Archers thread #202: How are you finding your visits to Ambridge? Fill in your feedback forms 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 think working as a hotel receptionist is a perfectly reasonable career choice for a graduate from a family with a stately home, 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-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.)

Over to you!

Didn't Brad and Mia split up because he was planning to move away for university and then didn't. Never mind, I'm still wondering when Chelsea is going to get a love interest or if her, Freddie and Ben are going to remain single forever.

I can't imagine inviting them. I wouldn't invite some of my cousins. My second cousins' children would definitely not be invited.

i think although Natasha can be gloriously self absorbed in an enjoyable to listen to way, she is also capable of being kind and generous. She has hidden depths, she went out hunting for Blake with Kirsty I believe.

Another one who thought Anna was channelling the spirit of Carol.

Why on earth did Anna come back to Glebe in the evening? Surely, having lost all the morning prep window, you wouldn’t waste another 4 hours on the road. There are plenty of hotels in Bristol 🙄

And a Judge would have given a one day adjournment for counsel losing their mum that weekend.

I think Mia moved away didn’t she? I don't know where so maybe I imagined it.

She'd pretty much turned into Carol.

Newcastle, and obviously they don't get much in the way of vacation time. Though maybe she mostly goes to Andrew and Jake and isn't bothered about her half sister. Or we just don't hear about it.

I felt so sorry for Anna having to listen to Ruth reminisce about losing her own mum. I’m not surprised she lost it and threw her out. Carol died less than a week ago, the last thing A wants to do is have to listen to R tout for sympathy and talk about something that happened YEARS ago! It was good SW-ing though as thick-skinned people often do that and use another’s loss to springboard into talking about their own. And it’s absolutely infuriating.

Anna is haunted by her mother’s lack of approval and the lost opportunity for reconciliation. She’s throwing herself into the work where she feels valued.

I took Ruth’s intervention as genuine concern. She was doing what she could to help Anna give herself permission to take some time.

Yes, that's very sad. No last conversation to look back at with a smile. I was lucky enough to have a last hour with my mother the evening before her final collapse when we laughed together and it has been a great consolation.

Sounds like they're going to. Only Natasha would buy two expensive child's dresses for a cousin's wedding that can't be worn for any other occasion.

I hadn't realised how comparatively young Ruth's mother was when she died. My recollection is that they made her sound a bit of a decrepit old dear who needed to live with D and R to be looked after. I know 74 year olds who are still holding down full time jobs.

Ruth was annoying and I'm surprised Anna didn't ask her to eff off (after thanking her for being her alarm call).

There's something really arrogant about telling other people how and when to grieve.

It was Brad who decided to end the relationship when Mia was about to start university in Newcastle. He thought carrying on would only lead to a slow and mortifying decline as her world got bigger. She was sad but agreed. And now has a new boyfriend.

We do sometimes hear that she’s visiting Grange Farm, so I’m sure she also visits No. 1, The Green to see Poppy and Will, too. But as she’s not blood she’s been allowed to go off and live her life, rather than being trapped by the force field.

She'd had a stroke.

Before that she had fallen over and had a hip replacement but was determined to go home, which the hospital were happy with but Ruth wouldn't allow so she was put into a home from which she escaped and went home anyway, then was reincarcerated.

I would quite enjoy Tom & Natasha being declared bankrupt, or having to enter a DMP/IVA etc without anyone rescuing them. Maybe they'll get scammed by a dodgy debt company. With considerably more panic than 'oh we contacted StepChange and it was easy'. It could creep into business debt too. Not just a 1 week public service announcement story line.

@Madcats It would be nice to have a few of the overseas' contingent over for the wedding.
Who else is overseas beyond Meriel? Not counting Johnny and Josh, and that random American scam week woman. I've been listening for about 15 years, so did anyone properly emigrate before then?

Natasha isn’t rowing back on the spending, is she?

Maybe they’ll insist on moving to the farmhouse.

Or Natasha will get all Tony’s tractors valued and flog them off.

I wonder if John's toy tractor is worth anything??

I wondered that….

Love Natasha. One of the best written and acted characters. Wish she got more air time.

I've just listened again to last night's episode while doing some ironing. Ruth really didn't care about Anna, only about sharing her own experience of losing her mother. Anna is a barrister - I thought barristers were self-employed so if she doesn't work she doesn't get paid.

Ruth always reverts to "me moom" if she can, just as Elizabeth overshares "I had an abortion, you know" at times.

New thread. I've started it a bit early because I'm not expecting to have much internet access for the next few days. Fill this one up first. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5581275-archers-thread-203-its-affair-cop-discuss-the-archers-here

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g . Will be thinking of you