tony's Telltale Heart. Roy knows Tony spoke the truth and Tony knows that Roy knows. Hayley castigated Roy for mithering Tony when he's probably all wrong. (oh yeah?) Roy promises to drop the subject and but doesn't really believe he's wrong. He's just not 100% sure he's right. But the more Tony protests, the more Roy is confident, and he's poking a bear with a stick, prodding at Tony's conscience, urging her to confess.

Norris has yet another assistant, Horace who's the mirror image but when this is pointed out by Simon, Norris and Horace both were highly insulted! And I laughed and laughed when Graeme had Norris go to the store and ask for a crack 'ho' ;))) Graeme and Freda are also getting on like houses on fire which also puts Norris' nose out of joint. Graeme was a real joy to watch this week!

So Lucy's father is on the scene and Simon has another grandfather. Seems he was not such a great dad and lost touch with Lucy. So much so that he only just found out he even had a grandson! That isn't really going to be such a good recommendation, is it? Peter certainly isn't too keen on the idea either. I can understand Peter's reluctance and anger to cozy up to George. Peter's not had a great track record and is probably afraid George could take Simon from him. I think Leanne was right, it's going to be a war of the Grandads between Bolshy Ken who's got the morals and Capitalist George who's got money to throw around (Peter still needs backing for that bar. Go figure.)

Then it's Meet the Other Parents at the Barlows. Blanche was awesome, pretending Deirdre was the hired help and then getting looped on wine and letting all the family skeletons out of the closet. Ken's free yoyo was a distant memory when Simon saw the hand held computer game from George.

How can Joe's boat be finished when he thought it would take him a year of working on it when he could get the money for stuff? Now he's ready to put it in the water? Understandably, Gail is not really keen on actually sailing, not after Hillman tried to drown them all. I'm kind of surprised David would consider it, too. He's got even more reason to be freaked out about water. Zoe seems nice and she seems to have mellowed David. I bet he's not really over Tina, though. Joe's also lost his job, he should be selling that boat for the several thousand he promised Gail but he seems awfully happy for someone who has no job and owes money. Snork... he called the boat Gail Force!!! Leave it to Gail to want hot soup when there's champagne on offer!

Seems Jack thinks Connie's trying to get into bed with him. We all know what he was like when Vera was randy! Of course Molly doesn't mind Kirk moving in with them, it's a buffer between her and Tyrone. Gail has agreed to marry Joe. Sounds like she's lining up another loser to latch onto. Jake is there and then he's gone. Was there a point to him other than showing up Michelle as a slapper and making Dev look an idiot?
John's coming home tomorrow (Monday)...I think there's going to be another round of fireworks! oh dear, and Joe has a new loan shark!

Sunday Comments, August 22

Lines of the week:

• Tyrone to Kevin "I just want us to be happy forever!" (Oh Kevin how can you stand yourself!)
  
• Pam to Roy's bat-wittering "How interesting" Roy "You're welcome to join us!" Pam "Happen i were just being polite"
  
• Kelly about Tony "I'm beginning to think Janice's right about him bein' gay!" (just because he takes no notice of the town bike?)
  
• Graeme "Good luck, boss... or should i say (squeaking) good luck boss!" (Ashley got snipped!)
  
• Ryan about Jake "What a sleazebag" (virtually guaranteeing Michelle will be in his pants before another week is out)
  
• Tony "Hell is spending your last hours with Roy Cropper wittering in your ear"
  
• Jake "eye for an eye, towel for a towel, tit for tat!" Liz "If you drop that towel, i shall call the police. Not immediately. But very soon after"
  
• Michelle "You understand?" Jake "I hear what you're saying" (not quite the same thing)
  
• Tony "I killed Liam!"
  
• Jesse to Joe "Can i book a cabin for her maiden voyage?" Gail "If you can find a maiden, I don't see why not!"
  
• Leanne "'Oh right, we're just going to walk outside and trip over a pot of gold, are we?" (Yeah, pretty much)
  

I think Gail wins the fashion award of the week, don't you?

