Archers thread #150: For whom the sausage rolls: George over a Berrow, Fallon & Harrison seek new lease on life, is it all a Fête Accompli? Discuss The Snivelling Simpletons, sorry, 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 people frequently miss their own weddings because of a morning quickie while in a plaster cast, 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 for title suggestions. I basically took @OverArmour's excellent suggestion and managed to shoehorn in snivelling simpleton, gloriously coined by @Eastie77Returns to refer to Lee in the first instance.

@WitcheryDivine suggested Recharging, Red Kites and The Man They Call Ron, is Ambridge becoming an earthly paradise or a hell on earth? which seems as good a place as any to kick off our discussions! Ron = Rob, a fortuitous typo on a previous thread. It does feel a bit as if we're marking time before he turns up again. Odd to do what could be a high profile storyline over the summer holidays when a lot of people will be away, but depending on your point of view, maybe that's a blessing!

Whither George? Is he shaping up to be Andrew Tate mark 2?

Everybody looking forward to Ferret Fun at the Fête? Me neither.

Over to you!

She is a bit annoying about it though - naive and annoying.

Didn't Rob interfere with the design of the tea room and overrule Fallon's wish for a country kitchen interior? He came up with something more modern and chic that everyone loved.

I think ...

You’re right about it being easy money - wasn’t it just a shed before?

and presumably it drives traffic to the shop as well as the other way round

I'm usually too far behind so can't join in regularly with the thread, but had to post to say I love the thread title especially 'Fête accompli'!

I've just reached the wedding, or rather non-wedding.

The driving straight after the appointment was ridiculous. So poorly researched. It actually would provide excellent material to have Rob kick off at the suggestion he couldn’t handle machinery!

When he mentioned the states I was hoping beyond hope his entitlement to NHS care would have lapsed…

The utter ridiculousness of the Helen/consultant/Ron thing irritated the crap out of me, but weirdly, I was
more exercised by Tom’s suggestion and Lynda’s agreement that she use shiitake mushrooms in the B&B breakfasts.

Yes, that struck me as odd. Although it wouldn't be the job of the overstretched consultant to police it, she might flag it up. He's not a UK resident so he's not entitled to NHS services. Or are we to understand that straight after his mother's death/ during her final days, he decided that he was permanently moving back to the UK and completed all the necessary paperwork? Seems unlikely. How is he going to prove UK residence unless he has a job we don't know of? He seems to be living on his parents' property so no tenancy agreement or mortgage, probably no utility bills or council tax. He seemed to come back in a hurry so I doubt whether he sold his US property ... how did he even get an oncology referral without being registered with a GP? I suppose he could have been referred straight from A&E, but they still would want his GP's details to copy results to, and if he then said that he wasn't registered with one, that should automatically have raised the question of his residence status ... maybe he's still registered with Dr Locke and never bothered to unregister before he went abroad (admittedly in rather a hurry)?!

So many plot holes. 🙄

Is there anyone working in the NHS who can confirm how rigorously these things are checked? If Rob had gone to the family GP local to the Titchener farm to re-register, he could probably fairly easily have provided evidence that that was his home address in the UK. He strikes me very much as someone who wants his cake and eats it, so he would have been one of those expats who move abroad and lose no opportunity to talk about how awful the UK is, while privately ensuring that he can get free NHS care while over here.

(Imagine being the receptionist having to deal with his reaction to being asked for documentary proof that he's entitled to register. )

My Hand Therapy clinic has a poster on the wall pointing out that not everybody is entitled to free NHS care, which seems to be about non-residents, but I have no idea how this is policed.

The whole business of Helen attending the appointment with Rob is ludicrous. However, his reaction to the female consultant, especially asking for her male colleague instead, was believable. The automatic assumption that he must be senior because he was male! Or, given this is Rob, possibly he knew perfectly well but couldn't resist putting a woman in her place. I've seen many posts on MN from women who've experienced similar in their professional lives.

Rob probably never unregistered with the GP. It's pretty common for people not to need to see a GP for years at a time.

I have some vague notion that as Ron is a uk citizen the consultant is probably thinking he's unlikely to go back to the US or at least he should be given the chance to make that decision and the paperwork will catch up with them. I can't imagine the nhs knowing something serious maybe afoot and then telling him to go register with a Gp before they can investigate- but I could be really wrong about that. I do know a few people who live abroad but wangle nhs treatment (probably not legally)

@Twyford yes still being registered here is pretty common. Nhs has a counter fraud department- I worked in the same building but if he's planning to stay in the uk then it will work itself out surely.

Thank goodness it wasn’t just me. What a weird use of them??? Wouldn’t it ruin the breakfast too?

i totally ignored the mushroom thing as Tom just wanting to get out of the room and being Tom. Lynda, however - no, Lynda, NO!

Rob and the "junior doctor" thing - that was a good chance to explain what a "junior" doctor actually is so good on TA for that.

@WitcheryDivine It would TOTALLY ruin Lynda’s Artisan Breakfast.

Would be have even better if the consultant had been able to say 'and anyway, you can't see him today because he's on strike' 😁

Haven’t listened for a few months, stuck it on this morning while also reading. So I almost dropped my cup of coffee when I realised Helen was in an oncology appointment with Rob. WTF is she doing?

What kind of residency does Ron have in the US? It’s notoriously difficult to get a green card/residency so I really don’t understand how he managed to secure that so fast.

I actually don’t think there would be any question over whether he is entitled to treatment on the NHS. He has only been out of the country a few years so I doubt he would have been dropped from whichever GP he was registered with.

Given he is working in the US, he will probably have medical insurance so may well want to get his second opinion over there. He’s the kind of man who likes to keep his options open. I also was wondering whether he has a new partner in the US. It’s unusual for narcissists to remain single for long…

WHY WHY WHY is Helen at that appointment? This is insane. Completely mad.

Good points @FallonsNewCoat

@EmmaPaella
He returned for his mum's illness & death; wanted contact with Jack, collapsed when Lee and Tom went to talk to him; collapsed again when Helen went to dissuade him from pressing charges against Lee; she ended up at the hospital with him so got recorded as next of kin.
Roughly speaking.

Although Magdalen berns RIP died of a glioblastoma so this might solve Helen's Rob issue, it's a very serious diagnosis.

Ah - I was listening whist posting. 3 months! Good news for Helen and Lee I guess!

I meant to comment on this too. I was aghast.

Yes, perhaps the doctors could focus their striking efforts on Rob.

[Nurse, the screens! She's off again!]

Thank you @JanglyBeads

I’ll get on BBC Sounds and catch up!