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Life in Ambridge: Comments week of November 29, 2018
Life in Ambridge: Comments week of November 29, 2018
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Life in Ambridge
THIS POST IS CLOSED "longer off topic comments' - Episode 8 Life Outside Ambridge Beach Chairs
Aaah - lovely doggie face. I'm guessing this is the new dog in training.
ReplyDeleteI tried to post a couple of times saying I agreed with the comments made about using Nic's scarf but it wouldn't publish (maybe because a new page was being put up).
I was trying to find a photo of sheep herding training with a teenage boy but couldn't find the right one. So there we are a photo of Bess. Though this dog looks to be mature.
DeleteWow Bess grew up very quickly. Nearly as quickly as she learned to round up sheep.......come by Bess!📣
ReplyDeleteWouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of that dog judging by the look on its face.
Trying so hard to be topical for us as always Ruthy! Much appreciated could this be mummy Bess 🤭
ReplyDeleteCould be Ben's dream of the alert, focused dog she's growing up to be - mistress of all sheep within her domain.
DeleteBen is being played by an-actor 10 or more years older - Bess likewise! (Though her sound effect seems about right.)
ReplyDeleteYes the pictured dog is quite 'grown up' but entirely suitable imho! I'm not sure where I posted this previously but working sheepdogs are not sold as six week old puppies, even though Jill and the rest of the family refer to her as such. Not all dogs have the temperament to be successfully trained so the breeder usually keeps them and part-trains them. If you google working dogs for sale they are typically between six and eighteen months old. I suppose it is the same as Guide dogs, police dogs etc.
ReplyDeleteA thought occurred last night. Natasha seems a very strongly opinionated young woman so now she knows about Tom and Hannah's extra-curricular activities will she 'allow' Tom and H to continue living under the same roof?
Was that H aim to plant a seed of doubt.. she keeps claiming she has no interest in Tom other than sex but she doesn’t appear to want him to have a stable relationship with N. Maybe she has been badly treated somewhere along the line and has decided that in future she will control any man in her life. Certainly she is acting in a complicated way- shades of Rob messing with emotions...
DeleteTo respond to Maryellen on the previous blog.
ReplyDeleteI stick to my guns.
Hannah was hoping that Natasha was going to dump Tom when she found out about his shinanikins.
To be honest I think both girls are sex mad and Tom is willing to oblige.
I don't like either of them .
I mentioned Phillip because I don't like him either so am happy for Natasha to take up with him
Tom is being pathetic where Natasha is concerned .
He is so weak.
If he ends up with her he will rue the day .
I think the programme should be retitled "an everyday story of relationship problems"
The latest Roy script is ridiculous.
I don’t know much about Bulgaria but feel Roy would find it difficult to settle there even with the love of his life! Phoebe is grown up and has family in Ambridge but Abby is only 10 and leaving her for another country even taking into account the fact she doesn’t live with him would be extremely selfish. Lexi is as hard as nails in that her attitude is lacking in sympathy and she hasn’t exactly shed a lot of tears. He is better off without her!
DeleteLanjan. Here is question. How many times a day do Natasha and Hannah have to indulge in sex to be labelled "sex mad"? Is numpty Tom, by acquiescing to their need not also sex mad? Maybe he is just a mean sex machine, it would seem that the only neurological bit of his brain firing up is that bit that controls the lower half of his body. He doesn't seem to be much good at anything else, kefir, baby foods, sausages. Trees, chip bark.
DeleteRe Roy Tucker’s plan to leave his daughters behind and go to Bulgaria with Lexisame as when Elizabeth said what about your daughters when he wanted to leave home for her, and he just said oh, they’ll get over it. That has coloured my view of the man ever since.
DeleteThe man is mad with love! Maybe trying to fill the gap left by the lovely Hayley. What a fool he has been. Agree he isn’t thinking about his daughters!
DeleteYes, the gap his behaviour created!
DeleteRuthy. I have decided to call the dog Patch. The BBC used to televise a sheep herding competition called 'One Man and his dog' and all the dogs had similar names. It is still televised, however the title has been dropped.