Good heavens, Maria got from Weatherfield to Cypress, dump the baby on his doting grandparents and got to a cyber cafe in record time! Could they be any more loved up??? You could see Tony had been having chest pains for a few days, so now he's in quite a pickle isn't he? Heart attack and then saved by Roy Cropper! He was awfully nasty to Roy, wasn't he? But Roy can't help but do the right thing and he knew that Tony needed someone, didn't want to die alone. Tony thinks he's going to die, and genetic history seems to prove that he always knew it could happen. He even had a "last supper" of a forbidden bacon butty with brown sauce except he didn't even get to have that!

That old morality he was probably brought up with, the stern Scottish Kirk, bubbles to the surface and he can't bear to die with the sin of murder on his conscience. Roy knew there was more than just bats on his conscience. Confession is good for the soul but only if you actually die. Which he didn't. Now the cat's out of the bag! Will Roy take Tony at his word, the word of a dying man or will he think maybe it was the drugs, as Hayley suggested.

Go Team Pam!!! Boy did i love hearing her tear a strip off Kevin! Telling him he's an over 40 looking for a bit of excitement. That's exactly what i've thought all along. Molly is starting to be manipulative, not really minding that Pam knows and hoping it all comes out. But then again, Kevin is certainly giving her mixed signals, telling her he loves her and looking at show homes and all that, and then doesn't want anyone to know and tells her she needs to get real. Sounds like Pam is right, he's not really in love, he just wants a bit on the side. Molly can see how he is with his family and she doesn't like it, is she feeling guilty? Heck as like. She just wants what he has, a family with him. But now, since Pam knows, they're going to lie to her and pretend they've broken up. They're just getting in deeper and deeper! Hearing her lie to Pam and Pam lap it up? Made me ill!

Oh dear, clearly Ben has a crush on Michelle and i know she doesn't think she should change her ways for anyone but seriously, dressing in skimpy clothes in front of a teenage boy? And then she has the cheeky builder arrested and then ... dates him? She's really turning into a slapper, isn't she? Having said that, normally, yes, Jake did technically make an assault at first but Michelle didn't exactly discourage it and i didn't notice her slapping his face either. And what is she teaching her son by example? That No means i want to rip your clothes off, really.

Rosie has a knot in her face that gets tighter by the minute, still reeling from the rejection and humiliation. She didn't want the PA job but she didn't want her mother to get it either. Peter is being very tetchy isn't he? Just because he doesn't like Halloween... maybe Ken never took him out when he was a kid! well it seems that dream of opening a bar hasn't gone away so the money is going to end up coming from somewhere. Enter stage left, Simon's other grandfather. What are the chances? Pretty good, i'd say. Stay tuned for some childish granddad rivalry!

Interesting that the current factory owner took a heart attack on the same spot outside the factory as a previous factory owner (Mike Baldwin). After all that palaver about getting a cheaper builder, Dev ended up having to pay a lot anyway. Dev is just a cheap money grubber, after all. Builders cost. Join the real world, Dev. Mind you, Jake seemed to be charging Dev for the time he spent while arrested and that's wrong, too as it was his own fault. Oh i see Julie is still playing kid shows with Jesse behind Eileen's back. How difficult can it be to contact Maria at her parents' home in the middle of the night?

Meeting Sam Aston

That's me and that's Sam Aston, one of the stars of Coronation Street. I attended a ping today and he was the special guest! It started a few weeks ago when the Downeast Streeters were given the opportunity to host a ping with Sam as a guest. Seems he was going to be on holiday in Nova Scotia with his parents, visiting some family friends in the area and had expressed interest in attending a ping and meeting some Canadian Corrie fans. We put it together in less than a month with extensive help from the Parkside Pub people who did all the ticket sales for us and even searched for a hotpot recipe to serve on the day! The Parkside is where we've been having our pings lately and they have been very accomodating.

The ping had to be low key since there was limited seating, unlike the huge ballroom we use for our larger events. The guests were invitation-only as a thank you to people that have faithfully registered for and attended local pings over the last couple of years. We also decided to have a silent auction in addition to our usual raffle because we had some special items that we thought would be interesting to the punters and Sam was also bringing a signed script!

