Archers thread #172: Come on, Clive! Spill the beans and put us all out of our misery. 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 Clive sounds deeply misunderstood, 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.)

Fete over, cricket season over - can the Flower and Produce show be far behind? I don't think I've heard a mention of it this year. Have I not been paying attention?

In any real village, preparations for the Christmas show would already be under way, but not in Ambridge, of course. I am probably in a minority of one in regretting this.

With any luck, though, by Christmas this incredibly protracted tale of Alice, George and the crash will be behind us at last. Do we think Clive's really gone? I don't believe it. We won't be rid of him that easily. Will he go to the police himself? Will he attempt to blackmail his family or extort money from the Aldridges in return for information that would secure Alice's acquittal? Do we care? I find I don't really, unfortunately. I did enjoy hearing Clive for those few brief exchanges but I've had enough now. Unrelieved nastiness is not really what I want from TA.

Over to you!

They come out that age to litter pick. It’s all risk assessed and tabarded. Quite normal.

On our village, meant to say. And in surrounding ones. Best to get children into the habit young.

Robert would never have been so arrogant? He feels really off

Snap! Mine was May 1984. Dozens of colleges and Institutes and Schools and teacher training colleges whose degrees were issued or validated by the University of London all in together. As I recall, we were listed by the degree awarded without reference to subject or college, never mind class, so there were several hundred or even thousand BAs first, in alphabetical order, and then the BScs, BEds, LLBs, MBBS etc etc. It took ages. All credit to Princess Anne for having the stamina.

I was sitting next to a young woman I'd never seen in my life before whose surname was next alphabetically to mine - so say my surname was actually D0g* hers might have been Doggett. We started chatting and she said where she was from. I told her my second cousin lived there and it turned out they were next door neighbours and she'd been their babysitter when she was at school. What a tiny world we live in sometimes.

*It isn't. Sorry to disappoint.

reply to @Abra1t Interesting - they aren't covered by group insurance for Tidy Towns groups in Ireland. Partly traffic, partly perceived risk from broken glass, needles, dog faeces, rat urine (in all honesty, probably more about excessively litigious habits than anything else). I agree that it's good to get them involved early, but 8 does seem a bit young.

(I believe there were three of these mega-ceremonies a year. Can't remember why I went for May.)

Ah I know, thank you, I meant personality wise.

maybe he's ill

I graduated from my first degree in October. And my masters was similar, but then we didn't finish till September.

Wow. Some blast from the past names in there. I never used to start threads so don’t see my name on the right but I must be in there somewhere. I was called weejimmykrankie. How on earth did we cope with so many simultaneous threads going on at once though? It was all a bit much, in retrospect.

Wasn’t Cornelius Vermuyden some sort of teenage statistics nerd who logged every character’s appearance?

Don't know his age, but yes.

Would Brian really have contemplated leaving Ruari parentless at graduation in order to stay with alice? Awful! Kate was right re favouritism

Neil was really moving on Thursday. George is a character who's being well fleshed out. Nice to hear Tony and Brian.

Not getting anything out of the Brian - Miranda thing. I suppose he's being backgrounded. Yes he was a bit quick offering to abandon Ruaridh's graduation.

Robert is not Robert! He's become a shouty old busybody with a voice like some old colonel in a British film comedy.

Arf to Mustardland having a Wicker Heifer on Lakey Hill.

What's not safe about it?

So did I! I know it's a new actor, but it seems like a new character as well!

So did I! I know it's a new actor, but it seems like a new character as well!

The things I listed in my post at 21.45. Young children not being able to use the adult-sized protective gloves, or adult-sized litter grabbers. Also less likely to understand the risks. I knew a couple of Local Authority enforcement officers who got very nasty infections (weeks off work stuff) from handling bags of dumped rubbish. I'm a fairly diligent and constant litter picker myself, but am aware of the need to be careful.

He does, doesn’t he? Two days in a row he was overbearing and rude.

Old Robert would have been very humble about winning and wouldn’t have had that email primed and ready to go. He wouldn’t have been late either or relied on someone else to give in his bags. He would have been far more worried about Jack and I actually think he would have been more likely to let him win.

Does anyone think that Fallon is too hard on Harrison? It is always about her so he can never be honest. Does he want to try for another child?

Sorry for misspelling names and for asking something already covered.

No. Not in the slightest. Fallon almost drowned and all he cares about is his baby. He knew when they married Fallon didn"t want children.

it’s nuance isn’t it - when talking about George he started by saying ‘look what he did to me’ and then quickly corrected to ‘us’. She’s had a marriage full of him putting himself first and not really supporting her. So whilst she comes across as harsh sometimes I think that is really showing the straws piling onto the camels back

his attitude towards the accident would have been very different if there had been no pregnancy

Don't worry about that! We all do it, often. Unavoidable on a thread of this length. Talking of which, here's a new one: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5164477-archers-thread-173-the-fall-of-the-house-of-grundy-discuss-the-archers-here

Mine was May 1985, in the Albert Hall. Definitely worth waiting for.

I think Fallon told Harrison she didnt want children after they got married if I remember rightly, then Harrison was upset but said he loved her so much that it did matter but he could live with it.