🧱 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.

Home Farm were farming Borchester Land as contractors - other contractors are available. It's how a lot of arable is done these days.

I can’t bear conflict, Alice’s alcoholism is right at my threshold but the future wrangling over the “borrowed” 5 grand will be too much for me so i’m going to take an “Archers holiday” for a few weeks

nettie434
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.
...
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.

Oh, it was worse than that. On the day Adam told Ian he had discovered a bank account with enough money in it to pay the electrician, Brian offered to help with the cost of the electrician and Adam was offensive in his refusal of a loan.

It all happened on 3rd March 2021. dayspring.homenet.firedrake.org/archers/2021.html#March

Weevils, they did indeed have to have their house rewired after Ye Grete Fludde in 2015. They lived in Grey Gables while it was done.

Just like the SW to forget that Ian and Adam's place had to be completely rewired in 2015! What work would they have had done last year? They already have electrics for their hot tub. Even for an emergency electrician a £5k bill is a lot of hours and kit.

I think we just bought a few plug socket covers and put a stairgate on the kitchen door opening when we had toddlers in the house.

I'd love Charlie to return (but then the SWs would get themselves in a mess remembering that Justin is supposed to be very rich with an army of people to manage his projects).

@CaptainMyCaptain

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.

Exactly this.

Maybe he'll be furious and beat up the boys and Helen will reach for the carving knife.

Actually, ILoveShula that would be much better than Rob reappearing. As the Relationship board demonstrates, it is not uncommon for an abusee to pick another relationship with an abuser.

Thanks Asking for the reminder about Adam being so rude about Brian's offer. Interesting point about Adam's dishonesty, Foxglovesummers. I think Ian never knew about Pawel and only knew about Charlie because of Rob.

Love the accuracy of the posters here picking up on the rewiring. It was an odd choice. It would have been much simpler to use a new bathroom or kitchen as a reason for needing the money.

it is not uncommon for an abusee to pick another relationship with an abuser
Since Helen's sole criterion seems to be 'anything with a pulse', that would be dreadfully bad luck (but undeniably satisfying)

I didn't listen as much in the pre-internet days. Aside from Greg (who shot himself), the turkey baster (that I felt certain was carrying Ian's sperm at the time), and Rob (well, at least I recognised his voice!), did Helen ever have a relationship with another 'sperm vessel'?

If Lee just laughs it off, it must mean that Rob is busily amber quarantining after a few years abroad! Or maybe "the horses" have escaped Victoria's clutches and arrive to torch Beechwood.

Madcats
I didn't listen as much in the pre-internet days. Aside from Greg (who shot himself), the turkey baster (that I felt certain was carrying Ian's sperm at the time), and Rob (well, at least I recognised his voice!), did Helen ever have a relationship with another 'sperm vessel'?

Leon, who screwed Helen, screwed her stepdaughter Annette, then ditched them both, leaving Annette to abort the baby and Helen to get seriously broody because of it no longer existing for her to take over.

Ian wanted a baby to be like his mammy, so Adam siring one was what he wanted.
Helen wanted one that would be like Greg, so having one by AID was what she wanted.
These people are very inconsistent.

Smuggity smug (which no doubt I shall be Punished for in due time) here. I wasn't very far off last night in my expectation of Adam's self-justification.
Nasty mean Brian, how dare he object?

That was a beautiful besting of Lynda by Joy.

Annette wasn't Helen's step-daughter. She was Helen's ex-partner's daughter.

I can't help wondering if the SWs intend Adam to come across as petulant, ill-tempered, entitled and with a massive chip on his shoulder.

What are his redeeming features supposed to be?

@ILoveShula

Annette wasn't Helen's step-daughter. She was Helen's ex-partner's daughter.

Helen kept on about her being like a daughter, and clearly thought of the poor woman as being her step-daughter; sorry; I shouldn't have short-handed that...

Oh, and that her baby would Have Greg's Blood and must be preserved at all costs to Annette. They could share the one-bedroomed flat above the shop and be parents to it. Annette sensibly ran for the hills, or at anyrate Sheffield, and has never been heard of since.

@theThreeofWeevils

Smuggity smug (which no doubt I shall be Punished for in due time) here. I wasn't very far off last night in my expectation of Adam's self-justification. Nasty mean Brian, how dare he object?

theThreeofWeevils Nasty mean Brian, how dare he object?

I am rather hoping his objection has taken the form of getting his accountant to go through the books, and consulting a lawyer about whether he should report the theft to the police. Because "I meant to give it back" has never cut any ice when a good brief gets his or her hands on it...

Just nit-picking Asking.

A TV duo claim to be step-father and step-daughter, but legally they never were. Seems a bit odd to me.

When you get divorced, do your step-children become ex-step-children?

Annette sensibly ran for the hills, or at any rate Sheffield
Ran for seven hills, then (or galloped off in all directions).

When you get divorced, do your step-children become ex-step-children?

Don't know,but Greg and Helen were never married, were they?

That doesn't answer the question, EBerahug. I'd already pointed out that Annette was not Helen's stepdaughter.

Is Henwee Rob's step-son or former step-son.

?

I don’t get Adam doing that at all - because he’s pretty proper and moral when it comes to business stuff - sacking Ed etc etc - no way can I imagine him thinking it was fine to extract £5K, and then to delay paying it back. He knows about auditors but, more fundamentally, about what is right.

Am not commenting on his personal life however!

Lee handled the conversation really well.

I would like to hear what Lilian and Tony have to say about their memories of growing up with an alcoholic father. I found it astonishing that JD did not acknowledge that Peggy was saying that the child should come first and that she herself was once that child. Bizarrely lacking in self-awareness. Wan’t June Spencer amazing though? Acting her socks off at age 101!

@theThreeofWeevils

it is not uncommon for an abusee to pick another relationship with an abuser Since Helen's sole criterion seems to be 'anything with a pulse', that would be dreadfully bad luck (but undeniably satisfying)

True. I've never understood what on earth the attraction of Lee is, given that he appears to be lacking in brains or any sort of character, and Helen seems to find his obsession with Bruce Lee and toys vaguely distasteful and embarrassing.