Sam arrived at 1 after lunch to rousing applause. The MC, local florist and celeb Neville MacKay introduced him and ushered him on stage to see everyone. Sam then greeted everyone and got down to business. He was in charge of reading out the answers to a Battersby themed quiz that the pingers had been working on over lunch. Later he went through a stack of questions submitted by everyone. It was great to hear some of his experiences on the set of Corrie. He's been there since 2003 when he was only 10 years old and has been acting since he was 5!

He was nervous on his first few days on the set but on screen family members Jennie McAlping (Fiz) and Wendi Peters really took him under their wing. He says he still misses Wendi a lot and they do keep in touch. Now that he's 17, having grown up on the show, he's looking forward to having more adult storylines and it seems like that's going to start happening this year though he wouldn't reveal any spoilers!

He still lives at home. He's the youngest of 9 kids, and two of his siblings have been in Corrie, too. His brother, Joe, was Tommy Duckworth for a short time and his sister, Emily, was Becky (who was the daughter of one of Des Barnes' girlfriends) back in the late 1990s. One of the best things about Corrie, he told us, was working with so many great people and doing what he enjoys. He is so lucky to be able to do so many great things, including travel. He went to South Africa a few years ago to film a spin off DVD, Out of Africa, featuring onscreen characters of Kirk, Cilla and Fiz. That was great! He said their hotel was right back in the nature reserves and was surrounded by animals coming up on the grounds all the time! He says they did film right in the animal reserves where at least once, a giraffe just strolled by behind them through the shot! He also got some golfing in while he was there and was very glad to see his on screen mum again!

He hasn't had any formal acting training but has attended a weekly workshop. He enjoys golf and football and he loves movies. His favourite actor is Denzel Washington and also mentioned Tom Hanks as a favourite. He also likes American shows Two and a Half Men and Family Guy.

He's been seeing a bit of Nova Scotia while here, too, including Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay, Halifax, the Annapolis Valley and Port Royal and Fort Anne at Annapolis Royal. He mentioned that he'd told fellow costar, Andy Whyment (Kirk) that he was coming to Canada and Andy thought he might get mobbed here! However, he says, people have been really nice and not many seem to have recognized him at all! We pointed out that we Nova Scotians are polite and probably just left him alone! He also seems to have taken a shine to Tim Horton's donuts but we all urged him to try our local junk food, donairs!

Talking about Corrie, now, he said that actors such as David Neilson (Roy Cropper), Wendi Peters (Cilla) are very much not like their on screen characters and though Andy Whyment is a bit more similar he's not as dopey! He also said that Malcom Hebden (Norris Cole) pretends he hates Sam but he loves him, really! :) And his closest friends on the set include Andy Whyment, Ben Thompson (Ryan Connor, with whom he attended the acting workshop), Brooke Vincent (Sophie Webster) and Sascha Parkinson (Sian Powers, who is Sophie's best mate). Sam also related that he used to be quite cheeky on set when he was young and even used to prompt Barbara Knox (Rita) when she'd forget a line!

He supports Burnley for football though would probably go for Manchester City if he had to pick between City and Manchester United and he reckons Chelsea might win the Premiership this year, which prompted a major fan in the audience to cheer loudly! He supports the RSPCA and a hospice that is local to him that does a lot of good works.

When asked how he managed to decide on Nova Scotia, he related that his mother and brother met a couple on a train. They got on well, and kept in touch. His brother has been here to visit them and they've been to England and now it's Sam's turn! All down to a chance meeting on a train!

He's learning to drive, has finished school so has a bit more free time. He's saving for a house maybe, and has started a business venture with his brother. He loves bacon butties (but instructed us to always keep your HP sauce in the cupboard, not the fridge!) and he'd like to have a storyline with Jack P. Shepherd (David Platt) some time!

He's a lovely young man and was very personable and relaxed. He hasn't done too many of these types of appearances but you'd never know it, to see him joking with Neville and telling stories on stage. After the Q&A, he had a break and listened to a lady who did a presentation on the Battersby-Brown family history on Corrie. He then took the time to go around to every table and pose for pics and sign autographs. He seemed to really enjoy himself and we really enjoyed meeting him!

