Archers thread #201: Tempting fête in Ambridge? Free entry to 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 love to administer Bert's mucus medicine, 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/5538836-the-archers-spoilers-thread-12-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.)

There's a fair amount of stuff going on at the moment but I don't feel inspired to say anything more about any of it for now. Over to you - I hope you all have more enthusiasm than I do!

Does Lily have any actual friends? I mean, obviously she knows everyone and she has Josh and Paul as housemates (I was going to say "poor her", but "poor them" would be equally valid), but proper "friends"?

From very scant evidence I guess we’re supposed to assume that Lily and Rex have developed a more or less fraternal bond since he’s been housing his pigs at Lower Loxley.

Josh has left the village! Was it Central or South America that he flounced off to?

And from what Lily was saying it appears Ben has replaced him at The Stables, though I’d forgotten that had happened.

"Yet" being the operative word, - she kissed a Burns and she liked it - "it was nice!" - and he probably feels the same.

I wondered this too, he seemed an odd person to confide in.

Lily was desperate to tell someone, so when Rex urged her to Tell All she caved in. Then he had the brass neck to complain that now he had to keep it quiet too.

Why did she tell Rex? They are not exactly besties

Herein lies the problem with the Editors failing to plan ahead. I'm not sure Lily has ever had any friends in Ambridge? With Paul still in the Caribbean(?), Josh in Patagonia, Phoebe up in Scotland and Johnny presumably lost in the Bermuda Triangle there aren't really many people of her age except her brother and Chelsea. Maybe they should have Meriel come over to study at Felpersham to study something postgrad or get Daniel to pop home to check the house is okay from time to time.

How is Esme going to feel if she’s paying George sick pay, and paying Eddie to cover his work, while George is earning money elsewhere?

Very good point, I wondered if he had told Esme about the moonlighting

Good point - and Eddie had no shame about lying to her to get an extra £20, odious man.

Gosh, Alice seemed odious tonight. All the brains/brawn business. Yuk.

I was amazed when Lily confided that it was just a kiss. Also assumed it would be leading to more.

Oddly Alice, who I’ve never liked much, is growing on me.

Im also getting used to New Robert.

I bet it’s never crossed Eddie’s mind that employers might struggle to pay sick pay. He never changes! Esme was refreshingly direct about the situation, but why did she give him extra cash? I almost wondered if the seeds are being sown for a reporting to HMRC for working cash in hand and not declaring it storyline … I’d like to see Eddie handle that!

@SisterTeatime

"why did she give him extra cash?"

Eddie lied that he had turned down a lucrative offer of work to help Esme out.

I'd love to see Eddie handle the scenario you mention!

Do we know if George is getting sick pay from Esmee? I assumed he was on a zero hours basis and that Eddie was just covering to keep the job open for him.

Dan is five years older than Lily in calendar years, but he's been living away from home and doing an actual job since 2014, when Lily was still at school and while she was throwing away her university career over a married man twice her age, silly little cuckoo. They are a long way apart in the adulting stakes, and Dan has lived away from Ambridge for more than ten years. I don't think she knows him all that well any more, though he did occasionally go over to Lower Loxley Hall when he was a small child.

Why is George now being set up as being amazing at everything he does? Apparently brilliant on Esme's farm, now an amazing salesman after 5 minutes. It's nauseating. Are we somehow supposed to now think he's a great person, surely not?

Thank you @MorningCoffeePlease! I didn’t mean it literally, I meant what a silly thing to
do - but your reply made me think about the fact that while we, the listeners, know that Eddie is a corner-cutting chancer, Esme doesn’t know that. Judging by the argument over the fence post, she’s soon to find out.

It’s such poor behaviour by Eddie, when Esme has taken a bit of a risk, practically and socially, by employing George, and is being portrayed as a very straightforward and honest person.

I hate to hit this thread on a favourite point but Mahoney “Ma HONE ee”? Isn’t it usually pronounced “Marny” (roughly)?

@Darker - yes, we do. George mentioned it a couple of times, and Esme made it very clear in words of one syllable (so even a Grundy could understand), that she wasn’t overly delighted with having to pay twice over for farm labour.

I highly doubt George has informed her of his temp job. She’s going to be furious. If he can answer phone calls and do admin at the car showroom he could be doing the same for her. Does Meadow Farm have a SM presence?

And of course Martyn Gibson will be the inadvertent informant.

Are we absolutely sure George is being paid at the car showroom? I (probably naively) just assumed he was there to keep busy and to stop him getting depressed kicking around at home. He would have to be crazy to be claiming sick pay while working at the showroom so publicly.

Ma hon ey

Slight emphasis on the first syllable, central sound 'on' not 'own'.

You can pronounce your own surname however you want.

In the family I married into the surname is from another language, now third generation of native English speakers to have it. Each generation says it slightly differently.

It's both/either. Plenty of people called Mahoney pronounce it 'Ma-HONE-ee'. Eg the (now late) actor John Mahoney, who played Frasier's dad.

Hmm … having re-listened to the relevant two episodes - you’re right, @JoelenesParrot - it’s not made clear whether George is being paid or not.

If I were Esme I’d be annoyed even if he isn’t - because he could be making himself useful to her instead.

But I’d honestly be surprised if George had volunteered to work for nothing, and that Bill would take him on without paying him.

And his getting paid would make for more drama, so 🤷‍♀️

I don't understand why George wasn't using his enforced time off to build up the video/social media business. It ought to be a no-brainer, and they really should be building on the success of what they did for the farm event.