The Archers - Freddie is getting OUT: will Russ hop it? Helen is falling DOWN: is Lee still in the frame? Tom is heading UP: will Natasha be the boost his sausage needs? (Thread no. 101

[DadDadDad]

We're still here and still discussing TA (The Archers). We welcome newcomers and old hands, so if you have a question or a point of view, please dive in. No spoilers - if you've seen info on future storylines, there's a separate Radio Addicts thread for that.

I loved all the name changes on the last thread. Don't forget to change back! (If you want to).

Who's going to get Russ out of LL? Freddie? Lily? Elizabeth? Or is it Freddie who will head off?

I think this has been said before but Mia and Ruari have something in common in both having lost their mothers in childhood, albeit at different stages. They might actually be good for one another. As long as there’s no premature patter of tiny feet as we’ve had that scriptline before in TA.

Re-Alistair and Jakob, it was quite an odd conversation. It felt to me as if Alistair wasn’t reading the signs that Jakob clearly didn’t want to do small talk. Alistair was just trying too hard. And of course not wanting to chat can be a sign of lots of things. I hate how people jump to the autism diagnosis. It’s never that simple. I happen to share my life with a very chatty young man who is on the autistic spectrum - of course it’s not all straightforward in that often he misses the signs that nobody else wants to chat about that particular obsession of his, or the others in the room are tired, reading, listening to the Archers for example.

Birdsdestiny
I also have a European parent and an unusual name. I am asked about it about once a week. I enjoy talking about it and happily tell total strangers of how my mother was a language student doing a year at a European university. She met my dad, dropped out of university, married him in Europe, then came back to tell my grandmother

Are you not British then?

British people are all European.

I hate the c word by the way. Hearing it just makes me feel very uncomfortable in a way that other sweary words just wash over me.

“It felt to me as if Alistair wasn’t reading the signs that Jakob clearly didn’t want to do small talk.“

Well, that could have been because Jakob should have been doing a bit of small talk- that was the only appropriate thing to do in the situation. Anybody would have been unsettled by his response.

I know what you mean, BR,and that crossed my mind too but Alistair after the first question wasn’t doing small talk,it was more like an interrogation,albeit a minor one! He could have realised sooner that, for whatever reason, Jakob didn’t want to chat.

JessieMcJ, I thought that too. Even after Brexit we’ll still all be European.

Presumably, given the context, Birds was simply trying to indicate, without naming the country, that her mother is British and her father is from another European country, which is the source of her unusual name. Which would make her both British and another nationality, assuming the other country permits dual nationality

numerous multicultural and multinational organisations I've worked in, asking people about their origins was a pretty standard ice-breaker.

In a multi cultural , multi national organisation, it is exactly what everyone has in common, so is indeed the go to small talk.

In a small vets practice in a typical English village, where the prevailing cultural is English, not so much.

In a monoculture, asking 'where are you from' is synonymous to pointing out 'you are not like us, you are not front round here, are you?'

Yes thankyou this lido, I thought it was obvious that I didn't want to name the country so used European rather than saying for example my father is Swedish.
I am fully aware of who is and isn't European and who is and isn't British. Particularly at the current moment in time when explaining to my 70 year old father that living in Britain for 50 years may not be enough and he needs to get his arse into gear and speak to someone about it.

I have a very unusual surname, I don't mind the "where does that come from" questions. But then it is extremely English... although not everyone knows that.
If Jakob is ASD I hope they show him as more rounded, at present it's an annoying depiction. Alastair seemed awkward.

The Mia and Ruari relationship is obviously on the cards and we know she has started her periods now. Maybe there was a reason we needed to know that - very early teen pregnancy? Ruari is a chip off the old block and Mia is very vulnerable.

If she missed a period at this stage Emma and Clarrie would think nothing of it.

CMR seemed genuinely caring and supportive of Lizzie. Really lovely.

Then I remembered the context, and came over all queasy.

Rauri also was very caring and supportive of Mia. And that was really lovely. Full stop.

Rauri sees her as a child tho

How old is Mia? She's the second girl in her class to get her period. Would she be 12? How old is Ruaridh? 16?

I knew exactly what you meant Birds. However in the current climate I am particularly sensitive to any tendency to normalise language that suggests that we are not Europeans, when soon all we will have left is our geographical European status. Perhaps we need to revive that old-fashioned term “the Continent”? However the TA thread is not the place for pedantry or politics and I apologise.

No I don’t think we’re going for teen pregnancy - I think we’re heading towards a mix up with Mia having a crush and Will jumping to conclusions and getting aggressive and angry with Rauri.

I have a similar heritage to birdsofdestiny with a parent from the European continent but spent most of my life in the UK. If I hear someone speak with an accent like my mum’s I will often ask where they are from. This is rarely in a work situation, more likely to be in the park, school playground, swimming pool changing room etc. I had a lovely conversation with a care home resident where I was singing last Christmas. She was originally from Italy but had come to the UK at 16 and very happy to share her life story with me.

I think everyone is sensitive at the moment Jessie but thanks there was no need to apologise. I am sure I sounded more stroppy than I meant to . You are right about language at the moment, I irritate many people by pointing out that Britain will still be in Europe whatever happens politically. Some of them seem amazed!

I suppose it's understandable but TA has really had very few Brexit conversations whereas most people I know don't go a day without mentioning it.

Cheers Birds.

I think scrappy has it on the most likely path of the Mia storyline. Will jumping to conclusions and angrily defending Mia due to a misguided idea of protectiveness is in line with his character. Poor Ruari, as I think he was genuinely just trying to help.

I got that feeling with Ruari and Mia too. Ruari said she was a good kid, so he doesn't see her romantically, but she's at the age now, where she's starting to think about boys.

And Will is Will. When he heard them laughing, he practically ran in the room to put a stop to it, and seemed to be trying to put off Ruari coming round again, before relenting after realising that it was helping Mia's education.

Kindly leave your condescending tone at the door, George. Your initial post was extremely generalised, you are subsequently rowing back to specific examples, and then trying to claim that I am showing 'poor form' (in a snooty and passive aggressive parenthesis - is Jacob Rees-Mogg your rhetorical model?) for 'dismissing' your individual experience.

At present, Jakob is coming across as difficult and hostile, and Alistair is floundering because successful communication relies on good will on both sides.