💥 Archers thread #117: Welcome to the only C19-free area in the world! 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 think Phoebe is a genius, 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/3853783--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-5-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here, 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.)

I put the BOOM! emoticon in the title as I thought it could transition into a vague likeness of a virus if we're still going by early May, when we expect some wild contortions from the production team to get Ambridge back in synch with the rest of the world. I think I would have preferred them to ignore it altogether but I suppose they couldn't.

Its utterly maddening to be struggling and exhausted and constantly derailed by people...
It's also utterly maddening to have every effort met with Lynda's trademark Exasperated Sigh.
She knew that she was not handling it right - she admitted so at the end of the episode, after Leonie's explosion and Monty's therapeutic appearance.
...whose well-meaning doesn't extend to actually listening to a damned word you say.
Just because she's the one who is sick doesn't automatically make her right! Many people go against medical advice.

UnholyStramash
Though I must be wrong - was yesterday Easter Sunday? Otherwise, why would Shula the hypocrite be eating chocolate before Lent is past?

I don't think she gave up chocolate for Lent this year?

C8H10N4O2
Its not just a bit of pain though is it? She nearly died, has life affecting injuries, is in constant pain both from the burns and the fractures and most of all she must be utterly exhausted.
And yet she is the one who has to pussyfoot around the feelings of others? She spent a painful day practising stairs, has made it home probably just about fit to drop only to find her efforts with the stairs were wasted because yet again people have made decisions on her behalf without even discussing it with her.
Its utterly maddening to be struggling and exhausted and constantly derailed by people whose well-meaning doesn't extend to actually listening to a damned word you say.
My sympathy is with Lynda in this one and it was clear from the end of the episode that she and Robert will work it out but all the others wanting performance gratitude for services she neither wants nor asked for could go to hell frankly.

Hear hear to every word of that. How many more times is Lynda going to have to say "Please don't make arrangements about me without asking me first"? Did Robert learn nothing at all from his appalling mistake in trying to sack her physiotherapist and employ his karate teacher instead, and her reaction to that?

How many more times is Lynda going to have to say "Please don't make arrangements about me without asking me first"?

Often, I hope. The wretched woman has made a virtual career out of ignoring what other people want and riding rough-shod over their feelings for her self-aggrandising projects. It will do her good to be on the receiving end now and again.

What day/date is it supposed to be in Ambridge - has anyone worked it out?

My guess is somewhere around April 8th, but I'm probably wrong

Never mind what day it is there, what year is it?

Bernard sounded tasty.

If I was Robert I would also be upset that she seemed more pleased to see the dog than him. She's been seeing Robert. She hasn't seen the dog.

Only why would they have a bathroom downstairs if they have no bedroom down there, as they clearly don't if they had to bring a bed downstairs? Thinking ahead, maybe? A few of my friends have bathrooms/shower rooms downstairs in anticipation of the time when they may need to turn a downstair reception room into a bedroom.

Oh dear we're going to have a drama over the chocolate bunny.

Why haven't the accident investigators not had the conversation Roy and Oliver have just had?

Surely, in their pre-virus world, Shula can just pop off to Underwoods and buy another one? Unless - when she gets there she finds all the Bernards sold out and has to buy a very inferior replacement ...

I laughed to myself when Oliver was doubting out loud whether GG would survive the temporary absence of kitchen, thought "you don't know what's about to hit you, mate". I wonder if SWs intended GG to go down the pan? Bit of a problem if all they intended was a slight wobble.

I'm not 100% sure about this but I think last night might have been Good Friday and tonight Easter Sunday.

Gaspode You're right if we've had 3 "long weekends" so far, but I thought we'd only had two, in which case Monday was Good Friday and yesterday (Tues) was Easter Sunday, and tonight will be Easter Monday.

I agree with Gaspode's calculations. On RL Sunday, Philip was being seen by the police on "Wednesday". Which means that today's RL Wednesday is now Easter Sunday.

Definitely three Fridays we've been Archers-deprived. I went back to the previous thread to check.

27/3
3/4
10/4

Horrific, isn't it.

Three?

Can guarantee that sometime around 3pm this Friday my mind will start constructing a cosy evening - based on everything being in place for exactly 7.01pm.

Mere - I felt excruciatingly sorry for the creative team and their SATTC story. All that careful dialogue about GG maybe not surviving just sounds pitiful now.

The BBC has published a table:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1zMdGFYQ99g2M6wybkGzqbv/what-day-is-it-in-ambridge

Wahay we were right. We are currently in what will be the Apr 19th film, which ends tomorrow (Thu) with Easter Monday.
I'm going for a lie-down now.

What's happened to DadDadDad, these days?

He's been conspicuously quiet!

Hope he's alright.

Working, childcare, home educating, housework? I don't think his profession would make him a keyworker but we don't know what MumMumMum does ...

I hope he's all right too. Anybody else missing?

Wow, @WheresThatCatGoneNow and others, I'm touched to have my presence missed. I'm still here and I have been keeping an eye on this thread.

It's funny how many ways one virus can impact life:

Working at home, so I'm not in the car in the evening, so I keep missing TA (and haven't developed a habit of listening at home - yes, shock horror, I don't hear every episode).

Online life (including MN) seems more consumed with discussion of the pandemic (with partly a professional eye on mortality statistics).

Maybe a bit more preoccupied with family life (especially with DSs in Y11 and Y13 with academic paths taking a swerve).

So, I feel I can't contribute much to Ambridge discussions. Maybe I should do one of my post count analyses to see who else might be missing.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - you've reminded me that HQ never did make progress with an over-infested [badger] emoji...

They might do it if we paid them

Ha! So much for Brexit. Seasonal farm workers are being flown in from Romania. (According to BBC news.)

So Adam should be able to manage, eventually ...

Agree with PPE - brilliant scene between Robert, Leonie and Lynda on Monday night.

Adam doesn't need seasonal workers; he stopped growing strawberries to annoy Alice, last year.

Well he can start again! It's one of the elements I like during the summer.

So tonight was Easter Sunday, as continuity helpfully told us at the beginning. Got very excited about Emma’s big plans after the discussion here last week about her finances but it looks as if she is just planning to move house. I still want Emma and Ed to get back together.