Monday 11th Aug

That was quite emotional when Jim first arrived, probably made more so by knowing he's had a second stroke since it was filmed.

Max is such a vile person Even if he is jealous of his brother, he had no right to tear that photo up and speak to his father the way he did. I have a feeling that the coffin story that he told Tanya was just a lie, and the reason he and Jim dont get along is purely because of his jealousy over Jack.

What was all that with Suzy? She came across as someone possessed, wittering on about her dolls house. It sounded like she was also jealous of her younger brothers.

I think the whole eppy revealed quite a lot about the Branning family. Prior to this, Jack has been given the blame for creating a divide between the children. But from what Suzy said tonight, it was Max's arrival that toppled her from being daddy's favourite, then presumably Jack's arrival toppled Max. It was quite good to hear Suzy's complaints about that, all we've had up to now has been Max's whining about favouritism yet Suzy's telling it differently.

Dot just got on my nerves again. All the "It's not what I wanted", was she forgetting it was Jim's birthday and not hers? She was very self centred. I liked the scenes when Jim got out of the cab at first, Stacey was smiling so widely I thought her face was going to crack. Lovely scene.

I thought John Bardon did very well even though he didn't actually say anything other than "yeah yeah" and "Jack". Dot translating for him was very necessary, he's got a long way to go before his speech is sorted out. But I could still see the old Jim, drinking the beer Patrick gave him and checking out Yolande's behind on her way past.

Dot explaining Jim's condition to Tiffany was a nice touch. That little kid is so great, her hugs with Jim had me tearing up. And Bianca in the kitchen with Whitney. Ignoring the fact that she hadn't seen her grandad in years, her reaction was very realistic for anyone who's been in that situation. It really is upsetting to see someone diminished in that way.

Its probably worse when you havent seen someone for a while, because you have a picture in your head of the person you remember. With my mum its been a gradual deterioration so you have time to adjust and get used to seeing the person as they are.

Dot didnt annoy me as much tonight as she did in the last episode. On the surface it appeared that she was being selfish, but I can understand how hard it must have been for her, and she was also thinking of how hard it would be for Jim as well. Being there was fine, but its the going away again. I'm not saying you should compare Jim to a prisoner, but I remember watching a documentary about a prison not so long ago, and one prisoner had told his family not to visit. Although he wanted to see them, saying goodbye teared him apart, so imagine what it would have been like for Jim, who's had to say goodbye and has done nothing wrong to deserve it

That was such a sad episode really brought home how ill John bardon is. He's such a trooper though, i was really pleased to see him back even for such a short time.

I had some tears watching John, he did look happy to be back there.
Bet there was some tears behind the scenes.
Sad thing is he will understand everything and everyone, he can`t get out his words, that`s what a Aunty of mine is like she had a stroke 2 years ago, and has similar speech to Johns.