Discuss The Archers - yes, this really is Thread 103. Are you going to vote for feet, stations of the cross, or a hologram? Will Natasha ever return? Will Russ ever leave?

[DadDadDad]

Exciting times - this thread will witness our 100,000th post in this long-running unbroken chain of threads.

New and old posters welcome. Don't spoil with any future plotlines.

And if you need a beginners' guide see here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have

Carry on...

I don't know why he isn't paying Emma to clean though.

No. Just no. You can’t employ your ex-wife as your cleaner! That would be ...

I wonder if Andrew will be brought into all this now. I can’t help thinking that the SWs probably just wanted to do a straight “bereaved child feels obligation to replace Mum” storyline and are a bit annoyed at the inconvenience of her actually having a second parent looking out for her welfare. I imagine he will be glossed over.

I like Lily and Freddie, I reckon that the SWs have got them right. from almost perfect youngsters to wayward teenagers, fairly normal IME and O.

I think a while back Clarrie said something about how Will was doing well with the online shopping, remembering to order the right things, and Mia said she checked the order and added what was missing. So even if Will gets most of the order right, she’s still got the mental load of thinking about it and checking.

Denial has nothing to do with intelligence. In fact you wouldn’t need it if you didn’t understand your situation!

Re Poppy's hair; if she has long hair and a fringe, and Clarrie usually cuts the fringe, I can imagine Mia wanting to get a proper hairdresser to neaten it up. We cut DDs fringe a couple of times when she was little and it was always squint.

She also has to put the shopping away, so although Will does the actual ordering, he's having little input really.

Hair, yes, it probably just needed trimming. It's very easy if you're not a hairdresser, to cut one side shorter than the other, so then you try to rectify that, only to find you keep going backwards and forwards, trimming a bit here and there, and before you know it, your child now has short hair, and it's still wonky!

BlimeyLassyou really don't like Lily!

I can't stand her. She is a vain, selfish , silly, air- headed snob. Mentally I see her as being Emma Watson. She revels in being the clever, dutiful , caring daughter, lording it over Freddy when in reality she is just as selfish and dim as he is Freddy however has no pretence or delusions about being anything other than what he is.

The only point of her as far as I can see is to compare and contrast with Johnny and Mia both of whom are worth a dozen Lilys.

She's far more annoying and pointless than even Pip.

“Freddy however has no pretence or delusions about being anything other than what he is.”
Eh? Are we talking about the same Freddie? The one who thought he shouldn’t go to prison? “You owe me, Fallon?” The on who knew about Elis and kept quite about him to the police? The “why is everybody being mean to me- I only supplied my 16 year old cousin with drugs” Freddie? The “If you tell anyone about me dealing I’ll shop you and Russ” Freddie?

(I really don’t like Freddie!)

The “If you tell anyone about me dealing I’ll shop you and Russ” Freddie?

And why didn't the sainted Lily not stand up to that? She and CMR were so in love after all - it was always going to become public.

By no delusions I mean not swanning around in the glow of of what a wonderful person he is. Both Pargetter twins are a waste of space tbh.

And the Freddie who last week was about to drink drive until Johnny pointed out what an arse he was being. And the Freddie who tells Johnny to 'treat them mean" referring to Bella, because Freddie is jealous.

It was Jill CMR asked Lily to touch for money. I think it's quite realistic that Lily would be a bit clueless about the rent and bailff.
I like Lily and Freddie.

She wasn't totally clueless - she wasn't surprised they were there, and tried to continue the lie by keeping Lizzie and Freddie away, and she knew you don't have to let them in. She was trying to continue covering up rather than dealing with it, though.

CMR also indicated that maybe Lily could try to get some money from her Father's relatives.

Lily is totally believable. Got herself into debt being led astray by her supposedly more mature boyfriend. I still resent being talked into buy a dress I liked at full price by a boyfriend I was besotted with, when I could have waited and got it half price.
I know plenty of adults with money problems who shoved envelopes into "hiding places" and ignored them because they couldn't cope. Some had very successful careers and all were much older than Lily. And when Lily arrived back from Manchester, Elizabeth was at her worst.

Freddie coming up with a suggestion might be a sign that he's growing up. His reaction to the bailiff reminded me of the macho rubbish that unfortunately I've seen in men 10+ years his senior.

Mia is 13, and the mental load she has been taking on has been far too much. If she won't leave Poppy then maybe Bev could take on the pair of them. Although just what that will mean for William I don't know.

Apart from being good at passing exams I've not seen much evidence that Lily isn't quite stupid.

• Getting a job whilst at university;
• Running LL pretty competently and looking after her ill mother in a crisis;
• Getting a sales job at first try and holding it down

And being good at passing exams isn't just a conjuring trick.

I don’t know many 18/19 year olds who could make a decent stab at running a massive stately home business.....

Me neither.

I don’t know many 18/19 year olds who could make a decent stab at running a massive stately home business...

No, but if you're brought up with it, you've got a head start.

i'm getting confused , since when is running a tour of the attics of LL actually running the whole caboosh? It might be a good way of getting started though, if Freddie proves himself a good organiser. It'd be good for him .

We meant Lily.

InkySplatter.
Mia explained that she forgot to ask Carrie after trying twice because she is overloaded with stress.

And she had the whole afternoon with Clarrie when they were making the cricket teas on Sunday: were there really only two, interrupted, opportunities to speak to her? I simply don't believe that. If it was on her mind, which it clearly was, she had lots of chance to mention it.

Then she is meant to have forgotten for five days that she had taken money that did not belong to her? It went missing on 29th April and she only said something about it on 3rd May and then only when she was told by chance that someone else was accused of having taken it.

It all seems a little too unlikely, even if she was under stress. I knew better than that at thirteen, and I won't go into the hassle I was having at that age.

Ah but George Emma isn't merely Will's ex-wife, she's his current sister-in-law WHO has just lost a cleaning job, forcing (well not forcing but it's a major contributing factor) his brother to take on illegal work armed in a crew armed with a baseball bat. I suspect if Will hired another cleaner without offering the hours to her first she'd be annoyed.

Questions most 13 year olds can barely remember a school tie or a PE kit. Given the extent to Mia's workload I don't think it unreasonable for it to have slipped her mind after getting distracted working with Clarrie. Yeah she could have written a note but she was also rushing on the way to school. Most people under huge strain forget things or make poor decisions. I know I do. We'll just have agree to disagree over a slice of team room cake Shame Jazzer has chipped the vintage teapot.

I don’t know many 18/19 year olds who could make a decent stab at running a massive stately home business...

But also too stupid to realise there will be repercussions if you don't pay your rent and too thick to come to an arrangement with the landlord for an early exit.

And she isn't running it. All she did was faff around a bit before Christmas pointlessly working out the seating plan for the hunt ball. There is a manager (whom of course she was vociferously criticising) and no doubt other staff.

And being good at passing exams isn't just a conjuring trick

Depends on the subject. And I'm speaking for myself when I say that.

Getting a job whilst at university that's pretty much equivalent to not forgetting to breath. It's hardly an achievement.

More than freddies managed.

But also too stupid to realise there will be repercussions if you don't pay your rent and too thick to come to an arrangement with the landlord for an early exit.
I have known small business owners, both with degrees and who went on to responsible jobs; who when confronted with mounting debts - tried to "ignore it" in the hope it would all go away. And they were far more mature than Lily.
The real disgrace is that CMR has just off loaded all responsibility onto her and hasn't supported her at all.