Movin' on up (Ed and Emmur), Movin' on out (Brian and Jenny), Time to break free (Lily from Russ, we hope), Nothing can stop *The Archers* in 2019 - Thread 97 (Joe Grundy’s age!)

[Bittermints]

Many thanks to @LilianGish for the title and to @NotdeadyetBOING for being the last threadstarter. Further thanks due to @PseudoBadger for kicking of this long, long series of Archers threads and to @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

I wonder where Brian and Jennifer will end up. I was very taken with the idea on the last thread that the mysterious Gills won't last very long and the house will be sold back to the Aldridges at a knockdown price.

I guess it must be ... tricky. SOC (iirc) used to talk about really making use of the oldest characters (which, tbf, he did with varying degrees of success: fondant fancies being a highlight, poor Joe turned figure of fun at GG a low ...) and it seems this editor wants to do more with women of Emma, Hannah and Kirsty's age. But he's pressed with having to move executive power on from one generation to the next all across Ambridge (not even just the First Family; we've got Eddie and Clarrie making post-Joe plans. ) So there's a lot of (re)positioning to be done. And it seems they can't find a way of doing it without making people say and do things we know they never would.

I'm calling this the Era of the Invisible Flood.

And Jenny up that ladder was the aural version of the opening scenes of Casualty

I know - I thought Jenny was going to come a cropper and end up doing a stint in The Laurels with Auntie Cardboard!

Why is she called Auntie Cardboard, btw?

Jane I thought that JD was going to knock a nest out of the clematis (late nesting due to a warmish winter) and really incur the wrath of Kirsty .

Shula was holding the ladder, I go up ladders and I reckon I'm about her age. She's feeling guilty about the thoughtlessness of her spouse so rather stupidly volunteered to trim their clematis, She's being neighbourly. Oh dear. No broadband, how long will they have to wait in the dark ages until it's mended?

Jane Auntie Chris's acting warranted the name 'cardboard' she's improved slightly now.

The village's other eco-warriors

There's also Fallon on her no plastic drive. She seems fairly active. Certainly does more than Kirsty.

Jenny & Brian's move next door to Kirsty & Roy is only supposed to be temporary isn't it?

So not sure why there's so much whinging & soul-searching.

Why aren't they actively looking for a new, more suitable house to buy?

Well Cromer there'll soon be "highly efficient" A.I. everywhere (Until it goes wrong, there's a massive power cut, or is smashed up by the workless and homeless human beings) who it has replaced.

I pruned the clematis about a week ago. It is quite a vigourous plant that you prune in the early months of the year to encourage new growth.

It was bloody annoying as DH and I both work from home and we need fully functioning internet. More than a 'minor inconvenience.' And it took 2 days to get it fixed, only after relentless hassling of BT

Neither Kirsty or Roy work from home. I very much doubt that Oliver will ban their using GG's pcs or wi-fi for personal use until it is fixed. The Bull and the tea - shop presumably have customer wi-fi they could connect a laptop to.

Even in your case it only took 2 days. So "minor inconvenience" describes Kirsty's situation exactly. Her reaction was ridiculous.

Neither Kirsty nor Roy.

I pruned the clematis about a week ago. It is quite a vigourous plant that you prune in the early months of the year to encourage new growth.

In a previous house, the landlord cut the clematis down to the ground in order to get rid of it. It looked fabulous that summer!

(The same does not work for telecoms cables. I hate making up cables, which is an occasional part of my job.)

there'll soon be "highly efficient" A.I. everywhere
Mike Ashley is planning to get a robot warehouse picking system at Sports Direct at Shirebrook. This is a job currently done by largely Polish agency workers on rubbish zero hours contracts. If the locals thought that by voting for Brexit they would get those jobs they might be disappointed.

I have seen robotic picking in a warehouse in Germany - nearly 10 years ago now.

I doubt that the fruit pickers at Home Farm were paid much.

For an eco warrior Kirsty has a pretty unsustainable job. Towels washed after every use, huge energy use to heat a swimming pool treated, presumably, with chemicals. She likes to talk the talk but she’s a part time armchair activist. I agree with PPs that she’s lost her way, at the moment her entire purpose is to snip at a pair of pensioners.

Kirsty got shoehorned into the health club manager job when they brought her back to play a role in the Helen storyline - it wa great to have her back but I always thought her suitability for that job was nonsense. However I can’t now for the life of me remember what she used to do in Ambridge?

Didn't Kirsty work in Ambridge Organics?

She is turning into a shrew: she moans about other people but doesn't seem to do anything actively positive

Might as well call her an embittered old spinster as well as a sexually frustrated shrew.

Kirsty works voluntarily for a local wildlife trust, she also helps at the free cafe. As long as I can remember she has been involved in stuff and not just talked about it but she isn't a leading character so we don't hear much about it. She has also been an unfailing support to Helen and other characters in the story and participates in most of Lynda's initiatives.

What does Brian do for the village? Apart from pollute it? He isn't a major employer even, he was first into zero hours, self employed contracts when they became legal and boasted about it.

Lynda tends to do very visible initiatives but Lynda wasn't working when they first arrived in the village and even now works part time. Kirsty has only herself to rely on so I'd have thought less time available.

The health club isn't overly sustainable - she has talked about her concerns with that and I would assume they might develop that point but when the Organics Shop closed down she needed a job and it was available.

If someone cut through my cable I'd be apoplectic. Roy and Kirsty both work shifts, I'd be astonished if they don't have admin/emails to respond to away from GG. And 3g reception in large areas of the countryside won't replace lost connectivity. Its definitely not a minor inconvenience these days.

We’ve all had our Kirsty stages though. She is a bit lost and said so herself. I must admit I’m finding her a bit miserable but why shouldn’t she be.

Has she been for her meal out with Philip? It's the same pub as where she was dumped by Sam and Tom.

Also you don't have to do enormous visible projects to make a difference in the world. Look at the difference kirsty made to Helen.

And Jenny up that ladder was the aural version of the opening scenes of Casualty! so true. When she sent Shula for the sharper secateurs I thought she was going to lose a finger or something.
I hate what they've done to Kirsty - I wish she'd married Tom. We would have been spared so much.

Maybe the health club just chucks the towels in a dryer after each use. I’ve heard that’s a thing in some

I can’t think of any other job Kirsty could do locally that would be more suitable to her ‚green’ and pays as well. There must be She’s got a degree. I assume it‘s something non-specific like Sociology. PS I like sociology before you all shout at me!

Seriously, Mike?

Well spotted!

But anyway, whether Kirsty fulfills her green credentials or not is essentially irrelevant, surely? The only reason for any character's continued existence is the playing out of their relative proximity to the First Family through blood, marriage or employment/business association.

She's always been attached, in one of those ways, to Bridge Farm. It's unlikely she'll be needed to rescue Helen again. So she doesn't have a purpose any more ...

She doesn't have a purpose any more - this is the problem exactly. Trying to fix her up with Philip has only made things worse - sometimes I can hardly remember who he is.