A cosy afternoon at Honeysuckle Cottage comes to an abrupt end.

Radio Times: Lynda’s drumming up support for her party.

Characters: Alistair, Brian, Clarrie, David, Eddie, Lynda, Siobhán

• Alistair is admiring the new heifer and is able to give David a copy of the Echo; the piece about Hassett Hills reads well, although it didn’t make the front page. Maybe it will cheer Debbie up; she cannot interest Brian in anything but his Hungary trip.
• Clarrie would prefer that Eddie hung his ill-gotten pheasants somewhere out of site and she hopes he did not get them from the estate; his vague answer is probably not lost on William who has (silently) joined them for lunch. Lynda calls, not to ask Joe to be Father Christmas (Jack is destined for that role), not to order a turkey (she is having an authentic Victorian goose) and not to order any more holly but to pick Clarrie’s brains about sugared plums. She is out of luck there: this is cuisine too haute for Clarrie.
• Eddie has more discerning customers but is surprised to find that his log delivery to Honeysuckle Cottage is interrupted by the arrival of Brian Aldridge, complete with a bottle of wine – he wants (you’re really going to like this one), he wants Siobhán to translate the label. Not, however, before they have got rid of Eddie and emptied the bottle in front of a log fire. This cosy scene is disrupted by the arrival of Lynda on more Victorian party business, whereupon Brian beats a hasty retreat. Before he goes, Siobhán makes sure that he has her mobile number, just in case. Her muttered comment indicates that the afternoon did not go as she had planned – damn!