Archers thread #161: Kenton seems to be getting better, but the storylines aren’t. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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Well, here we are. I was strongly tempted to go for the dog's dinner, dog/human bullies etc suggestions for the title, but Mere asked if we could not have anything graphic in the thread title, so I've held back. In a couple of weeks when this thead is nearing its end the attack may all be a distant memory, anyway.

Goodness knows what's in store for us now. Kenton seems likely to have PTSD, not surprisingly. Surely we must soon find out why HARRY talks so. Unconvincingly. Alice! Hello. CHRIS. CHRIS. etc, and also whether he is (as many of us suspect) addicted to opiates and/or up to no good. Too much to hope why nobody in Ambridge horsey circles had ever heard of him until recent weeks.

Over to you!

No shunning from me. I don’t like cats much either. < ducks for cover >

I am not a fan of cats but I think it unfair to treat a previously cherished pet the way Tony did tonight. I didn’t think it was funny.

overall it was an ok episode. Pretty harmless really and we weren’t subjected to Harry or some ominous scenes involving Jolene

i’m hoping the Eurostar goes on strike for 6 months so we can have an even longer break from Helen

We get the complete yowling and hissing performance if we simply suggest we'd like to move when she’s on our lap.

Over on the Litter Tray it seems to be a Universal Law that he/she on whom the Cat is seated must not move. Not to do the washing up, not for anything. Some people have even been known to delay relieving a full bladder. This rule is usually indulged respected by the whole family. And it is seen as a privilege to have the Cat on one's lap.

We had this rule both in my birth family and my own family. Nobody had to say anything, it was just taken for granted.

Oh @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.

😐

makes an ominous note in notebook

(Obviously I jest. I love my cat very dearly, as I have loved my previous cats - but to be honest, I have little time for anyone else’s)

I love cats especially my cat and I thought Tony sounded like a spoilt brat. He really hates Hilda but I bet he loves her in the end like a lot of people who get unwanted pets thrust upon them. (Like Brian did until he was allergic. )
Susan and Carrie's jolly japes are as boring as Eddies.🥱.
I was laughing at posho Adam calling for Hilda.

To delete a post, you need to report it. Then we all wonder what it was you said

And if you edit we can read it. So thumbs up for that 😂

Cats are deities but Tony hasn’t quite understood that yet. He will though. I thought H may have run away and would be found on Brian’s doorstep which would have been a touching reunion.

The Susan/Adam japes are presumably meant to be light relief after the high dramah of last week. Comedy on TAs is always so laboured and such a bore…

I was just glad when it turned out that Adam had clocked what Susan and Clarrie were up to so it would only be a comic SL. I was seriously on edge before that, worrying that he would actually go out and spend a load of the business's money on unnecessary ingredients, and then Susan and Clarrie would be immediately sacked for misconduct.

It's not hilarious. But as long as it's only a light-hearted 'comic' story it could be worse.

I still don't know whether Adam's sudden change in management style is bad writing or supposed to be leading somewhere. And I don't understand why Chris, who knows from his mum that Adam's throwing his weight around and that their 'joke' was for a purpose (even if completely lacking any logic as to how it might achieve that purpose), would conspire with him to play a reciprocal 'joke' on her.

And I don't understand why Chris, who knows from his mum that Adam's throwing his weight around and that their 'joke' was for a purpose (even if completely lacking any logic as to how it might achieve that purpose), would conspire with him to play a reciprocal 'joke' on her. Because he didn't want her to get into serious trouble?

My name also has gone on ze list!

[topical reference this week, sadly]

I’ve owned a number of cats, I love cats and they usually seem to like me (once got a flat-share place because the house cat who never made friends with anyone instantly jumped up on my lap and settled down when I went to be interviewed for my suitability), so I’m unhappy with hearing how downright unpleasant Tony is about Hilda.

I’m under no illusions about mean-spirited cats, which are most definitely a thing, but he’s being horrible about and to her.

