🧱 Archers thread #128: Alice lobs a brick, Emma hurls brickbats, Neil is a brick. Cement your relationship with 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 collect superhero figures, or other unusual things.

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.)

Apologies for not using any of the suggestions offered for this thread's title. I'll paste them in here instead to get us started.

I like the leeway pun here from @ThePawtriarchy: Bacon, Bores and Booze. Elizabeth needs convincing, Helen needs some leeway and Alice is in crisis.

@nettie434 gets to the nub of what's been happening recently: Beechwood, Batman and Booze: Rex's pigs and Helen and Lee have new homes but will Lee's collection of action figures plant the apple of discord in their sylvan idyll? Alice's alcohol problems continue to cause friction between the Aldridges and Carters. Has anyone warned Borsetshire Children's Services what awaits them?

Great one liner from @PseudoBadger - ‘Nobody puts Captain America in the corner’.

And a timely bit of advice from @JanFebAnyMonth: If this evening’s episode has raised any issues for you, please call the BBC Helpline post on this MN thread for details of organisations which might help you.

So, off we go again! We may get back to five episodes a week before the next thread. Here's hoping that it's Friday we get back, not Sunday.

Well that was a surprise !

Oh dear.

Finally, the re-wiring bill, no doubt?

Well that solves the never ending "how will we pay the electrician" saga Ian and Adam have been going on about for months.

In the best mumsnet tradition:

POLICE. NOW.

Any fule kno that putting toys into a cupboard that is accessible to small boys is an invitation to them to take them out. Goodness only knows what either Lee or Helen were thinking.

So I guess Helen is about to discover that each of the little superheroes - pristinely boxed - is worth fifteen trillion £££?

Adam and Ian are both in well-paid jobs, have a free cottage (possibly rented out so another source of income), are about 50 so have had years of earning/saving behind them and have only recently become parents. Surely they would have a £5k buffer in the bank? Or if not, could take a loan. There’s no way Adam would steal from the family business.

I’m so sick of Lee’s pathetic toys. I’m no fan of bratty children but when he left leave his toys out on view for small boys to admire, what did Lee think would happen? It’s not like he’s brand new at playing step dad - he has his own (forgotten) children. It’s quite disgusting that we hear nothing about the girls but that’s another issue. Helen really has made quite a change from Rob to a man who likes playing Barbie.

What's the big mystery behind the WhatsApp group? Why was Joy avoiding giving the details to Lee?

@KimikosNightmare

What's the big mystery behind the WhatsApp group? Why was Joy avoiding giving the details to Lee?

Because the neighbours refer to Little Miss Stabby as Little Miss Stabby, or talk about 'that creepy kid with the speech impediment', I hope. Either that or Joy makes her dogging appointments on it.

Adam and Ian are both in well-paid jobs, have a free cottage (possibly rented out so another source of income), are about 50 so have had years of earning/saving behind them and have only recently become parents. Surely they would have a £5k buffer in the bank? Or if not, could take a loan. There’s no way Adam would steal from the family business.

They bought the cottage so not free. Adam is part time and Ian was on paternity leave, and then I imagine furloughed for a while, presumably now working but with very few customers and very few tips. I imagine they spent a bit of savings before that on Lexi having the baby. Adam would have taken the money intending to pay it back but with the ongoing pandemic Ian's work probably hasn't picked up as much as Adam had hoped.

March was three months ago, at which time if Adam didn't know Ian had been not-working for over a year he hadn't been paying attention!

Adam would never have had his fingers in the till like this. He might have sorted out himself a director’s loan, for instance, or mentioned to Brian that he needed cash for the rewiring and that he was going to take an advance but to suggest he would ‘borrow’ £5k without mentioning it to anyone is a bridge too far.

Lexi wouldn't accept payment for the baby as she was "helping her friends" (despite the fact she had virtually no relationship with either Ian or Adam before their surrogacy storyline). I don't think they paid for private antenatal care so they would presumably only have had to pay for her out of pocket expenses.

Xander appears to be looked after by Aunty Kate/JD/whoever else is available, there has been no of mention of dropping him off at nursery or any kind of paid childcare.

