29 December 2014

It is hard work, pretending to be injured

In the shop, Eifion is complaining to Colin, “It’s not easy keeping up this façade, dragging myself around like this,” but he gets little sympathy from Colin;  

"You decided to act like Hopalong Cassidy!"

“You decided to act like Hopalong Cassidy!”   Eifion says that he has made a nice profit out of it, and as Colin has spent a fortune on presents, he urges Eifion to press for more compensation, so he can get his cut.

"Robin's coming?   Is he bringing Batman?"

When Dai and Diane come in, Eifion hides out the back, as Dai announces that Robin McBryde will be coming to the celebration on Wednesday.   

Colin over-emphasises to Dai that Eifion has had the worst Christmas ever, is in terrible pain and cannot do anything for himself.

"He's had too much compensation already!"

Dai’s reaction is that it is all a scam and he has had too much compensation already;  Diane does admit that he was “slightly injured.”   Dai adds, “But not as injured as he’d be if I could prove it’s a fake!”

"The weak link is the woman and her sentiment"

When they have gone, Eifion thinks he has no chance of further money, but Colin says, “I heard Diane worrying about you – now is the time to act and squeeze the last bit of compo out of them.   The weak link is the woman and her sentiment!”

"No, don't tell the children about Meic"

In the café, Katie tells Darren she has booked a taxi for 1:30pm to take them to the airport.   Darren wants to tell the children about Meic, but Katie dissuades him.

Harri Wyn talks to Meic and Anita

Meic has a visit from Harri Wyn, the Palliative Care Nurse, who tells him it is important to have family and friends around him.   He asks if Meic wants to go into a hospice, or stay at home, and Meic is insistent upon the latter;  

“I’d like to be here when it all ends,” he answers.

"My symptoms are getting worse!"

Eifion hobbles round to Bryntirion again, and draws Dai’s attention to the list of symptoms he supplied in the Christmas card, maintaining that they are getting worse.   He receives short shrift from Dai;  

"How many hundred thousand do you have in the bank?"

“We had so many Christmas cards with letters asking for compensation that it takes a while to get through them!   Just remind us, how many hundred thousand do you have in the bank?   Diane and I have lived like poor church mice this Christmas!”

When Diane expressed some sympathy for Eifion, but says they cannot afford to pay any more, 

"I've got no sympathy whatsoever!"

Dai interrupts, “I’ve got no sympathy whatsoever!   A bit of physio and you’ll be jumping around like a ferret!”   When Eifion hobbles away, Dai accuses Diane of, “Being like a jelly baby with him!”

Harri raises the things which will need to be done

Harri discusses the need for a bed downstairs, so that Meic will be in the centre of things, and everything will be at hand.   

"Is home the right place?" asks Darren

Darren, who has joined them, wonders if home is the right place, but Harri emphasises that the hospice will be available if Meic needs it.   Meic admits it is difficult to find the right time and right place to tell friends and neighbours.

Darren announces he will stay with his father

Darren says that he will stay on in the village, while Katie and the children go back to Saskatchewan, and Harri considers he will be a help to his father.

Diane goes to visit Angela, afraid that war will break out between Eifion and Dai;  

Angela reads a very familiar list of symptoms

when Angela sees the list of symptoms enclosed with the Christmas card – “Depression, unable to get out, needs help with meals, and to cope with bills” – she assures Diane, “Leave this with me.”

Katie does not want to go back to Canada without him

Darren returns to Katie in the café and tells her that he will not be accompanying her home, as Meic is not going to a hospice, and he suspects that the end is nearer than he thought.   “He is worse than he is willing to admit – I have to stay.   You’ll have to cope without me,” but Katie is not happy about this.

"Hope their playing is better than their writing," comments Eifion

In the Deri, Colin shows Eifion a rugby ball, signed by the Scarlets Squad, which will be raffled on Wednesday night.   

"Your hands are still working, then!"

Angela arrives, and pointedly comments, “Your hands are still working, then!   You can still open envelopes and write letters!”

