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?

Shula wouldn't have asked dumb questions, Someone has to ask dumb questions to explain it to the rest of us. Like Bernard in Yes Minister, Dr Watson to Sherlock Holmes. Someone has to act a lot dumber than they would be in real life.

Slightly wonderful hearing Buffy Davis using her non-Jolene voice on Words & Music on R3 at the moment.

Particularly as R3 has become almost wholly unlistenable-to lately as they’ve raced for a new audience.

Petroc Trelawny was predicting the demise of TA (as well as all the BBC orchestras) this morning on Broadcasting House - assuming the loss of the TV licence. Though I really can’t see why new models for funding can’t be devised for both stations.

On Country file tonight - kefir making, a gym on a farm and goat yoga!

@MereDintofPandiculation ...freddy has been taking a mild interest in the horses. Him being there and asking would have been much more realistic.

@CaptainMyCaptain how long until TA adopts them?

Although I think Kate already offers goat yoga.

Oh wait we've had kefir and a farm gym too! 🤣 (I'm being slow apparently)

Maybe the SWs are teasing us with Johnnie?

I am stuck in an hotel in a boring town so have resorted to watching Countryfile. They have just featured a farmer (called Tom) who has set up a gym on his farm. It looks a bit CrossFit to me, but I know very little about gyms.

Apparently it is popular with the townies.

They have also featured goat yoga (did Kate ever try that?).

Crisps in countryfile now. Can we have a TA farming storyline about making crisps?

CMR could fall in the fryer.

Was Yakid mine? YaKub would be better but it is too similar to Jakob, so Yakid it is.

Ambridge will be flattened by HS2. (Not my idea, there were several letters in yesterday's Torygraph.)

Maybe CMR looks like a cut price Gary Lineker. Russ's crisps could be called Wa*kers.

Jonnie's story is bald-erdash.

Oh Jonny. So Bella dumping him has led to mental health problems for him, and it's causing him to lose his hair. Now Freddie has told him not to tell Lynda, so Tracy and Lynda will be spying on him.
What Freddie should have done, was get him to go to the doctor, but that's not dramatic enough. What the hell is in those pills anyway?

I’m inclined to agree Captain ...

So we have got to the root of the problem.

Ambridge will be flattened by HS2. (Not my idea, there were several letters in yesterday's Torygraph.)
No it won't. I keep telling you: Ambridge is in Worcestershire, not Warwickshire. Nowhere near the HS2 route. Thank goodness!

@MikeUniformMike it was - and I think I probably quoted you wrong YaKub it is then

So it is body dysmorphia - of a sort. Fixating on his hair, when there's probably nothing wrong with it.

Doesn't explain the gym obsession, though.... Unless it's his way of taking his mind off worrying about his (imagined?) hair loss

It's probably the whole package. He thinks Bella dumped him because of his looks, hence the gym, and hair loss caused possibly by stress. But he should get it checked out, because it could be caused by something else.

Yakid is better.

A tweet about the Johnny steroid plotline that sums up many posts here:

"Johnny’s efficiency is an example to us all. In one week he’s managed to: join a gym;
work out there so often people have noticed, find a drug dealer & buy steroids;
get hooked. I’ve been dithering around trying to choose and buy placemats since Dec 26th #thearchers"

twitter.com/Ifwehadanyham/status/1228599428233252864?s=19

Is anyone watching The Pale Horse? I can see why Johnny is worried..!

freddy has been taking a mild interest in the horses. Him being there and asking would have been much more realistic. Yeah, you're right. Can't remember now, did Shula have any other function in that conversation?

Maybe the SWs are teasing us with Johnnie? Very prescient.

Thank you R4 for the geography correction. I was about to say the same.

The hair loss could just be normal for him. DS2 has a sweet little bald patch developing. Maybe we shouldn't tease him. Maybe I should refer him to TA to listen to the Ministry of Health Public information on premature male baldness.

My husband went from being a long haired goth, to losing most of it in hid 300, and he hates it. Probably not fair to tease DS 2 if he's sensitive about it, tempting as it is!

Gah, Damn auto - incorrect! That should have said "in his 30s".

Maybe CMR looks like a cut price Gary Lineker. Russ's crisps could be called Wakers*

I've been trying to put a face to CMR to make it believable Princess Lily would fall for him. Just got it- he looks like Rufus Sewell.

Re crisps- these are genuine farm crisps- made from broccoli. And very nice too.

growers-garden.com/our-snacks/