Archers thread #114: Bull banished, Bali beaches beckon, bickering bullshitters burgeon

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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 Gavin to stay around, or other 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!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: 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 - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks for all thread title suggestions! I've gone with a B theme which with a bit of luck will seem odd and irrelevant by the end of this thread. Here's hoping, anyway.

Haven't caught up with tonight's episode yet, so off to do that shortly.

Really? I was listening live on my phone, and was so confused I rewound and heard it again.

I was worried it was just me hearing the Van Gogh bit. Phew!

I am really glad I posted here. I thought Radio 4 was gaslighting me.

not ANOTHER non-wedding!

Better than the alternative, surely?
But c'mon Philip, do the decent thing and drop dead v soon so Gav gets all the dosh and Kirsty continues to be superfluous to anyone's requirements.

What a stupid episode, and agree it's all set up to see Kirsty get financially shafted by Gavin when Philip drops dead.

What a stupid episode, and agree it's all set up to see Kirsty get financially shafted by Gavin when Philip drops dead

And then Kirsty reveals they slipped into the office for a quiet Civil Partnership to protect each other in the event of death?

I was going to say that we have nothing in Basingstoke for Natasha, and then I remembered the community orchard at the bottom of War Memorial Park. She probably does have a valid reason for coming here.

If she is having an illicit affair, I hope she wasn't actually in Basingstoke itself, but rather one of the country hotels nearby. if you're going to have an affair, you should aim for a bit more glamour than central Basingstoke. Even if we do have a Waitrose these days.

I so nearly popped the Archers on last night - naughty intern!

EBearbug I did wonder whether the SW had confused Bracknell (Waitrose HQ) with Basingstoke - I suppose that they aren't too far away?

It seem unlikely that she would be driving all that way to see an events catering company or farm shop. Surely she would go to business/wedding fairs for that sort of thing? I wish the SW's would take some time to agree on the size of the characters' farms and businesses. I can never tell whether the fruit juice business relies on just 2 orchards or it is a business with a turnover into the 100,000s.

There is definitely something going on with Gnasher. The logic of interviewing for an office manager when you are hoping to move offices miles away makes no sense. I think there must be a financial hiccup in the background (which reminds me; how is Emma getting on with her huge credit card bills from furnishing the house she never had?).

I think all the driving around is more to do with letting us know that she is always working, getting stressed about it (and a bad at managing her time). Otherwise she must have met somebody in the cereal cupboard or Cuba?

We're only two hours from Birmingham (if the roads are clear), so it's not unfeasible to come to Basingstoke from Ambridge. Bracknell is about 25 miles down the road the other way. There are loads of businesses based round the M3/M4 corridor, and we don’t know if she was visiting someone to do with orchards or technology (more feasible) or what; I suspect the scriptwriters don't know either, because the point is about show in how busy and not local she is, not exactly what business she's doing each day.

She appears to have only just thought of the moving office idea, but yes, it would make sense to move the office, then employ Emma or Anthea or Phoebe or Lily or someone.

I was listening to the World Service last night, and there was a piece on the news about a Van Gogh picture which has recently been authenticated. And it included the reporter saying the same phrase as the mystery voice!!

The same snatch of speech was on the R4 at nine last night, apparently.

It's like a numbers station. I'm getting a bit scared for sanity.

I often get confused between Bracknell and Basingstoke.

I don't. The area around Basingstoke is lovely.
Areas around Bracknell are too but there has been a lot of housebuilding recently.

New It's easy.

Basingstoke is the place I went to, to buy my DD's party dress for her first Christmas with us when she was 3 as they didn't have it in Southampton. It also has Milestones museum.

Bracknell is where the company Cadence hangs out. They create software for CAD of chips.

Well, that's what I know them for anyway.

Areas around Bracknell are too but there has been a lot of housebuilding recently
I grew up there, from when it was a very new New Town in 1962. We lived on the edge of the Crown forest but that has long since been built on. I visited briefly about 10 years ago and the town centre had gone very much down hill.

What's the deal with Kirsty and Philip's love nest? Joint owners or his money and sole name on the mortgage?

If they're not getting married then Kirsty needs to sort this out sharpish...and a few other things too eg will.
Does she not read Mumsnet!?

I think that the BBC are failing in their Public Service remit. We now have two women in the village who have moved out of a relatively secure financial position (FT job / tenancy for life) into cohabitation-with-no-rights and financial dependency on a man. In both cases it was the woman who came up with the bright idea to be NotMarried, as if it was a positive concept!
They really need to hurry up and get one of them into a bad place so that the other (and the general listenership) understands the harsh realities.
I vote that Justin gets deaded and Lilian becomes destitute.

Have I missed something, or has Philip not actually asked Gavin why he was poking about in the wardrobe? Or hasn't Kirsty mentioned it?

Obviously he was Up To No Good, and if I was Philip I would be wanting to know what the hell Gavin was playing at.

It's only a matter of time before Philip and Alistair's paths cross - and Alistair is rubbish at keeping secrets

Well, other peoples secrets, that is....

And then Kirsty reveals they slipped into the office for a quiet Civil Partnership to protect each other in the event of death?

I do hope they do this, it's so frustrating that they chose the route of just following in Lilian's footsteps - and it made no sense when she did this, either.

I'd have thought it would be much more in character for them to say "You know what, let's just book ourselves a holiday and pop into the register office beforehand, and not let on to anyone unless and until we feel like it?"

Alistair is not that good at keeping his own secrets to be fair. His one night stand was all over the village by the next day.

It was not Lilian's idea not to marry, as far as I remember. Justin was the one who told her, on the day of the wedding, that he didn't want to.

Same way he had told her that she was selling him her house, and she didn't argue.

Someone did nip off and get married on holiday. That went well. (Helen and Rob)

Someone did nip off and get married on holiday. That went well. (Alice and Chris)