Dai and Diane then come in;  “Good grief, not you again!” remarks Dai.   Eifion starts hobbling to the door, saying, “I’m going – I don’t want to waste time looking at you!”

Angela tells him she wants to talk to him;  “Come home then,” he replies.   

"Isn't this yours?"

Determined, she picks up the rugby ball, shouts, “Isn’t this yours?” and throws it at him.   

What a catch! . . .

Eifion drops his crutches to catch it, then realises what he has done;  

"I knew it!" shouts Dai

as Dai shouts triumphantly, “Heavens!   I knew it!”   Eifion tries to convince them all, “My back’s better – something clicked!”

Dai’s response is, “Your neck’s going to click when I get my hands round it!”   Colin comments, “It went crunch – what a miracle,” and Angela adds, “Isn’t it just?”

"I want every penny of that compensation back!"

Eifion insists that his back was injured, but Dai shouts, “Poppycock!   I want every penny of that compensation back!”   

Angela points out the flaw in his "cunning plan"

Taking Eifion to one side, Angela points out that his list of symptoms was copied word for word from her client’s application form.   “I could lose my job over this,” she warns him.

When she volunteers Eifion to play in the veteran’s rugby team, Dai is adamant;  “He’s not contaminating a Cwmderi shirt!”

Meic bids the children a tearful goodbye

Meic hugs Alys, Wil and Katie, and they leave to pick up their bags from Sheryl’s.   Darren assures Anita that Katie understands he has to stay.

"I don't want to be suffering"

Meic confides to Darren that he does not want to be suffering when the end comes;  “I wants it to be quick when it comes – I want it under control, under my control.”

"I'll do anything – you know that"

Darren confirms that he will do anything to help his father.

26 December 2014

Debbie regains consciousness . . .

Debbie wakes up on Mark’s sofa with a terrible hangover, and asks how she came to be there.   

. . . but appears to be in a less than perfect state

Mark explains that she went on and on last night about Meic Pierce, how she would miss him, and how Anita stole him from her, then passed out.

Meic will not tell Darren about his illness

In the street, Meic tells Anita that he thinks it best not to tell Darren about his illness, but Anita reminds him, “He’s hardly forgiven you about Gabriella – would he forgive an even bigger secret?”

Arwen operates her new train

Jinx is playing with Arwen and her train, unable to understand why Ffion is making such a fuss over preparing lunch for Gethin;  

Ffion wants help preparing the meal for Gethin

she asks him to peel the potatoes.

Another full English (or Welsh) breakfast goes to waste

Debbie is unable to face her cooked breakfast, with the excuse, “I got too stuffed yesterday.”   Mark replies, “Drunk too much, you mean!   I haven’t seen you like that for years.   You’re heartbroken at losing Meic, that’s what it is.   I know how you feel – I fell for Gemma!”

"You do sound pathetic!"

Ricky comments scathingly, “You do sound pathetic when you talk about women!”   Debbie decides to go home for a shower.

Gabriella insists on taking Meic and Anita to the Deri for lunch to say thank you for everything, but Meic has been thinking that he cannot keep the truth from Darren any longer.   

Meic wants to talk to Darren in private

He asks them, “I’d like you two to disappear for an hour, so I can tell him.”

Garry asks for his money back

As Garry knocks on the door of number 9, Gethin comes out of number 7, carrying presents.   “If you can afford presents, you can pay me back what you owe!” says Garry.   Then Gwyneth opens the door and Garry apologises for yesterday;  once inside he explains, 

Garry is very apologetic . . .

“I made a mistake, and I’m sorry.”   

. . . but Gwyneth invites him to the park

Gwyneth, as part of her plan, tells him that she and Gwern are about to go to the park, so would he like to accompany them.   She has one condition though, “That you don’t hold my hand!”

"There's another reason why your mother invited you . . ."

Darren has been summoned to Meic’s, where he is told there is another reason why Anita invited them over from Canada;  he assumes that his mother is ill, but Meic explains, 

Meic tells Darren the truth

“She’s fine – the fact is, I’m ill, very ill with cancer, and unlikely to see the new baby born.   Knowing that you’ve got something to look forward to makes it easier for me to share this news with you.”

