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?

Is Lee divorced? I am struggling to imagine how he would get a Green Card. My SiL married an American and had to live apart for about 18 months whilst her application was processed (though that was almost 20 years ago).

Still where would we be if we couldn't complain about the increasingly implausible SLs!

Thank you for the new thread Gasp0de. I'm just averaging 1-3 episodes/week so apologies if I've been picking up the wrong end of the stick from time to time recently.

Just checked Velvy (Alastair Michael) <> Blake (Luke Macgregor)

A friend of mine who qualified and practised for many years as a physio in the UK decided not to continue when she moved to the US because the requirements to get licensed were too onerous. It also looks as though they depend on when you qualified, so it's not at all straightforward.

Still much less of a barrier than the visa though - the US are a bit stingy about giving out visas to spouses and fiances, let alone divorced dads with no prospects of work!

No, she died in hospital. She was definitely not DOA.

I think we still call it a post mortem in the UK.

He sounds about 16 today and very like Ruiari- have they changed the Lee actor?

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I am pretty sure Lee would have re-train and requalify as a Physio in the State in which he intended to work in. And that's AFTER getting his Visa, which he wouldn't be entitled to unless he is still married to his Ex and her employer sponsors him.

Fabulous FT (not new) article just linked on the LI thread about one of the contestants, a youthful farmer named Will Young. Apparently he has 900,000 TikTok followers for his farming based videos

New career for Brian?

Oh! Stupid me. Sorry, @BoreOfWhabylon - no idea!

Thank you for the new thread, Gasp0de.

I agree that Lee is as dull as a dull thing but can see that some Eastender-ish plot line to jazz it all up wouldn't do. What I'm wondering is with this CoL crisis, where the money will be coming from for the trips to see the girls.

I know that it's not affecting everyone equally, but surely Lee's line of work, at least the karate bit, is something that would be trimmed from a lot of budgets. Same for Spiritual Home now I think of it.

funeral cars are a real thing though aren't they
when my FIL died many years ago there was a real to do about which car I (the unmarried GF) should travel in, and ,e saying I didn't mind apparently made no difference, there still had to be a fuss about it

I’m sorry for your experience @FallonsNewCoat 💐

@NeverApologiseNeverExplain I used to work on inquests: post mortem and autopsy are both used in the UK. There’s been a general move away from using Latin as it can be alienating - not that autopsy is exactly plain English…

I think they are if the hearse is going somewhere after (ie if the service and cremation/burial aren’t in the same place). At a funeral recently there was the hearse then the only other special “funeral car” with immediate family and then other family etc just in their own cars all going slow. Used to live near a churchyard and that feels fairly typical except for the occasional (more expensive presumably) cortège with either a horse drawn carriage or hearse and then multiple special black cars.

what a gloomy topic!

I wouldn’t have minded an implausibly simple visa sorting for Lee if they promised to get rid of him forever, but hey ho.

I used to think funeral cars were a bit of a waste of money. But actually, grieving and driving and following a hearse then trying to park at a full crematorium is very stressful.

Were funeral cars a casualty of lockdown? The (miserable) funerals I went to in lockdown seemed to have the pitiful number of people allowed all driving ourselves. I don't remember funeral cars other than the hearses.

I don't know, I was very lucky not to need to go (or be kept away from) funerals during lockdown. Our local funeral directors still has a range of cars however.

They’ve certainly been a feature of funerals I’ve attended since lockdown, so I don’t think they’ve been a casualty of lockdown.

There is a crematorium near to me and I see plenty of funeral cars.

My beloved DM died during lockdown. The funeral was a surreal nightmare. Definitely no funeral cars, you made your own way there. A restricted number of people allowed at the crematorium. Afterwards you weren’t allowed to meet for any kind of collective mourning/comfort over a cup of tea and a sandwich; no more than two people from the same household were allowed to be indoors together. So immediately after the ceremony we simply had to go our separate ways.

Funerals are grim anyway but all of that made it feel absolutely brutal.

I’m so sorry for your loss @Octothorpe , that sounds incredibly grim.

So sorry for your loss @Octothorpe

I went to a few funerals over lockdown via video link. One was for the stillborn daughter of a friend; fewer than 20 family were in the room. It was awful - it was always going to be awful but this made it even more awful. That said, I wouldn’t have been able to ‘attend’ if it had been in person, due to distance.

Masking and social distancing during funerals seemed so cruel. That picture of the queen, for example.

Thanks both.

Lockdown funerals were awful weren't they? My lovely MIL had an argument with her sibling about what family members should make up the very limited numbers at their Dad's funeral. It was so hard watching it online with an extended one half of the family (down to really quite small grandchildren) and knowing that my in-laws (who had lived with him before he died) were watching from home too.

Ime this delay for Jenny's funeral is a bit long but not extraordinary given the time of year and assuming they're going for a crem. I am surprised there isn't an Archer plot in the churchyard where she'd be buried (Peggy seems like the sort to have that, given her obsession with windows) but maybe they're short on space and so her ashes will be interred there instead. Agree the absences of Alan and Debbie are increasingly ridiculous.

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Goodness, I've just caught up, having been away since Friday, and it's taken me ages!

So sorry for your loss @Octothorpe and to the others who have posted about their bereavements here. It's sad that this storyline is bringing it back for so many.

I was out last night and haven't caught the programme yet but I'm guessing by the fact nobody has mentioned it that nothing happened.