Slade

Re the Sharma’s I still feel a bit sorry for the uptight brother with everyone taking advantage of him and Priya and the other brother (the one from Coronation street) undermining him every time he tries to put his foot down or make his own decisions. Is it just me or is there sexual tension between Marlon and Moira? The way he went off on one for her not liking his food was a bit over the top. I’m finding this thing with Ryan and Katie so boring. I’m glad they’re together now so we don’t have to watch anymore of this chasing around. Interesting seeing the stuff with Debbie, her boyfriend and Kane. Kane was better this week. No point in trying to force her to stop liking Michael, she’ll come to her senses eventually. I’m guessing he didn’t finish with his fiancé. Can’t wait for the wedding. Really want to know who Michael’s going to marry. I think it was good of Paddy to take Aaron in considering that he has no obligation to do so. Glad Debbie still looked at him as a good guardian (along with Emily of course). Can’t wait to see Chas’s reaction if and when she comes back. Funny how Faye is portrayed to be a bunny boiler and although Mark has stated that he doesn’t want to be with her his actions would suggest otherwise. Maybe it’s a case of I don’t want you but nobody else can have you either…

It didn't happen ages ago and we were told it was removed temporarily and would return. Is this ever going to happen? It's been months now and personally I liked that feature. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think one of the Admins removed that feature to improve the performance of the forum website. I believe it was around the time when the erroneous IPS driver errors messages were prevalent. If you go to Board Statistics (near the bottom) > Show detailed by > Last Click or Member name you can see all the online users and which thread they are viewing at the time. Not the same I know but at least you can see who's doing what.

Yes it does thanks. Also found some character profiles on ITVs website. I’ve looked at a couple I check the rest when I’ve got time. I had to watch the omnibus this week and probably will be most weeks. Anyway firstly the Sharma’s - I actually really like Priya and the guy from Coronation street. Both are friendly and quite pleasant, although Priya does seem a bit on the wild side. I actually don’t mind the brother - the one who owns the factory. He seems like he could do with a bit of a personality transplant but I don’t think he’s a bad person. Obviously years of hardwork for his dad means that his social skills haven’t been developed very well. I really wasn’t sure whether Bob should have interfered in Gen and Jamie’s relationship like that. Don’t agree with what they did but what good could come from telling him. Anyway it’s done and he’s going to keep quiet but that’s yet another person with a secret. All it takes is for either of them to annoy him at the wrong time or for him to get drunk. Didn’t like the way Gen was with Chas. I also didn’t realise they were sisters till I checked the ITV website. Haven’t watched them long enough to make an informed judgment but I was a bit surprised the way Gen was considering. I hope it’s not a resentment jealousy thing because Gen was complaining about Jamie being the only person who showed a keen interest in her. Found Nicola’s attitude towards Chas and Carl extremely tiresome. I’m not sure if I would let a guest constantly speak to me or me girlfriend in my house like that. I don’t think they are good for each other but thought they should have stuck it out rather than going to Italy. Was more disappointed in Chas because of Aaron actually. I knew Cain thought he was being played for a fool. He’s quite perceptive at that. Can’t wait to see what he does when he (believe me he will) finds out that Debbie’s still seeing that bloke. Line of the week for me was when Cain said to Chas “I know you’ve always had bad taste but even Paddy’s better than a loser like Carl King”.

I’ve been off work this week and have watched Emmerdale properly for the first time in months. I have to say I’ve quite enjoyed it. Good seeing Cain again (and still has that effect where I can like and dislike him in the same episode) and also other characters played by well known actors/actresses. Interesting how Chastity is going out with Paddy now (or should I say was) - clearly a security thing. Lexi’s out of the picture and surprise, surprise Karl and Chastity sleep together causing the breakup of her relationship. Ashley seemed quite annoyed for most of that week, frustrated with the cricket team no doubt and unusually seemed to take this rivalry thing a bit far. Also Marlon’s been given a run for his money in the kitchen. So much catching up to do, what happened with Karl and Lexi? What happened regarding Jasmine and the bloke she killed? Why isn’t Cain behind bars? And I don’t even know what happened with Jack Sugden, Andy etc. Time to look at Wikipedia I think...

