Male or female, young or old - Bad Stuff can happen to you in The Archers. Discuss the perils of Ambridge life here.

[PseudoBadger]

Not exactly upbeat at the moment is it

Tom didn't take Kirsty for granted! He cheated on her the first time

Taking for granted that she would take him back/forgive him/marry him surely?

Kirsty is 36 this year. After recent events I would expect her biological clock to be ticking. It would be realistic if she gets into a rebound relationship, quickly has sprogs etc. This will last for a few decades until she finally (cos it's written in the stars ) gets together with Tom when they are 60-ish.
I'm not sure what will happen to Tom. (He was 36 on Saturday, thank heavens we were spared the usual birthday tea and hand-delivered cards malarky). If he waits, childless, in the wings that means Bridge Farm will be fought over by Johnny, Henwee and Jack. It would be ironic if Mr EmpireBuilder had no-one to pass his empire on to.

He didn't take her for granted because I don't think heaven considered her at all

He may as well be wearing a suit stitched from red flags

"Cornucopia" theme inspired by Jim. Maybe Fallon and Emma can persuade Brian and Jennifer to wear patrician Roman garb - I'm sure a purple-edged toga would go well with Brian's Gucci loafers

thank heavens we were spared the usual birthday tea

Haven't we just missed a couple of birthdays and an anniversary? Odd!

The party thing is very annoying.

For a start, it's pretty unusual to have a 'themed' party unless it's a huge one - but I think this is just a large dinner party. All that agonising over a theme - silly,

Second, if you are having caterers, there is no way you would leave it to the week of the actual party to decide the menu.

And, in my little rural corner, it would be really weird to invite the Mayor to a party like this. One of our local mayors used to be a bus driver - not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

I was just thinking the other day that a lot of the men in TA are red flag material. Tom, Eddie, Toby, Brian, and that's without even mentioning Rob.

They are all men of their though... We need a plot line where one of them discovers MN and recognises how archetypally (?) hopeless they all are...

I have been to parties where the mayor was invited...but that was just because she was a good friend. I don't think anyone invited her during her year (or another ex-mayor I know during his year) to a private party just because they were the mayor! Here the mayor is chosen by being on the council long enough - so even in a mainly Lib Dem/Conservative council we have had a labour mayor.

Tom's birthday = anniversary of John's death. Won't have been a happy day at Bridge Farm this year.

Why can't it be Tom that has the rebound relationship/pregnancy. Kirsty has said this week she wasn't that sure about becoming a mother, but Tom was excited about being a father. I suppose, if looking for a likely uterus on legs, what about the Buttons girls, or Phoebe? I can't think what other single women there are closer in age to Tom. Not saying I want this to happen ....

Maybe the SW decided to give it a miss this year so they can do full-on next year. It will be the 20th anniversary in 2018.

Tom? Phoebe ? He's twice her age!

And related to him,and shes busy doing PPE at Oxford ffs, hopefully has higher aspirations than that.well, frankly I hope the spirited Button girls do too.

Maybe he'll meet someone in brazil, if he goes.

Ive just realised I have no idea why the nuffield scholarship would be taking him to brazil. Have I hallucinated that? Wasn't it pip who was meant to be going there? Surely can't have 2 archers not going to brazil.

I thought that about Brazil, Errol! It is Brazil, I caught the end of the lunchtime repeat & thought WTF? Why Brazil again?

I've been confused about Brazil, too, because I'm sure when he was doing the application, he mentioned Scandinavia and Austria. Or at least only European destinations; I may have forgotten the exact details, but I'm pretty sure they never originally included South America.

Choosing which birthdays to celebrate was mentioned at Academic Archers when the archivists/producers were taking questions! Apparently they don't celebrate every single one, just if there is a story element.

Roy is another covered in red flags for me after his treatment of Haley. Kirsty deserves better than that (still hopeful of the SW remembering about Patrick).

Are Brazil world leaders in organic baby food? Why Brazil?

He mentioned going to a conference, so I suppose the conference just happens to be in Brazil. Maybe because it makes more sense to have a conference in a country/region with real growth prospects for organic baby food rather than in a mature market?

I loved the scenes with Jim and Emma - "I have a feeling dipping into Graves might help." Jim is a great character - so glad he has found his voice again. It was also the perfect illustration of what I was trying to describe yesterday - a little vignette of everyday life in Ambridge. Emma popping round to Jim's, tripping over Jazzer's bag, the reference to the malodorous overalls - I could picture it perfectly. No high drama, but entertaining and amusing nonetheless. It worked well because we know Jim and Emma are absolute chalk and cheese and although it was comic they weren't caricatured - the comedy sprang from what we know about them (and Jazzer) so it felt quite natural...... well I thought so anyway.

I am another for a TomKirsty outcome, yes he is/has been/ likely to continue being, a prat, but K loves him, and he her.
Roy will fall for K but will be rejected for Tom.
Sorry no to Patrick.

Yes, good to hear Jim again.

I can't understand how anyone who likes Kirsty would happily wish a lifetime of Tom on her

Glad to hear Jim again!!

Agreeing with Lillian again. I loved it when Jim and Emma came up with the cornucopia solution - it chimed in with the Rev Dr Hustler's talk at the conference, which was interesting. The lecture started off slowly and I wasn't totally convinced by the concept of 'rural theology' as a subject but I was hooked by the end. It was an interesting debate concerning the relationships between humans/God, humans/Creation and humans/other humans.
The relationship between humans and Creation (land, providence, abundance, stewardship, etc) is, it turns out, the theme of JD's party. Who knew that a party could have theological overtones.