(Do check out my post 'The Carla Connor Phenomenon' (15th July) by clicking on Carla Corner if you haven't seen it yet and aren't in that section as you read this post.) 

It's an extra-long Carla Corner today. We've got a lot to think about after the events of the last few weeks, and I want to consider what might happen next.

I'm guessing we were all in floods on Monday night? It was all very emotional, and everyone played a blinder. It's felt a bit strange watching Corrie since though, and we just have to be thankful that it's only a four-month break and not 'goodbye forever' (especially to those legs!).

I have to admit to finding their whole leaving storyline a bit far-fetched though. After the way that Peter had so cruelly told Carla to get out (and blamed the whole thing on her), how on earth could she have then believed his feeble excuse of 'not being able to lose her' and telling her that asking Leanne to get back with him was just a 'last desperate throw of the dice'?

Second best … and deep down, she knows it

What if Leanne had said YES to taking him back, Carla? Would he have given a stuff about you then? No, of course not.

Unfortunately, if you're either in love with – or infatuated by – someone you don't listen to logic or reason; you SO want to believe what they tell you that you're simply blind to the truth, and this is what has happened to Carla.

How this strong, independent, feisty woman can have allowed a man like Peter to have made her lose all sense of reality (to such an extent that she'd leave her business, lifestyle – and red wine), to agree to sail a boat across the Atlantic is a bit unrealistic – to say the least. Carla gets the jitters if she chips her nail varnish. Can we seriously believe she'd have gone with him?

She'll soon be 'all at sea'

If they'd gone to Barcelona or Monarco to boat-sit someone's luxury yacht I could have possibly believed that, but not this storyline. I also can't believe that she could have left with only one large holdall. For four months? Surely that bag wouldn't have even been big enough to hold her makeup, let-alone her clothes!

Four hours – ok, four days maximum – will probably have been enough for the doubts to have started setting in, and I predict that she'll be back: older, wiser, and furious with herself to have been taken in by a selfish, self-centered pig who simply needs someone to adore him.

I've lost count of the amount of times Peter's been called a 'selfish pig' over the last few months, and if you look back over his behaviour you'll see that's exactly what he IS. Peter's only thought (apart from himself) is of Simon, and what a storyline it'll be when he returns in November to claim both his son AND Leanne.

Blind Freddie couldn't have missed that look on Leanne's face when Nick hugged her and said they could now be the family that Simon needed. That was not a happy face. Oh, no, it's PETER she wants, and I predict here and now that that's what's going to happen. (Well, that's what I'm praying will happen, anyway!)

The clues:

Don't forget: we're not meant to know they've only gone for four months, but this is why I think they won't stay together:

* Four months away from her designer frocks, handbags and makeup?

* Four months on a boat? A woman who never leaves the house without looking drop-dead gorgeous?

* Four months away from her business: the thing that drives her?

* She's a city girl (well, Weatherfield!), and was not designed for a life away from 'civilisation'.

* Peter treated her SO badly in the couple of weeks before they left. How can that not be in her mind?

* Peter can't settle to anything, and the thought of Simon will lure him back … and back to Leanne.

* Carla told him he 'needed time and space to sort himself out'. Doesn't sound like the words of someone who's 100% committed/not coming back, does it?

No more Corrie babies please

We've got plenty of babies in the Street at the moment, and the one thing I really don't want is for Carla to come back pregnant. I've said it before: the character of 'Carla Connor' would be ruined forever if she became a mother.

It's her independence that makes her so different from all other Soap women, and is what we Carla-lovers admire about her (apart from her dazzling beauty, etc!).

PS If Rob's surname is Donovan, then Carla must have been Carla Donovan before she became Carla Connor. Not half such a good-sounding name, is it?

Carchelle Corner

Soap storylines are plotted months before we see them on screen, so I'm wondering how significant Carla leaving – having shouted at Michelle, and not 'making up' before she left, will prove to be?

We Carchelle lovers felt robbed at not seeing a final desperate hug between the pair, but – think on – what if that's all part of the plot?