Episode 4632 for the theory and episode 4633 for the practical.

Oh dear. Leah still remains relegated to a support role. After Brendan blinded Roman I thought she was going to feature more heavily in the storyline but I guess that was more a beginning of the end for him. I really, really liked her and Roman together and every time they were on screen together I couldn’t wipe the smile of my face. It was such a shame their short lived relationship was brought to an abrupt end. At UK pace she was only in one episode last week. At times it’s frustrating because I think whenever she does more than serve food (such as her 30th for instance) she’s great. And she does scrub up very nicely if I do say so myself, especially when she socialising i.e. the baby shower.

I too loved the “bad” Amanda and believe it or not I actually liked the lying, sneaking around, using people etc. She was purposely brought in to do that, to stir things up, to be hated and made out to be the villain of the piece. I think the turning point was when she returned from Europe with Ryan and Kitty arrived and we discovered that she had miscarried her baby when she was 14 which was of course a lie fabricated by her mother to cover up the fact that Kitty sold her. We could see the pain Amanda was in and when she discovered that Belle was her daughter tried to make amends (so at least we began to see a different side to her). I know she slept with Drew and you could argue whether she should have forgiven her in such a short amount of time (let alone forgiven her at all) but they had to progress that storyline and since it is Soap Land that was the natural thing to do. Belle couldn’t carry on hating her forever. One of my favourite episodes with them was when Belle was holding the sour milk and Amanda pushed the two containers spilling it all over Belle (because she knew Belle was going to do it first) - “You know you really should be more careful”. And then later on Belle told Leah she had to go home and get changed and she let herself in to Amanda’s and poured the stale milk all over her new rug. Upon finding out Amanda stormed into the Diner and confronted her: “That was a $15000 rug you just ruined”, “”Well you ruined my 15$ shirt!”. I forgot to mention first time around that I absolutely loved Amanda and Peter together. They were one my all time favourite couples. And I actually think her being with him did her the world of good. It was he who helped her efforts to become a better person more permanent and made me love the “good” Amanda just as much, if more than the bad one. And as I said before I was so happy to see them leave together.

Since there isn’t an Amanda thread yet I’d just thought I’d start one to discuss Summer Bay's former resident Super B*tch. Personally she was one of my all time favourite characters (and I especially loved the relationship with Belle) but I’m interested to know what people think of her. Did you like her, love her, hate her etc? Please share your thoughts…

1. I do not repeat what I say about Kirsty 2. I feel kirsty hasn't changed only a bit and I do apolgise for sounding harsh or full on about Kirsty. She's an ok character. 1. Well you do about other characters i.e. Tachel and the communication thing which is why I didn’t really think it was very fair that you said what you did previously. 2. You don’t need to apologise for not liking her or expressing your dislike. That is not the issue and I apologise if it felt as though I was trying to tell you who to like or dislike. My point was you criticize other characters but when your favourite characters are criticized you object to it. You can’t have it both ways. Anyway I will try and reply more constructively to your last point. When Kirsty left the bay with Kane in 2005 she barely finished school, she was pregnant and as she mentioned in her last scene Kane was her life. She choose him over her sister, her entire family and even decided to leave a place that she loved in order to be with him. Since she returned her main priority has been her son Ollie. So much so that she was wanted to leave him with Irene so he didn’t have to be with them on the run without having a stable home as Kirsty so wished. Furthermore when Kane wanted to take off after Ollie was fit to leave the hospital, Kirsty had changed her mind. She wanted to stay in the bay and was prepared to turn herself into the authorities and risk going to jail for a shot at a normal life. I think initially when Kirsty got with Miles she had security in mind but she’s since grown to love him. She’s also assumed the mother role of the Summer Bay house and has tried to support people such as Jai, Melody and now Nicole (although there’s still a lot of work to be done regarding that). I can’t see the old Kirsty doing all of those things. I’ve also noted how some people’s attitudes have changed towards her. Some posts said they preferred Kirsty pre 2005 and others have said they liked her so much more than they did before. I’m with the former crowd i.e. I preferred the character during her first stint. Don’t get me wrong because I still really like her but I feel at the moment she has been superseded by other more recent characters. And at times she does annoy me such as when she lied about Trey initially to the police. And she had a really really bad attitude when she was being interview by the department regarding Miles’s alleged assault on Trey again and also after he showed the footage of him and Nicole sleeping together. She still has some of her old traits, i.e. being headstrong, stubborn and wanting to do things herself but I think she’s changed quite a bit since she first left which is for me the reason why I don’t love her as much as I used to but she will always remain one of my favourites.