All the photos are here.

Sunday Comments August 15

Lines of the week:

• Vicar "Do you reject Satan?" Tony "Why yes, um, does it count that i'm here while my henchman is about to kill my ex?"
  
• Norris about the noise "My sour apples are jiggling in their jars!"
  
• Kirk to Tyrone "You're completely doggy whipped!" Tyrone "I don't think it's 'doggy whipped'" (LOL it probably is in Kirk's world!)
  
• Kirk "Does that mean i'm going to have another factory owner for a brother-in-law?" (tactful, Kirk. Very tactful!)
  
• Joe "Our ship has quite literally come in" (I'm not so sure about that)
  
• Roy about Vampires "considering they feast on young maidens, i think i am quite safe" (walks away) Joe "I guess that goes for Hayley, too!" (well... she isn't young anymore ;)
  
• Helen "I'm not one for holding grudges" (oh are you not?)
  
• Blanche about her hair do "Same as usual!" (well everyone looks the same coming out as going in!)
  
• Tyrone "I want you to sit there and let me moan about her" Kirk "Are you gonna be long?"
  
• Dev "Do you think i got this successful by being taken for a ride?" (so, if it all falls down, you'll get what you deserve)
  

Well that's weird. The rain was pouring on the boat people on Coronation Street, and Tony came into the church dripping wet but then went right back out and the sun was shining out of a bright blue sky when Tony was talking to Jimmy... AT the same time, it was still pouring buckets over Gail and Joe.







Even Tony can't get Rosie's money back (of course not, Carla owns the shares!) and Luke's probably on a plane to Rio! Why do they always go to Rio when they've stolen money? Surely there are other places equally far away where they can't be found or extradited back? Back to the christening... Squabbles over who gets to be godfather if Tony doesn't show up. (I hope there's a provision for changing the godfather once Maria finds out Tony killed the baby's father because you know she will!) Helen and Maria might have made up but she still has a vicious gob on her, calling Kirk the Village Idiot in front of his sister! She doesn't seem to accept that Maria gets the final say on anything to do with that baby. Meanwhile, Carla is riding Tony's backside and he's siccing Jimmy on hers, blackmailing him into killing Carla!

Nice touch, the ringing church bell (for whom the bell tolls, it's tolling for Carla, with Jimmy creeping up behind her. Tony bottled it though he nearly didn't make it to the flat in time to save Carla. Now he has let Carla think she killed Jimmy. It was self defence of course, if he had been killed. Why not get the police involved? She could just call it a break in. Ah but there's too much of a chance the real truth will come out so Tony works on her and sends her out in the rain back to sunny L.A. But she'll be back, no worries. He didn't like Maria taking the initiative getting Carla's number from Leanne either. Because why? Because of what Carla knows of course! Distract her with diamond ring shopping. That always works. Get her out of town, that works even better.







Joe's bought a wreck of a boat and is going to fix it up. He's paying it off in installments. Probaby 5 pound a week considering his current financial situation. Poor Gail. It's just one thing after another! The idea of a good profit might help or it might not. Norris didn't like it on his doorstep either. At least Gail has decided it's not such a bad thing. She may regret it, i couldn't possibly say. ;) Gail's right though, i'm sure there's more noise coming from the garage and as much as she's not so sure about the whole idea, she backs up Joe 100%.

Sweet Tyrone bought his Molly a home gym (for that games room he plans to put the pool table in? There won't be room enough to swing a dumbell!) Guess she is going to need a new excuse now. She nearly gave it away by wearing the necklace Kevin bought her when they were away. So, was he not paying attention when the vendor told Sally they were unique? He was there because Sally said he didn't want to pay 100 euro for it. (not for her at least.) Interesting that Kevin would use the church as an excuse to get off with Molly. Hell beckons.