ReplyDeleteThe Lexie/Roy story line is fast becoming a shaggy dog tale, it seems to be going on forever. If he doesn't get the message and continues to seek her out he could be perceived to be stalking.
We have been told that Lexie has a degree in Hospitality and can't find a job in her own country, it didn't take Roy long to find one on the Internet. If such jobs exist and she is qualified, why is she working in a chicken factory?
I thought Natasha had a perfectly grown up, balanced reaction to Tom's revelation. She even commended him for telling her about the 'friends w'benefits' arrangement.
ReplyDeleteIf we hadn't heard HH in other situations, we would think her advice to Tom was sensible, the behaviour of a real, caring friend, but we know she isn't straightforward at all, plenty of examples, all aired before, so of course we can't trust herotovatipns
Eh ?! Think I meant ' can't trust her motovations'.
Deleteexactly
ReplyDeleteMaybe ‘we’ can’t trust Hannah’s motivations - but I feel I can. If looking for someone whose motivations we can’t trust, look no further than The Devious Aldridge! (Even though he’s got a nice voice and used to be good at one
DeleteIiners.)
I also feel that Hannah was being forthright in her usual way. She stood nothing to gain from Natasha's possible rejection, love-sick Tom flopping back into bed with her? In places like Ambridge it's better to be straight. Whether Natasha will feel comfortable with Tom and Hannah living in such close proximity is another matter.
DeleteHannah had everything to gain,Basia.
DeleteShe wants sex.
Tom was readily available and now he isn't.
The moment she was at a loose end she was on the phone to Chad or whatever his name was.
Why not put a spanner in the works and try to remove Natasha from the scene?
The prospect of Tom flopping in bed is indeed an alluring one.
DeleteLexi said, ' our choices are not just our own. '
ReplyDeleteShe is so right.
My daughters have now had to cope with the difficulties of their father living on the other side of the world since their teens. Now they are having to come to terms with his physical decline and probable death in the near future and his difficult annual return to England to be with them for a few short weeks. These visits in turn create huge practical disruption in their lives and great emotional turmoil.
And I am in no position to be able to comfort them at these times, only able to watch and wonder.
A difficult situation Mrs P but as your daughters are grown up it is their decision whether they want to see him and if they do they also have to live with the turmoil it creates. I know what it’s like as I have two stepdaughters from my husband’s first marriage. We brought them up from ages 8 and 6. Their loyalty even so is split. There is never an easy way.
DeleteSomehow my last sentence got lost.
ReplyDeleteShould be......
My girls had no choice in their fathers decision to go to live abroad.
To answer the question Stasia posed about the two young women being sex mad.
ReplyDeleteEvery time Tom turned up at his house and Hannah was there ,she wanted to jump into bed with him whatever time of day it was.
That is what I call sex mad.
Since they were only friends with benefits it wasn't love.
Perhaps I was being unfair about Natasha .
However she and Tom were not exactly "going out together" when they landed up in bed in Edinburgh.
Not a lot of time has elapsed between her last romance ending and landing up in bed with Tom.
I am sorry.
To me it is sordid.
I don't want to know about it.
The jury is still out over her.
What happened to "courting"?
Do you mean sex is only for one night a week (eg.Saturday) in bed, in the dark, and in your nightie?
ReplyDeleteNo of course not but every time Hannah saw Tom she couldn't wait to get him into the bedroom and I found it distasteful.
DeleteShe made no bones about it .
Sorry that is why I say she is sex mad.
Sex is not just a physical thing but it should be all about love. For us children of the sixties it most certainly was never Saturday night in the dark wearing a nightie but for for most of us it was with the same partner and not until the relationship was well established. As these things are personal I will go no further but just because several of us find Hannah’s behaviour with Tom and his subsequent leap into bed with Natasha distasteful it doesn’t mean we are prudes!
DeleteActually, on at least one occasion Hannah said no to Tom’s invitation to go to bed with him, so I think you are undermining your case by overstating it, LanJan! 🙂
DeleteThen by your definition, Ev, sex between wife and husband in a loveless marriage is wrong?
DeleteYes it is wrong if one of them just puts up with it. Both partners should want it.
