Sunday Comments, January 11

Gail is off to Italy with a great, huge suitcase. See, If i was going to Italy, I'd take an empty one and bring it back full! Poor David is reeling but Michael thinks Gail should go in spite of her reservations. He points out the rest of the family and he will be there for David. It's going to be difficult. Lily doesn't know what's going on but Max knows his mother is gone. Poor Max, as many children do, blames himself for his mother's absence. David reassures him but does he believe it?

Liz has a Christmas hangover and it sounds like she and Tony kept celebrating long after the party was over. Steve managed to sleep through the morning pub cleanup but since he did, he's back to bed. At least Liz is starting to think there's something wrong, the mood swings are too extreme. Meanwhile, Tracy is enjoying winding up Tony.

Nobody's been paid at Streetcars but guess what!? Turns out Steve has been using the business money to pay for the kit car that's been soaking him dry of funds. Oh this isn't going to go over well. Add to that the fact that Steve was supposed to take Amy to the panto but stayed in bed in a dark room instead. Steve, too, blames the bank and then goes on the attack, verbally when confronted. He's so clearly in a state and I think Liz is starting to realize it, too, except she then shouts at him for stealing. What does Steve do? Call himself an idiot...for missing the panto with Amy. Why isn't anyone getting that there's something really wrong here. All he can do is go on the attack to deflect.

New Year's Eve was horrible for Steve. Instead of giving Michelle the gift he'd bought, he heard her confirm they were over and he knew that was one more knock back that he can't emotionally afford to handle. His mother bailed out the cab firm and Steve saw the new year in, collapsed in a heap of tears. God, that was tough to watch!

Nick continues to skive off and load all the work on Steph and she's starting to kick back and stand up for herself. And Nick has the nerve to object to Leanne helping out when he doesn't seem to care about the business, too busy with Erica so he hasn't got any right to complain who Steph asks to help out.

So, Leanne's back at the Bistro and allows Gavin to stay on, having checked a reference and been told that Gavin is a good worker but he's up the creek when she decides he shouldn't be paid in cash as now, but wants to do it properly through the bank. Oh oh. This could be trouble. So instead, Gavin thinks he might have to quit but he found the real Gavin's papers at the flat and managed to talk her into paying cash rather than bank deposit.

Gavin definitely fancies Steph (and she fancies her!) even though he seemed to be trying to keep her at arms' length, because if she gets too close, his house of cards could came crashing down. They do get a New Year's kiss in, though.

Erica and Nick are still canoodling and acting like loved up teenagers. She's supposed to be leaving in a few days but her mother has had a fall and Erica thinks she will have to stay on to help her. And now both Nick and Erica are worried about the other's feelings. They only wanted a holiday fling. What happens if she stays around?

I don't think Sharif's chickens are going to be a neighbourhood favourite. Sounds like there's a rooster as well. Yasmeen made me laugh when she told Sally the chickens kept staring at her, watching her with beady eyes. I think if she has her way, they'll be in the oven crisping up nicely before New Year. Sally's determined to impress the new neighbours.

The bullying teens are still terrorizing Roy. Gary saw them out last week and this week Carla and Leanne paired up and intimidated them out the door and believe me, they wouldn't want to take on those two women. Carla might come over all posh but she grew up tough and Leanne's a Battersby. But Roy, gentle Roy reached the end of his rope with one last bout of intimidation.

And by Boxing Day, Gary is apologetic. Faye is kind to him and Owen is as vile as usual. Gary is more and more desperate to get some cash to replace Faye's headphones. Owen's bullying of Gary ramps up a notch and Gary started drinking. Gary overheard Roy telling Carla he would visit later in the afternoon and found his mother's keys to the cafe. It's still hard to believe that Gary would actually be that desperate as to rob from a friend. Maybe he thought Roy would assume the bullies did it but it all seems very contrived. And by the way, I very much doubt Roy would have left the cash in the till, he'd have put it in a safe, wouldn't he? Of course he would and did. Anyone trying to break into that might use a bit of common sense and know. Then again, i suppose most thieves aren't long on common sense are they?

Roy is very, very upset with what he's done. He describes the whole incident to the police exactly as it happened and tells them he went from fear to anger and that's why he hit Gary three more times. But Gary doesn't remember that, or else he's pretending. I reckon he might have passed out for a few seconds when he fell. He knows he did wrong but Roy blames himself even more. Owen, of course, wastes no time being sarcastic. Anna is horrified that he would steal from a friend and it's dividing the residents, some thinking Roy did the right thing and some think he went over the top.

Anna feels she didn't get the whole story and Roy was willing to comply. She even blamed Gary at first but when she realizes he went as far as he did, she turned against him. What upsets me is that Anna turned against Roy even knowing how he'd been bullied and scared and that Gary broke in. Now she's determined that it's not Gary's fault at all and now she's vindictive and won't forgive him. She might when the rent's come due. Meanwhile, after a hard year, Roy is left on his own at midnight.

Gary was certainly wrong to rob from Roy and admittedly Roy went a bit far by his own admission but it was still all down to Gary and well Gary knows it. Too bad Anna doesn't. Gary was suitably humble and apologetic, wanting to take all the blame in a lovely scene between he and Roy in the cafe. There's no hard feelings there, it's just too bad everyone else seems to have a grudge against one or the other.

Alya went running right to Gary's bedside. Gary's actions, of course, are yet another reason why Kal would disapprove and Gary knows it. Even he thinks he's bad news. Later at home, the two of them shared a sweet New Year's kiss. But it won't be easy, if they are going to make a go of it.

Continuity error: Sally told Yasmeen to come round about 3:30 didn't she? Roy was going to Carla's about the same time. But it seemed to be hours later, after dark, when Sally and Sophie were heading back to their house to get ready for the guests.

Norris has become mistrustful of all the satellites in the sky now that he can see their up there. He finds aerial photos and the one of their street shows what looks like a puff of smoke outside Number 1. The date on the photo is the date that Blanche died in Portugal. Could it be her spirit trying to get back into the house? This will likely be another obsession for our Norris, designed to drive poor Rita up the wall. He's going to light a fire under Amy's imagination, too. Amy had Norris wound right up tight when she told him she saw and experienced strange things. I See Dead People!!! He bought it, too! Excellent stuff!

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