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 didn't say that getting a job is an achievement, but it is part of the evidence that Lily is not stupid. And it really is ignoring the facts to suggest that all she did at Christmas was the seating plan for the hunt ball.

A very weak point of the many weak points of SL in TA has been believability. Nowhere more so than in the management of LL, where a know-nothing teen (Lily, and not criticising her) is meant to be credibly all over the running of a considerable operation full of invisible workers. All of this could have been explained in an ep where LiLy actually said anything about this.

Along with the many-roomed houses of TA, the miraculous ease of managing/starting up businesses, i.e. niche gins.

Checking in

(Apologies if this has been said already but) I think St Shula is going to train to be a vicar. Hence all the religious doubt storyline. Not sure what would happen to the stables though... Freddie?

Many vicars have second jbs, and Shula has various people working at the stables, so I should think they could carry on.

Shula is too old to train to be a vicar.

That Mia scene at the end had me crying.
Totally believable as far as I am concerned. She is juggling a lot and being taken for granted /overlooked. The adults have seen her doing stuff and assumed she is happy & able to do it, but it is a massive load for her.

How can she be too old? Age discrimination is illegal and recruitment to the ministery/priesthood is in a dire state, as far as I'm aware. It seems to be very common to do a stint as a minister/vicar later in life as a career change. I hope she doesn't, though. She's far too sanctimonious.

Telegraph article on age limits for trainee clergy. 2018.

As regards Mia ‘doing all the shopping’ - there are plenty of things that would need buying that aren’t obviously sold by Ocado or whoever Will orders from.

I can see Smugula converting to Roman Catholicism and joining Opus Dei.

Or at least doing a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral on her knees, dressed in sackcloth and ashes.

Thanks, George, I stand corrected. I had no idea there had ever been a limit. From a quick skim through the recruitment pages of the Church of Scotland (in which I was brought up) there appears to be no obvious age limit there.

Bore

I had no idea either way. My initial thought was that one limiting factor (for people without limitless Archer bank accounts) might be the age limit on Postgrad loans. Assuming one might want to take a Theology MA or whatever.

(Although I don’t think Shula has a first degree. Don’t know the age limits for those either, loan wise.)

Will doesn’t use Ocado. I think he’s a Morrison’s man.

Maybe he met Leonard and something strangely familiar about his voice nudged him to that supermarket. "Morrisons makes it"

Possibly! Is Morrison’s seen as more countrified than the other not-Ocado options?

Online grocery shopping will be a revelation to Peggy, to Pat and Tony and to David and Ruth when someone finally lets them in on the secret ... Their lives seem to revolve around driving or being driven to the supermarket.

I'm not sure there is an upper age limit on loans for reasons of age discrimination, even though there is (or was, may have changed) an upper limit for being expected to make repayments. I could have got this utterly mangled but I remember hearing something about it on Moneybox or similar. Can't see Shula doing a Theology degree now, though. She always struggled with academic work when younger.

Ooh, new thread! Thanks, DDD. Just place marking, as I'm a few episodes behind.

Anyway, sometimes a line just needs preserving for posterity and Clarrie saying

What have Cecil Jackson's underpants got to do with anything?

is one of them.

... although, I guess the SWs are hanging on to ‘the supermarket just off the bypass’ for as long as they can. Not much drama to be had from a character silently tapping their phone a couple of times. (Other than Pip and Toby squabbling over who should have ordered whatever for Rosie Grace.)

Online grocery shopping will be a revelation to Peggy, to Pat and Tony and to David and Ruth when someone finally lets them in on the secret ... Their lives seem to revolve around driving or being driven to the supermarket

Maybe I’m imagining this but I seem to remember Kate telling Peggy to order online but Peggy insisting that she preferred to go to the physical shop, hence the notorious outing when Kate tried to get her to go round in a mobility scooter!

Though actually that outing was one that Kate hijacked from Phoebe wasn’t it? Phoebe was all set to take her and Kate volunteered, thinking it would give her the ideal opportunity to cajole Peggy into letting her move in. I’m still sure I have heard Peggy (either directly or reported by someone) dissing online shopping.

Possibly! Is Morrison’s seen as more countrified than the other not-Ocado options? In Will's bit of the world Morrisons is actually ex-Safeways, not original Morrisons. I'd have expected him to be Tesco.

I'm not sure there is an upper age limit on loans for reasons of age discrimination, even though there is (or was, may have changed) an upper limit for being expected to make repayments. There is no age limit on tuition fee loans, but "you may be entitled to limited maintenance loan" if you're over 60. Current loans are written off after 30 years, with no age limit. Loans before 2005 were written off at age 65 or earlier - so you can see why at the time they mightn't have been happy about giving a loan to a 65 year-old.

Thanks, Mere, I knew somebody would know what I was too lazy to Google!

Just caught up with the omnibus. Poor Mia Why was Clarrie wailing "you should have told us"?! Mia is a child and it should have been obvious to the adults that she was struggling. In fact it has been obvious to Emma for many months and I'm sure she shared her concerns with both Susan and Clarrie.

Mia needs to go and live with her dad and brother. Will is still caught up in his own misery and grief and with the best will in the world I don't think the rest of the Grundys can provide the support she needs. I really can't believe Andrew and her other gran (Beverly?) have left her in this situation without checking in on her. I also feel very sorry for Poppy.