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.

It may not help that her title is "St Agnes of Rome"; this might give Anglicans quite the wrong idea of her!

Why is Emma so annoying!!!

and why are they fretting about usha saying he was writing a sermon? I wouldn’t expect a wife to know exactly what her husband is doing. Or maybe I have an odd marriage!!

whenever I hear bible stories summarised like that I can’t quite feel my interpretation may be different.

i find the Alan bits difficult as I’m not religious. And I guess I can see where usha is coming from with the saviour complex!!

surely Emma’s set texts are all quite tough? When ds did his there was a modern book from the last 20 years. I guess that’s not all exam boards.

And how unprofessional is Adil if he allows Lynda to let the bull sell the beers!!! The whole thing is nuts

Well, I think TA is brilliant atm
So much so, that I have nothing to contribute except a MASSIVE BOOP.

What are the flags?

I think they are the inn sign for The Bull, @Bruisername

@Bruisername
They are our very own MN Archers emoticon, and are supposed to resemble the inn sign of The Bull. We were celebrating some milestone of this thread.

Someone will be along in a minute to point us at the relevant Archers thread, I'm sure
@DadDadDad
@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime
@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
or somebody.

archers IYSWIM or select from MN emoticons.

and why are they fretting about usha saying he was writing a sermon? I wouldn’t expect a wife to know exactly what her husband is doing Because it contradicted Alan’s story that he had a meeting, and I think most wives might know whether their husband was staying in or going out. As did Usha of course, it’s just that she didnt want to mention it because the meeting was with Rob.

I’ve been to a few St Agnes churches so don’t think of her as that unusual I guess. But yes, it’s not like there are a lack of virgin martyrs…

Ah ok, there’s something a bit Nuremberg rally about them!

Bollocks (sorry)
open square bracket archers close square bracket
only the word "archers" is not typed in underlined, and has no spaces before or after it
<exhausted now>

and on the Alan/usha confusion I’m sure that’s only there to give Pat extra rage when she finds out they knew he was back. Bit contrived

square bracket a will bring up the list. Perhaps appropriately, follows

If Usha had said something like, "he's writing a sermon or something," in a vague, off-hand way, no one would have thought anything.

Brad will be fine. He can probably pedal to Hollerton Junction (didn't he do that for his Oxford date?) and then he's on the most brilliant rail service in the country.

I guess I would just think that he normally writes the sermon on Wednesday night but that Wednesday he had a meeting and hasn’t mentioned it to usha yet. I just can’t see it being the big gotcha for Pat when she finds out alan was seeing rob and then immediately working out usha knew

Bruisername
I just can’t see it being the big gotcha for Pat when she finds out alan was seeing rob and then immediately working out usha knew

If it is, I hope very much that she immediately and unpleasantly blames Usha and vilifies her loudly and publicly for not having let them know. It would be a fine case of the biter bit.

Why isn’t Brad looking at Exeter or Bristol? Or even Cheltenham which everyone (Lillian) visits on a regular basis.

@LouOrange
because the SWs and I are looking forward to finding out how he gets on at university. And as someone said upthread, the maths teaching at Felpersham is well regarded.

Pure Mathematics is a very rare subject, in that you don't even need a university department behind you to make a significant breakthrough. And also, historically, most such breakthroughs have been made by very gifted young men in their 20s.

What on Earth would you say to someone if they said “You’re my fairy godmother!” without laughing immediately afterwards?!

Im sure Lynda will have given an elegant and kind response…

It feels quite jarring every time Robert is mentioned, always just out of shot :(

@Bruisername , @SequentialAnalyst - when we reached the 50th thread back in 2016, I asked MNHQ if we could have our own "smiley" / emoticon in honour. There was lots of lively debate and a vote of sorts, and a couple of months later, we got -

Thinking of Rob, my money is still on his wanting a churchyard burial within Ambridge. Possibly a window too.

Oooh yes, @echt. Any ideas for a window design? <innocent look>

@DadDadDad
Sadly, there is no link to the previous thread at the top of the one you linked. Which is where the actual discussion took place of what to ask for
Can you oblige?

Some tuna pasta bake and a large cooking knife?

@SequentialAnalyst - the actual 50th thread is here - jumping to the post where MNHQ started to take the idea of a new emoticon seriously, then we had discussion and voting - eventually gets spun off to a new thread which you'll find if you keep scrolling...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/2600463-No-more-walking-on-eggshells-for-Helen-Heading-for-an-eggsplosive-Easter-weekend-in-The-Archers-will-Helen-Archer-be-resurrected-by-the-end-of-this-thread?reply=60163441&utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share