DeleteI agree with Lanjan and Ev on the Hannah and Tom 'non-relationship'.
DeleteReacting - and will be my last time - to Lexi and Roy. 1. Why would she have come back England just to work in a chicken farm and have someone else's baby? 2. Was she working in Bulgaria all those months? 3. Why is Adam and Ian still interested in her? The complete terms of the surrogacy was not disclosed to us listeners. She is now getting a place to stay - so no housing cost but what other monetary arrangements were made? Beside the fact that she'll go back to Bulgaria during the pregnancy, if that happens. 4. Roy should forget Lexi, and it is cruel that she is remaining in Ambridge to torment him. I don't think he will be over her anytime soon. Poor guy.
ReplyDeletemaryellen. Tom is very lucky, two women want to constantly have sex with him, in the daytime and during lunch. No nighties involved. Who needs sandwiches when a quickie is just as good. I personally would keep my legs crossed and have a cheese sandwich with a nice cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteBut then I'm not into men, and a quickie with Tom sounds none too pleasant.
Tom must have been eating zinc-rich foods for a while now.
DeleteSo tonight.
ReplyDelete1:- Jazzer’s gonna get his leg over with drunk horrible Hannah. Hope he doesn’t catch anything from the slut.
2:- would put a £5 on it being Justin putting the offer in.
3:- oh boy but Roy is going to have one hell of a head in the morning.
Jazzer is the stereotypical horny milkman. He reckons himself a housewives' delight. He and Hannah are a match.
DeleteI trust that Roy was walking home, not driving.
What a silly episode.
ReplyDeleteThe bit about the Show was -to me-very boring.
Tom expecting Hannah to be sleeping in the same house as he and Natasha made me realise how much this programme has deteriorated.
Has the man no sense at all?
Roy and Hannah getting drunk.
Come on Maryellen,are you telling me that Hannah doesn't care that Tom has chosen Natasha over her?
No, LanJan, what I’m telling you is that Hannah didn’t engineer Tom’s disclosure about their ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement in an attempt to put Natasha off Tom, which is what her detractors were saying. It’s true she may be developing feelings for Tom - I’ll be interested to see if she is - but that doesn’t automatically lead to the kind of bad behaviour her detractors were accusing her of. Hannah is too open to behave like that. Maybe they are judging her by themselves? 🙂
Delete'Too open' ? Ha ! Paranoid, judging characters by our own behaviour ? Better to keep crass personal assumptions out of the discussion, methinks.
DeleteSome people can’t take a joke, methinks!🙂
DeleteThe other possibility is that the 'joke' wasn't funny.
DeleteIt was so silly that although I had it on I really was so zoned out that I have only realised what happened by reading your post LJ.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we continue to listen ?
It must be the age old story compulsion - got to know what happens next.....though credulity often stretched beyond endurance. Do you think we actually enjoy the blogging more than the listening, Mrs P. ? Anyone else ?
DeleteCarolyn, I've actually not listened for a couple of weeks! Mostly because I can't bear a couple of the storylines and a good few of the characters at the moment. I am quite content to catch up on here...
DeleteWhat good taste, Gary ! I'm weaker - can't resist listening, quite often on catch up later or the next day..
DeleteYes Carolyn I do.
DeleteBut as I have said many times, I listen out of a positive habit. It has been part of my life for so long I continue out of loyalty I suppose.
HH's audible sigh after hearing the unintended consequence of her advice said it all. Drunken drowning of sorrows in the Bull, getting off with eager puppy Jazzer was an unwelcome, unnecessary confirmation of the obvious.
ReplyDeleteThe washout of a rehearsal was an unfunny yawn.
As for the Roy/Lexi saga, so unconvincing, not worth analysing any more - am with Ruthy on that.
(Ref. Jazzer/dog comparison above, no offence meant to the splendid animal that heads this blog, or to the excellent canines often cropping up on the other blog)
Yes, I noticed that sigh as well Carolyn, it spoke volumes to me.
DeleteThis production of Lynda’s is getting to be a hugh bore. I find it incredibly difficult to believe Brian is so willing to ‘read in’ and Justin is so bothered about his costume. And as for Lynda’s warming up routine, I just laughed out loud - but perhaps that was the intention!
