🌱 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!

She has "long leave". Or such was her claim. This often happens for midwives.... or possibly it doesn't.

Might happen if the midwife in question has poor delivery skills

@theThreeofWeevils

Might happen if the midwife in question has poor delivery skills

Ha!

The actor has had a lot of work it seems but I don’t think voice acting is her “thing” at all.

What did Amy mean when she said she had to work tomorrow? I thought she was on leave.

Martha seems to have 2 parents who have a problem with alcohol. Hard for Alice to hear that Chris got so drunk he was sick and behaved abusively to a pensioner when she has been tarred and feathered for just that. Will be interesting to hear how the double standard plays out.

What did Amy mean when she said she had to work tomorrow? I thought she was on leave.
I thought Fallon said that and that's why Amy stayed with Chris. (To be spotted in the morning leaving the house)

Fallon said she wanted a coffee as she had to work tomorrow and Amy said “same here too”. I mean she might have meant the coffee and the delivery was just that bad, but if someone said that to me I’d assume they meant the whole thing ie “I have to work tomorrow” or “I want a coffee as I have to work tomorrow, too”

Back at the Nest, Amy said she would stay (how sweet, how selfless of her) and Fallon said she could herself, and Amy then said no, F had to work in the morning. Marking out her territory, isn't she?
Maybe history will repeat itself and Crapulous Chistyffur will be savaged by a nervous hinge at the Forge this morning, sustaining a nasty case of Flayed Knuckle.

@EBearhug

Either:

• Rob
• Dodgy associate of Philip's, looking for him
• one of the slaves, hoping Kirsty will help

Although, as whoever was also seen at Brisge Farm, most likely Rob.

Yes, id forgotten that. Helen is living in philips house, isn’t he? So big build up around the return of rob, then great smugness among the editorial team as they reveal they’d hoodwinked us all, and it’s philip-related

Hello. Nice to see thread thriving. Agree re Amy’s acting.
Amy and Chris made for each other.
Will Alice be knocked out by Chris’s breath when he picks up Martha.

I don't remember Amy sounding quite as odd as she does now, but the actress isn't great for radio. Such weird, flat intonation. It must be about time for her to go back to midwifing.

I wondered whether it was one of the slaves staking out Beechwood, but I would have though that Philip would have made sure that they had no idea where he lived (wasn't at least one of them illiterate). I don't imagine that it is Rob either. If they hadn't done a "convict on the run" storyline before, I'd vote for Gav.

Kirsty and Philip seem exactly the sort of people who would have put a Video Doorbell on their executive home.

Haven't listened for a few days.

The episode this afternoon was chronic 😣

Who was that terribly wooden actress character talking to Fallon? Amy? After having helped put Chris to bed?

Where's she sprung up from?

I need a concise synopsis of recent events, please.

I wonder if the prowler will turn out to be Rob?

It's possible, I suppose. Helen's been far too happy lately...

Fallon's very significant mention of having to go back to the tea room to set the burglar alarm put me on edge!

Maybe Rob is homeless and starving. Aimlessly roaming the countryside, sleeping in ditches or barns, and stealing food wherever he can?

He's probably going to break into the tea room tonight in a desperate search for sustenance.

Even if it's not Rob, I predict a break in at the tea room tonight. That mention of the alarm was a definite signpost, at least to me! 🤔

Can't be Gavin. Joy would have recognised him. Also, he probably knows that Kirsty isn't living at the house any more.

@WheresThatCatGoneNow

Haven't listened for a few days.

The episode this afternoon was chronic 😣

Who was that terribly wooden actress character talking to Fallon? Amy? After having helped put Chris to bed?

Where's she sprung up from?

I need a concise synopsis of recent events, please.

I wonder if the prowler will turn out to be Rob?

It's possible, I suppose. Helen's been far too happy lately...

Synopses for this month at ambridgereporter.org.uk/synopses/2021.html#September

@Prestissimo

I think Alice working at and possibly eventually taking over the running of the stables could be a good plan for her. It would follow on nicely from her contacting Shula to help her with her rehab costs. Of course, we’d then have to forget that she ever wanted to be an aeronautical engineer, but the SWs seem to have confined that minor irritation of ambition to history anyway.

Alice has a job though doesn't she? She's on Maternity Leave from Home Farm. She was appointed part time after leaving the engineering company.

I thought Freddie might take over at the stables but he seems to be getting a bit better at his role at Lower Loxley.

Alice was a part-time temp at Home Farm while Adam had his broken foot. She started (much against her own wishes) on 6th August, 2020.

She stopped working there in February, March at the very latest, and after having taken two weeks off for her detox in "Bath"; how much maternity leave is she due after having a temp job for about six months?

The baby was born on 10th March, 2021; would she still be on Maternity Leave more than six months later (ie, after more time than she was actually working there)?

It may be that as a charity Brian has elected to pay her a wage for six months, but I think the other partners ought to be consulted about it if he is going to hire people unilaterally and then pay them well above the odds like this.

I thought (but may well be wrong) that she had agreed to stay on and job share with Adam so that he had more time for Xander or something.

I think she would be entitled to full maternity leave but may only qualify for maternity allowance not statutory maternity pay - although this would depend upon the details of her contract.

I think now that Helen has put the whole extended family into full security lockdown, it can't be Rob.

@EBearhug

I think now that Helen has put the whole extended family into full security lockdown, it can't be Rob.

But she's having a lovely time controlling the bejaysus out of them. The school, too. All together now: "After all she's been through!"

Kirsty spent a lot of time looking for the slaves and probably left an address somewhere so they could get in touch with her. They won't know she's moved.

Nor would Rob; he'd be looking for Helen at Bridge Farm, not in the new development which wasn't even started until after he had fled the country.

Just in case anybody else doesn't care for the footprint in the flowerbed storyline, a farmer was tweeting about mob grazing yesterday and somehow it ended up on my timeline. 15 tweets were more informative than anything the Dopeys have ever said about it:
twitter.com/search?q=mob%20grazing&src=typed_query

That's really interesting: thanks, Madcats! Definitely better than Pip and Adam's non-explanations -- I don't think that's what they are doing at Brookfield, is it?

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Nor would Rob; he'd be looking for Helen at Bridge Farm, not in the new development which wasn't even started until after he had fled the country.

I'm sure it's not beyond Rob to track her down - he knows where she works and where Henwee goes to school, doesn't he?

But I agree it's probably a false alarm, my money's on something to do with Phil.

Did the police actually tell Helen Rob had re-entered the country? I didn’t really follow her rant about their incompetence but she seemed to suggest they failed to let her know and he had definitely returned (from the US?)