😱 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!

I agree

I’m still catching up but I’m so pleased Pat is back! Pat and Jenny talking felt like two people talking. Made me realise that Lilian really doesn’t - we usually hear her with Jenny and she’s a (usually fun) caricature.

Everything Roysnewshirt said!

Still can’t think of anything title-worthy …

Yes I want to know if that’s what rehab would do. I can imagine facing up to the reality of what you’ve done to others is a very important step along the road to recovery and that letters like that are one of the best ways to achieve it.

But SURELY the clinic would have at least explained this in a letter, or preferably phone call, to the family. Because those asked to write would actually need a short counselling and info session before embarking on it - both to quiet worries like Brine’s, and to help them work through and order their feelings about the addicted one’s behaviours.

I’m not good at thread titles but here’s an attempt to get the ball rolling….

Prayer cards, rehab, a glass of scotch, a bowl of chilli or even a dish of lasagne…we offer a range of solutions here to help you solve any Ambridge problem - large or small etc etc

Hard to think of thread titles because most storylines seem to be coming to an end at the moment. What’s coming up?

Alice’s return
Stella: getting to know you 👀
More characters out of the cupboard?
Lil and Just donate millions to Borchester Food Bank (!)
Beth’n’Ben cause Dave’s heart attack?

Thanks, Edmontine, Roy and Foxglove.

What's coming up? Flower and Produce show, I'm afraid. Alice coming out of rehab. IRL, preparations for the Christmas show, but in Ambridge that's generally left till much later in the year, of course. New woman starting at Home Farm (I've already forgotten her name and can't be bothered to scroll up to find it). Adam starting his new job. Prof sounding off about his broken mug? Ruairi going to London to start his course. Ben starting his nursing course. Beth Casey being around more? Possibly developments between Vince and Elizabeth.

At some stage, George Grundy is likely to be given a voice, I'd imagine. He's 16 now, isn't he? Just starting at Borchester College. I forget what he was said to be doing there. Chelsea Horrobin, or whatever Tracy's children's surname is, has also just started there. Is she doing hairdressing? If she's 16, she may start speaking soon too. Late developers in Ambridge.

Stella! Thanks, JanglyBeads.

Oh yes, the totally relatable story of what to do with a few extra millions.

Double dates with the Casey family?!

😱

Fairbrethren usually not officially attached, but I suspect the SWs have grander dynastic ambitions for them. (Rosie + maybe a Pargetter.)

Or Phoeble, of course.

I agree that relatives would surely need some sort of advice before writing letters for people in rehab. Otherwise surely there is a risk that the relative will write something that puts the patient right back to the start. Alice got off really very lightly in JD's and Chris's letters.

When Alice says she doesn't want to go home, does she mean her parents' house, the house she lived in with Chris, or Ambridge generally? If she assuming Brine will bail her out yet again by financing somewhere else?

I assumed she meant she doesn’t want to leave rehab. Such a sheltered and safe environment for everything she’s been working through. Now she has to go back to real life and face up to her situation.

It seems odd to me even if the letter writing is a thing you do in rehab (and I’m prepared to believe the production team have taken advice on this because it’s quite a specific activity to have them doing) that it would be done the day before she’s due to leave. As @Droite says, Alice got off pretty lightly really (other families must have said much worse) and it seems unlikely to me that there wouldn’t be some built-in time to deal with the fall-our of such letters - either for Alice alone or some kind of family counselling sessions.

Prestissimo I agree about the letter writing... I'd have thought there would be some therapy time allocated for Alice to process everything in the days and weeks following...

"Prayer cards, rehab, a glass of scotch, a bowl of chilli or even a dish of lasagne…we offer a range of solutions here to help you solve any Ambridge problem - large or small etc etc"

Just don't order the fish!@Roysnewshirt

It was a nice thing Fallon did for JD, gave her a sense of purpose. BOOP for that.

@suzyscat

Ooh finally caught up again.

Echo everyone's thoughts about the tasteless "oh what can we do with all our lovely money" guff.
It reminded me of when Jeff Bezos said the only thing he could think to do with his ill gotten gains was go to space. Like nowhere in his head does paying a fair wage or any taxes even crop up for a moment.

I found Amy's chat pretty hopeless tbh. 'Some' of her team got sick - the two midwives I know has Covid storm through their whole respective teams pretty early on.

What I hated most was the 'I'm a midwife I'm all about beginnings not endings, life not death.' So she's never helped a woman through miscarriage, still birth or watched one die in childbirth. I do not believe this. She's a medical professional and is the child of a vicar. This is not her first exposure to death. Of course she's bound to feel traumatised by it, but no way is her job all beginnings no endings.

I thought exactly that about her ‘new life’ thing, it was quite badly thought out and probably an upsetting listen for a lot of women.

I don't get why the kitchen drawers and cupboards in Adam and Ian's house aren't child-proofed. Surely there'd be an array of pointy stuff in a chef's house?

Mmm … I’d only recently returned from marvelling at the astonishing sharpness of new knives all packed up for the new university term - so Xander playing in the kitchen did rather freeze my blood. Though only for a moment.

There’s no way even Ian’s domestic knives would be anywhere accessible to a small child. The thought of Xander answering the phone was pretty hilarious.

Sod the knives, put a lock on the preserves cupboard: it's much easier to mop up blood than jam.

I didn’t really understand how that whole Adam/Xander thing happened. He got in from work before 6 because Ian was rushing out. Xander was already in his pyjamas. What time do we think he goes to bed - 6.30? 7? So Adam didn’t go up and put Xander to bed/do his story but instead, what, sat down on the sofa and then fell asleep? Or he put Xander to bed and was then so exhausted he fell asleep and Xander wandered downstairs but Adam didn’t hear him? It sounded very strange to me. I mean, I quite often work 11/12hr days and I’ve never been so sparked out on the sofa that I wouldn’t have been woken by my children coming downstairs/getting loads of stuff out in the kitchen/the phone ringing. Especially if I’m in the house on my own with them so you’re always slightly alert aren’t you?

Being a farmer I guess it’s possible that Adam is up and out by 4am if he now has a long commute (although it’s still pretty dark now until 6, so ???). It seems to me in that case he shouldn’t be staying up to ‘discuss it later’ with Ian who surely won’t be in much before midnight from Grey Gables.

I wonder where this storyline is going - does Adam need his old job back because he can’t manage the new hours; is it just more tension between Adam and Ian (given that we never really heard them resolve the last row); are they actually going to arrange proper childcare? A nanny?

Proper childcare is the obvious solution.

But I felt a definite whiff of ‘Adam living closer to work’ to solve exhaustion … Which would effectively make Ian a single parent. And Adam a free agent.

Aha! Amy?

@theThreeofWeevils

Sod the knives, put a lock on the preserves cupboard: it's much easier to mop up blood than jam.

All heart as ever Weevils

Can a chef really arrive at work at 6 for dinner service starting pretty much immediately?

saw 'josh' in the crown last night.
he is exactly how I picture shosh in my head.

tired adam falling asleep?
he needs to woman up!