Archers thread #144: Window pains again! Light relief or dark times ahead for Ambridge in 2023? 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, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you’d love to volunteer in the shop with Susan, or other unusual views.

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/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-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.)

New year, new thread. Many thanks to @LillianGish for the window pains pun! Hoping to hear a lot less from the Caseys this year and a good deal more about farming and how Ambridge is coping with Brexit, cost of living crisis, ageing population and all sorts of credible character-based storylines. Yes, I know, but one can only hope.

Over to you!

I think Kirsty’s new beau sounds a lot older than her. He is slightly unconvincing as Jakob’s younger brother.

Kirsty is not really the type to become unemotionally involved with anyone- this new sexually liberated Kirsty feels like the work of the PT fairy…I know we’re meant to see her as in control of her life and what she wants but I’m afraid her lines about having an empty cottage for the weekend sounded a bit sleazy and, frankly, a bit desperate.

Why? because women aren't allowed to want sex with a nice looking man for fun?

Not at all- the same lines would have sounded sleazy coming from a man too.

I enjoyed it. I love his voice. Rather hoping they don't go for the lazy 'Woman has sex once and bingo! she's pregnant' storyline, though.

I don't know what Justin's up to, and (you'll be surprised by this) I don't care either. Hope it all goes away pdq.

I've been consciously listening for over 40 years, following 20+ years of absorbing odd bits that were on in the background. Hopeless addict here.

Kirsty's sudden personality change is a bit hard to swallow.

I can believe it. She's reached an age where she feels she has nothing to lose by being direct about what she wants.

I can believe it. She's reached an age where she feels she has nothing to lose by being direct about what she wants.

Quite. Also, Erik is 'safe' in that he's only here for ten days so no risk of commitment. They had a good conversation about where they're both at emotionally.

Hopefully the point of this SL is just to put Kate's nose out of joint that she's not having to 'host' Erik in Jakob's absence. And NOT a stupid surprise pregnancy. (I'm not against Kirsty having a baby, but really we need to get away from have-sex-once-get-pregnant storylines, especially for Kirsty who has a brain and would therefore use contraception and is near (in?) her forties so not exactly fertility-central as a starting point).

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , I suspect they will have done it more than once .
I'd quite like it to result in a happy, healthy little baby.

Kirsty was born on 5 May 1981, so is 41.

I very much hope it is more than once. A hunky Viking and empty cottage for the weekend ……

Where's Roy? Hasn't he been getting plenty of sex with his OLD? no need to answer that one, I haven't quite got over him and Widderbeth in the tent

Let’s assume Roy has taken Abbie to Scotland for the weekend to see Phoebe …

As there is another newbie on the thread I thought I would delurk and say hello!

I am delighted by Kirsty this week and also hopes she has a baby (and some fun!) - though there will be those who complain about the number of unplanned pregnancies in Ambridge, I am pretty much the same age as Kirsty and I have several friends whose lives have not turned out as expected (usually disastrous men!) and are now taking action to have babies and build the life they want - I want that for her!

and whilst I’ve been listening for 40 years - since birth - (and before!) - I became and active listener around the time of Elizabeth’s challenges with Cameron Fraser and her abortion - which Google tells me was 1992 - so 30 years!

@TottersBlankly thats exactly what I think, I was glad Kirsty didn’t share that though, didn’t get bogged down by detail and focused on her end goal! 🥅

Great user name @@TheEverdelightfulsamantha and I agree with you about Kirsty going for single parent hood.

@CaptainMyCaptain 😊thank you! Yours too!

Placemarking. I grew up with The Archers so have been listening on and off for 50+ years. In reality I probably properly remember from the mid 80s onwards around the time I went to university. I remember Brian's affair with Caroline, and Nelson's wine bar & antique shops.

Who's running the art gallery at LL these days?

My DH doesn’t understand I have lived in Ambridge longer than anywhere else.

Such a lovely sentence to wake up to this morning! Usually I say ‘The Archers has been the one constant thing in my life.’ Or that my ‘community’ is people who’ve listened to it all their lives. But I think I’m going to adopt your version, @TopOfTheCliff .

I think I remember Dan (Phil’s dad) having to sleep downstairs after a hip operation. And the generational power struggle between them. And Phil as a magistrate. Tom Forrest’s Sunday soliloquies, of course, and lovely Margery. All the business with Nelson and antiques (?) and a wine bar are a bit hazy - so perhaps my listening was intermittent around then. Polly’s death and Pat’s shock over it loom large in my memory.

But it’s all out of chronology now, and it’s not impossible I’ve invented some episodes!

No doubt I'm being pedantic but....re: the church window for Tom and Natasha's twins and Alan's response, a vicar friend informs me that the process would have to go through a body called the Diocesan Advisory Committee and ultimately the "Chancellor" (top legal bod) of the Diocese for approval.

Given the nature of the request - a very personal and specific family window, which would not be encouraged these days (as the Church has moved past the patronage days of yore) - it would almost certainly have fallen at the first hurdle.

All Alan would have needed to have done would have been to shrug his shoulders in sympathy with Peggy, etc and say it was really out of his hands.... No need for all the stressful antagonism. Although it does sound as though Kate, Lilian and crew are coming up with a new approach.....

But like I say I'm probably being picky...!

No need to apologise for being picky here, it's our raison d'être! (Yes, I did C&P that accent.)

I don't remember Polly's death so maybe that was an early gap in my listening. I do remember, vividly, lots of stuff in Nelson's winebar, Shane's quiche, Jean-Paul the GG chef, Mr and Mrs Snowy, Nigel trying to sell swimming pools, many mentions of Tim Beauchamp (sp), who I think was silent, Nigel trying to find either Elizabeth's or Shula's bed at Brookfield and ending up in bed with Phil, etc etc. I liked the William Smethurst era!

It was Shula's bed.

I don't remember Polly's death. Just checked it was 1982. I was at boarding school doing O levels then.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Shane's quiche! Fantastic! I had forgotten ever known about that! Did a quick check in Wikipedia to refresh my memory and was reminded that he was a silent character apart from one occasion when he called out "Yoo hoo"

I'm clearly the 👶 of the thread as I've only been listenining since Salmongate!

I grew up with The Archers on in the house, but I wasn't an active listener until I went away to university at the turn of the century. Since then I've lived abroad for some chunks of time, so my listening was on and off, although it has given me a familiarity with keyboard accent shortcuts (Gaspode's raison d'être 😄).