Oh. Hello. I didn't know we'd invited another The Archers thread round darling. How nice to see you. Discuss Ambridge here.

[PseudoBadger]

As tribute to the best SL at the moment...

Just marking my place.

Adam's an idiot. He knows Charlie doesn't need agricultural advice. And now we're going to have to wait for their next snog, which is coming as clear as anything.

Hi, another long time lurker here. Been listening on and off for years but really into it lately even with all the changes.

I've got some basic Qs that are bugging me though:
Where has Elizabeth gone?
Are Nolly/Seepo Kate's biological dc? I know she's a cow but how is she not more upset to have left them in SA?

Rob overacts, serious drama voice like in that phonecall. How he is with Henry is very clever though because it shows how abusers can seem so perfect to outsiders.
Hate new Pip trying to lower her voice like old Pip.
Agree that Brookfields having a milk round is so contrived, just to make David feel guilty about moving.
So silly when jolene walked in on PC Harrison, anyone else would have said sorry and closed the door not stay for a chat, he's naked ffs!
Tina was suspicious, she should've been more apologetic to Helen not arsey. Also shocked that she has a voice!

My tuppence worth...but what do I know

Elizabeth is at Lower Loxley, planning to pay off the overdraft and do lots of amazing things with her share of Brookefield, which she won't actually be getting.

Nolly & Sipho are Kate's biological children with Lukas. Phoebe is her biological child with Roy, so N&S's half-sister.

OldPip was squeaky and shrill, NewPip is an alto boy in disguise . I don't think they could have got any more disparate voices for Pip.

Absolutely agree that Tina was arse and very pissed off that Helen was picking her up on her shite shop keeping skills. Would love to know the backstory to that one.

gaslighting is where the abuser keeps telling the victim the same thing over and over again until the victim starts to believe them.
Or else they say you never told me x when you remember telling them.
Or you said y when you know that you didn't
or they say i definitely told you that something when they didn't tell you about it.
or they claim that you always do something that you don't do or that you never do something that you do do
Or even moving and hiding things
if you call them on it they just repeat their version of events over and over again it's very difficult to argue with and it makes the victim doubts their own sanity it comes from
the film gaslight where the husbandkeeps turning the gaslights upnand down and then denying to the wife that he sees any difference so she thinks she is going mad.
It is one of the staples of EA.
can't you just picture rob saying "you must be imagining it darling"
"Oh dear you must have forgotten"

Elizabeth has been reawakened as a woman and is gathering herself at Lower Loxley before she unleashes her womanly energy right across Borsetshire.

Thanks Mink an excellent explanation and a v good description of Knob's behaviour.
Re Charlie and Adam I thought it was more dramatic irony. Adam is telling Charlie he's happy with Ian, Charlie a bit disappointed, but seems to be accepting it. He's got a new gay friend and finally someone in Ambridge he can be himself with. Adam, after his lovely holiday with Ian and with a wedding to look forward to, doesn't want to take things further, it was a New Year blip ( hadn't realised Charlie was meant to be that much younger than him) with no hard feelings. But we know that Knob knows and so he's not going to get away with it and it's only a matter of time.

I think Rob will sit on it until such time as Adam, Ian & Charlie are all present

Then he will drop his bombshell, & Ian will be able to tell from their faces that it's true.

He is such a manipulative bastard

Oh! It'll be at the Valentines thing, won't it

Hmmm! Well Adam running off with Charlie is possible. I think that Ian knew about Pavel before? Or hinted that he might? What would Adam see in Charlie though? Plus we all know he belongs to enoch

I thought the Adam/ Charlie conversation was a bit cliche but not unrealistic - I have had those conversations myself because I am great at dishing out advice to my would be suitors (of yesteryear, mind) and really bad at taking it! But if Charlie was asking for a bit on the side, that is a disaster, because he really does not want that. But really? every time a gay man passes through Ambridge he wants to get in bed with Adam - Grrrr!

Also, if Rob is not Ethan's dad I will be very very cross and feel like SOC is laughing at me!

I'm finding the forgotten milk round story totally unbelievable.
My grandfather had a milk round which must have finished by about 1935 and we never tire of hearing stories... The time he was arrested for speeding (in a horse drawn milk float) must come up at every family funeral or wedding.

