Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and 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'd love to be married to Harrison, 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.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

You know when Freddie went off to the Mediterranean with Johnny and came back erm … fronting (?) about his wild time as a superstar DJ? And then confessed that the trip had been a disaster. Surely Lily must have known all along? Even if Elizabeth didn’t guess, I find it hard to believe he’d have been able to continuously misrepresent his situation when speaking to his twin sister.

(Sorry, just random musing, not in response to any recent posts!)

There was a story this week about a carer who’d stopped her carer’s allowance for the week she was over the earnings limit, tried to reinstate it the following week and months later still hasn’t got the payment. Meanwhile she’s racking up credit card interest. I thought about that when the late child benefit broke and thought, it’s all very well the government saying everyone will get paid, but I bet they won’t compensate them for all the extra costs incurred by not having the money when they needed it.

Meanwhile, if my bank messed up, I stand an excellent chance of being fully compensated for extra interest payments incurred, not to mention my time dealing with the problem. Partly it’s that the bank wants to retain its customers, partly it’s another way that your vulnerability is multiplied if you don’t have money.

I can remember getting the letter about my DD’s ski trip in her last year at school in 2018. ‘Gosh’ I said ‘That’s the price of a small car’.
(It was a lot more than £1000)

I dread to think of how busy my Foodbank will have been on Monday and today with the missed payments.

I was thinking that Jason's twins, thwarted of their skiing trip, might team up with Markie and attack Freddie with crampons and ice picks, but I think the Fairy Godmother SL is probably more likely - although you can never be sure with TA at the moment.

LillianGish
we will all have forgotten the finer detail and will be calling on @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime for a recap

And I shall apply, as I usually do, to the synopses at https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/synopses/ ! Also to the BBC ones, which are available on the BBC website but not so easy to access.

Knob blocked the culvert and Stefan went missing generating huge speculation and debate which was never adequately resolved

It was for me. Stefan had done exactly as he had said he would and as he was reported as having done, and gone home to his own country. At a later date, he came back to Ambridge and tried to blackmail Rob into paying him enough money for some business deal he was getting involved in, and, when Rob would not pay, went to Rob's employer Justin and spilled the beans in exchange for the cash he needed. He then went away again. On the strength of what Stefan had told him, Justin sacked Rob.

Poor Jason. (Slightly.) I wonder what story he’s had to make up to tell his wife? She might not believe sudden redundancy. Maybe he’ll keep on ‘going to work’ while he figures out what to do.

“it’s all very well the government saying everyone will get paid, but I bet they won’t compensate them for all the extra costs incurred by not having the money when they needed it.”

In the interest of balance, it was announced a few times on the radio yesterday that anyone who had incurred extra costs due to this should submit a claim form (of which they gave details). So presumably anyone enquiring about this will be told the same. Although from my experience of calling HMRC (if that is who is responsible) good luck with that, not to mention the cost of hanging on for often over an hour with 0300 calls if you don’t have a phone contract with inclusive minutes. At least calling DWP is free.

I agree that many people have no idea what it's like to live hand to mouth and genuinely not have a back-up option if an expected payment doesn't come on time. My point is that Freddie is an odd choice of character to be discovering that. He has had much more exposure to real poverty than any of the other middle-class characters, with the exception of the nouveaux riches like Vince.

:) like the full Monty revisited. The bailiffs will give him away, unless he has a gang of semi naked pals to frighten them off.

How big is Casey Meats? How many worksites these days have enough people these days to justify the overheads of a canteen and a gym? The last place I worked there were about 45 people sharing two kettles, two microwaves and a dishwasher.

Back to foreign school trips, I’m told they are a nightmare of planning and risk assessments, not to mention the toll of being in loco parentis for 24 hours a day.

Does Freddie have access to any money? I’m not sure how it all works in terms of a trust or fund. Neither he nor Lily appear to be independently wealthy.

