Archers thread #155: Cold Comfort Farms! The rural sagas continue. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

FILL THE OLD THREAD UP FIRST! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4902507-archers-thread-154-cider-with-fat-rosie-meadow-rise-to-candleford-or-the-darling-horrobins-of-september-get-your-rural-saga-fix-discuss-the-archers-here?page=10

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 hear more scenes in the abattoir, 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.)

Lots of lively discussion about Brad's university aspirations and the Open Day on the last thread. Do you want him to end up at Felpersham or do you want him to spread his wings and go further afield? Where will Mia go?

Will this thread see the end of Rob, or do we have many weeks more before his long overdue demise?

What's going on at Grey Gables? Are they running into financial trouble? Will we hear from Roy, who I had forgotten was working there until he was mentioned the other day? Who are the mysterious 'Owners'? Will the locum GP turn out to be Adil's sister, as we have been surmising since she first spoke? Why's she been conjured up?

Talking of the GP, I'm hoping against hope we're not in for bad news about Jim's mole.

Praying that we're going to get a long and much-needed break from hearing P*p. Not praying that we hear Rob being christened. Who would be his sponsor, as someone commented on the last thread? Harrison? Surely that would be a conflict of interest. Can't see who else would do it locally.

I wonder how Ben is getting on now he's back on his nursing degree? Will we ever hear anything about Lily's course, or how Freddie's getting on at the abattoir?

So many questions! Over to you for some answers and boundless speculation.

a) there are different varieties of crab apple
b) Borsetshire is further north than some places.

It has been signposted so thoroughly that I feel the graffiti artist can't be Henry. I think maybe he knows who it is, or has made a guess at least, without having done it himself or even seen it done. He seemed very frightened at the mention of punishment

Why does nobody ever listen when Henry tries to say anything? He clearly had something he wanted to get off his chest. It's so annoying. All for the drama obviously.

One year I picked crab-apples in a lay-by in Denmark in early July. They were a bit of a surprise to me that early in the year, but the jelly I made from them when we got home was delicious.

Alas and alack, the next year that lay-by was closed, and it has never reopened.

Well, Eddie needs to think up some good charms which all relate to good fortune.
tiny? ? ?

Clarrie was off the scale with her Pam Ayres style wittering - Christmas is round the corrrrrnerrrrrr. Do we know where the actress is from?

I’m glad Helen has called out Lee’s tendency to fly off the handle. He obviously sees himself as calm and reasonable.

But Clarrie was at work - at Bridge Farm. No wonder she was a bit discombobulated.

I agree it was Henry or he knows who it was.
There have been a few times in recent months where Henry has tried to speak and been shut down - I think he knows more than they think he does, he's old enough to want to understand more. I'm sure there are news stories etc that he will have googled!
I also agree that it sounds like Lee is on his way out...

henry definitely knows a lot and clearly needs someone to talk it all through with. Probably a professional so he can get it all out without the other person giving their opinion or saying ‘don’t think like that’ etc

it was when clarrie left the shop (the village one?) and said ‘send my best wishes to Helen’ (or whatever) that I burst out laughing at how wobbly her voice was

Eddie seems to be flashing the cash at the moment - offering to buy sweets for the boys in the shop last night and he has bought rounds at the Bull a couple of times in recent weeks. Probably nothing to worry about but he is notoriously tight-fisted so this seems a change.

Good point - and when he flashes the cash the other person has commented on it.

an impending grundy financial disaster is on the cards

clarries wobbly voice will be perfect for a ghost ‘woo-ooh’

Clarrie was at work - at Bridge Farm. No wonder she was a bit discombobulated.

Not yesterday, she wasn’t. The Grundys were at the village shop and then at Grange Farm.
That wobble in the voice is ludicrous and makes me imagine her looking much like one of ‘they’ turkeys, with quivering, wattle-like jowls and chin-sag.

There have been a few times in recent months where Henry has tried to speak and been shut down

I think it's quite a good depiction of how adults sometimes struggle to understand that their children are no longer kids wittering on about which Pokémon character is the best or who they didn't want to sit next to in the playground, but young adults with a valid opinion. Helen also seems to forget that if Henry has access to the internet - which I'm sure he does, even if he has to borrow someone else's phone - he'd be able to read the media reports of his mother's arrest and trial. So he'll know more than she's told him.

