🧱 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.

@JoeGrundyWasMyRoleModel

Why this constant introduction of new characters, comedy or otherwise, when the SWs have cereal cupboards full of established characters about whom we are all wondering "whatever happened to ......"?

The prime candidates currently there being Pat and Johnny.

It's incredible that Pat and Johnny haven't been to see Helen and Lee in their new home but we had the grizzly comedic "Three Dads" situation where Ian and Adam turned up.

And why was Joy babysitting? It was something to do with a dinner Pat was giving/attending but which was cancelled so why didn't Pat or Johnny step up?

Obviously it was a plot device to show Lee was fine about the action figures but that could have been handled more plausibly.

How would Mrs C have found them in the bridal suite?

And apparently the "Bridal Suite" helpfully has its name on the door.

I never stayed in a bridal suite as a bride but I've stayed in many posh country house hotels with rooms which have names (including a couple of times in a room which I've been told was "the Bridal suite").

I've never seen a room with the name "Bridal Suite"

@KimikosNightmare

How would Mrs C have found them in the bridal suite?

And apparently the "Bridal Suite" helpfully has its name on the door.

I never stayed in a bridal suite as a bride but I've stayed in many posh country house hotels with rooms which have names (including a couple of times in a room which I've been told was "the Bridal suite").

I've never seen a room with the name "Bridal Suite"

Good point. I suppose if they did the best man and bridesmaids would break in and fill everything with confetti, or some such hilarious jape, which would be a good reason for the hotel not to make it easy for them.

Confetti is a beast to get rid of. My mother had a new suitcase during the war, and was on the same train as a bridal couple; some wag opened her suitcase and filled it with confetti, presumably thinking a new suitcase must belong to the bride. My parents had moved house twice when I encountered some confetti at the bottom of the wardrobe on their third move, almost forty years later, and got the whole earful from my mother about it.

I’m worried about Lower Loxley’s security and confused about how much of it is open/as what. If it’s a hotel there ought to be dozens more staff. If it’s a wedding venue it ought to be really busy a lot. If it’s just a country house that’s open then surely you can’t just wander in past nobody and nosy around the whole place. Why not pick up a painting as you go. Etc. Bizarre!

Other than that ridiculousness I thought she was being standard nosy mum. She DID sound very much like Joy Senior didn’t she??!

Iris walked into Elizabeth's bedroom, which is in the family flat. The door of that flat really ought to have a lock on it, and did in an episode a few years ago.

And until they converted the Old Dairy to an accommodation block, there was nowhere for guests to sleep at Lower Loxley Hall, so presumably the Bridal Suite is not in the main house but in the Old Dairy.

The place is a conference centre, with a side-line in weddings, hosting open-air Events in the summer. It's not a hotel, never has been. When the accommodation block opened, I wondered where the people staying in it were to have breakfast, because the Orangery is a café and in a different building, just what you want if it is raining.

I suppose they might have converted one of the main house bedrooms to a bridal suite, I've been to country houses that do weddings and that is sometimes a thing even if no other guests stay in the main building.

I used to work in a National Trust place and the family accommodation was VERY separate, different entrances, only one unmarked door between there and the public bit, you'd never have found anyone's bedroom without a cat burgling qualification or a floor plan.

Okay maybe not charming, but I thought Mrs C was trying to empathise with each persons he met.

I'm not surprised Rex didn't scold or sound shocked at Lily's confession. What is she 20? And she cheated on her aged sexual predator boyf? I'd be encouraging her to explore crushes too.

When my friend and her awful partner broke up after having baby together, she was the first to arrive our DH's birthday party. She told me and I was elated, that god you've finally got rid of that useless lump. It will be hard but in many ways it will be easier. She was surprised at my reaction but then as more people arrived and everyone reacted the same she was steeled by this and we had a massive celebration about it. Happy days. And it was much easier and much better for. We weren't wrong. (Though that wouldn't be true for everyone in her position.)

@FoxgloveSummers

I suppose they might have converted one of the main house bedrooms to a bridal suite, I've been to country houses that do weddings and that is sometimes a thing even if no other guests stay in the main building.

I used to work in a National Trust place and the family accommodation was VERY separate, different entrances, only one unmarked door between there and the public bit, you'd never have found anyone's bedroom without a cat burgling qualification or a floor plan.

I was at Chatsworth once when a small child came hurtling through and ducked under the rope protecting the priceless furniture etc. I was about to say 'Well, who does he belong to?' when a uniformed member of staff opened a door to one side and let him in. He was obviously a family member and the door to the private apartments was in the middle of the visitor's route.

Ooh, that's sweet.

Mrs C annoyed me by the way she used bab after everything. They don't get regional accents right.

According to Wikipedia, Susan Jameson was born in Worcestershire, so not too far from Ambridge!

@Ghostontoast1, and Tim Bentinck was born in Tasmania.

Bleurgh!

Bleuuuuuuurgh!

Noooooooooooooooooo!

I'm going to stop listening. Had enough.

Well, I was half right about Lily's reaction.

Must somehow learn to live with my disappointment.

There was something quite clever in that episode. The 'toffee mint popcorn' will explain away all the SM vomiting to the production team's entire satsfaction.
"They would have been fine if we'd left it with Vince and Sol quietly pulling their pork," they will carol merrily.

I haven’t listened yet and have NO idea as to what you lot could be commenting on, which is fun!

Re Mrs Casey snr. : I thought dementia first but as the episode unwound I could only see her as an almost allegorical, enchanted fairy-type figure, in whom all confide and then she gives her blessing and words of wisdom.

@JanFebAnyMonth

I haven’t listened yet and have NO idea as to what you lot could be commenting on, which is fun!

Re Mrs Casey snr. : I thought dementia first but as the episode unwound I could only see her as an almost allegorical, enchanted fairy-type figure, in whom all confide and then she gives her blessing and words of wisdom.

That's exactly the vibe I got from Mrs Casey.

arghhh
strange how I went from dreading that CMR would propose marriage to being outraged that he turned Lily down.

Oh ha, ha.

I loved that episode !

I was right about the painting.

And you lot were all wrong about CMR wanting to secure his position by marrying the Spoilt Brat.

Theoretically, Lily would be insane to marry him.

Ughhhhhhhhhh

Confirmed that he’s a user though. Commitment? Nooo, why would I want that when I can just carry on with my made up job and free studio space…

Every time I start a new MN name I vow to make fewer enemies than I did with the last one.

Then I forget.

This could be post 900. Surely tomorrow I may escape my pursuers?

This could be post 900. Surely tomorrow I may escape my pursuers?
Are you forgetting, yet again, that there is no episode tomorrow?