Archers thread #186: Eavesdropping on a home for the terminally confused. 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 swipe right on Dane, the new Grey Gables manager, 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/radioaddicts/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/radioaddicts/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 @WitcheryDivine for the title inspiration. Over to you!

Why was Kenton using his cricket commentary to promote the Bull, when everyone involved lives in Ambridge?

I read them as clippy clippy nervous arabian

I really enjoyed the last two episodes crammed with regulars.. Never thought I'd be delighted to hear Adam but he was sounding positively perky.

Daft of Ian to get Adam to be on hand in case Helen's date is "boring." I hope they see her and Dane roaring with laughter.

And Justin was being not irritating for once!

I wish things had worked out with Hannah and Chris because his adoration of Alice is becoming pitiful.

I know it won't happen but I'd love Shula to come back.

So Justin, a high-flying and previously very successful businessman with a large detached house, two Arab horses and a Tesla, now says he can’t afford to go on a cruise. I would have understood it if he had said a four month cruise is the last thing he would want to ever do but to turn it down on the grounds of lack of funds is just inconsistent.

I wish they would let more characters retire and then develop new storylines about their lives post work. Characters like Justin, Lillian and Brian dont need a work setting to have interesting stories. It’s all a bit unrealistic that everyone is so driven that they cant even consider retiring.

I never liked or loved Matt like so many of you, but my god didn’t Lilian have fun with him! What DOES she see in Justin?

Matt was hard to actually like, but he was very entertaining and if he came back, Lilian is probably sufficiently bored with dreary Justin to run off with him for a final bit of fun.

I loathed Matt. He was a nasty piece of work; there was nothing fun about him.

Somebody like Lillian should be spending her days urging the Ambridge youngsters to travel beyond the bypass!

A 4 month cruise sounds horrendous (I think the Plymouth-Santander ferry is my limit!).

I actually don’t like Lilian at all either, but I am starting to feel sympathetic towards her. Thinking about it, it’s her cackle that I find so irritating and that’s been in short supply since Peggy died!

I haven’t heard the horse clopping yet but I always struggle with the idea of Justin having Arabs. I imagine him as rather stout and not particularly nimble, and therefore far better suited to a heavyweight hunter “leg at each corner” type that would give him the perfect armchair ride.

I thought that too.

Joy is so annoying. Why is she always popping up

back to village shop - what is its purpose exactly? Is it just to support the post office?

glad clarrie got a job at the charging station. Bring it in to the sl

So is Alice going to have a drink?

I just don’t get Joy being everybody’s bestie. Why is she supposedly Helen’s friend? They’re a generation apart and have little in common. She was portrayed as very nosy and overly involved from the outset. Her fakery about Rochelle was highly annoying. Now she’s Alice’s chosen confidante? So silly.

If Alice relapses because of a random remark from the nursery manager I’ll give up listening. Why doesn’t she just get back with lovely Chris? I never understood why she ditched him in the first place.

Also, another Underwoods scene recorded in an echoing basement. Very odd.

Especially as they were saying it’s busy!!

I couldn’t believe Joy was in tonight’s episode. I mean WHY?! There is nothing worse than being interrupted during your lunch break. I felt sorry for Alice for once.

Having said that, I buy the friendship between Joy and Helen. Helen can take advantage of Joy’s helpful offers of babysitting and all the rest of it and get sympathy and validation, so she can enjoy feeling both hard done by and superior, her preferred emotional state. Meanwhile Joy gets a connection to minor Ambridge aristocracy - and she’s not fussy about who she’s friends with.

I see Justin as quite wiry and wearing a Barbour jacket and slightly unflattering cap when out and about in the village. I think he can very very easily afford the cruise but just thinks it’s not worth spending money on. Sometimes wealthy people are anxious about the income stream diminishing when they stop literally earning money, crazy as it may seem to the rest of us. Nice that Damara got a mention!

Oh yes and as someone who deals with surveys as part of my job, nothing is more irritating than colleagues telling you how they could be made better. Which usually just means less work for the colleague making the suggestion. Sadly I don’t have Susan’s powers to force people to fill mine in though, so I have to try and make them as painless as possible for the customers. Not sure Susan’s wholly on board with that approach.

You’d think they’d have the budget to send someone out to one of Birmingham‘s many big shops with a tape recorder

Is it too late for Martha to be showing signs of fetal alcohol syndrome? Or will the nursery talk be concerned the delayed development of pandemic born babies etc?

Adored Clarrie tonight and so happy for her. (I’m putting aside the well-discussed stuff about the realities of her pension etc).

agree with @Sidebeforeself and others who discussed the weirdness of people not retiring properly. It would surely free up more space in the SLs? And I also hope Lilian won’t leave.

I hope Alice doesn’t drink. And I think we have enough potential SLs going on for her not to. I wonder if this might leading more towards a PSA on the dangers of drinking whilst pregnant? Which might be difficult to hear but actually wouldn’t be a bad long term storyline if Martha actually does have some kind of delayed development etc.

I’ve realised due to bank holiday I’ve missed an episode somewhere as I haven’t heard Adam, and as with others, have missed him! Going back to find the Adam episode.

I like Joy but the conversation with Alice was odd. There's no great connection between them apart from the fact that it was Joy who sold the vodka to Alice and the cider to George. Is that we were supposed to take from it?

How far is the charging station from the village? I suppose if I lived in the village and ran out of basics I'd go there rather than Underwoods.

Re Martha, Google says "In some cases, particularly when FAS is severe, doctors may be able to identify some features at birth, such as small size or specific facial characteristics. However, many cases are not recognized until later, as developmental delays become more apparent"

"I see Justin as quite wiry and wearing a Barbour jacket and slightly unflattering cap when out and about in the village"

I've seen a picture of Nigel Farage dressed just like this and now I'm seeing Nigel Farage as Justin (or visa versa).

I used to work with children with FAS. They shared similar facial characteristics. Is Martha talking yet? The children I worked with had delayed and poor speech.

@MissMarplesNiece Is Martha talking yet?

How would we know? Helen's Jack is nearly 5 years older than her and hasn't yet spoken a word!

There's been no suggestion at all that Martha has any developmental issues though has there? If she had any type of delay surely it would have been picked up already if she's 4 years old?
And it would have been talked about between Alice and Chris and their families.
Or are they going to do another utterly unrealistic storyline where no parent, grandparent or any friend or relation has noticed anything unusual yet suddenly the school is going to inform them there's a problem.

That's not really unrealistic, especially with there being so few little ones in Ambrige to compare Martha to.

I've taught children who have been early secondary school before FAS has been diagnosed.