One Flue Over The Shepherd's Hut - Discuss The Archers Here

[PseudoBadger]

I do hope Lynda has a carbon monoxide monitor in there...

If she viewed it as a trial separation it would make sense to talk to Rob before going to discuss why she felt it was necessary.

No, not necessarily. It wasn't as if she was moving to Canada the other side of the world. She was going a few miles away, to his workplace. She could have all the chats she wanted, in a safe place.

He was home late that evening yet she left the half packed case on the bed. She must have known he'd go ballistic when he saw it.
That and the tuna bake makes me think she was either setting a series of tests to confirm her suspicions or she wanted to provoke a major confrontation. Experience would tell her that he would always win in a 'rational' discussion.

Arsula has no reason whatsoever to feel anything but loathing for Helen. She barely knows her but Arse would believe she broke up Rob's marriage, snared a man to give Henry a father, couldn't cope, was always confused and miserable, threatened to kill Rob and finally stabbed him.
OTOH I don't know how Arsula could bear to be spoken to with such contempt by her husband and son for years on end.

R4 yes! Totally! If you were planning on telling him you were leaving after pudding - calmly, you don't want to give him indigestion - then you'd think by this point you'd have had at least a preliminary discussion with your mum along the lines of look, mum..... my husband is a monumental twat.

Argh! It's so silly!

If she viewed it as a trial separation it would make sense to talk to Rob before going to discuss why she felt it was necessary.

Saying this with all the authority or someone who left a twat of an ex () if you were at the stage of discussing any sort of separation, you're also at the stage when you've admitted it to yourself and are starting to admit to others. Anyone who is from a close family in a small community especially - wouldn't you want to run it all through with your mum first? Get her input? Her support? And given that your plan is to shortly turn up on her doorstep with all your worldly belongings it'd just be rude not to!

(as far as we know) and Helen hasn't (yet) made any allegations against [Rob].

That. Nothing gets better until Hell really faces up to what was happening in her life.

Sure, Helen wouldn't "necessarily" view it as necessary to talk to Rob before going for a trial separation, but it is what plenty of women do in that situation - particularly if they have been thoroughly gaslit and are still partly convinced that they're the problem, not their abuser.

But it wasn't clear where Hell was going was it? She knew her mum had become Patbot. I reckon she (wasn't in her right mind) or was just going to stay at Roy and Kirsty's till she could go somewhere more permanent.

She had every reason to believe that if she turned up at Bridge Farm with her suitcase, Pat would be straight on the phone to Rob to come and take her home again.............

Having lined up Kirsty to be on call, it looks highly likely that Helen planned to stay with Kirsty.

The SW think its awwight because Pat and Tony have been groomed by Rob. And Tony thinks Helen has a history of instability so a random stabbing is just an extreme manifestation of that.

They seem to be forgetting Kirsty's explanation. If it were my daughter, I would be clutching at the DA explanation, reading about it and going over and over events. That's what happened when John died and when Otto attacked Tony. Yes, they are in shock but they were then.

But then even Kirsty seems to be forgetting Kirsty's explanation. She has obviously told no-one or defended Helen in village conversations. No-one mentions Kirsty's involvement at all. It's just weird.

Yes exactly Bertrand.

R4 Did Helen want to tell Rob out of politeness or because she thought he would reasonably agree to her request for space or even, agree he was being unreasonable and go back to being the Rob she thought she first met. I wonder if she left her bag on the bed subconsciously, she really wanted to stay.

Oh, so many posts while I've been painstakingly tapping on my phone

Yes that's weird alright I was thinking the same about Kirsty `Gumpendorf Do the sws think we're idiots?

Happy belated anniversary

I've gone back to not listening now Rob has started speaking again, so thanks for all the updates!

Badly done, Pat and Tony. On the plus side, now they've seen what Ursula is really like, they might stop being so wet and actually do something to help their daughter. Doubtful, though.

Better late than never, or, Too little too late?

(It is the latter for me - had enough of the automatons. Hope they drown in their own poo lagoon.)

But if she was going stay with Kirsty then Roy would have been told

The lack of discussion between characters who live and work together is mind boggling

I suggested many threads back that Jess was in on it and it was all about baby stealing. This was purely based on the actress being so terrible though

We don't know that Roy wasn't told, do we? The whole leaving thing came a bit out of the blue, but there had clearly been a discussion with Kirsty that we weren't privy to.

I guess this is the problem - we don't know who has spoken to the police and what has been said

We need to hear a bit of Helen update. Is she starving herself to death in her police cell and, if so, has anyone noticed? Has she managed to have a half way sensible conversation with Anna T? What is her internal dialogue - what is going on in her mind?

hugely over-infested, but not ashamed of that fact as among friends

I think on CustardGate night Helen had originally planned to go to her parents but then decided when Kirsty turned up she would go to hers instead.

Everything -as usual - is working in Knob's favour. The only allegation of abuse against Helen is when Kirsty said that she had been told by Helen that Knob hit her. In the meantime Knob is recovering from serious injuries while Helen faces an attempted murder charge. On paper it makes sense for Henwee to return home to him. If PnT say that Knob is abusive and not to be trusted with Henwee then the response will be - so why did you take him to visit Knob in hospital? Why did you let him go to Knob's for the afternoon? etc etc

Not sure I actually care now - they're a bunch of idiots.

We need to hear a bit of Helen update. Is she starving herself to death in her police cell and, if so, has anyone noticed? Has she managed to have a half way sensible conversation with Anna T? What is her internal dialogue - what is going on in her mind?

And what about her blood pressure? After last time, when she suddenly swelled up, was rushed into hospital and given a caesarean the same evening, you would have thought there would be concern beyond making her think again about a home deliver

Pat and Tone deserve to feel utterly guilt ridden about passing their grandson over to Arse and Knob. Surely now they will see the light, Pat sounded rather panicked on the phone to Arse but no doubt Tone will just go "well Rob is his father". It's infuriating, I preferred it when he wasn't in it for ages!
I'm not sure how much weight Knob has with PR but I sense they have quite a fight on their hands
I hope Helen hears about it and it unlocks the rage in her.

I think Arsula was the one who decided to keep Henry but only to spite Pat and Tone and because she genuinely believe Knob cares about him.
Knob on the other hand wants Henry with him so he can ensure he doesn't believe the truth about him.

I agree that Helen was planning to go to Kirsty, Knobs has figured that out hence all his lesbian lovers bullshit. I think he is massively over egging it though.

Henwee TOTALLY said Arsula.

Yes! I noticed that too, made me chuckle

Yep, definately sounded like "Arsula" to me

BTW, apologies if this has been posted before, but I just found this fantastic gem - Victoria Wood's series of mini Archers episodes for Comic Relief. They are hilarious
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03rwdlx?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_the_archers&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=radio_and_music