How does he expect her to be a nice cat when she is treated that way?

ultimately she spent the whole day keeping herself to herself and he’s still bitching about her

We had this rule both in my birth family and my own family. Nobody had to say anything, it was just taken for granted. Depends on the cat here. The hisser is indulged having had a tough life (found on the street, pregnant, gave birth at 11months). One of the daughters, not so much - she thinks nothing of sitting on top of her mother until she is in sole occupation of whatever snug sleeping place her mother has found.

SequentialAnalyst
And it is seen as a privilege to have the Cat on one's lap.
We had this rule both in my birth family and my own family. Nobody had to say anything, it was just taken for granted.

In my family it was used as an excuse not to do chores. If you were "cat on lap" then you claimed it as a reason not to be laying the table/washing up/hoovering the stairs/making your bed.

I am agnostic about "cats" as a collective noun: some individual cats I love, some I regard as candidates for the nearest skip. As with human beings, really. What I don't like is ones that are spoilt and think they are the boss of the entire household; I dig in my toes and decline to cater to their whims.

Hilda is insufferable, and I would not suffer her. She was a nasty individual from the moment she arrived in Ambridge and savaged anyone who came near her, on no provocation, whereupon Peggy indulged her and said what a good judge of character she was. Actually she behaves like a feral (though a very unusual one, because the ones I have helped to rescue have always avoided humans, not attacked them on sight like Hilda), and would probably do well as what we called a "barn cat" in my youth, or at the most a "doorstep cat", rather than a house cat.

Fink
I don't understand why Chris, who knows from his mum that Adam's throwing his weight around and that their 'joke' was for a purpose (even if completely lacking any logic as to how it might achieve that purpose), would conspire with him to play a reciprocal 'joke' on her.

The same reason he went along with Alice's cruel "joke" on Susan and Jennifer about inviting Clive to the party being given to celebrate their wedding, or Alice's nasty fun about Susan's bowl having been broken, I expect. He has form for taking a bit of pleasure in lessening his mother with lies that will hurt her.

I’m not very into cats (although some are lovely) but grew up with them, and as we lived on a farm throwing the little dears out (not “throwing” literally obviously - carrying outside) when they were being naughty was absolutely fine. Cats can cope in the outside world you know, especially on a farm when they’re surrounded by lovely warm sheds and hidey holes.

Don’t think it’s the throwing her out (it was only into the hall after all) although Pat did imply it was an ott throw

its the way he speaks about the cat and the tone. I just find it really unpleasant. Whatever you think the poor animal has been rehomed from a loving owner and no one seems to want to show her any love!

It is what tends to happen if you constantly attack people: they don't regard you with love and affection after a bit. Hilda is unloved because she is entirely unlovable. Peggy spoiled her and talked to and about her in a soppy way, but Christine moved out of her home rather than share living quarters with the animal.

What surprises me is that Tony would spend any time on looking for her, when he knows that if he were to find her she would only scratch or bite him. It is a complete waste of time showing her love; it doesn't improve her and is not reciprocated. (At The Laurels she did not stay with Peggy: she roamed the premises terrorising the other residents and stealing food from them.)

Hilda arrived in Ambridge in 2017 a savage and unpleasant animal and has not improved in the six and a half years since. However, she was not a kitten then, so we can hope she will die of old age sooner rather than later, since she so obviously hates life and everyone else who is in it.

@Brefugee And if you edit we can read it. So thumbs up for that 😂
Unfortunately, I forgot to edit my batshit post in time, but it was in response to the edited post which looked too irresistible for me to not read.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , cats can live a long time. Hilda will probably live to a grand old age.

I wonder if Kenton will end up with an oxy addiction 🤔

Me too. I really do like the occasional episode where nothing much happens and we are reminded that life isn't all drama.

Well I found Harry's mums excuse storyline ridiculous - I would face thought after hearing the "gossip" on Alice that she would have hone ahead with the clothes shopping date and seen what she made of Alice - the way she behaved was incredibly strange imo

Oh for goodness’ sake!

Who has the energy for this ridiculous soapy melodrama?

What the hell is wrong with Alice?and Harry’s mum. And Harry.

pranks are unprofessional

poor cows

I haven’t got the emotional bandwidth for another weird family dynamic.