As another voice actor does a bunk in the night, is he watching them all with the eyeeeeeee .... of the TIGER? Bring back Matt unadulterated to The Archers NOW.

[PseudoBadger]

This is too much for me now. I need to meditate.

Oh, FFS, they really have jumped the shark now with ordering the robotic parlours. I'm assuming the Dopeys haven't exchanged contracts for the sale and purchase yet - (a) I would hope we'd have heard about it and (b) if they had they would know the date of completion; so you'd have to be stark staring mad to commit yourself to an order for a mahoosively expensive milking parlour to be built on land you may never own if either your vendor or purchaser pulls out. When Deavid said it "made sense" I was shouting at the radio. And then he tells Shula not to get ahead of herself with her stables empire!

Don't these SWs ever consult anyone about how these transactions work?

I'm shouting at daveed for his absolute unconcern and insensitivity for and to for his mum, whose home it was and where he was born and brought up. bastard.

Nor Ici do you start training racehorses on a whim, takes ages to get a licence and no doubt Shula would have been heavily involved in point-to-pointers before, of which we've heard nothing. I wouldn't have thought something so associated with betting would be the greatest thing to go into with a compulsive gambler husband.

Still bugging me that no mention has been made of the milk contract.

As i recall, Neil is both manager of the pig enterprise and a partner in it.

Delurking to say how good it was to hear "but you've only got one child" Helen seemed so uncertain about what Rob was saying at the start of the conversation but that didn't last long.....

Loved gloomsbury, it was hilarious, though not quite sure I understood everything.....

Without wanting to be nosy HaveYouTriedARewardChart do you know much about Vita Sackville-West? If not, reading up a little will help fill in some of the background to Gloomsbury:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vita_Sackville-West

By the way, this:

www.amazon.co.uk/Vita-The-Life-Sackville-West/dp/0753819260

is a superb biography.

Sorry for the off-topic folks.

That D.H. Lollipop has a lot to answer for ...

Back in Borcetshire we have unhatched chickens, homeless cows and an equine swimming pool dragged into the Meadow Rise recreation park and drained to accommodate various first family tents and camping stoves.

All very "Shameless".

(But at least when Dan returns he should have the right skills for survival in the wild.)

Thanks Nauticant - no, I know nothing about vsw; shall educate myself! Thanks for the links.

Oh, isn't that Rob such a lovely and kind and supportive DP? Not. In fact I'm wondering about extra-curricular uses for Shula's equine swimming pool. Rob and possibly the very efficient Tina could 'swim with the fishes'? I wonder really if Tina has another purpose in this story - other than just to mess up the business.

I think (though may be utterly wrong) there was some kind of profit-sharing agreement in Neil's contract - after Soosan stepped in obvs.

What I can't understand is why Pat didn't tell Rob to butt out, the shop is none of his business, but it's part of hers. It just doesn't make sense!

It's another character change. The old Pat would have begun "With respect Rob - " and then stripped the skin from his bones.

There's nothing in the backstory that requires her to have become so ridiculously timorous whenever he looms into view. She might not want to quarrel with Helen's bf - but that wouldn't have stopped her in the past.

Small BOOP for the SW making Shula look utterly ridiculous.

De lurking to say how much I'm loving the thread.

Furious at David for bulldozing through and throwing ££££s at robotic parlours while telling Shula to hold her horses on her plans.

I'm not a proper long term listener, was quite dedicated years ago. But for the past 5 years I have been dipping in and out of listening. (I blame the kids).
Anyway I've never really been exposed to Kate at her worst. I always knew she was self absorbed but dear lord she is vile.
If I knew a Kate in real life I would be in danger of slapping her.

Let's be having title suggestions please :)

This maths teacher wants a farmer to pop into her thread if any of you are around. :)

It was uncharacteristic of Pat not to rip out the throat of a patronising man but it's very much in character to tread softly round Helen.

I think Helen would have stood by her man if Pat had told Rob in front of her that the shop was none of his business and she was starting to get through to Helen before he entered accompanied by a slight whiff of sulphur.
As it was, Pat has now been on the receiving end of him being manipulative & patronising. She was suspicious of him before but I don't think she knew until now how over-bearing and menacing he could be.

She was taken aback, will explode when she gets home and compare notes with Tom. It's about time two or more characters discussed Rob in depth.

I've moved house a time or two and never have I bought so much as a table lamp for the new place until after exchange of contracts for sale and purchase. Ordering 100 grand's worth or more of milking parlour beforehand is insane.
There's a case for saying David's being manipulated by Pip as much as Helen is by Rob.

Thread title?
Boop Boop de Doop. Double episode Valentines Dance looms large in The Archers. Will it be a damp squibd or a conflagration? Will Charlie's kilt make another guest appearance? Speculate freely but take for granted the scene where Rob compels Helen to look dowdy.

Also, Pat has spent the last few weeks dealing with her husband being seriously injured, not knowing if he would live, driving back and forth to the hospital, and that is all mentally and physically exhausting - recognising Rob needs dealing with is one thing; summoning up the energy to do so is another, especially as now Tony's out of danger, she'll have been able to drop her guard a bit, and that's when the tiredness really hits. She knows Rob's not going to be a quick cup of tea and "yes, you're right, Tina's not working out, Helen should go back there," and she might need to summon her resources to deal with it.

I know Tony is being all positive and practising his crutches and so on, but when he's back home and not able to do anything much on the farm and recovery takes longer than he expected, and it's frustrating and so on, I hope they remember his history of depression.

Hmm ...

Might Like You Better If We [Bought a Robotic Milking Parlour] Together.

(Musical reference m'Lud...)

or

Shameless Greed and Grand Designs and (maybe) JK Doing DNA - It's The Archers; TV On Your Radio. Come and Goggle in Horror.

And FFS somebody drag Tom Daley out of the equine swimming pool. We have no idea what SOC was thinking ...

Equine swimming pool and buying a gallops was hilarious. Hobby riding stables owners don't just branch out all of a sudden into racehorse training - that's like a GP suddenly deciding he'll take up brain surgery next week! Shula has never shown the tiniest bit of interest in racing and yy to the poster who pointed out that bringing racing into the daily life of her gambling addict husband is unwise to say the least.

It was a good illustration of the general chicken counting but wasn't very realistic.

Quite agree Harry, far more likely to have gone for a super-duper equestrian centre with flash indoor arena etc than into racing. Methinks a little more research needs doing into the everyday lives of equestrian people, not to mention milk contracts.

...Still convinced there is more to the Rob and Teeena back story than meets the eye, remember how he over ruled Helens original choice of successful candidate after the Manager interviews... Had he 'known' her before? Why isn't anyone else ever present at his 'little chats ' with her? We have heard her speak haven't we, so why doesn't Pat pop in and have a bigger word with her and get the truth about Robs 'management strategy'?

Thread title: Robot milkers for cows 200 miles away, swimming pools for non-existent horses, come count your unhatched chickens here

I did buy a sofa once before we'd completed on the house purchase - but we had a negotiated clause that they would change the order and it wasn't finalised until we did complete (the covers would have changed if we'd not been able to complete).

But I love Zero's comment - well we now know what will cause the next recession!
Rob was really horrible.

Loved Gloomsbury yesterday. I think it was a repeat but this time I was listening alone in the car so got the full benefit.

I spent a lot of time in my youth ardently reading Rita S-V ( at Sackcloth-Vest) so it's a tonic to return to it in a different decade as a pastiche.