Sunday Comments July 19

Ken is going to surprise Deirdre with a new cooker and a book for her birthday and is really looking forward to her return. *gulp* Liz pointed out you only turn 60 once. I concur. An oven is nice but you might want something frivolous as well. A book? Ken, do you really think she'd develop a late-in-live love for literature? What about a party? Why not! (*gulp*)

Deirdre's homecoming day dawns. Ken thinks she's ignoring his texts. Tracy's back from London in time for the party. Simon's continuing to be rude and Amy's a cheeky monkey as always. Tracy's put out that the party is in the Rovers because Liz hates her (as does most of the rest of the Street, but of course, Liz hates her more these days for obvious reasons). The pub fills up with people waiting for Deirdre, though quite early in the day if you ask me. Weren't they told a particular time? Even if Ken wasn't sure when Deirdre would be arriving, surely they'd just arrange the party for the evening?

It didn't work out that way. Shelly's mother, Bev, the woman Deirdre has been staying with showed up with very bad news indeed. Deirdre died quite suddenly earlier that day!!! Seems like it was quick and painless. Ken and Tracy are crushed and it was Deirdre's specs that broke Ken. The sad news spread. Of all the reactions to her death, Emily's got to me the most. Audrey was kind to Tracy, that was nice. Steve stepped right up to the post and went right to Ken when he saw him. That was really touching, too. Someone had to be there for Ken. It's so much worse when you know those actors are channeling very real grief into their performances.

Norris got his wish when Liz put the food out. Well, it's true, it would have gone to waste though most of it will anyway. Nice little touch having the door of the pub blow open as her friends all raised a glass to Deirdre.

Tracy was really rude to Carla and Roy, though probably if Carla hadn't been with him, she would have let Roy in. Amy may be the one person that helps Ken. Simon won't be much help. A bit ironic that Liz went round to try to comfort Tracy, wasn't it?

Simon's birthday. Nothing seems to please him. The wrong colour trainers. Duplicate games. Just the two of them for a birthday tea even though he didn't want a fuss. At least Carla got the right gift and he had something to make him smile. It didn't take much for him to lash out at Carla again. Leanne then had to tell Simon the bad news. He was all attitude before she told him and he seemed to shut her out after. That kid is shutting down and burying it all. I think it's the last straw for him.

Dev made his case to Julie. He was humble and begging for another chance. She was strong. She didn't want to be second best and Dev's roving eye will always be a concern. It would be difficult to trust him again. Julie decided she wants to see the world and is going to go with Brian but it's not a reconciliation so he thinks if they go together, he'll ruin it for her. He selflessly offered her the tickets to go alone.

Lovely gesture from Mary, wishing Julie, a sometime enemy, well. It's goodbye Julie but Brian got the last word. He offered her all his research on the holiday destinations and she realized she couldn't take the holiday away from him. Something tells me by the end of the trip, they'll be happy together after all. Dev describes Julie to Sophie in home comfort type terms while Talisa is sophisticated and exciting. Too bad he lost them both. Will he have learned his lesson? Doubt it.

Sophie is still grieving. Kevin is still clinging on to Jack, doesn't want to let him out of his sight. Can't blame him, can you? But he could have been a bit less hard on Luke. Carla seems to be playing gambling games online and now visiting the casino. That's a slippery slope. Michael's still quite cool to Gail even if he's staying with Andy and Steph. Gail didn't like seeing Michael and Eileen having a meal together but it had more to do with shock over Deirdre's death.

Nick doesn't love Erica, but he cares for her and he wants her around. Erica's a sure thing as opposed to the unknown. She loves him so she'll stick around. He admitted to Leanne he doesn't know where it's going.

David, Kylie and Max seem to be Happy Families for a Monday morning. I don't think they know Callum's watching, or rather, glaring from his car while Sarah witters on. She asks if he'd be jealous if she flirted with punters in the pub. Looks like he's jealous all right, but not of her. David seems easier with Kylie until she mentions the therapy session, that seems to bring him back down to earth. Callum can't seem to leave her alone, either but she doesn't want to know. He did manage to lure her away, though.

Gemma was used to get her to the flat. Obviously a different flat from when she first left David and stayed with him for a few nights. He's come up in the world so as to look more respectable in court, I imagine. And he says he wants Kylie back. I doubt he actually does, he probably reckons now she's back, there's no way he'll get custody or access to Max. Callum is the last person Kylie should be with and he certainly is trying to push all her insecurity buttons but she stood up to him. David was furious she missed the session and didn't contact him but at least she was honest with him. He's skeptical.

And finally, she called him on the fact that he kicked *her* out. If David isn't careful, he'll lose her for good and she'll take the kids. It took her nearly walking out for him to back down. He's going to try for real this time. Meanwhile, Sarah's falling harder for Callum who's really just spinning her a line but she won't be told even though Kylie did try. Even though Sarah said she didn't believe Kylie, there was doubt written all over her face, and she came up one side of Callum and down the other. Well, naturally he's going to deny coming on to Kylie, isn't he? She's dumped.

Now Sarah figures she might as well go back to Italy. No job, probably lost the flat. But you got dumped so run for the hills. Bethany is *not* going to let that happen. She went to Callum and discovered he is dealing and boy, he wasn't happy about it. She blackmailed him into getting back with Sarah and he managed it. And let me get this straight. Bethany is willing to let her mother date a drug dealer so she won't have to move back to Italy. Nice.

David and Kylie decide they need to hatch a plan. Set up Callum so that Sarah catches him with Kylie. That could be very dangerous.

Tracy wasn't arrested after all. Liz reckons if all this flushes Tony out, it will be worth the aggravation if Tracy finds out Liz informed. Liz admitted it, and why and Tracy had to admit later she wants Tony out, too. Poor Jason feels like he's caught in the middle.

The bailiffs aren't going away so Roy offers to pay except it's over 3000 pounds. She wouldn't let him so in go the bailiffs. Guess what? if there's anything there worth taking, they couldn't find it. She's a hoarder and it got far worse after her husband died. Isn't Roy lovely, letting her know she's got friends.
Roy shows up bright and early, a roll of garbage bags in hand but Cathy is reluctant to accept his help. She's probably not really ready to let go of her stuff. I don't know about her hoarding getting worse since her husband died if there's 5 year old newspapers in her house. She's very tetchy and defensive. Roy refuses to turn her back on Cathy but Carla thinks he's doing it for himself, not her. Cathy did apologize, the next day.

Leanne meets Dan the Brewery Man but it looks like she recognized him and he did her as well though as a different name. Turns out Dan the Brewery Man was a customer of Leanne's when she was a prostitute and he tried to beat her up. No wonder she's scared. And he's scared too, that she'll tell Liz. He promises he's changed. I have my doubts. He's already proven to be a bad loser. Leanne was going to tell Liz the truth. So in spite of him saying he's changed, he hasn't really. His counter is to threaten to tell Simon the truth. Point, Dan.

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