Brian is over a barrel, Alice has drained the barrel and Shula has given it to Alistair with both barrels - The Archers is not exactly a barrel of laughs at the moment.

[PseudoBadger]

Thanks to @LillianGish for the thread title.

Yesterday when Harrison and Adam were discussing the lack of a player and then spotted "someone" for a very fleeting moment I thought Rob had reappeared

Don't Youstacey That person's return would be far worse than HWNMNBM

Maybe Jake will join the cricket team and all will be well.

Why didn't Harrison phone Lexi? She needs to keep fit doesn't she?

That person's return would be far worse than HWNMNBM

He Whose Name Must Never Be Mentioned? I'm more familiar with HWMNBN, so that's a new one on me!

You've got to keep up with my ramblings Dadx3 Silly me !

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Ruaridh's first spoken words for 10 years will include the phrase "Mousey" - given that was all we heard from him then....

Re cricket - I am just waiting for Rob to come sashaying onto the pitch.

So - how could anyone be quite as stupid as Shula at the moment?

Eat

Have

I suppose she's being consistent.
She threw him over, without discussion.
She's invited him back, without discussion.
It really is about time that the worm turned.

Yes. She's not going to like it when she bumps into Anisha/Hannah/AN Other/ in the bathroom one morning, is she?

Or if Alistair gets a SHL and starts divorce proceedings.

On one of the Facebook Archers groups I find myself in a minority in thinking that Shula is behaving badly. People keep saying " she has to follow her dream", but don't like it if others point out that trampling all over other people's dreams while you do it is less appealing. Any minute she will be saying " I have grown" which is what people say when justifying doing something awful.

What dream? Frustrated, bored married person is now frustrated, bored separated person living with her husband. I don't get it.

She should have gone on that volunteering trip.

I have no idea whether she has a dream or not. But I don't think she should stay with a man she no longer loves. I think that would be appalling behaviour.

Only that she hasn't addressed her changed feelings with him - she just rather publicly dumped him then carried on as if nothing has changed, and is now upset that he isn't also carrying on as if nothing had changed.

Has Alice just had the fastest drying out ever and is no longer being an alcoholic?

I read an interview with SOC where he talked about SW all-day meetings once a month in a church hall where they decided the plots & referred to some plots being decided for 20 years hence

In his dreams. They probably had a nice big bonfire with all his 20 year plotlines the day he left.

You can just imagine Day 1 of new editor:
NE "Where are the 20-year plot projections"
SW "The what?"
NE "The plot projections"
SW "No, we never did them, that was SOC's fantasy. But that's a great idea, shall we do some? I just happen to have a few thoughts here"

I don't think she should stay with a man she no longer loves Well why continue to live with him then? Shula’s problem is she can’t bear to upset anyone - or be seen to do so - in case her halo slips. She actually thinks it’s possible to end her marriage and then carry on as if nothing has happened. She’s trying to do it nicely, but how is that even possible when it came as such a bolt from the blue to Alistair. If she really cared about making it easy for him then she would have moved out - she has enough relatives to call on as a temporary measure. I know she suggested going to Elizabeth’s, but the fairest thing would have been to just go - not ask Alistair to make that decision, he’s far too busy trying to the right thing and work out what he did wrong. She should be the one tentatively knocking and asking if it’s alright to use the washing machine/make a coffee - not blithely sitting there saying “Can’t see a problem, carry on as normal”. She reminds me of someone I know who tries to rewrite her marriage breakdown as a mutual decision, or even with her as the wronged party, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Yes and having him living with her guarantees that neither of them can actually move on.

I bet she's got cold feet about her new found freedom and wants him around for (her) comfort.

Shula's sigh when Al didn't want to share her casserole , she's really a shxx isn't she? Her lack of empathy and narcisisim is quite staggering.

Her lack of empathy and narcisism is quite staggering.

Weirdly, this is exactly what I came on to say, verbatim. Is this the MN version of menstrual cycles syncing?

Brian is just getting more pathetic by the day. And what is he up to?

I really couldn't understand where Alice's rant at Adam came from. It's not as if the decision for him to take over was unilateral.

Where have Kirsty and Philip gone

I imagine Shula sitting at her window in her cream cardigan, watching Philip drifting into the stable yard in a dreamy post coital haze to fix the wall