In 2004 shortly after Kirsty fell pregnant she was diagnosed with Kidney disease. She was then presented with a situation where Flynn basically said to her she that her best chance of survival was a termination. She couldn’t decide so she ran away from the hospital then Kane and Tasha found her eventually but she miscarried the baby (quite similar to the scenario that Martha had last year). Eventually Shelly donated one of her Kidneys and she had a transplant. Something I never quite understood was that because the Kidney wasn’t her's she would have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her life (in order for her antibodies not to reject it). Now when she returned to the bay with Kane last year she said she went to Irene for help because hospitals check things i.e. Oliver. With that being the case how was she able to continue taking the drugs throughout that time without being caught out? No offensive LilyG but seriously after posting these in the Belle, Aden/Belle discussions thread How can you say that? I’ve got no problem with you disliking Kirsty or expressing you dislike for her but how can you expect people to emphasise with Belle or stop bringing up things from the past when you yourself do it? Furthermore Belle lied to Angelo, she lied about taking the drugs and got Nicole to lie for her and TBO I find that self-centred little drama queen annoying.

^^Zoe first sent Peter to the abandoned factory, (although she didn't turn up) in episode 4191. That was where she was playing mind games by leaving a series of notes and he discovered the alarm clock and bullet on top of the toilet with his name engraved on it. The episode where they faced off was 4206. She got a mention several episodes before that when Jack discovered that Peter knew she was alive and trying to track her down. That was episode 4184. We first saw when she was staying next door to Peter. Not sure what that episode was.

I liked the appearance Gardy made in his first episode, ridding into Summer Bay on the bike, deliberately speeding knowing full well Charlie would pull him over so he could try it on with her. I didn’t particularly like the way he just let himself into Roman’s house but let it pass because I thought Roman would be ok with it since he invited him to come in the first place and I quite liked their first meeting when I think he called him a “blind bat” and Roman seemed quite pleased. It’s interesting how Nicole immediately took a disliking to him, labelling him as “weird” - feminine intuition no doubt. I hated the way he was with Miles when he joined them at the Surf Club. He was blatantly rude to him and made very snide remarks. It was almost as if he had a problem with him because he felt he was a wimp and wasn’t macho enough to be friends with someone like Roman. Even though the fight had me in stitches I had real doubts about him being a good person at this point. The gripe was between Hugo and John Palmer and he had no business getting involved and the situation could have probably been diffused. I thought he was basically ok with Roman but being a tosser to everyone else. It seemed as though on a social level he had no idea how to deal with or interact with ordinary people. When he started making suggestive remarks towards Nicole I found myself raising my eyebrows at first, this was supposed to be his mate’s daughter. The thing is I’m still not sure if he was trying it on. It felt as though in his own warped sort of way he was trying to torment her for some sort of perverse pleasure. And not even in a sexual way too, simply because he wanted her to fear him. After he helped Roman to regain his site and got him drunk when he woke up in the van you could pretty much tell by the way he was looking at him that he had serious issues. Definite psychosis I thought. I hated when he blackmailed Roman and made him pull the robbery at the Off-License. And it’s worth noting that after he found out a woman had a heart attack and he couldn’t care less. From their meeting at the Diner the next day it was pretty obvious that he was just going to keep blackmailing him. After Roman got Miles to call the cops which foiled the second robbery they were going to pull, I thought it was funny the way Gardy made him and only him go back the next day in broad daylight to finish what they started. It was almost as if he didn’t really care if they got caught but saw them as being back in Afghanistan and they needed to complete one last mission. Gardy came across as though he actually wanted to kill some of the employees that Roman had locked away, maybe seeing them as soldiers, targets or even casualties of war. As Roman was one of my favourite characters by rights I should hate him HOWEVER I really loved his dry, warped sense of humour. And I have to say really enjoyed some of his scenes such when Nicole told Roman off after he and Gardy had been out all night drinking and she said “You’re blind” and Gardy replied “you can say that again”. Or after the first robbery when Gardy left and Roman caught up with him the next day and he told him about the woman’s heart attack and his response was “it’s a good thing I brought you along”. I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene in the Diner when he saw Leah (just before he followed Trey’s mum home) and made the remark about VJ needing a father figure and making suggestive marks about her being in bed alone. Really liked the stuff at Trey’s house firstly the way he was meticulously searching Trey’s bedroom to see if anyone else was there. And after Roman unmasked him he just laughed at him (knowing fully well Roman wouldn’t shop him to the cops) and just ran off. I really liked the way he put on a well spoken English accent after he shot Roman and he was looking for stuff to loot in the warehouse. I loved the way in any situation he always referred to Roman as “Hardcore”. Such as the brawl I mentioned above in the bar - “I need you hardcore”, “hardcore duck”, “hardcore it’s me, it’s me it’s me”. And I liked that he vanished without a trace. Gardy was psychotic, and in essence lacked remorse, empathy, had a complete disregard for people, was social inept and at times seemed out of touch with reality (e.g. when he scared VJ one time at Romans) but made an excellent bad guy and hats off to the actor. I would like to see him again but ONLY if they were to bring Roman back for one final stand off to facilitate a happy exit. Doubt it will happen though…

