Ecklefecken part 1.

I absolutely love 'Dinnerladies' and I love Victoria Wood, she was a genius and my idol, and I was shocked when I saw there was no 'Dinnerladies' fandom, so here is my attempt at it, I hope that they get the thumbs up from the woman herself from that great stage in the sky! Where possible the titles come from something that was said in the 'Dinnerladies' series that fits what the story is about.

RIP Victoria, I still miss you like crazy.

This first part takes place 9 months after Tony and Bren have moved to Scotland to open a café in Tony's friend's pub. It never said in the show where in The Highlands they moved to so I picked Lochness as it's a beautiful part the country, I've also changed the location from a pub to a café as I feel it will work better for fanfiction. This is a two part story that tells of the ups and downs that have arisen, through a series of letters between Bren and Jean over the next few months as they each face new and exciting changes in their lives.

Dear Bren,

I hope life in Scotland is treating you well and that you and Tony are still happy and settled well into your new business adventure. I can't wait to come see your new cottage, when me and Stan come to Lochness on honeymoon

Well it's been all go here – firstly our Lisa is expecting a child, and although he hasn't bothered to phone let alone drive back to see much of his daughter since he moved, Keith – upon finding out the news could only reply by saying he and his Dental Scrubber will move out of Wales in order to be closer to Lisa and the baby when it comes, so tat he can be an active Grandfather, that will be a laugh - he was never an active father, but I'll leave passing judgement on his Grand parenting skills until I see them in action, although I'm not holding out much hope, neither is Lisa, but as she has said herself, she can't denia him the opportunity to get to know his Grandchild.

Stan on the other hand is ecstatic about the baby, like it was his own, he's already helping Lisa and Gary decorate their spare bedroom into a nursery, and has looking into what type of crib would be safest for the baby to sleep in, and is even considering building one if we can't find a more suitable one.

The wedding arrangements are coming along great and everything is nearly sorted, the good thing is Stan makes up his mind almost immediately on what venue and who he wanted to invite, so everything has been fairly easy to organise.

On another note – Dolly and Bob are loving Mobberley, their bungalow is lovely and in such a quiet area, Dolly

applied to join the WI, but after she had to show them her baking skills, they informed her that she wasn't WI material, I felt so sorry for her but I daren't say anything, she'd be mortified if she knew I knew.

Take care I'll hear from you soon, can't wait to see you and Tony at the wedding.

Yours Sincerely

Jean

Hi Jean,

It was lovely to get your letter. Lochness is beautiful and I am very happy here and I'm still happy with Tony, he really is the best thing to come into my life.

Before we first moved here 9 months ago it all sounded so easy, like there was a high demand for a new café here and life would be so simple and we wouldn't have to worry about anything, but it's not been a bed of roses, in fact it was a struggle to get customers through the door to begin with, we really ate into our savings and the money we had left from the sale of Tony's house, just to get by and pay the bills, we were fast running out of money, but as Tony's the stubborn type as you know, he wasn't going to quit on his dream, and it's a good job too things are starting to pick up now, thankfully, as I was on the verge of giving up but it was only the thought of leaving Tony behind that stopped me packing up and moving back to Asotwistle. We are mainly breaking even now every month, apart from last month when we made a profit too, not not a big profit, but still a profit! So things are definitely getting better.

That's great news about Lisa and Gary's baby, you'll be a fantastic Grandmother. That's terrible that Keith has only now remembered he has a daughter since he got with Bronwyn, even if she is grown woman with a husband, I'm sure she'd still like to stay in touch with her dad, not just now that she's expecting, but hopefully he steps up and makes a great Grandfather and improves as a father.

Trust Stan to get over excited that's very sweet of him, I never knew he liked kids though, he never mentioned before if he would've liked to be a dad in his younger years. The good thing about Stan, is he'll not give up looking for the right crib unless he's 100% convinced that it doesn't exist, plus I'm sure a handmade crib built by Stan would be safer than anything shop bought anyway. That's great that all the wedding arrangements are almost complete, and all with very few stress. We can't wait to see you and Stan too, and wouldn't miss your wedding for anything.

That's a shame that Dolly never got into the WI, she would've been great at lots of other things they do, it's rotten that they judged her purely on her baking skills, but I agree she'd be horrified if she finds out you know why she never got in, so I won't mention it to her either.

Anyway I will have to close for now.

Speak to you again soon.

Take care,

Love

Bren.