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 Given how out of date a lot of the other character pages are, this seems odd, but there we are.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.

Good to know therapy cures everything

That isn't it, because he doesn't seem to have a problem with Rhuari being bisexual and having a boyfriend.

I don't believe for one minute the crap George was spouting about how therapy changed him and he's a reformed character. If by a remote chance it is true the therapist should get a medal for turning his character round so quickly.

I bloody hope the repulsive Bert Horrobin does not get together with Carol. I like her spiky character, reminds me a bit of my 89 year old widowed mum who last year tripped over, cracked her hip but was up a ladder pruning trees and mending guttering 8 weeks later. She looks after her large house and garden herself, still drives. After she fell we suggested a pendant or bracelet, she totally refused. Her only concession was to get someone to mow the lawn.

Anna seems to be trying to force Carol to have alarms etc, when it should be something that is discussed and agreed first. Carol wouldn't look at the disgusting Bert, she's got absolutely nothing in common with him and why on earth would she want to take on a man in a wheelchair.

I can't help wondering if Brian is still deep-down secretly homophobic 😲
It might even be totally subconscious, and doesn't realise why he treats Adam as he does.

That isn't it, because he doesn't seem to have a problem with Rhuari being bisexual and having a boyfriend.

I have no trouble at all with the idea of Brine holding such contradictory views; he's a colossal hypocrite. MNers with longer memories than me will know how he received the news about Adam, the non-related cuckoo in the nest.
Ruairi is the fruit of his overactive loins, so sanctified.

On separate but relevant matter, what I do remember about Brine was his early reaction to the news of Kate's then boyfriend, Lucas Madekane: "I can't remember his name, a lot of consonants".

Brine is beautifully acted, but what fearful shit he is.

The PSAs are getting really tiresome. We get it - being in Nature is Good for You. Talking about your feelings is Good for You. Oh and new boilers are expensive for old people but they might get a grant.

Is Bert going to be doddering around the Care Farm? Oh what comedy japes between him and Akram we can look forward to!

When did Ben start calling Ruiari "Roars"?

Ben has been calling him Roars for a while.

Ruairi boldly pronouncing that it’s all over is solid proof that it isn’t! Never mind if George is content to forget it (ha!)…… Adam knows…..

How can Bert afford to take anyone on a date, also if he misses his wife so much why does he want a girl friend. Lonely! He lives in a house full of people not left alone in a flat and not see anyone from day to day.

I fervently hope we are not about to see Carol and Bert being set up together as the answer to rural social isolation.

It’s also incredibly unlikely that Carol and Bert wouldn’t already know and have formed opinions on each other. Bert lives right on The Green! I won’t be believing any story of them ‘discovering’ each other at this stage.

I hope the Carol/Bert thing doesn't go ahead.
It's reminding me of being an only child, who was at my most happy reading, being exhorted by my mother (who was worried about me having no siblings) to play with little so-and-so 2 doors up as we were the same age. Little so-and-so and I were had completely different interests and I thought she thick to boot. I'm sure she thought I was boring.
My mother meant well, but she wouldn't have wanted to spend time with someone else with whom she had nothing in common apart from their age of 40-odd.
It does seem that very old people and children are often treated the same in this way - "They'll have lots to talk about as they're the same age".

Awful but relieved to hear Fletcher fly away, the background chirping was very over stimulating to me .

I am horrified to hear that Carol sounded about 60 as that my age this year! My Nana also helped old neighbours , when she was much older than her . She called them old people too. I feel it’s a theme , in that I also think age applies to other people clearly not myself !

Financial ruin is coming very fast for Tom & Natasha , she needs to sell an
awful lot of clothes to make up the rent deficit , and keep selling them. She will be looking at the second hand uniform soon.

I had wondered about your user name; I thought it was a sexual love of African lilies! Nice to know the truth.

Was this before or after he had a son with a name full of vowels.?

Do people really make such a big deal of genetic testing? As someone whose mother and sibling died from the same cancer I was only too glad to be able to have it. My children too thought it was the only sensible option.

Arf. Before, doubly an arse.

I think Fletcher will have flown back to Robert.

Madikane - a name full of consonants - has one letter, a consonant, fewer than Katherine.
Ruairi - a name full of vowels - is only one vowel more than Alice.

I don't believe this is anything like the end of it for Brian's bank account.
As for the Ruairi/George/Brian story as a whole, it's probably only just beginning! This is going to run and run.

I don't believe Fletcher will die. Surely they would not be that callous, so soon after poor Weaver.

I was in a car, but did I mishear Tracey saying that Bert was 90/in his 90s? I do wish they had found another elderly man who wanted to start dating rather than a bloke who has barely left his sofa for the past 20 years (but is now demanding a social life).

I quite enjoyed the episode with Ruairi confessing to George and not being believed! Are we to assume that he is a weak, effeminate, little soul? I had always assumed that he must have been a bit of a hunk to attract Julianne and persuade her to fund his pricey lifestyle.

I don't care about the budgie; I am slightly fearful that they SWs will replace it with a talking parrot or mynah bird.

Ambridge where women in their 90s are fit and well, and where men in their 80s and 90s are dating.
Some nonagenarians even manage to sound like 60-yr olds. Maybe all those years of silence helped.

Maybe Brian’s toxic waste was actually the elixir of eternal youth.

Or the way he treats Adam might simply be because Adam has been conspicuously and consistently nasty to and about him for twenty plus years.

Ruairi was born in November 2001. Adam came home in March 2003 in order to support his mother (and encourage her to divorce Brian).

One of my neighbours is a woman well into her 90s who doesn't sound anything like that age. Mind you, she was a hospital matron for years and still has all her mental faculties. Many 40-to-50 year-olds around here remember her with great affection from when they were in hospital as children.

Go Natasha!

'Seren! Nova! Food's ready!' if anyone's interested.

Funny how they avoided saying Barbour when they've previously said Angel Delight.
£50 for a Barbour. I got more than that for a vintage one - I think someone was after an authentically distressed one. It was a rarely found colour.