Archers thread #157: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless clan! Discuss The Grundys here. Bicker about The Archers as well if you like.

[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, 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 idea of making it clear in the title many of us are inveterate bickerers!

Now over to you, as we are about to eat and I won't hear tonight's offering till later ....

😆

I don't even think Kate thinks about Kate, not in a serious introspective way. She just breezes through life barely thinking at all, assuming that everything should go her way without planning or thought. It's a bizarre trait in someone who spends so much time meditating.

N.B. I don't really understand the style of meditation that Kate does, I'm used to Christian meditation. But I have some vague idea that you're supposed to clear your mind and think of nothing. I don't know how it works.

I’ve never understood how you can think of nothing!

Agree that Kate doesn’t actively think of herself and the type that just believes she is centre of the universe for everyone

on Jakob - he was perfectly willing to go to the parties but then she threw in the gladiator costume! As an introvert that would cause me to be in a state of dread and desperately trying to find a way out. The fact she didn’t respect a ‘no’ from him on the fancy dress was the horrible part of her behaviour

I don't understand why Jakob and Kate are together. What do they actually have in common? What do they talk about, day to day?

Fancy dress parties continue to baffle me. I find it strange that people decide to hold a party then deliberately sabotage attendance by making it a fancy dress event. I immediately default to ‘definitely not going’ if I get an invitation to a FDP. I might make a concession later and pull on a wig but the whole thing leaves me very cold. I am basically a female Jakob (love horses, very punctual, have an annoying sibling and hate FD).

Thanks for the thread @gasp!

Desperate back-pedalling.

I do t know of any meditation where the goal is to think of nothing or to clear your mind. In my experience there's lots of spiritual Kates around. It's a fine line between allowing life to move through you and not being attached to the stories and dramas that others like to bring to you. I know some people who do it well and lots who just come across as selfish.

I have studied the rāmāyana in the devanagāri- bring it on I say.

I totally believe this. Not. Do ‘they’ think we are completely stupid?

Ta, Gaspode!

Oh I need an edit button. I meant it's a fine line between the spiritual and just being detached from people's concerns. It comes across as selfish and uncaring. It often is selfish and uncaring!

Thinking about it some more - given his guilt over her death I don’t think he would refer to her as his wife because he would be eaten up by the fact it never happened and she died his fiancee

keri Davies is starting to strike me as someone who thinks he is far cleverer than he actually is - a common flaw amongst BBC writers/producers

I love it when Kate is featured, she is so just so incredibly selfish and awful it is a delight to listen to!

We can sometimes head off a bicker if one says "I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid"

Kate's voice goes right through me. I'm also worried Jakub will be the only one in fancy dress

I have been to a party where a few guests turned up in elaborate fancy dress and everyone else was not. It was awkward.

Checking in! I agree with @Bruisername about Shiv/Eddie confusion - I wondered why EG was being quite so effusive!

Entirely agree. Same as if you married any other medical professional - they aren’t always predictable jobs. Especially in a small rural practise.

We have an Edit button. It's hidden away in the three little dots in the top right of the post (on web browser, anyway - don't know about the app, don't use it). You have to use it within a few minutes of making your post and other users are able to see the original version, I think, if they can be bothered. Yet to use it myself.)

Thanks @Gasp0de I'm on the app!

Ditto with police about the unsocial working hours. Not that it’s ever stopped every scriptwriter ever having That Scene of the wife/girlfriend tearfully moving out because ‘you’re never here’. As with Kate and Jakob, you do feel they might have had an inkling when they first got together.

I felt like Jakob was trying to actually say something else to Kate and she kept cutting him off... She didn't want to listen to him at all.
They are an odd couple, and Kate is awful but in a way that feels kind of harmless, I don't know why. I like it when she's around because you never quite know what's going to come out of her mouth!

Edit button not available on the app, sadly.

Off topic, but the app seems to be useless! Odd.

@Brefugee
We can sometimes head off a bicker if one says "I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid"

that's brilliant! however it has been suggested that the collective noun for our family would be 'a bicker of newtlovers' so it still might not work

I agree somewhat Gasp!

Sorry newt but at ours the only correct response to that question is "I've told you once!"

I do a sort of meditation where part of the goal is not to think. The goal is to Just Be.
NB The goal is not to think of nothing!
Being human, the thoughts sometimes continue. But they are separate from me.
With practice, a clear state can be achieved, at least intermittently.
I find it beneficial

If I try not to think I just end up thinking ‘don’t think, don’t think, did you switch the hob off?, stop thinking, etc’

i was astounded when dh said there are times he has no thoughts in his head.