Ambridge is in the doldrums. When will Pip pop? Does anybody even care? And Anisha’s off, leaving Rex in the (pig) trough? Discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Sorry about the title, nothing particularly inspiring in the storylines currently

No spoilers please, there’s a thread for that.

I'm torn between being impressed by Kate and thinking she wouldn't have a business at all if it wasn't for the bank of mum and dad . I do think that she has been treated with utter contempt the last few weeks so don't blame her for getting decent legal advice.

I'm guessing A and A could sell the vet practice for a profit - surely Al could get a vet job and put his share
into his retirement fund.

The vet is at the stables so I don't know whether that would affect anything. Would Shula want rent if someone bought the business? That might make it less attractive.

For the first time ever, I am on Team Kate. Ok, so she got a leg up in the business from her parents, but then so do a lot of people and she does have a legal stake in the land anyway.
She has finally established a decent business venture in an area she know something about. And Brian is just railroading over that. And he caused this whole mess in the first place, and is expecting her business to collapse because of it - not his!
Sue, Kate, Sue!
Feel sorry for Jenny though. She should have divorced Brian YEARS ago.

Brian is just so vile to Kate. He barely acknowledged the impact on her business and hasn't asked her (or anyone, for that matter) to contribute ideas or alternatives. And Jenny just twitters about instead of talking to Brian OR Kate properly.

I'm disappointed in Adam. I usually like him.

This is such a boring storyline. No way are they going to sell the house..it will drag on for weeks. Cmon SWs get some good storylines going..which doesn’t include Fallons plastic free wedding by the way!

What business has Kate actually got? Does she employ anyone? Who looked after it whilst she went away?

There is nothing at all to suggest that she has anything other than a pin money hobby, certainly not a viable business.

This is what drives me crazy about the Archers - we never see the true scale of things. I think there is a member of staff and some therapists. There must be therapy rooms, somewhere for yoga etc.

Ffs Pip, why on earth would she spend £500 on a buggy when she could get one on eBay/free cycle/marketplace for a few quid? She was happy to get a bag of secondhand clothes last week and she doesn't seem a germ freak/"nothing but the best for my baby" type. Birth plan conversation was weird - having a birthing pool doesn't mean you can't go on to have an epidural if you need it later, just you can't have one while you're in the water.

Spiritual home def has at least one therapist, I think there was another who upped and left when the contamination story broke, and there's some kind of manager as Brian (?) complained about Kate just upping and leaving to go on her trip leaving Lucy (??) to run the show.

Well she wants reed diffusers and nice music so I'm guessing it'll be the Gin distillery or Josh's tractor shed.

Brian distinctly said he loaned Kate the land in this episode. At what point did it become hers? Was it when the partnership/whatever was formed?

As for the Pipling's £500 buggy, surely the bank of mum and dad will find that?

Why did Ruth say that Rickyard needed spring cleaning when all she has to do is wait for Pip's nesting instincts to kick in?

On the other hand.....

Thank you for this post.
I too have been puzzled by the sudden demise of Shula and Alistair's marriage. I wonder if they might yet be reunited ?

Listening to the film yesterday, with Alice falling asleep and not hearing the smoke detector, I definitely thought more drunken stupor than pregnant.

I thought that Alice was really sneery towards Kate in the partners meeting too. Felt very sorry for Jenny crying while out for lunch - constantly mediating between stroppy and strong-willed family members an underestimated burden.

I am 100% with you, ANut, about Alice's drunken stupor. Leaving hob on and passing out is classic behaviour. I think they are doing well to have a slow, steady build on this story....

What is already happening on the piece of land Brian wants to sell. Is it being farmed or grazed. I think I might have missed something.

Doesn't Kate have therapy yurts rather than rooms? I've been assuming a changing cast of therapists coming in for odd days/afternoons/mornings, paying for use of a yurt in the same way that I gather some hairdressers pay for a chair in a salon.

This is based on the way that a complementary therapy place near us appears to work, based in a boring old building rather than a yurt, but otherwise not too dissimilar. Some years ago, someone offered colour therapy there. As far as I could make out, you paid to spend an hour with a therapist who showed you a lot of bottles of coloured water or oil and you got to pick your favourites and take them away with you. You may have had to come back after a few days to talk about the experience of having these coloured liquids in your life, but I could have made that bit up, as the whole thing seemed so bizarre I could hardly believe anyone would think this was a viable business to go into.

Oddly, it rapidly disappeared from the programme of events.

If they sell Home Farm, will they move to The Green?

I'd give good money to hear Jennifer trying to make the best of living in an ex-council house on the Green. Susan would be absolutely unbearable if that happened, in a compulsive listening way.

(Just to make it crystal clear, I'm not implying there's anything awful about social housing. We lived in a council house when I was a child. Just that Jennifer is a dreadful snob and would hate it.)

I wonder how much the kitchen would get on eBay.Probably not enough anyway.

If Alice were pregnant she would have smelt that burning hob a mile off.

There is no way Brian Jennifer are moving out of Home Farm any more than David and Ruth were moving out of Brookfield.

Tonight's Saccharine drivel was brought to you courtesy of Tony Archer.

It was awful, wasn't it. And the SW overuse compare&contrast, too.

I'm actually struggling to remember what happened tonight, although it's coming back to me I did like the bit between Lynda and Freddie. Also, it was good to hear Tony again.