❓ Archers thread #126: It’s a mystery why we’re all still listening.

[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 love to be on the Parish Council, 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/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-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.)

Thanks to @LillianGish and @Taswama for thread title ideas, but I felt most in sympathy with @R4's suggestion. Is it me, or is the programme in the doldrums at the moment?

Haven't heard the 31/3 episode yet. Perhaps it's a gem.

I know Shula might not be the favourite character of most on here, but she might be just the thing for Alice right now. She doesn't seem to drink much, unlike most of Alice's family. She's not involved in Alice's life or family life to any great extent, so she wouldn't be too emotionally invested herself and would be motivated by altruism, whereas Alice wouldn't have to deal with being in the midst of all the Aldridge-Carter politics and sensitivities as her secret becomes more widely known. She can be interfering, but Alice's self-esteem is so low and she's so out of control with alcohol that might not be a bad thing. She's also got horses, which Alice likes and can get involved with as a healthy, purposeful outdoor activity! brilliantly put Cecile. Added to which she loves lost causes, has a gap in her life where Dan used to be and has plenty of spare rooms.

Dulcinae
The only people I can't connect to Alice are Bert Fry, Jakob, and Joy Horville.

Alan, Usha and Amy Franks are nobody's relation but each other.

Partner seems a bit unfair on Ian after all the trouble he and Adam had to go to in order to get married, and I bet Jolene insists she is a wife rather than a partner.

I think Nolly is about a year younger than the twins, so about 20. I think Sipo is a bit younger, so 16 or 17. But I haven't looked it up, so could be wrong.

Noluthando was born on 19th January, 2001, and Sipho's birth was announced on 26th July, 2007.

Kirsty - first cousin's ex
Jazzer - boyfriend of mother in law's sister

I think that's stretching related to to breaking point !

(Although I refuse to accept I'm "related to" any of my husband's family. Our son is related to them - I'm not)

Joy is about to become a near neighbour of Alice's first cousin Helen. That's as close as I can get it.

Various silent Ambridgeites not connected to Alice:
Hilary Nokes
Neville Booth (or is it Nathan? uncle and nephew, one may be dead now, can never remember which is which)
Derek and Pat Fletcher, if they're still alive/there
Mr Pullen is presumably long dead
The Buttons - Molly, Tilly, their Dad; do they have a mother? Have I imagined a brother, and if so, what's he called?
Richard and Sabrina Thwaite
Fat Paul (who possibly lives in Darrington rather than Ambridge)
Baggy and Snatch (ditto)
The Gills

Ian is Alice's half-brother-in-law.

@MissBarbary

*Kirsty - first cousin's ex Jazzer - boyfriend of mother in law's sister*

I think that's stretching related to to breaking point !

(Although I refuse to accept I'm "related to" any of my husband's family. Our son is related to them - I'm not)

There are relations-in-law.

And then there are relations-out-law.

I have a sister-out-law I haven't spoken to for possibly thirty-five years. Now my brother-in-law has died, I don't suppose I ever will again.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
Mr Pullen is presumably long dead

Bob Pullen died on 26th December, 2012, as announced by Jill. There was some story in Ambridge Extra about a pilgrimage to Liverpool because of his will..

The Buttons - Molly, Tilly, their Dad; do they have a mother? Have I imagined a brother, and if so, what's he called?

My 2019 notes say
Mr Mushroom Button is a puzzle. His name was given as Terry recently, but there was a Russell Button named in 2016 that I took to be Mr Mushroom Button. Billy is his son; younger than Molly and Tilly. "Henry had a friend at nursery called Billy in 2014. I had dismissed that Billy as not being Billy Button, because Billy Button was with Georgie throwing things at Lynda, but it puts him at the right age to be wrestling Keira for eggs."

Also (undated)
We have heard of Molly Button's cousin, Stephen, who was a fellow pupil of Ruairi, (Ruairi was mentioned of going to a sleepover with Stephen Button, at the start of one summer holiday, then not mentioned again until he was said to be coming (silently) home for half term).

Oh, and
Molly Button: we were told in August 2012 that she was 11 with a birthday later in the year.

The Buttons are a source of constant mild speculation, in fact.

Gosh, I hadn’t ever imagine the Buttons as having relations who went to boarding school!

Well, if Mr Button is a Fungal Recorder, I would assume he has quite an academic background, which slightly increases the chance he comes from a monied background. He may be the rebel of the family, sending his children to the local state schools, rather than to boarding schools.

How could I have forgotten that his son is Billy. It reminds me of a family we encountered once whose daughters were Jodie, Chloe, Zoe and a fourth one that also ended in an owie sound or similar - Cody or Cory, maybe.

Generations do get displaced. My Grandfather was born in 1878, and was 15 years younger than his oldest sibling. He then didn't marry until he was about 60 and had three children. Their aunts and uncles on his side were at least one generation adrift of those on their mother's side. Their cousins were middle aged when they were born.

I love those cases where an uncle or aunt is younger than their nieces and nephews!

@Chemenger

Generations do get displaced. My Grandfather was born in 1878, and was 15 years younger than his oldest sibling. He then didn't marry until he was about 60 and had three children. Their aunts and uncles on his side were at least one generation adrift of those on their mother's side. Their cousins were middle aged when they were born.

Not so great for the uncle concerned, sometimes.

One of my cousins, eldest child of my eldest aunt, was a year older than his uncle, my grandmother's youngest-but-two child. I still think it was cruel of my cousin to introduce him at university as "this is my uncle he's a freshman could you keep an eye out for him..."

Ha! The SWs must have been listening, about the lack of public sector workers, nurses etc.

The time capsule plot is ridiculous.

10 years is not very long.

I've got Facebook Memories that are older than that.

Ha! The SWs must have been listening, about the lack of public sector workers, nurses etc
Yup.

I luffs Ruari. I thought that he was going to offer to dig up the time capsule for Justin ... in return for a large fee.

He's a chip off the old block.

@R4

Ha! The SWs must have been listening, about the lack of public sector workers, nurses etc Yup.

I luffs Ruari. I thought that he was going to offer to dig up the time capsule for Justin ... in return for a large fee.

He didn't like being ordered about the way Justin thought appropriate, so he didn't follow the peremptory orders made with never a "please" attached. Good for Ruairi.

And good for Ben wanting to be a nurse, too. Maybe he has been talking with his junior-doctor friend, and knows what a long and hard course doctor is, so went for nurse as also important but with less difficult qualification involved. But good for him wanting to do something of value, anyway.

I don't understand what the big deal is with Justin's childhood photo. Surely everyone has something like this.

@CaptainMyCaptain

I don't understand what the big deal is with Justin's childhood photo. Surely everyone has something like this.

It doesn't really matter whether it's a big deal or a miniscule deal- Lillian should have dropped it and she had no right to give the photo away.

She really is quite a horrible person.

Justin is rightly surnamed Idiot.

Even the rankest townie surely ought to be aware that if a hole has been dug and filled in the earth will have been obviously disturbed, and digging anywhere else for what was buried would be stupid?

@Tulipomania

The time capsule plot is ridiculous.

10 years is not very long.

I've got Facebook Memories that are older than that.

There are posts in Classics from more than ten years ago.

A time capsule ought to contain typical items from the time or something notable - clothing from the era, a newspaper, diary entries - WTF has a 70-year-old photo of a toddler and a crappy dog show prize have to do with it?

She really is quite a horrible person.
True.

I'm surprised to learn that Nursing courses aren't very prescriptive when it comes to entry requirements - I thought that they might ask for Chemistry or Biology but it seems not. So Ben is good to go with his Geography, Politics and whatever-it-was.