Archers thread #146: They did fall apart. Can they put themselves together again? 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, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. 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 like to donate your time as a guide at Lower Loxley to save the Pargetters paying someone else a living wage, 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.)

Thanks to @Impostersyndrome for the thread title suggestion Buses and trains are sorely lacking, canals might be nearby, but all roads lead to Ambridge, picking up on transport discussions in the last thread. In the end I didn't use it, having in mind the character limit. @TottersBlankly contributed an early draft title Wreathes, wrath, writhing (Jennifer, Lilian, Ruairi). Both good starting points for the new thread, which I hope will last till Jennifer's funeral, surely not too far off now. So, over to you - whither the Aldridges? Also, does anyone care if Lee goes to the US? Is anyone even slightly interested in the Brookfield B&B venture?

@Gonners , the lovely Lady Louise is almost a princess. If I had a teenage daughter, I'd be hoping for Earl Severn for her. I have a secret crush on Hugh Grosvenor

Jennydarling was hoping for someone 'county' for Alice.

Wasn’t there a ‘Basti’ who caused Jenny some consternation?

@ILoveShula Yes, Hugh Grosvenor is mighty easy on the eye. He must get that from his mother's side, because at the same age his father looked like Gerry Marsden (of "and the Pacemakers" fame). I'd worry, though, that he couldn't afford to keep me in the manner to which I'd like to become accustomed.

Although - it’s perfectly possible the complete absence of marital scheming chez Pargetter is because it’s outside the SWs creative experience. It’s unlikely there were any aristocrats at the Cathedral School, and Elizabeth seems never to have lifted a finger to push her children forward socially.

Marital scheming is surely outside almost everybody's experience in the UK these days. In any case, the SWs don't normally shrink from trying to portray things they haven't personally experienced. I don't normally say 'Yay for Elizabeth!' but in this case she got it right. She insisted they shouldn't go to boarding school and thus when Nigel died shortly after they left Loxley Barratt Primary School for Felpersham Cathedral Senior School they had huge family and community support to help them get through it, and even though Elizabeth was in a dreadful mess they had her physical presence and touch which must have helped.

The UK, or perhaps specifically England, is still a very snobbish and class-conscious country. I would see a huge difference between Elizabeth, who was sent to a girls' boarding school and whose family are landowners, albeit yeoman farmers rather than landed gentry, and Chelsea, whose family don't have a pot to piss in. Several of her close relatives have criminal records. When it comes to the afroementioned cultural capital, Elizabeth had plenty, no matter what Julia thought, and Chelsea doesn't. Accent and shibboleths may play a part here. Julia picked up the right accent and manner from her time in the entertainment industry and its fascination for wealthy young men bored rigid by the ex-Pony Club debutantes they were expected to marry. I think Julia was terrified of being unmasked as a greengrocer's daughter from Lewisham, as of course she eventually was by her sister (gloriously played by Rosemary Leach), and thus was very aggressive and defensive about Elizabeth.

@Gonners, he looks a lot like his mother.

Can't see any resemblance between the 6th duke and Gerry Marsden, but I'll take any excuse to listen to You'll Never Walk Alone and Ferry Cross the Mersey

Marital scheming is surely outside almost everybody's experience in the UK these days.
I doubt this.

I think Jennifer was strongly in favour of Basti (Sebastian) Streatfield and indeed introduced him to Alice.

Lowfield, Tuesday 16th December, 2008
At Jennifer's drinks party she is keen to pair Alice off with a very nice young man, Sebastian Streatfield; Alice prefers to wait for Chris to turn up but reluctantly agrees to be sociable.
....
Jennifer's matchmaking comes unstuck when Alice makes an early exit with Chris, for whom the party is not his scene, to meet his mates at The Feathers.

Elizabeth was only interested in rich men

Elizabeth is still only interested in rich men.

One or two Horrobins might have criminal records but Freddie has one himself.

Excellent point. More than one or two of them, though. Susan, Clive, Keith and I think Stewart.

Usually volunteers can claim travel expenses, I think. 45p per mile if driving.

