Sack the Sock - put a sock in it or pull your socks up - frankly we're a bit sick of it. The Archers is shit, discuss it here.

[PseudoBadger]

I have it on good authority that this is the thread that people enjoy more than the programme it's about

i think they play roles with each other of who they want the other person to think they are and by extension who they think the other should be. both are controlling characters in their own way, and that extends to how they want others to see them. i think they "love" each other because the other one supports and responds the outward representation of who they think they should be. (in a sort of transactional analysis way iyswim). so they think they know each other well, but actually what they know well is how they should respond to that character. they are "performing" an intimate relationship in the same way as the actors are

so when they behave "out of character" (or rather, actually within character, but not the character they want the other to see, or want to see in the other) they have to find a way to explain that to each other and themselves. rob uses it to manipulate helen back to where he wants her, claiming that it is the other people around her (not him) causing her to act "out of character", persuading her that he is the only one with her best interests at heart. helen explains to herself that rob is tired, busy, stressed out by his mad ex-wife, rotten childhood, blames herself for asking too much of him (she hasn't kept up her side of the relationship bargain by performing the perfect wife role)

that's my pop psych post for the day anyway

BoreofWhabylon, a belated thank you for the welcome. I've been trying to curb my Mumsnet obsession, so haven't been online since Sunday. I did wonder whether PseudoBadger was Leaping Badger of ML fame, though...

BOOP-Point to TA for prompting Petula's beautiful delineation of the Hell/ Rob thing.

Ooh that is interesting petula - great post

Did anyone else think that Michael Cochrane (Oliver Sterling) played Derek, the farmer David and Ruth went to visit?

He did sound very similar Sunnymeg!

If I were the dopeys I would be pissed off that pip didn't bother going to see the alternative. She wants to make the decision but shows no willing to do anything but browbeat.

If I were the Dopeys I'd be taking her quick sharp to the Doctors to get her hormones looked at.

Ha ha!

When Ruth said pip had promised to help bring boxes down from the loft I thought 'quite right, Jill needs someone burly to help'

"I would be pissed off that pip didn't bother going to see the alternative." Not as pissed off as they will be if she hassles them into some kind of scifi superfarm and then fecks off to an Brazil to find herself just as it's all getting sorted.

Yes, dyslexia of course. Ten years in education, plus functional skills at college and no one has spotted it. But diagnosed by Helen on the basis of a single note. Because according to Helen, who is obviously a world expert on special educational needs and all things teenager. (And yes Helen, I remember you trying to emotionally blackmail poor little Annette into continuing with an unwanted pregnancy because) 'it would be the making of her'. It would depend what type of school you go to.

Rough guess here, probably the same school that his sister Kylie, who got a place at to a decent university , went to. Bound to be a rubbish school. Plus all the insults about 'tee hee, Sharon is not exactly an intellectual' And, I though when P&T first met Rich he was doing well at school.

Well, I hope she stays with Rob, gets pregnant with quads THEN, at 8.5 month pregnant, finds out he really is the father of Jess's baby.

Petula, bravo! Beautiful exposition.

UpNorthAgain, Pseudo isn't Leaping Badger unless he's had a sex change and produced three children in short order! Welcome from another BBC MB exile.

thanks, I thought that was a bit waffly! It does show that they have written the SL really well if I have managed to overthink it to that degree!

I agree t doesn't bode well for pip's business management skills if she's not prepared to explore other options

Is there a way of building a non-robotic parlour that would be easier to convert to robotic in future if the opportunity/means/business reasons arose?

Between them my children have about five friends/cousins diagnosed with dyslexia between the ages of 13 and 18. It is far from unknown.

Loved that Petula.

Sunnymeg yes I thought it was Oliver Stirling!

How hard can it be to find an actor with a different voice for just one episode?

petula No, they aren't at all compatible. A robotic parlour (my phone knows those two words go together now ) is a self contained unit which can only milk one cow at a time (though like Fran and her brother you can run two or more side by side) whereas a herringbone parlour is much larger and has a pit down the middle, a bit like a garage inspection pit but not as deep. The other option, which I am surprised has not yet been mentioned, is a rotary parlour which is a continuously moving roundabout that the cows walk on and off. If you want to google, the two main types of robot are a Lely Astronaut, or a Fullwood Merlin. For the others just type herringbone milking parlour or rotary milking parlour. I am sure there will be YouTube videos of all of them!

Gosh that was a nice episode. So much hope and good news.

Felt very unfamiliar ...

Gosh. Isn't Tom clever. Scaring rich from dyslexia and Roy from depression.

Do you think newtom was trying out a more distinctive voice tonight?

Boop point - more farming and seems to be a bit more subtle than in previous months

dairyfarmerswife thank you

One of my earliest memories is holding Dad's hand at the edge of a giant pit that became the new dairy parlour. I would have been about 4. (Probably it wasn't so giant - it was about thigh high when concreted over and in use.)

Saving not scaring!!

It was nice but the whole dyslexia thing has been done badly!!!

Yes BYOS, the Cambridge dyslexia fairy will sort it all out with a bit of brown paper.

Tom has had a bit of a personality transplant, hasn't he? He always seemed to be so self centred and non empathetic and tactless, yet here he is empathising and being sensitive with Roy and John and it looks like he may be the only one really noticing what is going on with Helen. I'm not knocking any of it, I'm delighted if someone has their eyes open.

In that connection, wtf was that stuff Pat was spouting about Helen having so much on her plate with the dairy since Tony's accident? Surely the poor sod wasn't helping her run that on top of everything else he was doing?

Obviously I don't post enough on this thread.The Ambridge dyslexia fairy.