And as for The Archers becoming the subject of so much discussion about sex, I am flabbergasted. Whatever would Doris or Pru Forrst have thought? 😄
Things have certainly changed since I first started listening. I am not a prude either, and managed to steer my way through my teenage children’s sexual adventures, but really....this is all becoming a bit much!
Agree what is H playing at? She didn’t fancy going home and hearing Tom & N behaving as she and Tom were only recently with no thought for poor Johnny who mentioned to someone how much he disliked having to overhear / stroke being woken up by them.
DeleteHope her games aren’t strung out too long. Considering the ages of many involved in current storylines ie Tom, H, Roy, Lexi one has to wonder when they will finally grow up !
True, Lady R, it's as though the powers that be were trying to simulate what they imagine to be the behaviour of 'young people', and then inflicting it on thirty-somethings. They could be perfectly right, of course. What would I know?😃
DeleteTotally agree with the comments here about the promiscuous behaviour of so many of the residents. Yes I know it's reflecting real life (incidents of STDs are increasing year upon year because of this type of behaviour) but surely we don't have to have it every time there is a new relationship. We went all through this a couple of years back with Pip and Matthew, then Pip and Toby. Now we've got Tom and Hannah and Tom and Natasha. And as for Susan 'sharing' her 'Poldark ' moment...Unbelievable!!!!
ReplyDeleteI did find the joshing between the men more realistic (and quite amusing) Far more like the reality of village life than a middle aged gossip telling a young newlywed about her recent sexual goings-on.
Not to mention Lilian and Justin!!
DeleteYes maryellen Lilian and Justin were the very worst and used to make me feel a bit queasy.
DeleteI've not commented recently myself, but have enjoyed following all that's being said here. I have to say that without this blog my enjoyment of The Archers would be much lessened!
ReplyDeleteThe goings-on of the younger generation are not terribly edifying, but I'm not very happy that criticism of sexual exploits is disproportionately aimed at the females involved. It takes two...
… Hannah & Jazzer in the latest episode. Horizontal tangoing.
DeleteWeather here has been frosty or stormy this week - it is winter after all. Not weather for lying on the ground. People have died from exposure when inebriated.
As Jazzer is aware of Hannah's history with Tom i am surprised that he should now take up with her.
DeleteIn addition my problem with the programme at the moment is that knowledge of the sexual exploits is public property.
In my day the rule was, "Never mention a ladies name in the mess".
One of the toasts in the Wardroom was “to wives and sweethearts” followed by “May they never meet!” It raised a laugh but wonder how many elements of truth there were among the participants!
DeleteJazzer's played as keen to get a woman, any woman, so not at all surprised that he would take Hannah on.
DeleteAnd yet he told Tom off for taking advantage of her.
DeleteYou are right Ev. I rember that well. Perhaps therefore the tradition of keeping one's own council was well founded.
DeleteBut it was the females who initiated the sexual relationships! If it had been the males we would have had so many condemnations of 'lecherous, inappropriate' behaviour by the males! :)
DeleteI enjoyed the rehearsal. Lynda is always on the verge of teetering into caricature, but usually manages to avoid it, and the relationship between the ageing roués is fun.
ReplyDeleteHaving a character in distress get drunk (Roy) is rather lazy.
I won't comment on Hannah.
✓✓ to your last 2 points, Bootgums, but do think Lynda frequently tips into caricature, especially when involved in any project or self promotion, which, admittedly is funny but last night missed the mark for me - too unbelievable w'J. & B..
DeleteDid anyone hear who the Aldridges’ prospective purchaser, by the way?
ReplyDeleteNo I didn't. Brian spoke to the estate agent. Maybe Lillian and Justin have made a joint offer?? Martin Gibson perhaps?
DeleteThanks, Stasia - I thought I might have missed it and didn’t feel like listening again. Is that meant to be the Friday cliffhanger, do you think, who wants to buy Home Farm? I nominate Robin Fairbrother!
DeleteWas Hannah emulating one of her pigs by rolling around in the grass, and Jazzer the kind pig man cajoling her back to his place.
ReplyDeletePoor Jazzer.
