Archers thread #197: Runs, Ambridge, runs! 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 find it credible that Kate, who changed continents twice to get away from her own children, has now morphed into Grandmother of the Year, 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.)

Well, Finlay may have made good his escape, but we're all still stuck inside the Borsetshire forcefield. The cricket team is rising phoenix-like from the ashes but will now be The Bull's team, not Ambridge's. Will Alice and Rex make a go of things? Will George cope with a month off the booze? Will the real Brian Aldridge re-appear? Will we hear a bit more about farming? We did get a lambing scene the other night, which was good.

Over to you!

P. S. The pointless new AI title generator MN has introduced in spite of absolutely nobody ever asking for it wanted to call this thread something like Discuss The Archers here, no spoilers. I won't be following its suggestions.

I am sorry to keep banging on about it, but did we ever find out why Keira ran away?

I dont think so.

I don't think we were ever told – but George cheerfully accepting that he lashed out when she "wound him up" (whatever that means) might be a clue.

We have heard examples of George lashing out, both verbal and physical.

God, Kahlil is an irritating, gobby brat. Anyone with a brain cell would not give a caged bird to a bird lover, let alone do it with no advance
discussion. He was obnoxious with his forced "apology".
Also where does a teenager acquire a budgie that needs to be rescued? Particularly when no one in his family knew.

I tuned out most of last night's episode because it was Pip and Khalil who are both tiresome. Is Azra proposing to go to market to encourage farmers to discuss their MH?

Not necessarily. When you are sleep deprived, a baby can stress you out in ways a stroppy teenager can't even imagine.

He's a 14 (or is it 15?) year old kid. Teenagers are entitled to be twats, it's in the job description. At least he's not exercising his stupidity drinking or taking drugs.

If the conversation about a lump had been between Josh and David, it would have been dismissed as hypochondria.

David's reaction was very well done. I have seen DH like that about his daughter.

If Emma has any idea George has caused physical damage to Ed, not just once but twice (I honestly can't remember whether Ed lied in his teeth about both occasions) and she knows George has behaved to Keira in a way which caused her daughter to run away from home in the middle of the night, and she has said that she fears George may lash out at a baby, I think she ought to be worried lest next time he lashes out at Keira (who may not be as stressful as a baby can be, but is admitted by George to have "wound him up" before now) he does her physical damage. He has very little self-control and is chock-full of anger. Emma knows both these things of him.

If I were her I'd be trying desperately to work out what to do about the threat he poses now, not in six months' time.

Oh God - I don’t fancy Brian’s chances of surviving far into next week …

(Perhaps something devastating that leaves him in hospital for weeks / months, and then never again mentally capable of making a Will?)

After Sewagegate, we now have Plastergate. Is no-one in Ambridge insured?

I think in the case of a church building, the church is responsible for insurance and repairs. George was unwillingly clearing up the mess from the floor, which I suppose would have to be done before repairs could start.

I love Brine's indignation at what he sees as prying questions form others when he's done nothing but interfere lately. And what's the first thing he does to Adam? Interfere in his suggestions for running the farm. Then says he won't interfere.

So I’m the only one bothered that Khalil is off to school in the Easter holidays?

Omg Lynda patronising Azra and Azra being unbelievably thick is unbearable. Did she really expect the stall to be unstaffed?! 🙄🙄🙄

He physically assaulted Ed on one occasion. The second incident was a genuine accident.

What can Emma realistically do now? She has belatedly woken up to George’s flaws but the rest of the family are in his thrall and convinced the baby will be the making of him. Amber is in deep denial, pretending she is in love with him because she’s desperate to remain part of a loving family unit and escape her parents.

You're not the only one. Adam being over the moon and already let it slip with David but with nothing yet legally binding in place, it is all rather foreboding.
I wonder what Brian's current will says...do we know?

If Brian's will is as it was when his wife and her two children who are not by him ganged up to get two-thirds of the farm's income for Adam and Debbie, he is leaving the farm divided three ways between Adam, Debbie and Ruairi, and a cottage on Home Farm land to each of Kate and Alice. But that was before the cottages were subsumed in the Home Farm partnership property, so they may no longer be his to leave.

It's a shame the map of Ambridge hasn't been updated since about 1723, because that might help people establish what they do and do not own.

Eastie77Returns
He physically assaulted Ed on one occasion. The second incident was a genuine accident.

I thought that Brad, who was present when the fall down the stairs happened on 27th November, was pretty confident that wasn't an accident. The BBC synopsis says "George pushes him and Ed falls downstairs". It was agreed between Ed, Emma and Brad that it had better be called an accident or George might go back to prison, but I don't think Brad really believed it had been, and nor do I, because pushing someone in a temper at the top of a flight of stairs isn't an accident (and if you break their neck it is manslaughter rather than murder but they are still dead or paralysed).

The incident on 4th December, summed up in the BBC synopsis as "It’s all too much for George and he hits Ed. " was not an accident; George hit Ed, and then was ever so sorry no really he didn't mean it. And that is precisely what Emma is afraid of if he loses it with the baby, isn't it: he didn't mean to throw it out of the window to shut it up, he's ever so sorry....

As for what Emma can do now: realistically, very little, because it is many years too late. But she can go on trying to get him to take anger management seriously, and go on insisting that he needs it, even when he gets angry with her for doing so and shouts and threatens her (which he will if she goes on not pandering to him by telling him he is perfect).

I am not sure that Ed doesn't have a realistic view of George, like Emma's, but doesn't want to be thumped again for saying anything about it.

And Amber has a brain the size of a walnut, and less savvy than yeraverage cat who also has a brain that size.

Ah yes, I completely forgot he punched Ed square in the face. I only remembered the stair push, which was deliberate, and then there was an incident when Ed was hit in the face by a tree branch whilst they were working together (that’s the second incident I referred to as accidental).

I think the entire family knows what he is capable of deep down but they are trying to convince themselves he has changed. Neil is probably very sceptical but going along with the optimism to keep Susan happy. I’m not sure the anger management sessions will help someone like George but agree he must continue. It’s just a mess really: a 21 year old with a criminal record and anger issues added to a low income, baby and a new relationship.

I think Amber is actually quite intelligent or at least not as dimwitted as she presented at first. She is just burying her head in the sand and hoping for the best like everyone one.

Did he alter anything after Adam flounced off after being caught with his hands in the proverbial till (in order to pay an electrician to rewire the cottage that had only just been refurbed after The Flood)?

These farmers really ought to crack on with handing over what remains of their assets (as far as I can see there has been no attempt to do so at any of the farms).

Eastie77Returns

I don't know what I do that causes these empty posts. From my point of view, I'm typing a reply and press for a new line, and everything goes strange for a moment and then it posts whatever is already in the reply box. I'm very sorry!

Eastie77Returns
then there was an incident when Ed was hit in the face by a tree branch whilst they were working together

That was the occasion on which George hit him in the face, on 4th December, and they both agreed not to tell anyone he had. That's why I think Emma doesn't know it happened but thinks he was hit in the face by a branch. The following day we get "Ed passes off the bruise on his face as the result of a branch hitting him. Emma’s sympathetic." in the BBC synopsis.

(George must have thumped him really hard for the damage to look as if Ed had been hit by a solid piece of wood.)