Darren takes the news very badly

Darren is very upset, but Meic tells him, “Don’t shed any tears for me – I’ve had a good life.”  

He gives his mother a hug . . .

When Anita returns and hugs him, Darren asks when he will be telling everyone else, Meic tells him that the closest friends already know.   

. . . but resents Gabriella being told before him

Darren is offended that Gabriella was told before him, and goes for a walk to clear his head.   

"That was the hardest yet"

Meic confides to Anita, “That was the hardest yet!” and she comments, 

"But there's still Kevin to be told"

“There’s only Kevin to tell now.”

Ricky tries to remember his Spanish vocabulary

Gabriella is at Mark’s, giving both him and Ricky some Spanish tuition, when Debbie returns, surprisingly rejuvenated, announcing, 

Debbie must have a miracle hangover cure

“A shower and I’m ready for another party!”   She wants to take Mark and Ricky to the Deri, but on seeing Gabriella there, she goes off on her own.

"I used to be the same when Daniel was that age"

Jinx and Arwen are busy playing trains, and Gethin remembers he was just the same with Daniel at that age.   

"How can you bear not to see him?"

Jinx asks, “How can you bear not to see him?”

Gethin tells them that he stays away for Daniel’s sake;  he and Natalie were always arguing, and, “I didn’t want him going to sleep hearing shouts and screams!”

“So is not knowing his father better?” asks Jinx, “I’d never turn my back on Arwen, no matter what happened between us!”   

"Sometimes, you should keep your opinion to yourself!"

Gethin is hurt by this, and Ffion admonishes Jinx that sometimes he should keep his opinion to himself.

Wil finds his Dad . . . 

Wil goes looking for his father, 

. . . on a bench in a shelter which has never been seen before

and finds him on a bench under a shelter.   he tells Darren that Katie wants to go to the sales;  Darren says he will be back in half an hour, but instead goes to the Deri to drown his sorrows.

Debbie comes to commiserate

As he sits alone, Debbie comes to commiserate with him;  

He maintains that Debbie dumped his father

he accuses her of finishing with his father because of the illness, but she puts him straight that Meic ended the relationship.   

"So you're not a fan of your sister?"

When Gabriella and Mark come in, Debbie remarks, “So you’re not a fan of your sister?”   Darren replies angrily, “I don’t have a sister!”

Gwern is certainly enjoying himself

Garry and Gwyneth are back from the park in high spirits, with Garry invited in for a cup of tea, and if he is lucky, a turkey sandwich.   

Garry has been beaten twice by Gwern . . . 

After being beaten twice by Gwern in a computer game, Garry tells Gwyneth he has enjoyed himself, 

. . . then Gwyneth suggests a visit to the pantomime

and is about to leave when Gwyneth says she was thinking of taking Gwern to a pantomime in Swansea tomorrow.   Garry has not been to one for years, and says he will book tickets online for them.

Ffion bids Gethin farewell

Outside the door of Cysgod y Glyn, Ffion apologises for Jinx’s attitude;  “The adoption is the only thing on his mind,” she says, and Gethin adds, “That and Arwen!”   Ffion says, “They understand each other,” he kisses her and leaves.

"It was the right decision to tell Darren"

As Anita does the washing up, Meic tells her that it was the right decision to tell Darren the truth.   “He’s a sensible man;  having them here has made my Christmas.”

Gabriella tries to build bridges . . .

As Darren collects another pint at the bar, Gabriella goes to see if he is all right, and wants to get to know him before he leaves on Monday.   

"Why would I want to get to know a stranger?"

Darren has other ideas;  “Why would I want to get to know a stranger?   You’re the daughter of some woman who had a one-night-stand with Dad!”

Mark tries, unsuccessfully, to mediate . . .

Despite Mark’s intervention, Darren continues, “Go back to Patagonia – no-one wants you here!   You’re just trying to get your claws into Dad!   

"You're just here to take advantage!"

“The truth is, you’re just here to take advantage – while I’m around, you’re not going to take advantage of anyone – especially Dad!”