In the parallel universe that we inhabit here in Carchelle Corner, this is what we need to remember:

* Carla left with Peter, but knowing that he'd tried to get back together with Leanne first.

* Four months on a boat with him will make her realise that they really have very little in common.

* The thought of having left on bad terms with Michelle will have torn her apart.

* As her infatuation with the alcoholic, smoking bookie finally abates, she'll realise that the one thing she misses more than anything is her closest friend.

* The arguments between her and Peter will intensify as both of them realise they're with the wrong person, and Carla will arrive back on the Street in November:

A) just as Michelle's at rock bottom over Ryan, and as they see each other, they fall into each other's arms and both apologise tearfully for their part in what had happened, OR

B) broken by Peter's betrayal, as she'll have found out (in yet-another of their constant arguments), that he'd been in contact with Leanne and had admitted he was missing her), and their row is forgotten as Michelle takes Carla in her arms. Either of those will do!

Carla has also accepted that Michelle had told Leanne she was leaving with Peter not just for Simon's sake, but because she KNEW that Peter wasn't right for her.

More importantly though, Michelle simply hadn't wanted her to go because she had feelings for her but knew she couldn't tell her about them while she was infatuated with Peter. Carla will have realised that she cannot trust ANY man, and that the only person she CAN trust (and the one person who loves her unconditionally), is Michelle.

Whatever scenario it is, in that first moment they embrace, there's a close-up of both of their faces showing love and relief at just being back together again. The emotion is a jolt, as it just confirms what they'd both been thinking: that their feelings were more than just a deep and loving friendship … and so their romance storyline begins.

Do we like that? This could be one of Coronation Street's biggest storylines/ratings-winners ever. Carla and Michelle would make an amazing Soap couple. There's so many possibilities that – to me – it would be a crime to let this opportunity pass by.

Soaps are very good at laying the foundations for storylines months in advance with little clues that often go unnoticed. The clues I've been pointing-out for nearly a year now might prove to have been nothing more than wishful thinking and an overactive imagination, but you could (if you chose to), combine all those clues to prove conclusively that this is a relationship destined to happen.

What's Michelle thinking here, for example? How much she misses Carla? These might be a couple of lines to add to the list:

Leanne (to Carla and Michelle): "Can you just have your domestic later?"

Michelle: "You've got no right to employ someone without asking me."

Rob: "I'm just giving her (Eva) a chance – like Carla did with you when she took YOU on."

Michelle: "Yeah, except her decision wasn't based on who she wanted to bed."

As for Carla/Carchelle Corner …

I'm not sure what to do. I feel that it might be best to give myself a break until just before Carla's return, as I don't earn any money for writing my Soapy Corners and my time would be better spent doing something which might pay me, wouldn't it?

On the other hand … if Michelle's storylines have things in them that we (as Carchelle lovers) might find relevant, then how could I NOT report back/discuss them on here?

I guess we'll have to see how it goes over the next couple of weeks.

PS I've really liked Michelle's hair this week.

Carchelle Comments

What do YOU think might happen? What would you LIKE to happen? Why not send me a comment and we can have a feedback page next week. This is YOUR page, so if you've got something to say, either leave a comment below or send me/copy me on a tweet: Twitter (@janereynolds8).

PS There's lots of other information that might interest you in both 'THE BOOK' and the 'and Finally' sections of this site.

I couldn't believe my ears when Peter started laying in to Carla like that. "I'm losing the one good thing in my life," was one of the least shout-ey but most hurtful things he said.

"What do you want? Have you forgotten one of your designer frocks?" he spat when she went back to try to patch things up. She shouldn't even have had her frocks in there in the first place. They'll stink of stale smoke by now.

"You knew that me and Si and Leanne were really happy, but you just carried on, didn't you? You just ploughed on regardless until you got what you wanted," he railed. What a pig.

"I just can't stand it any more," Carla cried, and – quite rightly – left.

Not before time, too. She should have packed her bags the very first time he started on at her. "That place might be full of horrible memories, but I cannot keep walking in here and making new ones with you," she told him in despair.