^No he finished with her. It wasn’t until Belle discovered she was in league with Ethan and she tried to kill Amanda did Peter believe she’d been setup. So after she left the bay to go back to the city he realised that he loved her and left to be with her. Presumably although they still went through with the ceremony during the wedding they didn’t sign a marriage certificate so they aren’t actually married.

Yeah aside from the fact that she was never going to win mother of the year what’s not to like about her? She was fun, humorous, drop dead gorgeous and had real character. I especially liked her when she was drunk, the way she was feeling sorry for herself was so funny. Remember the right hand she gave Christine at Jack and Martha’s engagement. Bringing her back to stir things up with Rachel and Tony would be interesting but she’s been there done that and got the T-Shirt.

You don't like hot weather Cal?

Oh brilliant. Thank you very much SkyKat.

I can’t believe I almost got something right. So presumably the last part was several weeks after the alternate Matilda returned to her own universe. It’s interesting how all the parties involved were unfaithful and I was a bit surprised you decided to do that (simply because a couple of posts you made a while back implied Ric/Mattie were one of your favourite couples i.e. when they got their happy ending). I’m wondering if the purpose of the last chapter (and more importantly the whole storyline) was actually for alternate Matilda and Kim to have a baby as presumably they couldn’t conceive. So the stuff with Kit was in fact an aside. Going back to the point I made previously about not having a larger following, I know you said you like to be different but I personally feel that if you had made Aden and Belle (or even Aden and Nicole) the main characters then things might have been different. But I respect that you are always prepared to take risks and like to sometimes deviate from the norm and are simply staying true to one of your traits as a writer.

Still feels as though there’s a chapter left. i.e. what about her sleeping with Kim (from the other Universe)? I’m wondering if she’ll come clean out of guilt. You could argue that no one in their right mind would but what if she fell pregnant? Forget it, that’s a whole other fic. Also did anything else happen with Ric and the alternate Matilda (I doubt it)? What about the origins of the pyramid? I found it interesting that it was being watched by the same person in both universes.

It’s ironic that just when I started to get back into it you decided to finish the story. I bet you only split up Ruby and Xavier because you don’t like him. I actually really liked the “sisterhood” thing although I just can’t picture that happening in the actual show but it was good to end the story with Tam feeling that she possibly made the right choice returning as I guess it was mainly centred around her.