Molly uses her "poorly" father as her excuse and Pam ends up rumbling the whole thing. Really, though, it's a bit obvious, Kevin taking that blindingly bright coloured breakdown truck on his assignations. Won't people wonder why it's outside their favourite hotel or pub all the time? It's about time someone discovered the affair. Someone always does, you know. So what does Molly do? Get all pretend-jealous on Tyrone's ass over Minnie as a diversion but it didn't work. Pam knows and I'm SO glad Pam tore a strip off her! Pam seems to have had experience in this sort of thing. Learn from her mistakes! I doubt Molly will take her advice. "But we're in luuuuurve!" As if that excuses it. Poor Tyrone doesn't know what to think and Molly is treating him horribly.

I'm still not sure why Norris needs another body behind the counter of the Kabin when he's got Tina. Norris and Rita got along fine just the two of them for years. Anyway his new recruit is the exact opposite of Sheila Wheelah! This one doesn't say a thing! It's like Jay and Silent Bob in the Kabin! You know it's desperate when Norris is happy to see Kirk! Rosie's broke and she's not even a 9% owner anymore considering the shares were never Luke's to sell apparently. Back to square one. And Becky has called to find Roy and Hayley's holiday address in Romania where they are house sitting for Frankie ex-Baldwin. Find out all about that adventure in this dvd review.
 
Dev really needs a large slice of humble pie. He's as arrogant as ever and this roof thing is probably going to come back and bite him where the sun don't shine by going on the cheap.

By the way, When Jimmy keyed in the door code, it said "Connor" on the buzzer name. Carla left Tony months ago and he'd lived there for a good year or more before that. Surely, at the very least it would have his name and hers? And once she'd left him, wouldn't he be the type of person to take her name off it altogether?

Sunday Comments, August 8

Lines of the week:

• Mrs. Connor "Been a year since that terrible night. As if any of us could forget that." Maria "Of course not" Tony (thinking) Doh.
  
• Helen about Tony "I think there might be trouble in paradise" (speaks the voice of Trouble!)
  
• Maria "I was a mess for such a long time" (for all of about 2 months!)
  
• Dev to Darryl "As a manager, you make a great coat stand!"
  
• Rosie "All I'm going to say is Watch This Space" (the one between your ears?)
  
• Umed "I am a fantasist. Reality is not my friend"
  
• Teresa "I once made a lame donkey walk again (I shudder to think how)
  
• Maria "We're engaged" Tony (Oh crap they're going to kill me!)
  
• Kevin to Molly: "It's not like we're going to hurt anyone" (Oh, are you not?)
  
• Tony about Helen re Liam: "She must feel like I've stolen his life!" (You have!)
  
• Rosie: "I've always known. I've always known I'm not *ordinary* like everyone else around here.
  
• Joe seeing the boat "This fella. He didn't have a wooden leg and a parrot, did he?"
  
• Gail seeing the boat "Sometimes, just sometimes, you just need to sit down!"
  
• Joe "I got it for a song!" GAil "Which one...Money for nothing?"
  

Mammy Connor is all about Connor traditions and gets hurt because Maria won't have the lovely Christening outfit. Michelle on Maria's side and really it must be a tough position to be in, wanting your own traditions but faced with the parents of your dead husband. Tough call. Then there are all those family photos that made everyone emotional and made Tony feel even more guilty! Can you believe he actually asked Maria to marry him sat across from the grave of the man he had killed??? Nice to see that Maria is feeling a bit of guilt over the engagement, trying to be sensitive to how it will affect Liam's family. Secrets like that aren't going to stay secret very long, though. But thinking that Tony should adopt the baby was just the opposite of sensitive. Mind you, "sensitive" isn't the word i'd use to describe Mammy Connor, though, isn't she awful?? But yes, she's still grieving and it's been hard for her to move on and she's taking it out on everyone, especially Maria.
Carla has now found out that Tony and Maria are together, thanks to Leanne, and she's back on the warpath! Well, someone has to pull him up! She sure did. Did you see his face when she called? Perfect spot to confront him, too, at Liam's grave. So what's Tony going to do now she's back and threatening to expose him? Will he give up Maria, the baby, and his perfect little family? Will he tell Maria the truth before Carla does?
I gotta say i'm really enjoying all the twists of this story and no spoilers but the next few weeks are going to blow your mind!
Norris is all worried about someone to run the shop so he can have a break. Where did Tina go? I thought she was working there too? Fwoar!!! Tony in a tshirt AND he irons! He might be a homicidal maniac but he isn't half gorgeous! That was very clearly a pretend whistle from Pam with very obvious sound effects!


