Ooh, the writers of Home and Away are toying with our emotions, and no mistake. The Family Palmer were as happy as possible, and Jett was being as cute as possible, so of course something had to go wrong. Gina had some class of aneurysm. You know things are bad when you start seeing yourself as an apparition.

At least she remembered one of her other sons before disaster struck. I was half-expecting her to answer the phone with a “Xavier who?”. Poor Bandicoot and Hugo don’t get a look in.

Marilyn foresaw it all, of course. She’ll be feeling mega-guilty for days now.

Dex felt bad for taking it to the next level in the hospital. He’s obviously never seen Grey’s Anatomy. April, spurred on by the positive-thinking-vibes of her recent girls’ night, confronted him and wished him luck in the future. He just looked confused.

Well? Would you like to proclaim your love for H&A to the whole world, or at least, the Irish viewing public?

If so, and if you are between the ages of 18-24 (*sob*), leave a comment below to tell us, or email Orla at
orapple@gmail.com.

Happy birthday to Home and Away! It’s 25 years today since it first aired. Back then, Alf was but a nipper, and Gawd hadn’t saved Ireland yet. Tell us what your favourite H&A moments are in the comments! My personal favourites are Saul’s cult (I said cult), and most recently, Sid in the ditch. Milco turning up was pretty good too.

In today’s episode, The Boize went to The City to fetch Kyle. They had to wear jackets for this. A serious operation requires serious clothing, or, at least, fewer vests. After some police action, and chats to Kyle’s mate, Brax and Heath got their man. Now, what will they do with him?

Bianca is a shambles. She fell asleep at work, then went straight to the next level with Adam, in order to ensure her gear supply doesn’t dry up.

Adam is some piece of work. He’s feeding Bianca “drugs”, and told Heath it’s nothing to do with him. Eh, hello Adam? You’re obviously not a local.

What is it that attracts baddies to Summer Bay? No-one has much money. Maybe they like the beach.

Heath is concerned about Bianca, but can’t be bothered sticking around to help her, not when there’s a Braxton adventure to be had in The City. So he dumped his problems at Natalie’s door. She tried to explain that’s not how counselling works, but Heath was deaf to her protest. See ya, sucker, sez he.

I’d say Casey is raging he can’t go on the BBA (Big Braxton Adventure). At least he made up with his bezzie mate, Sasha.

Mr. JP (ah what ya got for me) provided some light relief when he made a show of Gina at school, by inviting her to lunch on bended knee. However, circumstances conspired against them, so they had to make do with dinner.

Everything is different in Summer Bay since last we visited; for instance, Jeff the chef called in sick to Angelo’s. He never does that. Sure we didn’t even know his name in 2012. AND there was a 24-hour-blackout, or shutdown, or something.

Thirdly, there was no sign of Brax, and no mention of his emigration to Ireland. I say emigration because none of those Aer Lingus or Aer Rianta ladies will let him out of the country. He better hope he gets a gent at the check-in desk.

Sasha got the wrong end of the stick when she called to Casey’s, thinking he was taking it to the next level with some young wan who was just buying a surfboard. Tut.

The surf carnival was in aid of SIDS, which, inexplicably, enraged Bianca. Heath made a great speech though. He even put on his fancy vest for it. I love how he has a wardrobe of vests. What a life.

Were you one of the lucky thousands who got to meet Darryl “Oi” Braxton, aka Steve Peacocke, this festive season? Did he say “Oi”? Did he lean on stuff? Was he topless?

A couple of kind folks have tweeted us their pics, but we just know there are more – do share!

@homeandawayie LOOK!! Lucky me :O) twitter.com/TrishaRyan/sta…

— Trisha Ryan (@TrishaRyan) December 30, 2012

@homeandawayie So happy! Haha twitter.com/aideenwalsh93/…

— Aideen Walsh (@aideenwalsh93) January 1, 2013

Happy New Year to all our lovely readers and commenters! Here are some of our stats for 2012:

Most popular posts aka We Love Charlie

• 1 Cara de mo chroi? 10 comments May 2012
• 2 Charlie’s coming back! 7 comments November 2012
• 3 Scheduled intermission 19 comments October 2012
• 4 Charlie’s a goner 16 comments February 2012
• 5 New beginnings 14 comments May 2012

Search terms

The most popular search terms on Home and Away Ireland were:

• home and away ireland
• home and away
• cara de mo chroi
• cara de mo chroi meaning
• brax irish tattoo

Most frequent commenters

The most commented on post in 2012 was Scheduled intermission

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1 PeterKevin 164 comments
• 2 Ailsa 96 comments
• 3 strikemeroan 87 comments
• 4 Ailsa 61 comments
• 5 Yabbie Creeker 53 comments

Click here for more in-depth statistics and roll on January 7th when Home and Away returns (TBTG).

Oooh, look at the turn this interview with Melissa George took, when the interviewer mentioned Home and Away!

And it’s not the first time it’s happened either. Shane definitely wouldn’t approve.

There’s going to be an Irish girl in Home and Away.

But, what’s more, she’s engaged to real-life Kane!

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THE BAYBEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

We are on hiatus for the next wee while; keep us updated on what’s going on down Summer Bay way in the comments below!

Please?