Continuing culvert conspiracies in Ambridge - discuss The Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

Won't someone please give Kenton a kick in the FA Cup Finals, and a link to Money Saving Expert?

The Fairbrethren are sons of Robin F who had an affair with Lizzie before she got together with Nigel. He in turn was Grace's nephew, I think. Can't remember...

Robin was Grace's half-brother.

Here's the story.

I loved Adam's quip. Boop moment for me.

Robin, father of the Fairbretheren, was half-sibling to Grace.

I thought that Vince was explained. GG is hosting some Estate Agent conference and Vince is there as a delegate. Hence why Eddie was trying to persuade Vince to get his co-delegates to get their booze and bar snacks off him instead of at hotel-inflated prices.
I can see that Eddie has surplus party supplies to get rid of, but it seems a bit ungracious to do it at Caroline's expense when she was fairly nice about halting the birthday bash.

Too slow, as ever!

I liked Eddie's quip: can any of us say that we really know Alex James?

I foresee a food poisoning story! I wondered if Eddie's luck was about to change with lots of work coming his way via Vince, who thinks Eddie actually lives at Grey Gables. I think Eddie might be about to blow his own cover though when Caroline chucks him out. I must confess last night's episode made me chuckle.

(de lurks)

Brazil! Massive BOOP point! You better not be toying with us script writers...

Where do they hide the writer credits. Is this a Mary Cutler week?

Am now imagining Peep as Girl From Ipanema in teeny tiny thong bikini and Brazilian wax.

Complete with sturdy calves, white ankle socks and Startrite sandals, as per her character in that TV series (Home Fires?)

She will put her pics on Facebook for the Bearfrothers to admire.

The funny thing is Daisy Badger looks exactly as I imagine Pip. But it was OldPip who tossed her mane and pouted.

I notice there's no photo for Maurice in the Who's Who.

Also - isn't it time we heard from Poppy Grundy and her cousin Keira? Surely they must be playing together by now?

I'll be really bloody annoyed if Pip ends up not taking the Webster Agricultural job. Not because I want to see the back of her (though I do!) but because it will be like Alice not going to Canada, Brenda not going to Leicester (though I suppose she got away in the end), Fallon never going to music college, Helen running the family shop i.e. most other Ambridge women never being allowed to leave the enclave and better themselves.

However I am somewhat unclear about the whole Brookfield set-up, employment wise. Pip is just about to graduate, so she needs a job. Was there actually a paid/profit-drawing job available for her at Brookfield and were Ruth and David in any way relying on her to help run the farm? She didn't at any point treat applying for Webster as if it were turning down a job from Brookfield, but equally she seems to expect to be fully involved in running it in the near future (all the talk about robot milking in Hadley Haugh). Was it expected that she'd get a job elsewhere just for a little while, and not abroad?

What was going to be the trigger for her joining the farm full time -David or Ruth retiring? It reaching some projected profitability milestone allowing it to take on more staff?

Usually the point of going to work for a big industrial outfit on a graduate scheme is to work your way up the ladder, not use it as work experience until your Mum and Dad call you home. She must have given Websters the impression that it was worth investing in training her, yet it's not really, is it?

And if she does end up not taking the job, are D&R suddenly going to match the graduate salary she'd have been on? All very ill thought-through and unsatisfactory.

Indeed JMcJ. The new blog is on Young Farmers and they mention the problem of succession.

I too wondered why Webster's would invest in someone who was clearly going to be using the experience to take back to their own farm in the not too distant future.

Not sure what they had in mind with David suggesting Pip become Dairy Manager - poor Ruth! But they (D &R) have in the past discussed how the farm might possibly have enough employment for 3 children. (It's all the fault of the haystack.)

I agree about most of that, Jessie. The bit I slightly take issue with is that the SWs treat the Ambridge women worse than the men.

Ambridge men who got away and stayed away: Dan (so far). James Bellamy doesn't count because he grew up in the Channel Islands (when not at boarding school). Auntie Chris's son Peter also doesn't count because he has never spoken on air.

Ambridge men who either never left or came back: David, Kenton, Tony, Adam, Tom, Eddie, Ed, Will, Roy, Chris.

But most of those men at least work off the land and some point or another their own land. (except Roy and Kenton and Chris at least has a rural-ish profession). The women generally aren't married to the location especially Fallon, Brenda, and Alice - arguably Helen too. Pip is the most likely to stay out of all the women.

I recall ranting about this a couple of years ago.

It used to be that the daughters of landowners had some opportunity, via either school or university or Daddy funded adventuring, to leave the village, see a bit of the world and then come back. The daughters of the non landowning labourers never had that opportunity, they rarely even took A levels - just fell into whatever job became available in the village.

Now it all seems quite confused. They've struggled both with landowning Alice and directionless Fallon. Kirsty had been to university - but as an outsider she was never allowed to make use of that. It's all so frustrating.

Is Kirsty back or was she just visiting?
Brenda seems to have escaped.

But yes it is annoying.
Abd like EE. Everyone just works on the market or does a brief stint of owning the pub.

I thought Kenton lived in Oz for a while, or is my memory playing tricks?

Gosh, Kirsty went to university? I don't remember that. Yes, good points all - few of the women have land, which makes their inability to cut the cord and get away from Ambridge even less credible than the men's.

Oh help! If you don't remember it Gasp0 ... I said "had been to" deliberately because I couldn't recall whether she completed a degree. But didn't the words "at uni" often pass her lips? I vaguely thought it was around the time she and Tom were Eco-warring.

I have no problem with the Pip scenario. Most employers take on lots of starters. Very few make it to CEO. The company expects wastage; they are probably quite relived it suits them if some of the starters drift off after a few years.
DH's boss runs his own small business. Boss's son trained up in the trade somewhere else, in a big company. He cut his teeth, learned the latest techniques and made mistakes at their cost before subsequently joining his dad as a competant fully-trained. Everyone is happy with the arrangement.
As to whether there is a job at Brookfield for Pip - they would make a job by stopping the casual labour i.e. Grundys.

Thanks you two.

Heatherpet and Auntie Cardboard are going to move in together, aren't they?

I always hoped in the dim and distant past that Mrs Antrobus of blessed memory would leave Nightingale Cottage to Roy and Hayley, as she was very fond of them, they'd been very good to her and she had no close family. Then Hayley (trained nanny) and Roy (degree in business) could have set up a day nursery. It would have been such a good storyline in lots of ways. Hayley could have taken on Emma and/or Nic as assistants and helped them to get some qualifications. A working class couple would have made good, which would have made a refreshing change. And so on and so forth.

Didn't happen, of course. How lovely it would be now, though, if somebody in the village decided to provide some sheltered housing and made it work.

Actually, lightbulb moment as I was typing that! Lilian can do it. I bet Peggy puts that to her.

D'you think the editorial team could be so clever? It would be a brilliant idea - and something to fully occupy Lil.

Although there's still the possibility of Jim ...

Frankly, no! But let's hope we're just a pair of embittered old cynics.