I liked it when Henry said something about how they need to stop trying to "protect" him and Jack given that they hear everything anyway. Did he also say something like he wanted them to be more open?

Found the Lee/Helen dynamic interesting. Was Lee shouting (either in the shop or at home)? I dunno but he certainly had an angry tone, and I'm glad if Helen/Henry are picking up on not wanting to be around hotheads. I don't agree Lee loves the drama I think he's just not temperamentally suited for such a high difficulty level.

Lee strikes me as the sort of guy who vaguely feels that, as a man, he should be doing something to sort things out but actually has no idea what or how. I don't mean that he's being the Big I Am or has some misplaced notion of chivalry, but he just feels the responsibility falls to him.

Bless him, he means well but keeps ballsing it up. Still, as long as he doesn't bring Tom into the mix...

No Ardil update.

Maybe he daubed the expletive on the church before doing a runner.

Do we think he will return? Did Linda work out the GP was Ardil’s sister?

I guess the adil flit will be discovered today when he isn’t back from his weekend away. I’m surprised Lynda didn’t go to clean his room and have a nosy already

not really bothered by that sl so hope it doesn’t dominate this week

side point - I did notice that Kenton pronounced it Arrdil and Ahhdil in the same conversation.

I’m interested to see how the Grey Gables storyline will resolve. The points about the kitchen sounded very sensible, but Iain infuriated me with his ranting approach to fixing it rather than coming to Ardil with a list of what needed doing and why.

It does sound like it’s a matter of style over substance - but open kitchens do work and so I suppose it is a question of who did A source to do the planning?

Oliver speaking to his account was telling. If GG goes over budget/new owners forced to sell, what will happen to the project?

What is Iain's role exactly? It seems strange that he was able to completly over-rule Ardil, who specifically asked him not to confront the kitchen fitters, and then just leave Ardil to pick up the piece and find a replacement team.

Perhaps Henry asked George to spray paint the church. He (George) might have had some misguided sense he was supporting Helen after their recent heart to heart. Or perhaps it was one of George's old school friends. He mentioned to Emma that a group including the Button girl were going to the baptism so they could see a real psycho close-up.

He (George) might have had some misguided sense he was supporting Helen after their recent heart to heart.

I think that's a very good point.

I wonder if Helen will lose the cheese contract if Adam goes too.

Did you mean Ian?

Sorry, but - 😂

https://news.sky.com/story/bullock-pulled-from-sinkhole-by-back-legs-absolutely-superb-a-month-on-from-ordeal-12985627

Eastie77Returns
Or perhaps it was one of George's old school friends. He mentioned to Emma that a group including the Button girl were going to the baptism so they could see a real psycho close-up.

George talks about the Button daughters as if they were "kids" or at least his contemporaries, but in fact they are quite a lot older than he is. we heard on air that Molly was 12 in the autumn of 2012, so she is now 23, and we heard on air that Tilly was in the same year at school as Phoebe, who was born in June 1998, so is now presumably 25 or so. The son of the family, Billy, was at nursery with Henry so I'd guess he's 12 or 13.

(I think the SW who wrote one of the daughters as a kid who wanted to see a real live psycho didn't know what age they had previously been written to be.)

Klaxon - pip is back if anyone wants to avoid! She and Stella have the oddest conversations and I’d rather not hear them

Alastair sounded different. Is he legally divorced from Shula? Is he going to marry Adils sister?

is the gg project part of a con? It would explain all the stupid decisions and how badly run the whole thing is- has adil been squirrelling money away and putting in fake invoices

can’t believe Jill would have been asking about pronouns. Total bullshit. Pip and Stella aren’t the first gay couple in the village

@Bruisername they don't seem odd to me. They are like the conversations I used to have with my Lovely Man, from when we fell in love. At the time, we were aged 60 going on 17. Silly conversations, that we both enjoyed.

Pip and Stella are In Love.