Archers thread #156: Fireworks in Ambridge! Helen gave Lee a rocket, but Grey Gables is a damp squib. Is the writing on the (church) wall?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're irresistibly attracted to George Grundy, 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 @OverArmour for the title suggestion, which I have tweaked a bit. I was strongly tempted by Less GGP (Grey Gables Peril) More GPP (Guinea Pig Plot), which was a plaintive cry from @PuppyPerson some days ago, but if Poppy has found new homes for the baby guinea pigs that may be the last we hear of them for some time, sadly.

Surely in the life of the next thread we must hear more from or of Rob, or Ron as some on this thread prefer to call him? <taps foot> Will Kirsty snap and tell Helen a few home truths? Will Pat's shotgun finally be brought into play? We can only hope ...

Also, will we ever find out who owns the other 60% of Grey Gables? Why is Adil AWOL (to use the other bit of OverArmour's title idea!)? Why aren't we hearing from Roy? Will GG ever re-open and will Emma get her Big Chance at last?

So many questions! Over to you.

Episode spoiled by pips awful acting. And what the hell was all that about spaghetti - why on earth would Stella have gone off the idea of spaghetti? Is pip so insecure she doesn’t even trust her gut on choosing dinner. It’s embarrassing the way she behaved - both to Stella and her mum. Shes such a brat.

Interesting how the brain tumour is giving him religious delusions and he’s reverting to thinking he is still controlling Helen. The scenes were good. Showing the decline and all is good.

I don’t think Miles is a bad person - he is thinking the best of his brother whilst struggling with the understanding of what he is.

Also, wouldn't it really complicate things to have Hannah as Stella's lodger, which was what was under discussion? Why couldn't they both just rent directly from Brookfield? I don't know anything about such matters, but it seems to be unnecessarily convoluted.

I don't think Miles is a probably going to turn out to be a great person either. Still a product of Bruce and Ursula's parenting. And his interactions with Helen weren't nice. I'm glad he might be coming to realise what Rob is really like though, maybe it will finally convince him to get some counselling and break free himself.

There was none of this fuss when Rex and Toby moved in with Bert. At the time I assumed Bert checked with Brookfield, but I don't think it was ever mentioned.

@SequentialAnalyst I am glad you're finding the script helpful... would you like to share more?

I'm assuming you're u're referring to Rob and his twisted desire to control, unmarred by illness? That rang some bells for me too.

Bert was not and never would have been My Girlfriend 😂

I was trying to remember whether they had to share a room/ one of them sleep on the sofa? Wasn't Rex there first and then Toby moved in later? Just pondering whether the bungalow has 2 or 3 bedrooms. If it only ever had 2, that would explain Toby staying at Rickyard more. It's all gone a bit hazy in my memory (covid fog).

Also, while we're on the topic of the Brookfield Bungalow (at least I am), what was that thing that fell out when Pip was showing Stella around? I have vague memories of Pip being really stroppy (what's new) about not wanting Stella to move in (because it made the Fairbrothers homeless?), then being terrified by this thing that dropped out on them, then Rex coming over and it turned out to be ... something Bert had done some DIY taxidermy on or something? Anyone else remember this, preferably in better detail?

I try to forget most things to do with Pip.

Excellent episode. The Nob/Harrison scene was particularly good, once I'd stopped swearing at the laptop at the barmy turn in the plot.
Pip is the frozen limit, isn't she? And now I see why the B&B had to stop: to engineer a housing shortage in TA, which is odd as in so many, if not all other circumstances, the housing fairy magics up a spare room.

I agree with others that as the scales are falling rather belatedly from Miles's eyes, in his perception of his brother's behaviour, he was still nasty to and about Helen in the past.

@Fink They're called sponsors, not supporters. The same as confirmation sponsors.

must vary then “If you have chosen someone as a Godparent who isn’t baptised, they can still be a “Baptism Supporter”

I think we had an earlier discussion about it being Downham. StAgnes? Patron Saint of rape victims was mentioned

@MereDintofPandiculation I meant sponsors are the people that adults can have for a baptism because Anglicanism doesn't do godparents for adults. Different from the supporters who can be non-Christian 'godparents' to a child.

I could be wrong in any case, it's different for us as Catholics, but that's my understanding of the terms used in the CofE.

@Fink Ah, ok, got you. So was Alan being Rob’s Sponsor?

Bert wasn't paying rent, he was living in a tied cottage (effectively, because the tied cottage he and Freda he previously lived in had been sold and they'd been moved to the bungalow). Also, Rex and Toby moved in as "house-guests" shortly after Bert was finally able to move back into the bungalow and was so unhappy there without Freda and causing concern; I think them moving there may even have been David's idea.

As an Anglican, I’ve heard both :) (what a classically Anglican compromise response)

Fink
Also, while we're on the topic of the Brookfield Bungalow (at least I am), what was that thing that fell out when Pip was showing Stella around? I have vague memories of Pip being really stroppy (what's new) about not wanting Stella to move in (because it made the Fairbrothers homeless?), then being terrified by this thing that dropped out on them, then Rex coming over and it turned out to be ... something Bert had done some DIY taxidermy on or something? Anyone else remember this, preferably in better detail?

Oh, come off it, Pip being concerned for the Fairbrothers? She wanted the place herself and was fighting with Josh over it.

It's all in the synopses for 2022, starting in February, I think 21st. A search on "bungalow" will find it.

https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/synopses/2022.html

Thanks Asking. My word, less than 2 years ago and I'd forgotten most of it. My memory really is worse than I thought!

I don't think so, at least that hasn't been mentioned on air. We know he asked Brian and was refused. It seems like he didn't have a sponsor in the end since it was mentioned that no one else came except Bruce, Miles, and Tony. They're not compulsory. As far as we heard, Alan was just there in a moral support capacity, not with any official liturgical function.

🤣

So was Alan being Rob’s Sponsor?

That's what I assumed, as Brian had turned him down - if he hadn't found anybody by today? - or as sombody else said, felt obliged to be there in case something needed dealing with that he'd be better eqipped for than Rev Nikita (like Tony turning up or similar).

That was another good episode.

It seems all children like pasta. Why is this?

No strong flavours
Texture is ok (some children may find it slimy, but most will find it inoffensive if properly drained)
Not too much hard work (not too chewy)
We're biologically programmed to like carbs as children. Tastes change with age.

I'm not a Pip fan and obviously will bow down to her as the world's first lesbian under duress, but it seemed like her mum and Stella were being pretty shitty to her - or was it unintentional?

When Rosie’s enthusiasm for pasta was being discussed and Ruth said “She’s a big fan”, I had, for a nanosecond, the impression she was about to say something considerably more candid.