Discuss The Archers here. There's hut construction, new teen arrivals, pastured eggs, pining Pip and other fun Spring-like stories to choose from.

[PseudoBadger]

Maybe if we don't look directly at the other storyline it will disappear?

Jill voice- we really should be preparing for Easter, Simnel cake anyone? And have we planned our Easter bonnets?

Tbh the one thing about Helen that has really stuck in my throat is that she never seemed overly bothered by Rob's homophobia. It made me wonder whether she has any deal breaker when it comes to men.

I get that nobody's perfect and all that, but it's not like he was showing signs of being uncomfortable - he was being really dickish (HAHAHA) about it.

And actually when Rob was grassing up Adam to Ian, he was pretty offensive as well - but I guess Ian was too much in shock to pick up on it.

Because I do whatever BYOS asks, I'm back with some facts. Only two threads in tis series have filled in eight days, the last one and the thread at the end of April 2014, but actually the latter lasted more than eight and a half days while the recent one took less than that. So to set a new record, this thread just has to get to 970 posts before Tuesday, so it looks on track to smash the record.

Looks all that Boarding school achieved something after all

Keri Davies writes about Eddie Grundy and the role of music in The Archers on the BBC blog.

Last sentence was gibberish: meant looks like all that BS discussion achieved something ...

I really don't want a boring Alf steals Grange Farm's valuables storyline. In fact I really hope he disappears over the horizon as suddenly as he's arrived.

Sorry, last post on this sub topic but I do need to qualify: I have zero problem with anyone being a man! I was referring most specifically to a particular derail possibly a thread ago where the conversation seemed to keep returning to whether there were other men, and who they might be. It's because I don't think that matters that I found that irritating and dull. And I posted tetchily because I didn't like everyone being told to move on from one topic.

I hope that makes sense. Peace and scotch eggs.

Interesting. Boarding school excitement beats the wailing bride then!

Oh I see seek. So you were using it as an example of a discussion you weren't interested in but just ignored - which I believe to be the right way!!

I'm surprised pat hasn't come up with a vegan range yet

Delurking - casual archers' listener here who has been gripped by the HelRob saga. I haven't tuned in since Tuesday, as I can't bring myself to listen to the rape scene. I think its been very cleverly and sensitively done but agree it needs to be wrapped up soon, in a way that would give any women suffering abuse hope and confidence to get out.

I did some work experience with charity dealing with DA and found the most frightening fact was that it often begins when the woman is pregnant. So you can meet a man, fall in love, be together for years thinking everything's fine - then when you're at your most vulnerable the one person who's meant to have your back can turn on you. Bloody chilling.

SexNames is there a theory as to why the abuse often starts during pregnancy? Is it because the abuser fears his partner will be more focused on the baby than them, or...?

But the first rape lead to the pregnancy.

I think the thread will be full before Tuesday, in fact it could be full by tomorrow lunch time.

Especially if we only post one sentence at a time

I think generally, the abuse escalates during pregnancy. Which it definitely has in this case.

I worry how Helen will deal with the new baby, given how it came to be. :-( that's possibly the worst part and I wonder whether that's not the one step too far for this SL..

I remember ages ago (on Facebook rather than here) predicting that Helen would get pregnant and that Rob would start hitting her around 7 months into the pregnancy.

Bloody hell Jasper I didn't know men worked to a timetable - but the first time my XH hit me (in the stomach) was when I was about 7 months pregnant

I was sad enough to go looking for that thread where we talked about a thread title nearer the likely birthdate - it was a suggestion that it should include "Don't Call the Midwife". Given that that was way before the idea of a home birth reared its head, that was amazingly prescient.

In looking I came across this previous suggestion of Pseudo's that's rather good - ""Nobody likes a noisy boy. Quiet discussion on the meaning of Obedience in The Archers here".

Sterling work Elementary!

("Noisy boy" was epic ...)

Are there many valuables to steal at Grange Farm? I thought when it was burgled (which is what lead to the house-sitting,) there were some comments about it being a good thing most stuff was in storage. So there's a limit to what Alf can nick. He'll probably take the pasting table or something.

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Anyway, I was at the ballet tonight - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty at Southampton. It's only the fact I appear to have some contagion and was avoiding doing anything which might trigger a coughing fit that stopped me from shouting our, "don't snog him! He's like Rob Tichener!" It's a good thing I didn't - ballets are not pantomimes. I fear my interpretation of the performance may have been slightly affected by seeing similarities to Rob, though.

(I downloaded the catch up and listened on the station, as I had a 30 minute wait. And I've been catching up with millions of pages of thread on the train.)

Also, I have to admit to owning an Eddie Grundy CD somewhere...

Maybe Alf is going to hitch the shepherds hut up to bartleby and disappear into the distance with clarrie a remaining jewellery and all of the cider in the back

Clarrie's remaining jewellery

Not to be misread as 'clarrie and remaining jewellery'. That would be weird

Also, I have to admit to owning an Eddie Grundy CD somewhere...

There are Eddie Grundy CDs??