Lynda's getting into sexual innuendo as well, insisting Justin showed some chest hair, sprinkled with grey I suppose but it's all in the name of Chaucer of course.
ReplyDelete....who was pretty raunchy, quite often !
DeleteI think Justin could supply his own grey (if he can be persuaded to adopt the medallion).
DeletePerhaps Dorothy and Daniel should make an appearance.
ReplyDeleteThey made it quite clear what they felt about hanky panky before marriage.
So they did, it seems there is no middle road. A stable and loving relationship where sex may happen naturally before marriage (or as with D&D a decision to wait until after marriage probably more unusual these days.) A pity they are not in the cast as they could portray how this decision may affect a relationship along the way but certainly a different angle on the sex front!
DeleteThe way I understood it was that Daniel and Dorothy were not abstemious but didn't like sex in their parents' houses.
DeleteI understood that too. Shula allocated a double bed to them was taken aback when they indicated they would rather sleep apart under the parental roof.
DeleteOh I didn't hear it that way.
DeleteIf they were used to sleeping together I doubt they would have turned down the offer of a double bed when Shula offered them one.
I just got the feeling that Dorothy and Dan were a bit more "old fashioned " which I am not saying is a bad idea .
It's not a bad idea as such. To me Shula sounded relieved when Daniel explained that it would result in an extra pair of sheets to be laundered but that was the arrangement they had at Dorothy's parents, hence my own conclusion.
DeleteAah you may well be right it seems so long ago now. I recall about the sheets but did Dan also say to Shula that they wanted to wait until married. If so I was shocked at such a statement re the times we now live in 😉
DeleteWell we will never know and it doesn't matter anyway.
DeleteDorothy and Dan may well join the likes of Kathy and Jamie and be spoken of but never heard.
I have been thinking about the archerfans meet up, and now will refer to it as 'The Alternative Archers conference'. I do hope it will be magnificent and the discourse erudite and clever.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure all will go well, enjoy the day.
Should have posted on another blog.
DeleteKenton did say HE can start on Monday didn't he?
ReplyDeleteI would hate to think that the replacement for Geraldine is Lexi.
It sounded like it but it may refer to replacement and may be deliberately ambiguous. I know what you mean Lanjan but if it were Lexi she and Lily would never get on and she'd stay in Ambridge for Christmas with Rex or it could be him, must go now...
DeleteJust had a thought......Kenton said he had found a new manager for LL and ‘he’ could start on Monday.
ReplyDeleteCould hehave persuaded his new part-time barman to take over to help out i.e. Oliver Stirling?
That’s an idea.
DeleteOr someone for Elizabeth to fall for.
Oliver would fit both categories.
DeletePlease not another relationship - and more elderly sex!
DeleteSo Jazzer slept on the sofa! Well done, Jazzer, you deserve better than HH.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if OKH was a safe distance from the smell of unwashed socks! Seriously, it’s good to know Jazzer was as kind to her as she has been to him.
DeleteI’m with you Bootgums. I feel he has had a lucky escape. Especially as he seems to have hoisted in Fallon’s comforting advice.
DeleteWell yes, Honest Hannah might have insisted Jazzer didn’t keep his socks on in bed!
DeleteHear hear Bootgums.
DeleteSorry Maryellen,I must have missed something.
When was Hannah kind to Jazzer?
She invited him back to Tom's place when she was stood up ,I think for what turned out to be a takeaway which wasn't what Jazzer had in mind.
What makes you think that Jazzer washes his socks less frequently than Hannah does?
The same lack of evidence that Honest Hannah’s (HH’s) detractors have when they accuse her of sabotaging Neil Carter’s job because she wants it herself. Like them, I ‘just know’ that Jazzer’s socks don’t leave his feet for at least a week. For evidence of HH’s kindness to Jazzer, read the BBC blog about their earlier relationship, remember how she played peacemaker when he and Tom Archer fell out, and recollect that she invited him back explicitly for an evening of takeaways and video viewing rather than leaving him to drown his sorrows in drink. Not her fault if ‘All The Lassies Fall For Me’ McCreary got hold of the wrong end of the stick.
