Archers thread #115: Johnny's in the gym, Josh is in a jam, Rex is riled, Kate's with child - discuss The Archers here

[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 to share a camomile tea with Kate, 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 to @LillianGish for the excellent Bert Fry tribute title!

I don't think this thread will get us to Easter, but we should be well into Lent before we need a new title. I wonder if St Stephen's will have a new oh-so-interesting Lent initiative this year. When did we last hear from Alan?

Thinking about that, it seems to me that Clarrie is essentially kind but mostly ineffectual.

Taswama

I do love the way this thread can go off at the most unlikely tangents.

Sorry!

I find the counting-the-number-of-posts posts... puzzling but fall into the same trap myself on other issues.

I get the impression Ambridge Hall is grand in name only.

Probably why it suits Lynda (with a 'y').

I remember when my parents were househunting in the 70s going to look at a fairly ordinary house that was called Something Hall. My parents said they'd have to change the name if they bought it, although they didn't buy it.

Ambridge Hall is 1860s yellow brick and not really grand at all, just large; it was given the grand name by Aunt Laura Archer when she bought it, and before that was just called "The Doctor's House". I see it as something like half of this semi, only yellow and without the interesting windows:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Houses_in_England_built_in_1869#/media/File:Dee_Banks_2.jpg

People don't ask the Grundys for help because they want paying.

that side of her has been suppressed recently

I wish they'd crack on with suppressing the rest of the bloody woman.

And the 'kind' side never - for me at any rate - even came close to outweighing her general vileness and ridiculousness.

No need to apologise Abraid2 - I wasn’t being sarcastic.

🙂

Sunningdale really doesn't seem that posh to me - expensive yes (and it has a good state school), but not really posh. It's a nice commuter town.

I used to live not a million miles from Sunningdale but often confused it with Sunninghill. I knew some people who went to a convent school in one of them (the Marist Convent?). Girls with better off parents than mine went there if they failed their 11 plus, at least that was my take on it at the time.

That sounds awful so I'll rephrase it. The only girls I knew who went there had failed their 11 plus, there was a posh Grammar in my town so most people wanted to go there. There's bound to be a poster who went to the convent and got all As and a first at Oxbridge.

There's bound to be a poster who went to the convent and got all As and a first at Oxbridge.

Sorry, only two out of three for me.

Where do you think the B @ Ambridge battle will go next, after this week's ridiculousness (ok, the "game of chess" between Lillian and Lynda on Friday had some entertainment value but stretched credulity)? Are the SW's aiming for the ReBulls to win, or do they intend for the Bull to lose its name forever?

I get Sunninghill and Sunningdale mixed too. Both fairly posh.
Virginia Water is £££.

There used to be a training establishment for Civil Servants which was referred to as Sunningdale, presumably because that's where it was located.

The National School of Government.
When Robert and Lynda first moved to Ambridge, she mentioned Sunningdale frequently.
A bit like Joy mentioning Shieldfieds a lot.

Are the SW's aiming for the ReBulls to win, or do they intend for the Bull to lose its name forever?
Or some cop-out compromise where the room upstairs or the restaurant area gets the "@" treatment but the pub, overall, is still The Bull.

Okay I predict - Linda will stand down at organising. But the locals will stay away, and Lilian/Jolene will be forced to back down.

I have noticed that Jolene has shown empathy, whereas Lilian has acted in a way likely to prolong the campaign. But Lilian's reactions could be personal, her competitive streak with Linda.

@MollyButton, She's Lynda not Linda. I don''t know why but she just isn't a Linda.

I don''t know why but she just isn't a Linda.
She couldn't be Dylan Nells if she was a Linda.
Though she could be Ned Nilalls, the (very bored) local sports reporter.

Thank you R4 I've just spent 10 unproductive minutes trying to find anagrams of Lynda/Linda Snell. I'm going to bed.

Lynda could leave the scathing reviews of FLOSS to her husband, Troll B'Sneer (a cousin of Alan B'Stard).

Well that was a good 'ordinary' episode.
I liked the relationship between Kate and Alice, and the irony of Kate saying how dramatic her life is - while sounding as undramatic as she is able to be!
I always enjoy episodes where characters/ people are themselves

As opposed to the exasperating episodes where I just think 'as if!'

If the Bull wants to boost business (which was the original idea behind getting the management consultant with no socks and a fast car in), there seem to be some fairly obvious steps they could take before going all-out on a name change. Why hasn't anyone ever suggested to them, for instance, that they should serve more than one beer?! Local loyalty is all very well, but only stocking Shires is surely no good for attracting custom. Maintaining the gardens (so large and overgrown that they managed to lose a peacock for several years) would probably help the look ...

Yes, MereDint, me too < sigh >

When I had gone to bed last night, and was awaiting sleep, I found myself trying out various anagrams of 'Lynda Snell', but couldn't be bothered to sit up again and jot them down.

Over-infested or what 🤔