Archers thread #173: The Fall of the House of Grundy? 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 wish we were hearing more of Pip, 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.)

I chose the thread title to echo one I used three years ago, which is here if anyone fancies a trip down Memory Lane: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4320618--Archers-thread-130-The-Fall-of-the-House-of-Aldridge-Discuss-The-Archers-here. That was the thread where I caused all sorts of confusion at the start by not starting it before the old thread filled up, but others stepped in, fortunately.

At that point I see Ruairi was heading off to London to start his degree, which he has now finished, with none of us any the wiser about what he studied or where. Perhaps this will finally be mentioned now he's graduating.

And now, over to you!

I think you'd need to find a fairly foolish farmer to employ you!

In any case, George has both.

Er, isn't Uncle Clive a plumber?

(This is Borsetshire, of course, not like round here where the plumbers have just taken a squint at our hot water system which is going to need a bit of seeing to and it's going to make our teeth meet....)

Uncle Clive claimed at one point (though not in the actual programme) to have had training as a plumber (probably in prison), which isn't quite the same as having qualification and experience.

We engaged a series of tradesmen when our house was under renovation. Some were ok, some truly awful despite being recommended. The best guys we had were a father and son outfit who had no formal qualifications but many years of experience. The father learned from his dad and then taught his own son. I’ve tried to get them back to do some more work but they are in high demand and booked up until early next year.

As others have said, I'm loving the spider's web of consequence and impact the SW have laid before us. Who'd have spotted George as a village lynchpin.

Is anyone else stacking up the popcorn for the first Emmur/Kate meeting?

In Germany you do an apprenticeship and have a certain amount of on the job training with a ‘master’. Here you don’t need any qualifications or experience to offer your services

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime I think you'd need to find a fairly foolish farmer to employ you!
Not at all. You take on a teenager and they learn skills, not necessarily doing an apprenticeship.

They don't have to be teenagers, but they often are.

Anyone who’s watched ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ will know the fabulous Kaleb who can do pretty much anything on a farm (and meanwhile pour scorn on Jeremy for his lack of knowledge). He has mainly learned on the job, driving tractors from 13 years old. I don’t know if he’s been to agricultural college, I suspect not, but he’s highly skilled.

I always pictured George as being a bit like him, but rather less intelligent.

@MerelyPlaying , I've not seen the programme but as pp, having skills doesn't mean the same as 'Skilled' when it comes to occupations.

Eddy going all EastEnders FAAAAAAMILY

Can't Johnnie come back from wherever he is to help out on the farm?

Eddie was evil. A really nasty man showing his true colours.

Good to have my loathing of Eddie fully justified there.

A lot of jobs with their own skills are classified as unskilled. Shop worker, carer, jobbing gardener for example. I suspect “skilled” in this context means “skills which can be learnt on a course rather than just on the job”.

Ah, that’s what @KeepBritainTidy has already said

My impression of Eddie, before tonight, was that he was a bit of a dopey man but kind of decent. Tonight he went full on evil. Made more obvious by his sons reactions.

I feel tonight showed that Eddie’s thinking just doesn’t go much beyond Man kill meat. Woman cook. He was really struggling to comprehend what was going on.

I wonder if Joe might have been more capable of grasping the situation.

I thought that Fallon and Emma both were sensible.

We are in agreement, @MereDintofPandiculation . I know people who are brilliant at what they do, but their capabilities and experience doesn't get their occupations classed as 'skilled'.
George's skills are he can do manual work and he can drive. He has the TikTok-type know-how but I expect that he hasn't got the basic qualifications to get employed in the field.

Is it likely that Clarrie’s continued absence is (was) actor-driven - or is it Plot?

Well, that went well, didn’t it!

Tom has read a How To guide on Managing Reconciliation.
And all our suspicions about what it was for and how it would turn out were justified.

I fully expected Eddie to be Team George and blame Alice for the situation, but not quite so tribal as he was tonight. Nasty piece of work. TBF, he's always been morally slack so it shouldn't have been quite such a surprise. Wait till Clarrie gets back! Can't expect her to see it his way.

I actually liked it: the women turning on Tom with 'you said you had a plan' and Tom's bewildered 'the plan was that you would come up with something' just summed him up and I'm glad his kind offer of mediation was exposed for what it was, just Tom Archer willing to ignore everyone else's problems as long as his business can tick along smoothly.

Yet another example of what we talked about a few threads ago though - the soap trope that you can just say 'I resign' and walk out of your job with no consequences.

Along with Clarrie being able to just phone up and say ‘I’m going to look after my sister’ - no booking annual leave or negotiating time off.

I was enjoying Tom’s discomfort. I bet Natasha’s going to have something to say when he gets back.

Since Emma had started to work at the tea room part time anyway, they could just employ Chelsea for more shifts.

I am still trying to work out why Harrison and Chris having Bonded over the cricket makes Alice an older and better friend of Fallon's than Emma, who had supported Fallon's upcycled furniture business before the tea room was even opened, and was her partner in the original catering enterprise before Fallon had met Stalker Burns.

I loved the sound of two jaws dropping when the women were exchanging serious views on the effects on their marriages etc and Tom butted in with "so what does that mean for how you both work together?"