DeleteI bet Lexi.
ReplyDeleteMissing you, Miriam! Hope you are okay.
ReplyDelete✔️Likewise, was just wondering about Miriam - hope you are busy with something lovely that’s keeping you away.
DeleteI am surprised that there aren’t more comments after last night’s episode. I like Lily and find her believable on the whole. She is a funny mixture displaying maturity, naivety and teenage bolshiness (is there such a word ) in equal measure. I enjoyed the scene with Rex giving Lily that much needed support and I was pleased that the tension between Kenton and Lily had lessened. Russ may still be there but Lily has shown too much family loyalty to abandon her home for such a weak man.
ReplyDeleteAgree, the scene between Lily & Rex was good - natural, friendly, kind.Also that L. & Kenton were reconciled, but I think he could have bridged the gap without apologising. He meant what he said about Russ, so pointless to appear to be retracting his opinion. It was enough to say he was sorry he upset her, he didn't to do that. As it is, she seems to be staunching defending the relationship, but uneasy feelings about it are going on. As you say, Soz, her family loyalty is strong.
DeleteMeant 'he didn't mean, or want, to do that'.
DeleteI really wish I liked more of the characters in The Archers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I listened to Home Front I really liked most of the characters so it never mattered which of them was being featured.
I wonder if any of you who listened to the programme feel the same?
One thing I noticed was that it was easier to know who was who and without exception the actors could all act which certainly helped.
The other day Lily ,when answering the phone didn't give the person she was speaking to ,enough time to say whatever it was she was then able to reply to (if you see what I mean)
Yes LJ, I do see what you mean and agree about Home Front.
DeleteSo I ask yet again, my rhetorical question. Why do we listen to the Archers ?
I keep hoping the programme will return to the glory days of Sean O’Connor when the writing and acting were often excellent andIwas welland truly gripped - didn’t miss a single episode. But I think it’s increasingly unlikely. I haven’t listened to Home Front at all, but out of interest,looked at the cast list and recognised some first rate stage names. Perhaps it’s a question of budget.
DeleteI don't believe the budget is a problem, more how it is utilised. I believe it was Sean O Conner who said they must have proper actors/resses and promptly got rid of old Tom who in most peoples view was far superior to the current one. You don't need "Names" to produce good listening, you do need good radio actors/resses, everyone has to start somewhere, nameless people can be just as good and indeed better, they just need to be given a chance, this is where good casting comes into play and in my view this is currently poor.
DeleteMaryellen is definitely having us on.
DeleteWe know that Sean OConnor got most things wrong including as Cow Girl mentioned,the replacement of a good actor by the son and grandson of well known actors who cannot act.
He did one good thing -the Helen/Rob story.
End of story.
Agree wholeheartedly about the changing of perfectly good actors for so-called trained ones. Wonder how much more they cost to employ?
DeleteI have sometimes wondered if there was more to the departure of the actor who originally played Tom Archer than met the eye. Methought he did protest too much! There is more to beings good worker than being able to do the work - as Duncan demonstrated at Berrow Farm. Anyway, the actor who took over is fine by me.and Ilike the way his voice occasionally sounds like his father’s.
DeleteThe theme last night was friendship, wasn't it : Fallon bolstering up the hapless Jazzer ( hapless in affairs of the heart, that is), Rex supporting Lily, Kenton the same with sister & niece.
ReplyDeleteTouching moments between Elizabeth & Lily, but marred by the former having a go at the judge for'making an example of Freddie'. She didn't. E. is still not seeing straight, & does herself no favours by blaming anyone & everyone for what goes wrong in her life, or her son's.
Thanks, Soz, for getting us back on track with the most recent Archer thrills & spills !
ReplyDeleteLast night’s episode was a bit too obviously ‘feel good’ for my taste but that said, it was a.very welcome change from all the confrontational drama of the last 18 months. I agree with Soz about Lily - I enjoy her, and always give the radio full attention when she is around. I think she is a real trooper and will turn out creditably, plus or minus Russ.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed last night and didn’t find it too sentimental for my taste. More credible for me than many recent episodes. I wonder if Lily is decoupling from Russ - she keeps forgetting to ring him. Lily and Rex? Perhaps it would be good to just hear some folk getting on well without having to speculate about future sexual liaisons. After all, Rex is good friend material - Pip thinks so and now Lily.