This one keeps slipping through the net. Kit was pretty stupid trying to hit Denni like that when he had her in an armlock with a knife to her throat but perhaps she wasn't entirely sober. Do I sense that Matilda’s work is almost done? It’s a shame this story doesn’t have a larger audience but the reality is that Ric and Matilda are yesterday’s news. Things might have been different had you wrote this fic about a year ago.

Oh.That was actually meant to be Aden showing his caring side by sticking up for his friends.My bad. Welcome back, anyway. No, no, no, my bad. The way Aden was just reminded me of an episode a while back where Geoff saw him on the beech and went up to him to ask how he was and Aden was just incredibly rude to him (because he was jealous that Nicole fancied Geoff and not him). I really liked the scene with Aden and Belle. He came across a quite selfless. Obviously still in love with her but sort of sacrificing his happiness so that he wouldn’t end up making her miserable. There are still some pretty good one-liners such as Belle’s comment to Aden regarding Nicole and Tam’s to Aden later on in that scene. I like the fact that Geoff always seems to put his foot in it i.e. at times his naivety means that doesn’t understand the use of tact. It’s just occurred to me this has been one of the longest fan fictions of yours that I’ve read. You usually go for about 12 Chapters don’t you? But the way this story is structured you could probably carry on all year. I'm glad you've decided to be different this time as I recall you once said you like to be different.

^That would be 3670 in 2004. You can watch the episode from the main website. http://www.backtothebay.net/videos/2004.shtml

I think we all know the type of person Archie is he but didn’t actually kill Danielle. It was an accident even though I still feel as though he was indirectly responsible for death. And although I was extremely angry with the whole incident and the way that he treated certain people, I’m glad Phil didn’t kill him as he had far too much to lose i.e. Ben. And I’m not sure what he did warranted a death sentence either. I have to say though I was a bit stumped with Peggie’s reaction. I understand she’s in an almost impossible situation (as she’s now stuck in a marriage she can’t get out of) but did she actually expect Phil to kill him and risk throwing his whole life away? Then afterwards when she chucked him out I was totally bemused. Perhaps she is starting to lose the plot. On another note I was watching a Documentary on the Mitchells on BBC three and the producers said that they had gone through every possible outcome regarding Ronnie and Danielle and ultimately they decided to kill her off to save Ronnie’s character as they felt that if they had bonded as mother and daughter and everything went back to relative normality this would have ruined her. So by giving Danielle to her briefly and taking her away this torment would allow her to continue to stay true to the person we have always known.

To be honest I kind of lost interest a while back. That coupled with the fact that I had a lot of work meant I missed a LOT of Chapters. I’m not sure why I didn’t really feel compelled to read the story but the only thing I can equate it to is a while back on another fic when you said that you would always consider doing a sequel etc but there were some fics that you were glad that you didn’t have to write another because at times you didn’t feel as though you knew what to do with the storyline. For me personally it felt like that a few chapters back hence my absence here. I’m glad to say that I have read all the Chapters and I can't believe I stopped reading it, although admittedly it is a lot easier to read several chapters in a row than an odd one here and there. There’s been a lot of stuff to catch up on. -Really liked the scene with Nicole and Belle in the Den when she inferred about Nicole’s double-standards regarding relationship advice -Annie escapes again (almost falling of a roof and being stuck down a storm drain were the other two times in the show) -Wow Geoff has been quite the ladies man. From Nicole to Tam and then from Tam to Melody (If he played his cards right I’m sure he could have slept with Tam as well). -Surprising I really loved that Geoff decided to sleep with Melody. And I really liked the way you described that scene and the aftermath. I’m not sure how in character that was because the time on the Island with Nicole was under very exceptional circumstances. It was a great twist and although I was never particular interested in Melody in the show I did feel up till this point she was quite redundant in this fic so it’s good that she’s got more stuff to do. -As someone already mentioned I’m not sure I agree with the way you are writing Aden. It’s just a times he felt more like the old Aden. The one you claimed at one point to have absolutely hated i.e. when he went round to confront Geoff regarding his treatment of Nicole/Melody. -Good scene with Geoff and Nicole and her understanding his reasoning for sleeping with Melody but not her during their relatinship. -Tam and Melody friends. That looks interesting. Anyway I’m going to try and keep up with this one. Great stuff.