Archers thread #177: Will Bridge Farm get a PassiveAggressivHaus? 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 have a moribund camper van parked indefinitely outside your home, 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.)

Over to you!

are you all townies who think the police don't need to know? in our village the police officer who lives here would absolutely want to know about it.

No, I'm not - or wasn't born one. And even if the local bobby wants to know Gav hasn't done anything wrong.

I too was afraid I’d missed a specific diagnosis - my attention had wandered at some point.

Wouldn’t pneumonia be more topical?

Gav hasn’t a record for violence or stalking or harassment. K may not have been particularly pleased to see him but he certainly didn’t pose any threat.

I think we are calling it "consumption" because it was so ludicrously over signposted that "consumption" seems an appropriately OTT term for it. Whatever it turns out to be, I'm pretty sure Gavin hasn't just got "a bit of a cold" which will pass in a day or two.
Having said that, it would be entirely typical of TA at the moment if we never hear from Gavin again.
I'm more worried that poor Chuck may have contracted something nasty after his week in the barn.

Ooooh is Gavin back?! With all the prison early-releases going on one of the brothers was bound to appear sooner or later. Consumption, eh? I do hope this doesn't mean that they are building us up for some sort of Dickensian Archers Christmas special.

If getting Gavin back means we hear less of Mick, I am all for it!

Yes, when she was injured because she was ramming her nose where it was neither needed nor wanted, as usual. Still not sure why the mere sight of Gavin, who has not directly physically attacked her or threatened her, should give her a fit of the vapours. Could she perhaps have been putting on the agony for Alan’s benefit?

Freddy has a lot to answer for.

I'd love a language thread, although I'm very busy at work at the moment so might not have time to contribute much.

Life has taken over and I'm way behind on these threads so I haven't caught up.

Linda reaction to Gavin was far fetched. I'm sure she has PTSD from the fire but seemed odd to be triggered by someone who wasn't there when it happened.

Police absolutely should be made aware of a convicted criminal lurking about the village!

Wondering where they are going with him being so ill. TB from staying in hostels is likely. Another thought is that he's developed lung cancer from asbestos exposure from working on dodgy building sites and ignoring health and safety over the years.

Is an Ed and Fallon affair on the cards?

Grotto thing at The Bull, just bloody weird 🙄

Oh and also weird is Joy and Mick. Joy strikes me as someone who's hoen would be neat and spotless. Mick just seems scruffy and a bit grimy. It doesn't compute.

Oh I don’t know - anyone willing to get up to shenanigans in a hot tub or a hotel spa after hours or a filthy camper can is a bit mucky themselves surely?

When did Mick get the campervan/stop living in a normal house? Was it a recent event (a bit like the village becoming Idyllic and the Am growing to the size of the Severn)? I really don't remember it from the early Joy & Mick days.

It was when he got the job at grey gables. He lived elsewhere before and just visited

how did they meet?

At a music festival, I think. Was he acting as a roadie?

Was he ever actually a roadie, or was that just to impress Joy? I don't think he was doing that at the music festival, but (as usual) I probably wasn't paying attention.

This is the exact reason I set the consumption ball rolling (sorry to anyone who thought they’d missed an official diagnosis!). He sounds like the two little Dickensian orphan children in The Simpsons.

I’ve been wondering that.

Mick certainly seems to have known and been known by Rylan, which lends credence to the idea that he has been in the music business in some capacity. He knew Rylan well enough to get him to come and judge the "Eurovision" nonsense for Ambridge.

It is possible to have a cough without having pulmonary tuberculosis. There are many other diseases and conditions for which a cough can be a symptom, to say nothing of the medically-induced coughs caused by such drugs as eg ramipril (Tritace) which I had to stop taking because (as well as not needing it) I had a cough for the entire six months the GP inflicted it on me.

The last person who washed up in TA with A Nasty Cough had bronchitis and is still alive fifteen years later. (Sid was convinced he had swine flu.)

@Brefugee my language is Sanskrit and I can talk about it all day. I have been learning Arabic but only since the general election and it's Duolingo so I don't know anything much yet.

Have you forgotten Joe and his farmer’s cough! 😁

Joe had Farmer's Lung for forty years and it never did him any harm apart from giving him a convenient cough whenever someone wanted him to do any work. In real life that is a debilitating fatal condition unless it clears up within a couple of weeks, so I suspect he was misdiagnosed in the first place and played up to it for convenience.

Where I used to live we were often treated to crack cough on various poor soles walking down the street. It's a very rhythmic cough. And very distinctive. I think we can rule that out. HTH

It is of course possible to have a cough without having galloping consumption (or another nasty condition) but not in a soap opera.

One of our neighbours had Farmer's Lung when I was growing up. It's caused by inhaling the mouldy dust from hay, etc I believe. He had been a farm worker and I think he received some kind of special pension because it is classed as an industrial disease (like pneumoconiosis in miners). He was very ill, poor man, and was dependent on oxygen and died at a ridiculously young age. So I always took Joe Grundy's Farmer's Lung with a massive dose of salt.

It is of course possible to have a cough without having galloping consumption (or another nasty condition) but not in a soap opera.

Exactly @Godesstobe, I was exaggerating for comedic effect. Apparently unsuccessfully 😬