Thread 98 - Discuss The Archers here! If you don’t give a ha’porthfor Pip come and add your two penn’orth - we do enjoy a bit of change counting (especially if it’s in old money)

[Bittermints]

Many thanks to @LilianGish for the title (again - she has real gift for this!). Further thanks due to @PseudoBadger for kicking off 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. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other odd unusual views.

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!

(Change counting references arose specifically out of a nostalgic discussion on the previous thread, if anyone is intrigued.)

Now you've made me think of Lexi being like Nali (the au pair in Clare in the Community). "In my country, we don't wear coat in winter, because we are tough. When it is time to give birth, women squat down in straw and five minutes later they are up milking cow and wrestling pig".

Thanks, Bittermints, LillianGish and DDD for the new thread, the title and the stats.

On the chronology posted on the previous thread, I noticed that near the start it says '1920/12/17 Daniel Archer marries Doris Forrest', but also '1921/12/17 Dan Archer married; 1921/12/17 Doris Archer married'. I guess it makes little difference whether they married in 1920 or 1921, but wonder if there are any other discrepancies? (Haven't read through the whole thing.)

Mmm my figure probably thickened in the first weeks of my first pregnancy but that was due to the fact that I thought it gave me license to eat an enormous ham and cheese baguette from the bakers on my way to work at 7 in the morning. I still get a little wave of nostagia whenever I see those sandwiches.

During my first pregnancy my masseuse realised i was pregnant before I did!

My dad was incredibly accurate at spotting when people were pregnant, our next door neighbour who he hardly knew, once came to drop something off and after a two minute chat he came back in and told us she was expecting. Mum, who knew her better, said she wasn’t but a couple of months later lo and behold she announced it. Cats can spot pregnancy a mile off too.

Better than my grandmother’s supernatural power which was knowing when people were going to die, apparently.

Saturday ahh I didn’t think of the name change. Good point.

So, can we look forward to hearing the conversation between Helen and Lee about custardgate?

chemenger - ah, your grandmother was an actuary then.

My boobs got bigger immediately. But I should imagine Lexi was wearing a coat in the shop.

I don't know about women's intuition but my OH knows when I'm pregnant instantly, before I do and on average 6 weeks before the pregnancy tests do too. Three times now. I don't know how he does it, but he's always right and way more reliable than clearblue et al.

DadDadDad not an actuary she lived in a small village and helped people lay out people when they died, hence it was handy to know when it was going to happen. My great grandmother could cure warts.

Baby at this stage is the size of a poppy seed, it’s not going to thicken anything. not directly, but cheese salad rolls were the only thing that dampened my nausea.

My neighbour told the street I was expecting before I'd even got round to testing. The joys of a close-knit community!

Tim O'Tei. V good.

I know a Megan Hobbs. You'd have thought her parents would have worked out that one.

I don't think Tim is a bad un. I think this might be his entrepreneurial spirit and self belief that makes Ed (swoon) so something rash.

What you can see in early pregnancy is more likely due to fluid retention - which happens to lots of women. So you might see it in her face. And there is often a slight thickening at the waist which is, slightly weirdly, more noticeable from the back! A colleague pointed this last finding out to me many years ago - which means it’s been a fascinating 30 or so years and I’ve spent a lot of time looking at other women’s back views.

I’d like to think ddd‘s idea does happen - so Ed will be asked to move some goods and realise it’s something illegal. He‘ll then discuss it with Emma or Oliver and be persuaded to discuss it with the local bobby. Evidence if you need it that Ed is getting more sensible as he gets older.

Of course, the number one clue as to if a woman is pregnant, is if they appear on Grand Designs, knock their house down and live in a caravan in a sea of mud.

Too true, Llama

be persuaded to discuss it with the local bobby.
What! You actually expect Harrison to solve a crime?

That was a hard listen. Poor Elizabeth.

This episode is sounding like a public health promotion on mental health first aid....

Poor Lizzie. I still hate Pip. And Tom. I loved the old Tom. Don't like cardboard Tom.

hard to keep a brave face when someone keeps pushing, glad they know now.

Elizabeth is going to take an overdose, isn't she?

Looks like it, yep. My money's on Lily coming back, concerned about what kenton etc aren't telling her, and finding her

As horrid as that was, it was good to hear Elizabeth having a good ugly cry. She needs a few of those. (As well as professional help.)

Why is everyone obsessed with secrets though? Surely Jill and Lily should be the first to know.

Can’t believe Lower Loxley has a single customer now it’s been without its alcohol licence for so long.

Why don’t I want Lee and Helen to work out? Maybe it’s because the “eligible singleton fairy” annoys me so much. Apparently it’s dead easy to find a potential partner in a small rural village.