Archers thread #198: Josh sent to Patagonia, Pip stays put. Wrong way round! Discuss The Archers here.

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Not feeling greatly enthused about what's going on in Ambridge at the moment, tbh. I'm annoyed at Brian's hypocrisy about Ruairi given the furore over George's attempt to frame Alice as the cause of the accident. I do hope we don't have a slow drip drip drip now as one after another the members of the Aldridge/Archer clan find out what really happened and endlessly agonise over what to do. Frankly I don't care. There! I've said it.

Pip's OK. Well, good, but what was the point of that story, I wonder?

I suspect I'm in a minority of one in rather enjoying hearing (a) from Bert Horobin and (b) about Fletcher. I surmise Bert is here to stay for a while because the BBC has (amazingly) updated his character page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1wQP3mKR6yr9LVs05jddxcY/bert-horrobin (prominent actor photo warning). Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.

That's all I can be bothered to say! Over to you.

The problem for me is that I can't find it in my cold, dead heart to even tolerate Kirsty, let along sympathise with her. It's mainly the voice, which grates on me. But her choice of men is more than dubious: Tom, Philip Moss and now I am assuming that whatever he says, Erik surely must turn out to be a wrong'un. Also ... and this is the most damning thing ... she is Helen's friend.

I love Kirsty's voice. She sounds like she's from my neck of the woods.

I like Kirsty too. If I lived in Ambridge she is the person I would mostly likely be friends with.

I can wholeheartedly agree with you there, @TottersBlankly .

In, and only in, the context of having her painlessly destroyed at the earliest opportunity , you understand.

Not Helen?

Only joking. Me too. She's a genuinely good person.

Gonners
her choice of men is more than dubious: Tom, Philip Moss and now I am assuming that whatever he says, Erik surely must turn out to be a wrong'un.

Not forgetting Hungarian Chaba who simply went home and lost interest in her, and Sam Batten, and a casual at Bridge Farm who was also called Sam and wasn't interested in her at all. And there was Eco-Patrick whom she really fancied but who was carrying a torch for his ex, or so he claimed.

Bad judgement and bad luck in about fifty-fifty mix, I reckon, apart from returning to Tom over and over again, which was stupidity.

It's not the accent, it's the croak.

I agree. I love Kirsty and I love her voice.

@RuairiDonovan yes that’s what I meant

Poor Kirsty will also have to put up with interference from Kate who will offer constant unsolicited advice, herbal teas and reminders that she’s practically the child’s aunt.

It didn’t surprise me, though it did infuriate me, that bloody Helen was earwigging on Kirsty's phone-call with Erik. She really has no shame. There’s something utterly creepy about her (not to mention her weird over-familiarity with Kirsty's menstrual cycle when they had the first conversation about whether she might be upduffed).

The thing that struck me about this episode was Erik's saying "Congratulations!" to Kirsty as his last words of the call.

That's what others say to the couple, not one half to the other.

Could have been stoopid writing by the SWs, but still.

Am deeply unimpressed by his immediately not being able to see Kirsty for several weeks. True, he amended it, but it was the first thing he said.

Then she said 'Congratulations' to him. I thought it was quite sweet.

I think he said congratulations because he couldnt think what else to say. He does sound truly excited. I hope he hasn't got a stream of FWBs on the go.
Helen is very creepy and a nosy so and so, I hope she dosnt accidentally open her mouth in front of Kate, then Kate will tell Jakob, but then again Jackob is lovely so he will tell Kate to mind her own business, but he will be silently happy about having a niece or nephew.

he will be silently happy about having a niece or nephew.

I can’t see why he would give a stuff about it. Total indifference would be refreshing.

But this is Ambridge, where all the men are inexplicably besotted with sprogs. So realistic. .

I’m assuming Erik is married and that’s why she was so shifty with Helen about him being committed.

I don’t think Jacob would let that go.

Erik has probably "accidentally" spawned half a dozen (or more) children over the past 25 years.

No. He definitely has a moral compass.

It wasn't an accident. They made a decision to leave it to fate. Kirsty thought she might not be able to conceive.

Unless Jakob doesn’t know everything about his brother. Maybe he’s not married but has some sort of relationship.

Am sure it won’t be straightforward whatever is going on!!

Surely, if Kirsty and Erik forge a workable long distance shared parenting relationship, Helen will find herself enviously comparing Kirsty’s life with her own. There’s really no reason why she couldn’t have a long distance relationship with Finlay.

There’s really no reason why she couldn’t have a long distance relationship with Finlay. It's beyond the by-pass.

I dont think Kirsty would knowingly have an affair with a married man, so surely would have assured herself his travelling is genuine? She does seem quite a principled person.

While it's possible that Erik waited until she said she was enthusiastic in order to sound her out, so that he could respond with whatever he thought she wanted to hear, I think in this case, we're meant to believe that he actually is enthusiastic himself. I really hope it works out for Kirsty! As to the "several weeks before he can see her" bit, I seem to recall that that was previously established in what Kirsty said to Helen, so it made sense to me that he would mention it (to remind us), before offering to come anyway. I think he's a straight shooter, and I hope I'm right.