Especially as they all live in the same place. When did Peggy & Mrs P move to Ambridge, before Grace's death? She'd have heard/talked all about it especially when Tom got rid of the cows at Bridge Farm...

Hello Batmam - it's good to delurk once in a while

I found the scene with J'lene and PCThingy toe curling (still can't remember his name). She stayed in the bathroom far too long - it was creepy and lecherous. In my experience people scream and/or laugh in that kind of situation and exit as if pursued by a bear.

In fact, that scene was the end for me. It's official - J'lene makes my skin crawl.

yeah - and she was so pervy with him when he left - going on about goosebumps etc

SW - sexual harassment isn't funny (and neither was the boring kitchen)

Batmam Kate is able to leave her children Nolly and Sipho in SA without a second thought in the same way that she abandoned baby Phoebe with Roy all those years ago.

Lilian yes that's it. Well done for spelling it out - those thoughts were going round my head but I hadn't had time to knit them together.

Charlie's rather cute and vulnerable all of a sudden and I think he'll be devastated when Rob's malice is unleashed. I feel oddly protective towards him!

What IS Rob's problem?
Is it natural born nastiness? He doesn't actually like anyone. He seems to do harm just for the sake of it, as at the stag party. He's also supremely arrogant, thinks he knows best about everything so he orders the wrong cattle for Bridge Farm, the wrong food etc., and overrides every one else's opinion almost as a reflex.

Also, now we know the price of cattle, his ordering all those cows for Bridge Farm was a breathtaking liberty. Tom remained remarkably calm.

Grand Theft Otto is just brilliant.

Also, now we know the price of cattle, his ordering all those cows for Bridge Farm was a breathtaking liberty.

We know the price of Guernsey milk cows, not Aberdeen Angus beef cattle. (You can probably find recent sales prices online - I used to see them in the Farmers Weekly, but I should be getting up for work, not googling just now...)

Charlie's rather cute and vulnerable all of a sudden and I think he'll be devastated when Rob's malice is unleashed. I feel oddly protective towards him!

I like Charlie too. Rob may be stupid and malicious enough to try to drop Adam in the shit with Ian, but Charlie is his boss now, isn't he? He'd have to be exceptionally dim to drag his boss into a messy situation. Perhaps, though, he is so homophobic and out of touch that he may genuinely believe that Charlie would do anything not to have his sexuality made public and so Rob might think this not-so-secret knowledge gives him a hold over Charlie. I think - no, hope! - in that case he is in for a very nasty surprise.

How can you like Charlie! He is a cyborg, devoid of empathy, squeezing out the last dollar. He is the epitome of "I'm here from Head Office and I'm here to help you". He looks out for no-one but himself and his career ... and then wonders why he is lonely.

And Adam is pathetic. Either have the affair or don't, but stop all this rushing to Charlie's side with 'farming knowhow' and then backing off again.

Why would Rob do anything with the New Years kiss information? It won't really damage Charlie (he's a free agent) but could damage Adam which could annoy Peggoi and be the final straw that makes her change The Will.

I want to hear more about Charlie's dad.

(Actually with all the dramatic pausing last night I was all set for the revelation that he is indeed the son of Damara Capital.)

Swinecraft ...

Swinecraft and Grand Theft Otto are great. I was fairly pleased with my suggestions, but I can't top those!

Remind me again. What has Charlie actually done to help Adam? What has he done apart from appear to be a slave-driver, popping out of bushes every other minute to check progress.

Cool calculating Rob is probably savouring the info, enjoying the feeling of power, fuelling his homophobia.

Tense, angry Rob as he is now might very well let rip with it. After all, it's info he could only have got from Helen so it would probably isolate her from Adam.

Whatever the price of Aberdeen Anguses (and I have had a quick google but couldn't make any headway), buying cattle for someone else who doesn't know you're doing it is still a dead liberty.

What IS Rob's problem?

His Mummy doesn't love him enough and prefers his sister. I think that's more or less waht he's said in the past. Yes, Rob, sure, and that obviously means that now the only good woman is one you can control.