Oh God Joe's back. Bleurgh. And he's bought an old wreck of a boat from Bill. (Weren't Pam and Bill cute?) Using what money, i asks?
Luke is sucking up to Rosie all of a sudden and all apologies. Rosie is lapping it all up and making out she decided to take him back but he's up to something. He's even ready for her to move some stuff in! What's up with that? Well..... it sounds like Carla doesn't want to sell the factory after all and I thought Luke already had bought it. Else what was all that about when he first arrived and Tony confirmed it with Carla's lawyer? Now they're saying she's taking her shares back. She can't do that if she's sold them and if she hasn't, there's a great hole in the plot. Again. Is this the first business transaction in Corrie history to actually take place in real time over months instead of hours?
Anyway, Luke is telling Rosie that she could buy his 51% which he doesn't seem to have to sell anyway. Boy wasn't he putting the pressure on her? What does he need the money for, though, if he's not buying the shares? He *says* it's for another investment. Meanwhile she's got visions of uniformed workers and "English Rosie's" (new factory name) dancing around in her empty head while he's booking a ticket out of Dodge City, emptying the cupboards and deleting files off the computer. Once that cash was in his account, you didn't see his dust. Bastard! It was, however, immensely satisfying seeing Rosie come down with a great thud, weeping, wailing and newly poor again. Serves her right, silly girl.

What's Teresa going to do next? Homeless... and she managed to get Umed to let her sleep in the shop. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when she pretended Dev saw her coming out. Seems she's got her feet back under Lloyd's table in the long run though and her fingers in the pie making curry for the kebab shop. Dev wasn't too happy with Umed for facilitating that one! Dev was particularly nasty to Darryl, it was totally uncalled for. No wonder Darryl chucked his job in and went all the way to Spain! That's him gone. Teresa is all on her own now so what does she do? Massage her way right back into Lloyd's bed. Well if he can't be with the one he loves...

Dev had a go at Umed too. I do agree though, Umed makes all those tall stories up but he knows that too. Looks like he's finally realized he's outstayed his welcome. Turns out his life isn't so great back home after all but he is manning up and going back to face the music and the gambling debts. Too bad, though, Umed grew on me. That's three characters gone in one week!

New 2011 Corrie calendar is out!

I was walking past the Carlton Card store in my local mall which is in the complex where I work and I spotted the new 2011 Coronation Street Calendar. Now, I always get one, so I had a look at this year's offering. It's really good! There are pages with photos from all the way back to the 60s, a nice nod to the 50 year history, though mostly the pages feature photos from the 1990s and 2000s. The retail cost is $16.99 plus sales tax. You can get it at Blighty's online for that price, and at Amazon.ca where it is a bit cheaper but you must remember you'll pay shipping if that's all you're ordering.

I Googled the calendar and there seems to be at least one other version, possibly the one for America or the U.K.? Wyman Publishing is the producer of this one. The Calendar Club, a U.K. site, also has it but no photo online yet.

It's on Amazon.com and .co.uk too but no photos, so I'm not sure which version you get, but the Play.com site, also a U.K. site, seems to have one that features "explosive" storylines so that might be the one available overseas.

It's all so confusing! This photo is the one I have and probably the one you will get if you order from Amazon.ca or Blighty's or see it in a bookstore.

Sunday Comments, August 1

Lines of the week:

• Blanche: "An alcoholic and an arsonist open a bar. Sounds like the start of a joke!"
  
• Theresa "A wild animal wouldn't do that to it's own mother" Lloyd "Unless it's own mother got on its nerves"
  
• Tyrone to Molly "Love you!!!" Molly...silence.
  
• Ken to Peter "I don't regret what i said, just the way i said it" (doh)
  
• Darryl "I don't think i know anyone that sad and desperate. Or unhygenic, for that matter"
  
• Liz to Lloyd about Teresa "If you'd have her, you'd have anyone!"
  
