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 ....

@Bruisername it's not "trying not to think." It begins by allowing the thoughts to just happen in your head, without trying to engage with them. True, this is easier said than done, but it is not impossible.

You are, of course, correct in realising that men find it easier to have an empty head than women do

I know a Buddhist nun and one of her pet peeves (if nuns are allowed them) is people confusing their kind of meditating with "thinking of nothing".

@SequentialAnalyst I was taught this as a strategy for coping with cancer treatment. When people are doing unpleasant things to me I can just switch off in my head and breathe. It gets easier with practice. It seems my head is often quite empty anyway. I don’t have an inner monologue. It’s a blessing!

@TopOfTheCliff breathing properly is the main thing underlying the meditation I do.

It scares me a bit, having no internal dialogue Without that, how do I know who I am?

Which is kind of the point

Boop for Alan and Usha having all sorts of positive ideas for using the church for the benefit of the community and making up the financial deficit

Being a CofE vicar must be so disheartening as the Church becomes more irrelevant with every passing year.

Glad they were inspired by a vibrant community.

I can’t cope with the blankness of an empty mind!!

problem is a lot of churches are hard to use for other events. Even harder when a relatively small population. However the pub survives

I'm not a churchgoer (or believer) but from contact I've had with various churches recently I have the impression that most, maybe all, churches are used for community activities nowadays as well as religious services. I suppose Ambridge isn't big enough to have its own food bank, but some sort of lunch club for people who can't get out much might be a goer. That wouldn't be to raise money, though.

But I have some vague idea that you're supposed to clear your mind and think of nothing.

If Kate's type of meditation requires an empty head I should imagine that comes quite easily to her

I'd love to be able to switch off. My inner monologue just never shuts up.

Who’s this dude? Why is lillian so wet? That’s not what she’s like normally is it?

Love Jakob figuring out that Kate’s a stinking hypocrite!!

so what day is robs demise?

Who’s this dude?

Harry Chilcott? Presumably about to be Alice’s new squeeze.

Oh is that what he’s about. He sounds fun 🙄

I think Jakob is thinking of dumping Kate...
But first I guess we'll need to deal with the Jack and Helen visit to Rob, (tomorrow?)

IIRC churches back in medieval times were the community hall of the village - all sorts of things went on in them, so organising lots of villages events would be going back to roots as it were.

taking a seven year old to see a man in the last stages of dying is completely barking IMO, it could traumatise poor Jack for life. What is she thinking? the time is long past.

I’m really worried that Rob isn’t really ill and it’s all a long con to abduct Jack.

today I also worried that it wasn’t Miles on the phone to Helen, it was Rob (as they sound exactly the same) pretending to be Miles.

Then I worried that maybe Miles doesn’t even exist and all appearances of Miles are Rob in character. Have they ever been in the same room?

I had a sudden wondering about just how and the illness is / we know he's ill as H went to hospital and heard it from the (women!) consultant.

Miles and Rob are definitely two people- the christening, the traffic island/ roundabout, and other scenes confirm.

Yes I think I was letting my ponderations get out of hand!

Problem with churches is that they are cold!!

CA comment re tmrw (things get completely out of hand for Helen) did not sound good.

What's going to happen?!

Yes I thought Myles was Rob on the phone.

Joy saying she’s sure Jack will deal with things the way Helen does. Well that’s going to be great isn’t it!

I too thought Miles was Ron.

The blank mind thing for me only works when with a friend, and another, not known to them approaches and I instantly can't place the approacher's name. I've done this for many years, so not a senior moment.
I put it down to the many many pupils' names I've had to learn over the years, and its taking up so much room on the hard disk.

In meditation, it's unlikely you will be able to shut down your inner monologue (or it may be a dialogue) to start with. You can, however, separate yourself from it, which is a start.

Perhaps it's not all that surprising that brothers sound similar. And after all, although it's a radio programme, it's not going to be a problem to listeners for much longer, is it?

BOOP to Lilian for gritting her teeth and putting up with repeatedly being interrupted - by a man! Colour me surprised

Helen is damned either way with Jack and Rob. Damned if she takes him and he's traumatised. Damned if she doesn't and he lives with the knowledge he could have seen his father and she said no.

Thanks for the new thread.

Yes I agree Herc.
I suppose the best course of action would be to do it but in a very boundaried way - write (email) Rob / Miles before explaining it will be for no longer than ten minutes, nothing inappropriate about his parents past should be mentioned to Jack, and it's Helen's decision when to end the meeting, which will be early if she does not feel comfortable.

Even that's difficult now Ron's apparently so ill.

I don’t think Ruairi’s birthday party is fancy dress - Kate has just decided it should be. I’m not sure what point this is going to prove. Won’t they just be two embarrassing old people at a 21st birthday party? I just want the Knob thing to be over - I think his terminal illness is a slightly bizarre twist. I don’t really believe in this storyline anymore which is a pity because I thought the original Knob/Helen story was well done. Presumably Joy is going along so she can save the day.