💥 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.

Teared up here as well.

Are Leonie and Mungo going to be stuck in Ambridge on lockdown?

Oh! What a stupendous thought, Pussycat.

Dear God. That's Emma stuck for the rest of her life. I had such high hopes.

After the explosion I read on The Archers website that Robert had lost most of his money in a scam I thought he'd invested it in one of his children's business ventures which didn't go well, or did I make that up?

If Ed and Em are going to live permanently in the caravan, doesn't it need planning permission? ... ah ... not necessarily:
"Siting a park home / lodge within the garden of a property does not require express consent, provided there is no ‘material change of use’. Gardens are to be used for the enjoyment of the main dwelling / house. If a park home / lodge is parked in a drive or sited in a garden and used by members of the household in connection with the house, ... then provided the occupants continue to use the facilities of the house, the siting of the park home / lodge has not changed the ‘use’ of the land. If however a park home / lodge is sited in a garden and ... used as an independent home, with no relation to the main house, the local planning authority could decide that an unauthorised ‘material change of use’ has occurred and planning permission would be required."

If Ed and Em are going to live permanently in the caravan, doesn't it need planning permission?
Never mind that - I hope that they got Oliver's permission/blessing.

I too thought Adam was really rude to Josh, and not in character, but hey ho. Them's the breaks in TA.

Perhaps I have my Covid-19 specs on but I immediately saw the reopening of the B&B like the partial lifting of restrictions, the return to RL. Good thought about Leonie being locked down with them.

Dear God. That's Emma stuck for the rest of her life. I had such high hopes

My reaction entirely.

After the explosion I read on The Archers website that Robert had lost most of his money in a scam
I thought he'd invested it in one of his children's business ventures which didn't go well, or did I make that up?

Robert owned a business selling his computer expertise, and it was not as successful in 1994 as it had been in previous years, mostly because someone for whom he had done a lot of work went bankrupt owing him a lot of money, and another of his clients simply declined to pay him. Most unwisely, Robert tried to recoup some money by slightly altering and then selling a program he had written for one of the companies he sold to, and they objected strongly and prosecuted him. He went bankrupt.

At a later point he lent Leonie ten thousand pounds of his and Lynda's joint money to put down as deposit on a flat in London, against Lynda's objections (she thought of it in terms of how many hours of her work at Grey gables it represented). When she was upset, he left her for a while to get her back into line.

Robert has never invested any money in either Leonie's or Coriander's business; I am not at all sure that we've ever heard that either of them had one. Lilian has been blackmailed more than once into "investing" in her son James, and Justin also paid him off to go away on one occasion. James has a child with Leonie, so that might be what you're thinking of?

I thought he'd invested it in one of his children's business ventures which didn't go well, or did I make that up?

MereDintofPandiculation I reinterpreted the information that was there (code for my complete fantasy). It says Robert had to declare bankruptcy after his IT business failed. They don’t mention his children being involved but that doesn’t mean they weren’t of course.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2085w56R3kyzZgStgkCSkmD/lynda-snell-from-village-outsider-to-ambridge-treasure

And while I was hunting for the bit on the website AskingQuestionsAllTheTime has in her usual magnificent fashion completely surpassed the info on The Archers website.

When she was upset, he left her for a while to get her back into line.

Back into line? Because she should know her place as the little woman, secondary to the bankrupt in financial matters?

I'd have been pissed off if my DH had given 10k including a chunk of my earnins to a feckless adult stepchild who treated me like rubbish when we were still on shaky grounds financially. No way were Robert and Lynda ever going to get it back.

Leonie and James have always been perfectly suite on the entitled hand out front. Odd in a way that the sisters seemed so different.

Any idea who wrote the episode that went out on the 27th? Some nice touches in the script I thought.

I've never understood why Robert hasn't gone back to computing in some form; it must pay better than B&Bing.

I've never understood why Robert hasn't gone back to computing in some form; it must pay better than B&Bing

At the time, it seemed like he had lost interest. Even then as a story line it was a bit rubbish, rather as if the LSWs had read the press about a bubble bursting in the contract market and assumed it meant no more work for oldsters. In reality there is a reset every few years and those who keep skills up to date tend to be OK whereas those who max out the hot skill and don't update lose out. But I never felt the storyline had a clue about that market.

But I never felt any the storyline had a clue about any that market.
Don't get me started ...

Oh Emma you fool You're Clarrie in a caravan.

In 1994, Robert could have easily got well-paid contract work.

Clarrie in a caravan. Indeed. But at least its stamped out any ambition she had for her family. As obviously we cant have that.

In 1994, Robert could have easily got well-paid contract work

Depended on the skillset and location. We never were told what area Robert worked in but it sounded like he was selling software he developed rather than his services.

The market was changing dramatically at that time, if he hadn't kept skilled and experienced in the changed areas it wouldn't have been that easy (at least without travelling).

I have no idea why I'm even thinking about this when the story line was probably written by a intern

I suspect he went bust so there was a pressing reason for Lynda to go and work at Grey Gables. He had a few years working as a handyman doing odd jobs round the village and then they opened the B&B.

Oliver must be the most accommodating landlord on the planet. However, we know he has a very soft spot for Ed, so it will all be fine.

As a mark of how much I've overthought this, if the mobile home is a few feet away from Grange Farm's front/back door, I assume during lockdown the extended Grundy clan can be treated as one household, which will be convenient.

More and more I wish the BBC had decided to put Ambridge into an alternate universe where Covid 19 doesn't exist. It's even more ludicrous that they will go into lockdown a month after the rest of the country without acknowledging it than never having it at all. They had Mother's Day and Easter as normal, so we know they're not in the same world as the rest of us, FGS!

You're Clarrie in a caravan.

Thing is - take away the periods of draaaama (which I'm fully aware of) and Clarrie has actually had rather a successful life. Long, mostly happy marriage. Children safely grown and alive with relationships and children of their own. She's spent almost all her life in a place she loves - and even has a stake in the land that may be passed on to the next generation. Work she enjoys, strenuous but not beyond her capacity. An established and secure place in her community. Good friends, a good employer, a ridiculously kind landlord. Fresh air, exercise and probably good food every single day.

What's not to like? I'm not sure I wouldn't swap a CV stuffed with the names of major academic and professional institutions for even half of what she's achieved ...

I agree, PPE.

Thing is - take away the periods of draaaama

But you can't can you? Everyone's lives would be great if you took out the bad bits.

Clarrie has had a lifetime of drudgery, the double and often triple shift and endless insecurity about their situation. Most of which was a direct result of first Joe and Eddie and latterly Eddie and Ed. Joe and Eddie were involved in one scam after an other, Ed actively avoids any kind of responsibility.

None of that disappears because she is fundamentally a decent person who inspires people to care about her (although not enough to clean up after themselves).

I agree PPE. There is no indication that Clarrie is unhappy with her lot. She has her family around her and is, in her way (which might not be your way or mine), quite the matriarch.

Perhaps I should have said 'outside' rather than 'take away'?

Yes, drudgery and insecurity and heartbreak - mostly caused by Grundy men - but people endure those things renting a bedsit on the outskirts of London, taking a crowded tube to poorly paid shift work and going home to swipe endlessly on Tinder.

I honestly don't think, if you asked her, that she'd say her life has been rubbish.