• Dev "It's a shop, not a gossip factory" (since when?)
  
• Kirk, on why he likes to hang out in the betting shop "Because usually, it's filled with total losers which makes me feel better about meself!"
  
• Tyrone to Kevin "Is Molly having an affair" (Does Kevin needed new shorts after that one!)
  

Deception upon deception. Cancelled trains, no photos from the run, no bill from the hotel...Oh i got injured and dropped out and Molly stayed with me. lies upon lies and yet nobody gets suspicious? Pah! Kevin got quite a tan after that Glasgay run. It really isn't that sunny up there ;) It really REALLY annoys me seeing Molly roll her eyes when lovely Tyrone wants a cuddle and then she bitches at him.

Finally, the penny drops for Tyrone and he is suspecting she might be having an affair, only because Molly's being bitchy all the time and doesn't want any nookie (that's a classic clue, though, that one. Cheating spouses either feel too guilty to do it or they do it all the time, more than ever, figuring you'd guess if they stopped wanting it). And he confides in his best friend.... who's having the affair with Molly! Kevin was worried that Tyrone wanted to talk to him. I don't know why. If Tyrone suspected Kev was having it off with Molly, he'd be reenacting Tommy's murder using Kevin's head not wanting to have a drink with him. GULP! Kevin, you deserve to squirm, you worm!

Tony and Maria are back and Tony is being obnoxious right out of the gate. He drove poor Kirk out who moved one more door down the street again. You did notice how he reacted when he was going to make a restaurant reservation for Oct. 16 and then realized it was the anniversary of Liam's murder... Reality check, I think. Not just sympathy for Maria's feelings either, a little stab of guilt, perhaps? Daddy and Mammy Connor are back for the christening. It didn't take her long to start poking Tony with a figurative stick. You just know Tony will be doing his strong-arm routine and Mammy Connor will be her usual spiteful self towards him and Maria will be stuck in the middle.

Darryl had enough of his mother and chucked him out. Can he do that? But WHAT is Lloyd thinking? He's snogging with Liz on the dance floor but why did he get snarky with her for going back to the bar *to do her job*? For that he gets drunk and takes Teresa home? Seeing Teresa sucking on a cig in the morning and looking for more sex was enough to make him run for the hills while she went running around in Lloyd's jacket and little else, bragging about her night-scepades.

But as many people that knew, it wasn't even Teresa that let the cat out of the bag, it was Michelle! And just in time to put the kibosh on Liz and Lloyd getting back together. It was a close call. I certainly wouldn't want him back after he'd been with Teresa and neither does Liz! Flowers and sweet words wasn't enough. She lost a lot of respect for Lloyd. He's got no chance now. None of it really was Teresa's fault though. It's not as if she stole him from Liz and she did get the nasty end of the stick when it all came out and she then lost her job and got evicted, too. (I thought Darryl had already done that! I guess he relented)

Ken has turned 70 and Emily is 80. Tactfully there's only a 70 candle on the cake. Liz bitches about the age difference between her and Lloyd but it wasn't much really. Not like the difference between Ken and Deirdre, about 15 or 16 years without looking it up.

Not surprised that Sheila didn't last out the week, for driving poor Norris spare with her wittering on and on. I bet she could even out witter Mavis! And Michelle? as Dev said, you move in over a kebab shop, what do you expect it to smell like? Roses?

Peter seems interested in the old Turner's Joinery. Leanne misses managing a bar on her own. Connection? Yes it seems so. He sure got the key fast and he wants to open up a bar. An alcoholic. Not so sure that's a good idea and i can just hear Blanche now! You know, it looks like the inside of that joinery is like the Tardis (along with most of the other buildings on the Street). It was way wider and deeper inside than a railway bridge is! It was also a lot newer on the inside than the door was on the outside. I can understand Ken having concerns but let's face it, he's never ever really supported Peter in anything.

I hope Claire isn't planning on doing karaoke any time soon. Luke seems to be upset about someone not selling their shares after all. If it's Carla, i thought he already did buy them, case closed? Actually i know where this is going but it still makes no sense.