I think Freddie and Lizzie are encouraged to earn their own way and they aren't given money to throw around. I'm not even sure Elizabeth has a big pot of cash herself, the wealth is all tied up in the estate and it's running costs. But ultimately they are still in that privileged position that they know they will always have a (very nice) roof over their heads and money to fall back on should it all go tits up. They really have no clue how life is on the other side of the coin. Freddie perhaps has seen more of the real world than his sister though and seems more down to earth. He has always seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea of generational wealth.

Oh good! I was unduly pessimistic.

Is Fallon's gift of an anthology of Larkin's poetry going to lead Harrison to read "This Be The Verse", and thus trigger an understanding of why Fallon doesn't want children? (Do we know why she's against the idea - I know it was first storylined a couple of years ago.)

I see no reason for her to have to account to him or anyone for her decision that she does not want children, dashitall!

The onus was on him, at the point at which he decided words to the effect "she looks well fuckable, I'll have that one", to find out whether she was fecund as well, to meet his other requirement of a woman. He really should have established that before he started to stalk her, I feel.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime ... I see no reason for her to have to account to him or anyone for her decision that she does not want children, dashitall!

Absolutely! She told him, and that was enough. I've never felt the need to account to anyone for my total lack of interest in having children: anyone who wanted children knew where the door was. Similarly, I have no wish to go sky-diving, or on a cruise, or to have a Brazilian butt-lift. I do not need to provide reasons for any of these either.

I agree with the sentiments - I'm just trying to catch up on plotlines (having not been immersed in it up to now!)

It might be that Fallon's experience of being an unwanted child with an absentee father might have soured her on the idea slightly, I suppose. Not just an absentee: a father who made it clear in her teens, when she appealed to him for help, that he wanted nothing to do with her. That she subsequently forgave the waster, and even helped him when he was in need himself, indicates a sweetness of character that is quite wasted on Harrison.

I assume Vince isn't underpaying hm, he doesn't seem to be paying for accommodation, nor is he repaying a student loan. I'd have thought he has a bit to spare.

Absolutely this. I haven't done a ski residential but on returning from the residentials I have done, having spent hours beforehand and being on duty 24/7 through the trip including a weekend it's a bit tiresome to have parents gripe that I've not paid for my holiday.

Oh I meant apart from his salary, does have access to ‘family’ money.

I imagine Vince pays him quite generously so as to impress Elizabeth.

I'm glad to know teachers work hard on school trips these days.
When I was 15 my best friend and I went on a school trip to the Oberammergau Passion Play. We were accompanied by the awful man who taught me SMP maths and a music teacher with a reputation as a pervert.
After Oberammergau we moved on to a village in the mountains for 10 days. We were turfed out of the hotel after breakfast every morning and told we weren't allowed to come back until the evening.
On the first day my friend and I met two wealthy older French boys who we fell madly in love with. We spent every day with them at the lido and every evening being wined and dined. We had a 10pm curfew but it was never enforced and we would return to the hotel at 11 or 12 o'clock to find the two teachers drunk in the bar.
On the last night the two young men took us out into the countryside and made it clear that they expected paying in kind for all the meals they had bought. Fortunately they didn't insist when we reacted in naive horror. My friend and I still talk about how differently things could have turned out. It beggars belief that the teachers exercised so little supervision.
We remember it as a really great holiday though.

That's enough recollections. You will be pleased to hear that I intend to stick to TA from now on.

I assume (and think we may have heard) that Pargetter offspring receive an allowance, @Eastie77Returns? It probably won’t have increased enormously since they were teens - enough for necessities but not enough to live the high life.

Freddie often used to complain of being skint before he had a job - if he regularly burnt through his quarterly amount in a couple of weeks, that would leave a long time with no money apart from what he could cadge from his mother or sister. (And the trustees keep withholding his inheritance. )

Once again I wonder why the LL twins seem to have absolutely no contact with the bright young things of the county. Are they all far afield doing things Lily and Freddie aren’t?

So Mick clearly realises there is something dodgy about Rochelle. It's disappointing that he has accepted that Joy doesn't want to talk about it though. If Joy doesn't talk about it, and Mick isn't going to do any digging, it could be years before we learn the truth.