Archers thread #148: Unseasonably, it's panto time in Ambridge. He's behind you, Pat! BANG. 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 think George Grundy isn't a psychopath, 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.)

Will Rob return, or are they playing with us? Will Pat run amok with her shotgun and wipe out half the village? (We can but hope ...) Will Oliver come to his senses and turf the Grundy clan out of Grange Farm? So many questions, so much time.

Over to you!

Justin is slimy in the extreme, and Lilian's apparent preference for blokes who are clearly dodgy baffles me.

Interesting that even Ruth can see that Stella may be interpreting things in a way that suits her - trying to fight this may be a good way for S to move from being unemployed to being unemployable.

Is it just because the SWs think we love counflict drama innit?

As someone pointed out above, Stella doesn't have very many employment rights, does she, as she hasn't been there long enough?

grr *conflict

I've just been through Gatwick Airport station and I think the pre-recorded announcement might have been made by Freddie Pargetter.

I do feel slightly sorry for Stella, but also that she is unwise to fall so deeply in love with one job, and outright stupid to start claiming too much authority before her first two years were worked,

And now to claim she wants to keep the job is silly. Whatever happens from this point on, she is not going to be re-employed as if nothing had happened.

Not quite what I imagined him DJing!

DJing or doing?!?

Maybe the whole point of this is to unveil something unexpected about Justin's past?

(Whilst giving Adam his job back)

‘Drilling down on less than Stella-r performances and who will be a pig in muck’

I think the best Stella can hope for is a clean break and a job elsewhere.

Am still struggling with how vile Susan was to Jim.

Freddie's gig: what's going wrong with that?

Adam you complete and utter rotter.

I think Stella was unwise to order the drill, even if she thought she'd had approval from Adam, which I actually don't think she did. I can why she thinks she did, but I don't think she did! Adam is being dishonest yes, but he's covering his own back, I don't blame him really. It's not like Adam explicitly encouraged her.
And there must be something fishy going on anyway what with the secret Justin lunch.
As for poor Jim, not only was Susan horrid to him, Tom was so so rude over the bloody cricket scores, I honestly don't know where Tom gets off! What an arse he is!

Anyone else a bit sceptical about Ben's speedy and unproblematic mental health recovery? Also the intensive support he received at home was very idealistic and not reflective of the reality of MH services at all!

I think Stella has been disingenuous as well as Adam. I haven't LA to check, but my memory of the events leading up to the purchase of the drill is that Stella very strongly implied to Adam that Brian was pretty much on board but just hadn't made the final decision, whereas in fact we knew that he had given a very definite no straight out, and the only reason it was still up for discussion was because Stella hadn't let it drop. Yes, he consulted Justin about it, but only when Stella was pushing because she hadn't accepted Brian's refusal. So Adam was given a false impression in the conversation where he ended up telling her to go away and manage the farm. His answer would probably have been substantially different if he'd been made aware of Brian's disinclination for the drill.

He's now trying to cover his back, which isn't kind, but the initial fault lay with Stella as much as him.

Good suggestion @OverArmour !

I definitely bow to Brefugee's knowledge on industry practice in selling big bits of equipment, but are there really so many farms up for buying £150K drills that the manufacturers can lightly afford to wave goodbye to an order rather than wait a week or two for a decision? Particularly if it's explained to them that it's down to bereavement and that, if they absolutely insist on a decision, it will be a no?

I agree that Susan't conduct re the glasses was disgraceful. I've had recent experience of having to rely on older "spare" glasses after my usual ones broke, and even though the prescription wasn't that different I was really struggling by the time the new glasses were ready. If I'd been in Jim's position, I suspect that after initial searches failed I would simply have given up and ordered some more. For all Susan knows, Jim has an expensive prescription (e.g. if he needs to pay for thinner lenses) so he could have been a few hundred pounds out of pocket as a result of her little game. Worse, he could have been injured because of problems with his sight.

Re DJ Freddie P's new website - doesn't playing his "mix" on it present potential copyright problems?

Yup - but scroll back maybe three or four threads for full fulmination!

Agree mental health problems often clear up quite quickly. Lizzie's was a good example. Helen's ED was no doubt severe, but has not resurfaced in any way amid all the stress she's had. You don't get cured of an ED, you go into recovery. And just as an alcoholic may relapse or struggle with relapse, someone with an ED does too. Ime at least.
Ben's problems are occasionally alluded to. But on the hole I feel TA plays lip service to mental health problems but assuming they are quickly done and dusted

Hehe yes I'm seriously late to the party! Need to set aside a few hours to read previous threads I think.

I definitely bow to Brefugee's knowledge on industry practice in selling big bits of equipment, but are there really so many farms up for buying £150K drills that the manufacturers can lightly afford to wave goodbye to an order rather than wait a week or two for a decision? Particularly if it's explained to them that it's down to bereavement and that, if they absolutely insist on a decision, it will be a no?

If they can get a few more builds in a production run I can imagine they'd rather take a few 90k bonus orders.

In the car industry the processes and designs are often that one line can make almost unlimited variations on a chassis - down to seat colour/fabric and so on.

Industrial equipment for the most part, not so much. Having said that I'm not au fait With agricultural Equipment. It could be down to the selling agent's cash flow?

I wish we could get my poor DD as mentally robust as Ben in a few weeks. That storyline is really annoying me

This is the plot synopsis of the episode where Stella talked to Adam about the drill:

Stella's puzzling over whether or not to go ahead with the new drill. Who can she talk to now? Ruth acknowledges it's hard, and agrees Stella needs to know where she stands. Later Stella asks Adam, and he approves the purchase - he's glad Brian's been won over to regenerative farming. He can't see any of them being ready to get back to farming business for some time, so Stella's free to take the reins. It's fraught at Willow Cottage.

I've not got the best memory for things but ....I thought Stella also spoke to Kate about sign off for buying the drill (after speaking to Ruth about the partership/realising all partners had a say in decions) ... or is my memory making up its own plot twists?

@saker that's strange, makes it sound like Adam definitively and unambiguously gave her the go-ahead, he didn't really did he?

No Kate conversation afair.

Adam saying that it sounds like a useful peice of kit that will be good for the land is NOT the same thing as 'approving the purchase'. Home Farm is beginning to seem like a very sloppily run enterprise, no wonder various offspring have behaved so badly when they were employed there.

I hope the story explains (soon) what it was about Stella's relationship to Justin that made her feel that she didn't need proper approval.