Archers thread #169: Denise rocks the boat in more than one way! Will Chris find a message in a cider bottle? 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 have liked to have Harrison's behbe, 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 https://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 @LikeTalkingToLassie and @BrightYellowDaffodil for title inspiration. Is this the end for Denise and John? It does seem odd to introduce John now if he's going to disappear. He has a lovely voice.

Over to you!

Mere, me too….

Possibly - I didn't catch them all. It's an old book that lists all the folk names from around the country. Or they could have been relying on Richard Mabey's Flora Britannica, which is more recent and reliable but less comprehensive with names - it's more a social history of plants.

(Actually, on reflection having just checked, it wouldn't have been Grigson because he doesn't list pineappleweed, but he has some brilliant names, like Bazzocks for charlock, or Naughty Man's Plaything for shepherd's purse.)

I do feel sorry for Freddie, he’s so desperate not to be seen as a neepo baby or a posh little rich kid playing at having a proper job that he’s putting up with being bullied. And it’s been going on for a long time, there was all that business about the Brookfield beef going missing because the warehouse guys had “hilariously” changed the boxes.

I hope Vince takes it seriously but I suspect he’ll brush it off as “rough and tumble” or Freddie needing to stand up for himself, not realising that he won’t for fear of coming across all Lord of The Manor when he’s trying to fit in.

Parsnip soup?

The roots of hemlock water dropwort have been mistaken for wild parsnips a few times, by unwary hipsters foragers. With deeply unpleasant results.

Think? the boating was Arkwright Lake, which the bird hide is near but is that actually a boating lake if it’s in a wildlife sanctuary? It seems vanishingly unlikely - and even if it were, would Denistaire really want to risk being spotted by bird watchers with binoculars?

I was saddened when our vet told me about about a vet friend who had worked with Noel Fitzpatrick (Supervet). Said he was nowhere near as cuddly and lovely as he appears. Mostly a TV persona.

yes just a guess and a very ill considered one at that, for all the excellent reasons you point out. Not only that but from the picture it seems all the front windows of Arkwright Hall look directly onto the lake, (although of course not necessarily representative).

Denise did talk about being away from the village, and the BBC write up for 7th said …. Alistair and Denise have a romantic day out at a Borsetshire lake, enjoying a picnic on a boat.

Pretty random indeed and even out of the village, pretty risky out in the open together boating.

According to the not-updated-for-gaw-knows-how-long BBC page, Arkwright Hall is now leased to the Landmark Trust and available to holidaymakers seeking "something different" - to wit, a fine view of a vet in his early 60s philandering in a boat with his nurse.

I have never met a vet that has a good word to say about “Supervet”.

Made me laugh

Is Lily going to end up dating the chef

Or Oliver, such was his enthusiasm for the man!

Looks like we’ve gone back to-the 1970s in employment law.

I read Noel F's biography, he's a very intense and driven man, with a perfectionist personality, I can imagine he would be difficult to work with. I don't watch his programmes (hate being emotionally manipulated) but he has done good things for animals.

The rumour is that the song ‘Toxic’ was written about him so….

Lily getting indignant about what she perceives as bullying reminds me rather forcibly of Hermione Granger and the house elves. Yeah, I wanted the Granger brat’s head to fall off too.

How dare anyone bully Freddie? That’s her job!

I would disagree with that last part of the sentence. Animals are not humans and saving them at any costs, with interventions they cannot understand, just so that humans can keep them, is often not in the interest of the animal.

That is why I’ve never heard a vet say a good thing about him. Just because we can intervene doesn’t mean we should.

@BrightYellowDaffodil That is why I’ve never heard a vet say a good thing about him. Just because we can intervene doesn’t mean we should.

I would argue that the same often holds true for humans.

Pretty random indeed and even out of the village, pretty risky out in the open together boating.

There’s a moment, in a Henry James novel (I forget which, and anyway - spoilers) where random fate uncovers, to the protagonist, two people in a place they might never have anticipated being seen, engaged in just such an apparently innocent pastime. I swear the Earth stopped turning as I read the sentence that changed everything in that world.

I long for the wider significance of the Alistair / Denise dalliance to be revealed to us …

Good prediction re Vince's brushing off @BrightYellowDaffodil

I mean Vince does kind of have a point. Freddie is trying to be best buds with everyone and that just doesn’t work when you are the manager. Vince telling them off will make Freddie look weak. Or even worse telling them sacking what’s his name was his idea and Freddie opposed it.

I can just see the union rep claiming it was just banter and if Freddie didn’t like it he should have said something

it’s not nice but he needs to toughen up and stand up to them - then if it continues it becomes a disciplinary matter and much harder for them to wiggle out of

Don't mention Tony Robinson within earshot of an archaeologist!
Pompous, self-important, rude, ignorant man.

I have heard that from a military expert who worked with him.

Don't mention Tony Robinson within earshot of an archaeologist!

Or Neil Oliver. My archaeologist/historian friends get most agitated at the mere mention of his name.

(And, it has to be said, so do I now I realise how much of his narrative is absolute tosh.)

Archaeologist here can confirm!