😱 Archers thread #130: The Fall of the House of Aldridge. 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 look forward to Shula's first sermon, 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.)

I went for the obvious thread title this time. Poor Ruairi! We've had a good go on the last thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/a4289334--Archers-thread-129-Casey-Macy-Lily-Alice-Decent-types-or-full-of-malice-Discuss-The-Archers-here?msgid=109858475#109858475 at trying to work out where he's going and what he might be studying, as the SWs have not seen fit to tell us.

Whither now for Alice? Will Jennifer talk to Peggy soon? Good hint from Lilian the other day that at Peggy's age it's not wise to leave feuds bubbling on.

It's been a long time since we last heard from a certain Archer whose name I am not going to mention in case it acts as a summoning charm. Long may she remain unheard in the dairy or out in the fields, or better still somewhere near a sinkhole. That was a storyline that looked promising years ago and wasn't exploited as it could have been. Pah.

Over to you!

It needs to be a full size one.

Why?
She's dead, and always has been.

Nevertheless …

@theThreeofWeevils

Amy’s mother’s grandchild having a proper stake in Ambridge would make me very happy Why? She's dead, and always has been.

Is that strictly true? Is it possible to have always been dead? Don’t you have to have been alive in order to be dead?

The little one would fit in nicely on David's toy farm

Is it possible to have always been dead
'course it is. See also Jacob Marley. Hard to pull off unless you're fictional, though.

@PicardyRose

But if Amy returns to Ambridge and becomes the second Mrs Chris Carter, we will have the usual Archers storyline of a woman giving up her career (or education as in Lily and Debbie’s case) because of a man.

No reason why Amy would have to give up being a midwife if she married Chris. She could commute to Borchester General or Felpersham University Hospital (if that's what it's called) or become a community midwife. If she and Chris did have a child together, she might even (brace yourselves) know about childcare options that don't involve patching together an hour here and a morning there from the child's blood relations and their hangers on.

That's not totally fair. Frilly were looked after by Hayley. Henwee went to Nursery I think when he wasn't being looked after by PatnTone or quietly drawing a picture

Frilly were very much the exception to the rule. Henry was a toddler, I think, before nursery was first mentioned. Emma would have made an excellent childminder if she could have found a suitable place to do it. Grange Farm might not have passed the checks. I don't recall ever hearing of anyone else in Ambridge working as a childminder.

Shula put Daniel into a nursery, or possibly Ruth put Pip into a nursery, after Jill, trying to look after both of them because their mothers were too busy to look after children, let one or other fall to the floor and not be injured.

Yes, this is the sort of thing that annoys me. Most people who know that a baby is on the way, or actually well before that if it's planned, have a conversation about finances and childcare, and if the plan is that they both carry on working full-time, or one of them does and the other one will be working part-time, they start sorting things out while the mother is on maternity leave. They don't plan to muddle through and then go for the professional option when the muddling doesn't work out.

Anyway, I seem to have a bee in my bonnet about this, so will now shut up!

Not much of this thread left. Any ideas for the next thread title?

Dan & Doris

Phil & Jill

Ben & Beth

So … Unless Josh finds himself a Josie I’m not sure he has a future at Brookfield. Any more than Pip & Not-Toby.

I had an idea a few days ago, Gasp0. Then I had a migraine. Now there is almost nothing in my head at all.

Pip and Dilip
Freddie and Eddie (short for Edwina)
Phobe and Philo
Etc

Phoebe not Phobe!

I still think Aunt Kate has enough time on her hands to spend a couple of days a week looking after Xander and Martyr.

But neither Freddie nor Phoebe is in the running to inherit Brookfield, PicardyRose! (And only Brookfield couples seemed to do that thing. Except Ruth & David. That’s probably where they went wrong.)

Certainly if Pip attaches herself to someone with a rhyming or alliterative name, I will take notice …

David & Ruth don't fit the pattern but both are OT names

We could have Joshua and Sarah/Rachel/Rebecca/Naomi/Esther/Eve...

@theThreeofWeevils

Is it possible to have always been dead 'course it is. See also Jacob Marley. Hard to pull off unless you're fictional, though.

He was Scrooge’s partner. Are you saying he was already dead then?

Jacob Marley was certainly a ghost by the time the story was being told. He'd been dead for seven years at that point.

In the same way, Amy's mother had been dead for eight years when Alan and Amy were invented and appeared in The Archers. So she has never been alive, since she wasn't invented when she was alive.

It does make sense.

@Eastie77Returns

I still think Aunt Kate has enough time on her hands to spend a couple of days a week looking after Xander and Martyr.

She's not very experienced with children.

Harsh!

@CaptainMyCaptain

Chris and Amy. I'm calling it now. It will be an emotional affair that Chris will wonder into obliviously. Talk about a chip of the old block. I can't imagine why else Amy is around. Her voice/draining drawl make me feel sleepy. I called it first! I think you are right, why else is she around?

I called it first!!

@FoxgloveSummers

BOOP for the cereal cupboard clearout despite the mixed success. Agree Amy sounded like a guest actor, very read aloud. I was expecting her to tell us to get our vaccinations. Is she going to neatly slot into the Mother of Martha slot to Alice’s chagrin?

I wonder if they spoke to any midwives, most of the job is not about cutesy new babies it’s about shepherding mothers through the pregnancy and birth.

Me calling it ( shacking up with Chris was implied by the “mother to Martha slot”)

@Edmontine

Dan & Doris

Phil & Jill

Ben & Beth

So … Unless Josh finds himself a Josie I’m not sure he has a future at Brookfield. Any more than Pip & Not-Toby.

I had an idea a few days ago, Gasp0. Then I had a migraine. Now there is almost nothing in my head at all.

Having once been part of a similarly singsong sounding couple i can tell you it was a pain in the arse! I do know a Phil and Pip (Philip/Philippa) married couple though. Joshua could have a Deborah maybe, she’d probably have to be a much older woman.

Ok @FoxgloveSummers (Rivers of London fan?) I concede that.