The Archers: Tally-Ho for the Hunt Ball! Will Justin return from Scotland with the Gay Gordons? Will Adam feel a right Charlie? Discussion #81

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, R4, for the title (again!).

I'm your temporary host while PseudoBadger is on her sabbatical / prison term / secret mission.

Old hands and complete newbies all welcome.

Spoilers (eg Radio Times descriptions of future programmes) not welcome.

When will Matt reappear? Before / during / after the wedding?

The floor is yours...

And Matt ( insert where applicable) cackle.

Just listened to Pip/Toby exchange. Cringe! and ha, ha, Pip! with luck, the mortification will drive her out of Ambridge to get work in a farm elsewhere - ooh, Brazil wouldn't be too far.

I must say, I enjoyed Toby telling Pip to get lost. That's one personality transplant I'm not objecting to.

Didn't the Dopeys buy Pip a car for her 18th or similar? What did they do for Josh's?

Also, I am intrigued by the posts "I am like Kate'. In what way do the posters who think they are like Kate, think they are like Kate?

For what it's worth, I quite enjoy Kate. Yes she's staggeringly self-centred, but she's also good fun. I can see why Roy found her sexy. I also suspect that a lot of that ditziness is highly strategic - 'they think I'm such an airhead, so I'll play that one to the hilt and get what I want anyway."

I was wondering that too Cromwell. I think of it as a matter of pride that I am not like Kate.

Things I have in common with Kate:

Followed a vegan diet (for a few months)
Don't approve of hunting or shooting game (putting me at odds with many of my family)
Have always recoiled in horror at the thought of going to a Hunt Ball
Have been known to bore on about the benefits of soya milk ...
Would quite like to have my own yurt (but can't afford one)
First child conceived out of wedlock

Ways I am different from her (I hope):
Not self-centred
Not into yoga
Am very materialistic about birthday presents
Think I'm quite a relaxed parent and also engage with my kids a lot
Married to the same man happily for 17 years & counting
Earn a decent living off my own bat

Do you skip from continent to continent abandoning children? 😆 If not, you are safe from being Kate.

Ah, OK. Well, ways in which I am like Kate:
into yoga
first child born out of wedlock (although I was with his father, which I don't think Kate was, was she?)

sometimes barge wholesale over my children's viewpoint and wishes when I believe my solution and viewpoint is actually the correct one

Self-centred? hmm... well, I"m probably averagely self-centred, if not quite on the heroic, monumental scale of Kate

Not like Kate
enthusiastic meat eater
happy to shoot things, provided I'm going to eat them
happily married (second time around - first time was grim! so maybe both like and unlike Kate on that score)
not into adultery
earn a decent living off my own bat (although no wealthy family in the background to make any other option possible, so needn't congratulate myself too enthusiastically on that score).

I'm not at all like Susan though. Or Helen!

Have you ever thought you might be Jennifer crossed with Pat and Ruth?
[ducks]

Lily was awful with Noluthando. >Cringe< Her Legally Blonde schtick has tipped over into insular, ignorant rah-dom.

Get rid of Lily and hmm... Harrison?
Bring back Jazzer and Ben. And Bethany.
SATTC by having Clarrie break her chains and start a new life and her own successful business.

Hmm...ways in which I am like Jennifer
good cook
-nope, that's it.
Like Pat
Enjoy yoghurt
But I think organic is bad for sustainable food production, so no.

Ruth????!!!! Shoot me now.

Actually I think I am more like Lynda.

I aspired to be Caroline but suspect I have some Shula as I do a good martyr when I feel my family aren't expressing heartfelt thanks for all I do.

There may be some Jill lemon drizzle in me too.

I do yoga, but this does not make me like Kate; it illustrates the massive range of people who do yoga.

Loved Helen correcting "could of" to "could have". Scriptwriter after my own heart!

I enjoyed that episode. Well done, Susan!

Obviously Helen and Tom should have discussed staffing and whether to take on extra staff/increase pay to Susan and Clarrie in return for asking them to take on extra work, but my own work experience suggests that many managers would airily have said 'You can take that on, can't you?' in just the same way.

As to which Ambridge woman I might resemble, what a horrific thought!

I'm female and British. Beyond that, umm....

I'm happily married to a decent man, which rules half of them out straight away.
I hope I'm not a snob or social climber, which fortunately rules Jennifer and Susan out.
I don't have an annoying sniff.
I don't smoke and can't hold my drink enough to be Lilian.
I've never been vegan or even vegetarian, I don't like camping (even the luxury yurt version) and I've never abandoned my children on another continent. Phew, I can't be Kate!
I can cook beyond heating up a pizza and I've never dallied with a cowman.
I don't pronounce Toby as Toebee.
I'm too much of a coward to be a beekeeper.
I don't like cats.
I'm not interested in horses.
I'm an atheist.
I'm fortunate enough never to have had to do more than one job at a time and to have had a husband who pulls his weight at home and isn't always looking for the next scam.

I think I must be a silent character.

You didn't make a reckless dash for the car during a severe flood, did you?

What are your pies like?
Does your husband write 'odes'?

If so, I have sad news.

Dear Scriptwriters. Henwee is now nearly 6. Please go meet some 6 years olds as opposed to toddlers. Or just don't put scenes with fake child dialogue in. (Is it still Shula does the child voices?)

BTW I am a chimera -
"meat eating vegan" (due to sprog allergies) - nicely inconsistent a la Kate
Abusive controlling ex-husband - Helen
Bloody love gin - Lillian

Isn’t Henry nearly 7? He is a month older than my DS.

Cromwell I must pull you up on your opinion that organic food is bad for sustainable food production

It is the only way of having 'sustainable' food production (if my definition of sustainable is correct).

Using petroleum based fertilisers , insecticides, fungicides etc. removes all the real goodness from the soil which produces bad crops also very badly conditioned soil which Adam realised with their maize crop.. Organic is how nature does it.

Wasn't Henry born the night Nigel fell to his death? I can't believe that was nearly 7 years ago!

Neither can the scripties D^3, they think he's about 4!

What character are you most like? I suspect you might be a Robert.

I'm a combination of Kirsty and Lillian, I think. (Without the money or facelift).

But I did like Adam with Henry, suitably a bit lost, but also got Henry over any hang ups about Cricket.

I loved Clarrie and Susan getting one up on Tom and Helen (and Susan being awful with her "the art of management is managing up" bit).

Brilliant Abra1d

I fear I'm Aunty Cardboard, with a little of Lillian thrown in. Christ, what a mixture, ineffectual and over the limit