🌱 Archers thread #131: A time to plant, a time to reap. 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 also have a few millions lying around you're not sure how to invest, or other unusual things.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the week night 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.)

Thanks to @Roysnewshirt and @Edmontine for title suggestions, and apologies to anyone I’ve missed or forgotten. In the end, inspired by Edmontine's idea and a brief discussion at the end of the last thread, I remembered that it's autumn now and the Ambridge farmers are presumably sowing barley, winter wheat, potatoes etc, so I found myself recollecting Ecclesiastes 3 (King James version) - my Church of Scotland upbringing has a lot to answer for. This led me back to one of my favourite numbers by The Byrds (written by Pete Seeger):

Roysnewshirt suggested 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, which is as good a point as any to start this thread. Do we think Neil and Susan are solid again? Will Alice relapse? Will Shula confess all to the Bishop?

Reflecting on last night's offering, Edmontine said I’m musing on Baby steps … - but we need the culmination of Alice’s story this week. We have a new nurse in training, a possibly resigning midwife settling in Ambridge, Xander, Martha, Alice somewhere trying to find her feet sans grog, Shula trying to find her saintly feet sans Neil …B(ill)eth & Ben. Lots and lots of newness. Stir in Three’s blood and jam …

The blood and jam made me laugh. A lot. Just as well, as the storyline that line inspired is pants.

Over to you!

Lily has CMR. As much as I disapprove of CMR, I like the Frilly interactions

@Chemenger

Cue campaign for a defibrillator for the Bull (however inappropriate that might or might not be).

I'm sure someone normally has a cattle prod to hand in The Bull. What earthly point is there in paramedics working on an obvious stiff?

So the paramedics have to resuscitate a dead person so they can officially 'die' in the hospital?
Surely its just a case of DOA?

I welled up a little bit at Ruth remembering her mum, but thanks for the reminder that it was a completely inaccurate / false memory.

Prestissimo
CPR is not very often successful in any event. Certainly not done by Ruth “I kept tryin a bit of CPR” and even less so on an 85 year old heart. He’s very likely to have ended up with broken ribs, broken dignity (at least Jolene cleared the bar I suppose) and not much else to show for it. Poor chap.

He was dead at the time, so he won't have minded all that much.

What about Lily?

There have definitely been hints of a Rex/Lily attraction in the past - although the SWs may have forgotten this.

What earthly point is there in paramedics working on an obvious stiff?

No point at all, except that they aren’t authorised to make the decision to withhold treatment (i.e. not start CPR) without an advanced directive or known DNACPR in place. Even if the ‘patient’ is apparently dead. If the Ambridge GP had been called instead then they could have chosen to confirm death and call the funeral parlour instead, but paramedics can’t do this. Worth noting if you are ever in that situation with a relative. I often have conversations in palliative care cases where we tell the family to call us or the district nurses when their relative dies, not 999 (partly for appropriate use of resources, but also just in case the right paperwork can’t be found at the time and the paramedics are obliged to start ‘treatment’).

One of the most upsetting examples I dealt with was a 92 year old who had just moved into a local care home and promptly died in her sleep. The care staff found her the next morning and called not only the ambulance (who cut off her nightie in order to start CPR) but also the police as it was an ‘unexpected death’. She may have been dead at the time but it was pretty distressing to me as her new GP, let alone to her family.

Thanks for your information on this, @Prestissimo. Always good when someone with firsthand experience comments. That's a worthwhile tip to know about 999 and GPs.

Will start cogitating over new title. Plenty of material to work with here, but sadly only a very limited word count available for thread titles! Not sure we could even run to a haiku. Will slot it all into the OP, though.

Oh God - I think I’m turning into Trevorella. I’ve been known to engage people in conversations about train journeys. Quite … detailed …conversations …

Is Trevor supposed to be autistic?

I liked Trevor and didn’t find him boring at all (I also liked Bert’s poems) Poor guy is bereaved. Everyone only seems to care how Rex feels and not about Bert’s actual son. Also annoying is that they didn’t even tell him his Dad had died until the next day.

The episode made me really cross. So much lacking in empathy.

@EdmontinaTiresofNameFlipping

Oh God - I think I’m turning into Trevorella. I’ve been known to engage people in conversations about train journeys. Quite … detailed …conversations …

But did they suddenly jump off at Wolverhampton? That's the clincher.

Trevor deserves every sympathy for losing his father. However, he is not a sparkling conversationalist. His dad was better at that.

Played by Julian Rhind-Tutt, btw. A fine actor. If Trevor is going to stay all week, I expect we'll hear quite a bit more from him.

campion My phone / FaceTime interlocutors do sometimes develop urgent cups of tea - requiring their full attention.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
Trevor deserves every sympathy for losing his father.

I would sympathise more with Trevor if we had ever heard him before.

When did he last see his father?

Thank God, "all week" is only tomorrow.

Hmmph
I liked Trevor and didn’t find him boring at all (I also liked Bert’s poems) Poor guy is bereaved. Everyone only seems to care how Rex feels and not about Bert’s actual son. Also annoying is that they didn’t even tell him his Dad had died until the next day.

They would have found it easier to tell him if he'd had his phone on, possibly. And this poor bereaved guy did actually thank Rex for having been with Bert so that Trevor didn't have to be; doesn't sound particularly caring to me.

@EdmontinaTiresofNameFlipping

campion My phone / FaceTime interlocutors do sometimes develop urgent cups of tea - requiring their full attention.

The real giveaway is if somebody suddenly says, "Sorry, gotta go, the giraffe is on fire," and hangs up.

We don't know when he last saw his father. It's years since Bert last spoke, and we haven't been told much about what's been going on in his life, so for all we know he's been regularly visiting Trevor and family. I imagine he's been speaking to them on the phone, and using Zoom or Facetime maybe.

Bert didn't see Trevor from one year's end to the next. As for him not getting the news until the next day, it's not as if the old bore was suddenly taken ill: he was suddenly taken dead, so it makes no difference.

People like Trevor are the reason one should always carry a flamethrower.

I think we can be reasonably sure Rex didn't know Trevor (he was surprised by the level of drivel). That would suggest Trevor had not made his presence felt since 2017 when Rex and Toby moved in on Bert. There is no way he visited Bert without being noticed by Rex.

And we have never heard that Rex and Toby were alone because Bert was visiting Trevor, as far as I can remember,

And on that typically acerbic note from TulseHill, new thread!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/4386490--Archers-thread-132-The-Grim-Reaper-joined-the-cast-The-Bard-of-Ambridge-breathed-his-last-Discuss-The-Archers-here?watched=1

@Hmmph

I liked Trevor and didn’t find him boring at all (I also liked Bert’s poems) Poor guy is bereaved. Everyone only seems to care how Rex feels and not about Bert’s actual son. Also annoying is that they didn’t even tell him his Dad had died until the next day.

The episode made me really cross. So much lacking in empathy.

Yebbut - you heard a tiny, tiny snapshot of his conversation. Rex and Tony had been subject to him boring on for ages.