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!

Who does the ordering for the village shop?

Probably Susan, and if they often have so many sandwiches they'll have to return because they're out of date, she can't be much good at it.

Ruth!! being a bitch about Josh! I do like the fact the sw are consistent in the way they are so biased towards pip.

as for David’s sudden security fears and ptsd - what happened to a stiff upper lip?or did the sw just not know how to write a terrifying scene because it sounded pretty lame tbh

Chris is very placid and even handed and nice and understanding. I am starting to understand why Alice turned to drink

I'm glad the nhs is so well funded that Martha is referred to a specialist paediatrician just because her mum is anxious. No doubt she’ll be seen next Thursday because there’s been a cancellation. Bit of a slap in the face to those on multi year wait lists

fallons party sounds a terrible idea - a Tuesday night? Not surprised so many people are dropping out.

No Joy!!

Have to say - Fallon’s anxiety about the party was palpable. I felt awful for her.

(Though I did wonder why someone who caters for a living would need her mates to bring food. Wouldn’t she just order prepared food, especially for an important occasion.)

I do think it’s credible that Alice would be freaked out by nursery raising concerns about Martha’s development, the guilt and shame.

Although it would help if we knew what those concerns actually were.

Everyone's so anxious - David having flashbacks, Fallon worried about the party, Alice worried about Martha, Chris worried about Alice, Susan worried about the shop, Emma worried about George.

Could we have an episode of Clarrie being blissfully happy and enjoying life, please? and Jim being robust, and Kenton being tactless, and Kate and Hilda having a snuggle, and the goat gymkhana. And NO bloody guilt and misery.

Alice will be distraught if she doesn't see a consultant by Wednesday and even more distraught if it turns out that Martha doesn't have FAS.

I confidently expect her to be back on the sauce by the end of the week.

’Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery’, eh?

where’s the fun in that?

If Alice has seen this there's plenty to worry about.

https://www.fasdclinic.com/#

If Open Farm Sunday passes without disaster I will be disappointed.

FASD would be highly likely given that Alice was a dependent heavy drinker for most (all?) of early pregnancy, plus had alcohol withdrawal in pregnancy.
Nursery have said Martha has attention issues - sounds credible. I believe most affected people don't have typical facial features - that would be foetal alcohol syndrome , as opposed to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder- which has a range of severity. Not sure there is much to be done other than providing appropriate educational & behavioural support.

Paediatrics tends to be very responsive to referrals in most of my experience, so I'd believe an urgent appointment for a 4 year old with very heavy alcohol exposure prenataly and attention problems - it'll already be in Martha's records as a concern

CAMHS is totally scuppered but that's not who would be seeing Martha.

Maybe David will shoot Pip? #HelplessOptimist

Now realise I had omitted to listen to Friday’s episode! Daily routines have changed - I must get a grip in the areas which really count!

Well they only said Martha has trouble focussing at times. No examples. And the solution was they’d all try a bit harder to help her . A complete non event. But of course Alice is now catastrophising and using that stuttering that she does ( as does Fallon, Pat , Pip and Lillian) to convey confusion and distress.

Well they only said Martha has trouble focussing at times...

Which nobody else ever ... er, sorry, what were we talking about?

If azra did suspect issues would not be unethical of her to have said she is only referring to put Alice’s mind at rest?

I actually think a FASD SL would be really good. Not every child in Ambridge can grow up to only have issues hit in late teens/adulthood

Joy also anxious

Who was talking about what? 😂

I was hoping they would have written that a bit bleaker. Azra could have explained that she is a GP and whilst she
has experience in obvious phyisical childhood ailments and illnesses she's not qualified to speak authoritatively on FASD.

Possibly Azra didn't want to say anything which will tip Alice off the wagon again.

If they want a quick paediatric referral surely Brian would cough up for a private consultation.

Exactly. Or Lilian.

I think they almost couldn't not do a FASD storyline. They can't pretend it's magically OK.

I have personal experience of neonatal alcohol and drug exposure.

I don't think (deep sighing) Alice would want to tell Brian. Chris is such a wet blanket when it comes to Alice, I think he loves her more than Martha as he is a bit flippant about it all.
It's terrible when your worried about something and life is going on normally elsewhere like Fallon asking Alice for stuff for Harrisons party. If I'm worried about stuff I haven't got time for anything else to be honest.
David is being his usual over the top stuff but it made a change from Joy to hear Ruth, hope Leonard pops up too.
Ondogs in shops, Cornwall is the worse. Everyman and hisdog,😂 has a dog, and they are allowed in all shops except Morrisons which upset one women who was furious because she couldn't take her pooch in there. My sis and I were gob smacked at her reaction.

I always think places like Cornwall have it hard as people camping etc (or even in lets where you can’t leave them behind) don’t have much option than to take the dogs with them, and shops and restaurants miss out if they don’t allow dogs in. I never thought locals would be taking their dogs out too! Assumed it would be part of the annoyance around tourists. Round here (not that I take mine out), Shops either allow or don’t allow, with no signage, but react with abject horror if you get it wrong and either abandon your dog outside or merrily cart it in when their policy is to the contrary.

If Martha does have FAS, I'd like Alice to channel the guilt that she rightly feels into becoming an advocate for Martha and doing everything she can to help her daughter lead a fulfilling life instead of hitting the bottle. She's got access to money and a supportive family and the brains to research FAS and therapies that could help . And I think she and Chris should remarry. Neither needs to be bringing a step parent into Martha's life. And they should have another baby.