Come and play Grand Theft Combine through the quiet Ambridge streets. And by the way, ROB IS STILL MARRIED.

[PseudoBadger]

Bolloxfest is imminent. Will this thread make it to the big day?

icimoi maybe they already have tax credits but still struggle? considering that the SWs had them visiting a food bank while working and housed.

Panzee love your archers crashing - how can people ignore that!

I want to say August Bank Holiday weekend for bolLoxfest but that might just be a guess.

I liked the line: "Freddie has stomped off to the arboretum"(?)
It seemed quintessentially The Archers.

Well I thought that Panzee but they're already building structures - why pay for extended marquee rent etc - just another example of no bloody storyline research

stillearnin, I really don't see how EdnEmmur could be struggling to this extent if they had tax credits. After all, their housing expenses are way down and I suspect their food and housekeeping expenses are heavily subsidised, they're both working, Ed persuaded Mike to pay him more and was supposed to have sorted out his accounts properly with Rooooth's help. And he's presumably still getting things like feed more cheaply by buying through David's account?

WTF is Lizzie doing confiding her problems with Freddie to Rotaboy? Surely that isn't keeping a professional distance?

Icimoi, once you've experienced ecstasy in polyester, there's no going back. Elizabeth is trying to resist but she's doomed, I'm afraid.

But Roy and Elizabeth didn't have a "professional distance" relationship before they fell into his tent. They were careful to show is that in earlier episodes. So talking to Roy about her children as she did is part of their normal working life.

More and more I'm feeling that Roy is the sort of man who loses respect for a woman after they've slept together. All this newly minted guff about wanting to look after her and protect her and provide the father figure for her children.... He seems to find her suddenly diminished - and himself all-powerful. Weird.

Elizabeth didn't sound to my ears to be entirely resistant. The tone of voice belied the words IYSWIM. He sorted out a problem with her son that was defeating her so he found her weak spot.

I assume the actors don't know where the story is going so they speak the lines as they think their character feels at the time and Lizzie sounded regretful when she turned him down. Roy's never going to give up while he thinks there's a chance.

I'm another who was cheering Rob on when he verbally grappled Charlie, who is increasingly more like a pantomime villain than interesting character. I was happier hating Rob and now we have two storylines involving single mothers being manoeuvred by men.

unitarian I thought Lizzie sounded like she was trying to extricate herself from a conversation with someone who was a bit unbalanced!

But then there did seem to be some muffled noises between her and Roy and I wasn't sure if they were hugging or kissing or something blehhhh

Do you think Roy could end up being a dangerous stalker? Whatever happens, for Hayley

Leaping from a drunken shag to offering to be a father figure to her bereaved children does seem at best optimistic. But am I right in thinking we never heard what Lizzie said when Rotaboy suggested he could get rid of the little problem of his family ties by leaving Hayley? I have a nasty feeling that they've left us in suspense deliberately, otherwise they could have had a lovely time writing a scene where Lizzie tells him not to be such an arsehole and to eff off.

Didn't Lizzie say "you mustn't think like that" to Roy's offer of leaving Hayley? I still think he's going to turn into a deranged stalker and end up boiling Topper in the Lower Loxley grape pressing vat.

Stupid me! The obvious way for Ed to find himself with a little extra money will be when Joe dies. (Hoping he has managed to hang on to a few pennies.)

And Ed's going to need money fast or he'll be in trouble. The BBC blog has helpfully answered all my questions about the business relationship between Oliver, Mike, Vicky, Ed and Berrow Farm (aka The Estate.)

I'd completely forgotten that Ed rented the extra 50 acres from Berrow Farm - not from Home Farm - when Brian was the one calling the shots at BL. As soon as Charlie remembers that....

And the blog is talking about retirement - so it's possible Mike might indeed die insted. Either way, retirement or death, it's likely that the Tuckers would be selling the bottling plant, shutting down the processing and getting rid of Vicky's cows (or at least their descendants.) If Ed can't come up with the money to take over what happens next?

Who else might want to go into partnership with him to keep the milk business going? I wonder if there's anyone who might want to leave the mega-dairy business quite soon...

Carol is about to appear on Feedback!

I think Joe will prove to be loaded. After all he hasn't paid for a meal or bought a round of drinks for decades, and he lives with his son and long-suffering DIL and has done, I think, since HisSoosan met her maker. Though he probably pays something from his pension, I'll bet he doesn't hand it all over for his board and lodgings. Only time will tell, I suppose.

I'd still like to imagine the patter of tiny feet at LL in about 8 months. And when Lizzie names the new twins Polly and Esther, or Paul (Fagash will come over all tearful at that!) and Esther if it's another boy/girl set, then EVERYONE will immediately guess who the father is. And Hayley and the girls will go to live in Brum, and Mike, Vickoi and Bethany will follow, and come to an arrangement with Hayley so she can cover some of the nights with Bethany. Everyone will be happy except Rotaboy who will have burned his bridges in all regards. I suppose he could always go to Canada. Or his sis might have contacts in Siberia and he could run a hotel there.

Could we really inflict RobtheKnob on Ed? Shame too if the series loses the Bethany story. It could be done very well, in the RIGHT hands (are you paying attention, Sean?), as she grows from babyhood, starts school etc with DS. As the mother of a now young adult with LDs, but not Down's, but with very similar difficulties to his mates with Down's, experience tells me it can get much more challenging (and so more story-worthy) when they get past the stage of everyone think 'ooh, isn't he/she cute' or 'He's doing SOO well, isn't he'. 'you'd almost never notice he wasn't normal'.ggr. But I agree something is afoot with Mike. and the repercussions could be far-ranging indeed.

thanks for linking to that zero. where did ednemma having to move in with susan and neil come into that?

it says that joe sacrificed his "coffin money" for them, so don't know how much else he would have tucked away?

Elizabeth's tone and manner towards Roy is interesting. When she is brisk and businesslike he throws a tantrum and becomes aggressive. When she isn't he makes another pass at her so it's a different form of bullying to Rob's but bullying it is in my book. I think I said in the last thread that he's a male bunny boiler but 'stalker' fits him better.

Could he be persuaded to fix a flag or something on LL's roof for Bolloxfest?

Can't remember the exact details - it was 18 months ago so Austerity Britain stuff... Were David and Ruth putting up the rent for the bungalow? Mike wasn't paying enough for the milk. Was probably only after they moved from Brookfield that Ed admitted he had no business knowledge at all and was paying top rate for everything. (Stupid ancien regime story with him hesitating to agree to bulk buy with R&D beacause it looked like charity...)

Yes, Joe was very noble but that was a while ago. And did he spend all his GG compensation money? He's always had a soft spot for Ed...

Who hasn't, Zero?

Charlie...

Yes, but he's fictional!

Are you telling me the lovely Ed is being harrassed by a fictional enemy?

So what do we think Jim has got up his sleeve to distract Charlie during his dynamic presentation on Anaerobic digesters? Adam at the back giving Come Hither signals?

What is fallons problem? She knows he wants to go out with her.

(Yes I am on holiday but have free wifi!)