Where does all their money go? I find it difficult to believe they couldn't cobble together £5k or get a loan for such a small amount. Adam stealing from the business is ridiculous and completely out of character

Alice and Kate were each given a holiday cottage, IIRC,to even things up a bit when Adam and Debbie were given shares in the business. Adam and Ian bought Woodbine Cottage themselves. The electricity bill related to emergency work, presumably, so an unplanned expense. Thus far, I can believe that Adam and Ian were a bit stretched and struggling to pay it.

I don't, however, find it plausible in the least that Adam would have taken the money without consulting Brian. I know he and Brian have a tricky relationship but all he had to say was that Ian's income was almost nonexistent at the moment and therefore they could really do with a short-term loan. Jennifer would have insisted he got it, and that would have been that.

They must have paid for the IVF and Lexi’s expenses.

Adam would never have had his fingers in the till like this
You reckon not? Characterwise, I find it believable. He wasn't stealing, as far as he's concerned, just borrowing, temporarily, and is so busy and tired that he hadn't got around to paying it back. Which is different. And probably secondary PND too, the poor dear.
Adam is sulky, vain, touchy and resentful, particularly of Brian having any say in what is still his farm, dammit. I find it wholly credible as a bit of subconscious territory-marking that he might 'borrow' without permission.dammit

What is less believable is that he needed to. Weren't they rewired after Ye Greate Fludde (AQAAT will know, if anyone does)? Also, he does very nicely thank you out of Home Farm, thanks to his blackmailing dam, so it is unlikely on that front too.

Before Xander was born, Ian and Adam had a stereotyped pink pound lifestyle with lots of foodie stuff and expensive holidays. I don't suppose Ian has ever earned a huge amount at Grey Gables so I could envisage them not having a lot of savings.

I am ambivalent about how likely it would be for Adam to take money. On the one hand, I do agree that it would be much more likely for Adam to ask for a loan. After all, Kate has always demanded money for her business. I know we are supposed to think Spiritual Homes is like Soho Farmhouse but I never really imagine there is enough of a market for people to stay in a posh tent in Ambridge.

On the other, Adam is very entitled and thinks he is undervalued. I also think he would not want to lose face by asking for help.

I am quite pleased with this development as I did think the electrician's bill was not just another plotting cul de sac. However, I just thought it would be a problems for hospitality in the pandemic/farming post Brexit/rural debt storyline.

There was a moment some months ago when Brian did something that infuriated Adam - perhaps indulging Ruairi's whims as the heir apparent - and another moment when he offered to loan Adam some dosh but was virulently rebuffed; can't recall if these moments were directly connected - but it does seem as if the SWs have invented a difficulty where none should have existed. As everyone's already said, Adam could easily have informed Brian that he needed to temporarily extract some farm money for domestic purposes. There may have been a waspish retort, but it would only have been for show.

For the SWs to even suggest that Adam might steal (/ borrow in an underhand way) from Home Farm is ... weird.

Will noone think of the action figures?

Lexi wouldn't accept payment for the baby as she was "helping her friends" (despite the fact she had virtually no relationship with either Ian or Adam before their surrogacy storyline). I don't think they paid for private antenatal care so they would presumably only have had to pay for her out of pocket expenses.

There’s the ivf as well though?

Who actually does the farming on Home Farm? Every farmer I know works long hours seven days a week yet Adam is part time and Brian is retired. Jazzer is gone, they sacked Ed, are there other workers?

I think there will be a big deal about how terrified Helen is of Lee finding out because she would be expecting a Rob-style reaction. When he finds out he will be disappointed but ultimately OK about it.

I agree @CaptainMyCaptain - I guess alternatively he might flip out and she throws him out? Seems unlikely for him though

I have no idea who does the farming.

Maybe Adam said he took it to get Alice off the hook?

Maybe Lee will be ok about the damaged collector's items.

That’s a really good question @Chemenger - I imagine they have a troupe of casual workers but it’s a bit bewildering.

I am not entirely surprised about Adam “borrowing” money especially as Brian was about to do the same - albeit in a more above board way. They’re a sneaky family and don’t forget Adam is a cheater and used to being dishonest.