We love Charlie. But we want Adam and Ian to get married. What will happen in Ambridge in the pre-Christmas thread?

[PseudoBadger]

Just listened to Friday - we are 2 weeks from Christmas and David didn't even ask whether Ruth will be back by then?

Richard Locke recognised Rob from somewhere. Rob v. disturbed by this. Was Helen upset also or was her distress caused by Shula's words?

Oh, it was him did the paternity test, was it? Helen knows about that though.

A mother of two school-age boys decides she can't be arsed to come home for Christmas??

Yes, I thought that, Itchy, and Rob is obviously very anxious to avoid him. I wonder why, if everything was ok? Didn't someone suggest on another thread that Rob might have persuaded someone else to turn up in his place?

YY to it being completely out of character for Ruth to miss Christmas with her children! And David sounded for the first time to be thinking that there is more to Ruth's visit than an interest in NZ dairy farming

Great thinking Northern let's hope you're right about Dr Locke spotting Knob's abuse of Hellin.

Does anyone know where he met Knob before, think I missed that?

Rob brought someone else with him to the paternity test? Stephan?

SoK heard the strains of the Christmas Carol from it's lair deep inside Hellin and reacted by making her so violently ill that she had to rush outside.

Further proof, if any were needed, that this is no ordinary child that she is incubating...

Richard Locke did the paternity test and it was definitely Rob. We heard it all. It was the first time Richard had been in TA for years and years. He will remember where he saw Rob before and will probably tell Shula because professional confidentiality means nothing in Ambridge.

I think Helen was upset because Rob had just effectively turned down the invitation to go to a social event on their behalf without discussion and she saw her world narrowing down even further. She can hardly be leaving the house now.

Long time listener and lurker here!

I thought that what upset Helen was Rob's refusal of Richard's house warming invitation, he's got her under virtual house arrest.

The Ruth/NZ situation is just ridiculous, but I suppose it's predictable when considered alongside the other ridiculous story lines of this year.

Having listened since I was a small child - almost from the start - I'm now keeping up with the story via these threads and avoid listening on most days.

Here's the thread from the time of the test - scroll down to Mon 06-Apr-15 19:13:29. I see I got a tad overexcited.

Rob was going to go to the docs for paternity test alone but Helen insisted on going with him for support. It wasn't clear from the scene with Dr Locke whether Helen was in the surgery as well or outside in the waiting room. Dr Locke and Rob were heard speaking together, I can't remember if Rob had to produce a sample at the time or whether he had one he made earlier to hand over.
To be fair to Rob (!) I can see why he didn't want to explain to Dr L how he recognised him in front of Pip and Shula. I thought it was a little unprofessional of the doc to be so insistent that they had met. That situation must be common for medicaltypes and their customers won't always want to be outed.

It's a week after that he does the test.

At the time of the test there were people on here who seemed to know what they were talking about who said the doctor would take a swab from the inside of the cheek. Now, if SOC decided to stick to the facts, that would mean Rob couldn't have faked it. But as we all know, SOC feels perfectly at liberty to depart from the facts if it makes a better story in his opinion.

I thought it was in the script at the time that Helen waited outside in the car.

Ge did swab his cheek. It is NOT a senen sample!!! That is a fertility test not a paternity test. It is a swab and it has to be witnessed otherwise you'd just send it off yourself.

Rob just didn't want Dr spilling the beans.

Yet more character transplants. Ruth is a pain, but I really don't believe that she'd disappear for Christmas a few weeks after her mother has died, with Ben in particular still grieving and with Josh doing UCAS entries and coming up to mock A levels. I'm getting very tired of these stupid storylines.

I thought it was a little unprofessional of the doc to be so insistent that they had met. That situation must be common for medicaltypes and their customers won't always want to be outed.

Yes - when I was seeing a counsellor, she said if we ever happened to meet in town, she wouldn't acknowledge me unless I initiated it, as some people don't want it to be known.

annie - I agree with you, doctors especially GPs must meet patients socially from time to time and I would have thought engrained professionalism would make them always pretend that they had never seen you before just to be discreet about patient confidentially.

Cross post with ebear!

I find the David and Ruth story bizarre too. Surely, even if she had made the decision to stay in NZ, she would discuss it,make sure David was happy with all the Christmas arrangements, want to talk to the children about why she couldn't be with them. And surely Pip and Ruth share emails, or via pictures on Facebook...?

the Ruth story line is UTTERLY implausible, especially after seemingly need planning akin to the Normandy Landings to move ONE old lady a few miles South

SoC is determined to shake up Brookfield. If he can't move 'em all to Prudhoe he's going to break up the core marriage.

I'm sure a doctor would never get himself into that sort of socially awkward situation of saying I know you from somewhere....... but I wonder if we're going to find out more about that test. Please let it be that Rob's faked it somehow.
There are so many things that have the potential for blowing up in his face now.

I just think that Knob is embarrassed about that whole incident, as he showed he was vulnerable. How many weeks is Hellin now? I'm still waiting for her to fall down the stairs.

I still think the big 65th hoo-hah is going to be a showdown between Helen & Rob in which she ends up being pushed falling down the stairs & losing the baby (ie proper EE 'he ain't worth it!' territory )

And if she does fall down the stairs, it will be all her fault for provoking Knob.

Sigh.

What is soc

So Ruth is concerned she's been pushed out of her family - so decides to stay away at the one big family event of the year

What a load of old bollocks