The wallpaper in Carla's flat is a horrible memory to me, but I'd rather have her there than stuck in Peter's tatty old gaff. She looked like a fish out of water there, and I'm very glad she's out of it.

PS I didn't want to put photos of them fighting up on here. We all saw it on TV; we don't need reminding of how awful it was. This is Carla Corner.  We're here to talk about our heroine, so I've chosen nice photos of her for you instead!

Best form of defence is attack

Peter's conveniently forgotten that had he been a better parent to Simon – and not had an affair – he wouldn't have lost him, but to blame it all on Carla was just shameful (but typical). He made it sound to Leanne as if SHE'D been the one doing all the running and that he was merely a 'moth to her flame'.

What a load of old rubbish. He knew exactly what he was doing, and it was so typical of Peter to try to blame somebody else for his mistakes/behaviour. He's like a small child who – even when caught in the act of drawing all over the walls, looks down at the pen in his hand and still says, 'It wasn't me'.

Please don't forgive him …

My biggest fear (and the reason I'm dreading watching next week's episodes) is that Carla will let him talk her round, forgive him and then actually leave with him. I'm sorry, but Carla would never give him another chance after finding out that he'd tried to get back together with Leanne, would she?

If she hadn't known, then fair enough, but now that she does … well, it just doesn't ring true, does it?

How could she imagine they could ever be happy again – knowing that he'd tried to get back together with Leanne? How could she ever trust him? It would eat away at her. It's almost as if he's 'had an affair' with Leanne, because he was actually thinking of the three of them being a family again. What woman could get over that? Even a doormat like me would struggle with that one, and Carla's no doormat!

Carchelle Corner

Let's try and look to the future.

Carchelle fans will have been relieved to get a bit of a fix this week. Seeing them tucked-up in the office (their little 'sanctuary') was lovely – until Carla's brother Rob suddenly rolled up with his cheeky banter and a degree in 'running an knicker factory'.

That was a stroke of luck, wasn't it: just when Carla's about to leave?

"Dangerous, this one. You should watch yourself," Stella said as Carla approached him at the bar.

"I already know that," Carla replied.

"I wasn't talking to you," she retorted cattily.

Don't get me wrong: Rob's fine (he doesn't look much like Carla, but how could you find any man gorgeous enough to actually look like her brother?), and as long as he keeps his attention turned on Eva (or anyone else, frankly) and not Michelle, we'll be fine. That is not a relationship I'd like to see happen and – besides – Michelle's got her eyes on something far more good looking than him, as you can see!

Even in this first week, they've come across as having more of a 'brother and sister' sort of friendship than a sexual one. Let's just hope it stays that way. We need Michelle to save herself for Carla, please.

Notice how Michelle reminded Carla what a waste of space Peter was? Of course you did! We Carchelle lovers are on the lookout for ANY 'sign' that we'll be able to be look back at and say, "Ah, do you remember how they looked at each other that way or said such-and-such that time?" etc, if and when the big moment actually comes!

I think Michelle looked jealous when Carla was saying that she loved Peter still. Did I imagine that? Oh, only time will tell.

Michelle's certainly looking and sounding like she'll be a worthy and formidable stand-in while Carla's away. I personally don't like how Rob's walked straight in and – just because he's a man – suddenly feels to have assumed authority over the pair of them (especially after having salvaged that contract).

I don't even remember Carla talking about a brother. Soaps do this a lot: suddenly 'invent' long-lost relatives that have never even been mentioned before. In all that stuff with Frank, there'd have been plenty of opportunity to mention a brother in prison, but I don't recall any mention of him.

I'd always imagined Carla to have no relatives. She's barely ever spoken about them (except when her mother died – so that she could be traumatised by it and drink too much in order to add weight to the Peter/affair storyline).

Anyway, never mind all that. We got to see lots of Michelle hugging and comforting Carla, and that always makes us happy. They just look so natural together, and even more so when they're close.

Surely Carchelle has to happen? The more I think about it (and see how many others agree with me), the more convinced I am that this would be an absolute gift for the writers and a guaranteed ratings winner!

PS There's lots of other information that might interest you in both 'THE BOOK' and the 'and Finally'sections of this site.