Nigel's mother, Julia, wasn't upper class by birth though. She was a chorus girl - I'm sure I haven't imagined that.

well, our own dear Queen Mum was like that (have read lots of books about the RF for some reason, I'm a republican) actually, technically a "commoner" but lordly AF when she married the prince.

I would really like Lily or Elizabeth to point out to Freddy the utter crassness of wanting younger volunteers who are less likely to have the free time (and money) to do voluntary work for a rich county idiot. But we may have to wait for Chelsea to be a roaring success and then Someone, maybe Tracy, to ask Freddie why he thinks she works so many hours but has so little cash...

I can’t picture Freddie marrying anyone. I still think he is asexual. Who inherits LL if he doesn’t have any children?

You know, I’ve been assuming Freddie’s apparent asexuality was simply an oversight on the part of the SWs - that they had simply forgotten to provide him with … anyone. (At least since that festival.) But maybe it is deliberate? 💡Maybe they’re planning even more fun via your potentially knotty question, @Eastie77Returns ???

I can totally see Freddie stumbling upon all the excoriating commentary directed at him here, changing his ways, and donating LL to Ambridge. (Although, is Loxley a place?)

The Queen Mother came from an ancient Scottish aristocratic family! Quite a long way from a chorus girl ...

There's Loxley Barrett and Loxley Norton. I think Lower Loxley might be a hamlet.
map of Borsetshire

Was last night the first time we have been introduced to the Ambridge EV charger development? As a long-standing EV driver I can find fault with several aspects of this storyline.
First, it is not credible that only Ardil drives an EV. In my rural area quite a few of my neighbours now have them.
Second, 30 chargers? Really? I want aware that Ambridge was near any major road routes - which are the only places these would be viable, But perhaps someone will put me right.
Third, 30 chargers will require a huge amount of electricity and the grid is likely to be constrained around Abridges,as it is everywhere.
Far more plausible would be installing a couple of EV chargers in, say, the car park of Lower Loxley, Grey Gables and at the pub.

wasn't not want

I don't think that is true. Elizabeth was certainly susceptible to older men - she was only 20 when Robin Fairbrother impressed her and only a couple of years older when Cameron Fraser came along. Both were significantly older men waving their age and experience around to impress her. I'd say the "older man" thing was the common factor when she was younger, not wealth.

Elizabeth met Vince via online dating - she runs a sizeable business, so does he. She was also interested in Ifty - the maths teacher at one point, that certainly wasn't money related.

Freddie needs an "Elizabeth" even more than Nigel did. Elizabeth was subjected to a long campaign of horrible snobbery from Julia whilst being obliged to share a roof with her. Julia was dead set against turning LL into a business - it was Elizabeth's drive and hard work which made that happen with Nigel largely playing the supporting role. She has never shied from hard work and never been especially snobbish compared to some other members of her family.

The Queen Mother came from an ancient Scottish aristocratic family!

but is always referred to, in the same way as Diana (so somewhat fantastically for the great unwashed such as me) as a "commoner". Since "Lady" comes way down the pecking order of aristocricy. She was terribly posh :)

Maybe Freddie is gay? or bisexual? Maybe he's what will keep Rauri (i have no idea how to spell his name) in Ambridge?

@Brefugee , Ruairí

Tbh I believe the term ‘commoner’ just means you’re not actually royal. The QM had two former Prime Ministers in her family tree, one of them Lord Wellington, and her father was Lord Glamis, 14th Earl of Strathmore.

But not royal so technically a ‘commoner’. Ex-chorus girl Julia was from another sphere entirely.

well, quite. But as is so often the case, they then become more "Thing" (royal, landed gentry, whatever) than people born to it.

The Queen Mother (gawd bless'er) was descended on her mother's side from the 3rd Duke of Portland and was hence almost as posh as David Archer!

@Gonners , I thought that if you were U, you weren't 'posh'.
It's not a U term AFAIK.

Arf! Nancy Mitford must have laughed like a drain when she realised what she'd started there!