This month has been dominated by two main stories - the scarecrow rivalry, and the E.Coli outbreak at Pat and Tony’s.

Firstly, the scarecrow battle. It was interesting to see how all the parties reacted to the efforts to make a bigger and better scarecrow. It seems Will has forgiven Emma for everything that has gone before, whilst his hatred for Ed just keeps on getting bigger. Both parties were keen to get their extended family involved, and luckily for everyone, little Georgie managed to win from both sides. I wonder if Lewis was being somewhat diplomatic with the decision.

The rivalry was not just between the boys, as there was also baby Keira’s christening this month. Emma got in a terrible strop with Mia, who was asking all kinds of questions about the guy wearing a nightie, and the baby not particularly enjoying having water splashed on her. Inquisitive child plus grumpy Emma is not a good mix. So far, all tensions are just rumbling along nicely, but Nic’s insistence that she’s really settling in the country concerned me. Having said that, Susan was all: “It’s going to be a perfect christening, nothing’s going to go wrong,” which seemed filled with foreboding. But nothing happened. So maybe they’ll all be one big happy family now.

Pat had her hands full dealing with the environmental health officers. They shut the dairy down, narrowed the outbreak to Clarrie, and required lots of cleaning and testing before they’d even consider opening it again. Pat and Tony don’t want to fire Clarrie, but Tom and Brenda think it’s really important to have a scapegoat, to save the reputation of the business. Helen was out when they discussed this, so I suspect she might have to make the deciding vote. It’s a tough one. Normally, when there are issues in the Archers, I know which side I fall on but in this instance, I can really see how tough the call is.

Other bits and pieces this month include the car crash Jamie was not quite involved with getting sorted without him. Everyone was praising him for doing the right thing, which is fine, but have they all forgotten what a pain he was? Still, Natalie is the best influence on him possible, he’s getting on with his mum, and he’s even allowing Kenton back in his life. It’s all up, up, up for Jamie.

Farm business included Pip getting all pro-active and trying to persuade her dad to let her get involved. She wants to raise profits so she can start working there, but they are struggling with low milk yields again. David sighed and said he thinks about giving it all up. Sounds like a great plan. He can give it up, Pip can take over. Win win.

Little snippets:

• Oliver is happy to help Ed out without getting any kind of payment at all? Milking can’t be that much fun, surely.
• Rhys is moving in to the flat above the shop. Wasn’t there a big argument when Helen got it, didn’t Fallon want it or something? And then she has to give Harry advice about his love life. Bad month for Fallon.
• What is that nurse lady at The Laurels after? I don’t trust her, particularly because it sounds like she’s saying Piggy all the time.
• There was plenty of class stuff involving snobby Jennifer and gossipy Susan. Both mother-in-laws have the wrong end of the stick, and the happy couple want to do it their own way. Has it really been a year of Alice and Chris? Amazing.