DeleteIs B and J’s offer going to be a Christmas present from Lilian?
Why Rex? I don't remember Lily and Rex being particularly friendly. It seemed to me the actor playing Rex was available for the scene so they thought he'll do.
ReplyDeleteI was very confused by this.
DeleteI don't think Lily and Rex have ever been in a scene together before, and it sounded to me exactly as you have put it CC.
I can’t remember such a scene either but does it matter. I don’t think it quite as random as CC suggests. Rex is a kind person who is sensitive enough to understand what Lily needed at that moment. Tom would have been useless, Johnny maybe too young and Toby !! Sorry Maryellen but on past form, Toby comforting an attractive damsel in distress .............!
ReplyDeleteThe header for the episode was ‘Rex proves an unlikely shoulder to cry on’, so I think the scriptwriters were aware of the incongruity too. As for T❤️O❤️B❤️Y, Soz (thanks for the opportunity to mention him, he has been absent from the programme but not from my thoughts), he can comfort this attractive damsel when in distress any time! The sound of his voice alone.... He does have a history of comforting d.i.ds - his ex with a drug problem in Brighton, Jill with her twisted ankle, and Pip of course.
DeleteThought much the same when Lily was talking to Johnny, can't swear to it, but don't think we've heard them in dialogue ever, any more than we've heard Lily & Rex, but, with Soz, it really doesn't matter. Our 12/13 mins. eavesdropping 6 times week demands dramatic selectivity ! It's all convincing : Johnny is outgoing, friendly & Rex, though lately rather sorry for himself, has natural empathy. He pulled his bro' from the Slough of despond after the break with Pip, & was very kind to Pip herself when she was upset.
ReplyDeleteWhat puzzles me currently is that Tom is in such demand ! I don't dislike him, but he's hardly dynamic, switched on, perceptive etc, but hard nosed H. drinks herself senseless over him, & bright spark N. finds he can fill the gap left by the ending of a 10 yr. relationship. Come to think, both Brenda & Kirsty were women of some substance. Where's the well concealed magnetism ?
Carolyn. That last sentence is ripe for all sorts of nudge, nudge etc replys. My own would be, hidden in ........
DeleteSomebody else can fill in the gap.
Rex didn’t go near Pip after her accident. It was T❤️O❤️B❤️Y who took her chocolates and comforting words. I don’t think Rex’s kindness is the proactive sort - but neither is he.
DeleteA sausage.....? 🤔
ReplyDelete😄😅
DeleteOf course 😉😉 + wink...
DeleteI mean + a nudge !
DeleteOne brief comment.
ReplyDeletePat, a stew is not put in the oven.
If it's a stew, it cooks on top of the heat.
If it's in the oven it's a casserole.
Fair enough, but whatever it was, I think Pat ended up wanting N. to wear it, garnished by her miraculous face cream
DeleteWith a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon as suggested by Tony.
DeleteMrs P I thought a casserole was what posh folk call a stew.
DeleteMy stews were always cooked in the oven but then I am a very basic cook.
I would love Rex and Lily to get together.
ReplyDeleteIn a way he is a bit like Nigel-not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer but a very pleasant generous and kind bloke
Yes, they sounded good together. Much more relaxed than with the demanding Russ! Now, who can we find for Jazzer?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLily and Rex. Perfect I think.
DeleteI like Rex. He is very kind and gentle type of bloke. Perfect for lily.
Sorry about the aborted attempts above to say - I am sure Robin Fairbrother would be delighted if his no hoper son and the daughter of Lower Loxley got together. But I think Lily wants and deserves much more than an older man’s woolly jumper to cry on - especially one with a chip on his shoulder and still carrying a torch for her cousin.
DeleteAnd a sprinkling of pine needles...
DeleteActually, Rex and Lily? Seems good for upsetting Jill ……… another Fairbrother edging into the Archer family ….. But I did enjoy that episode - genuine kindness. Please can we have more! Sorry to be so short but am getting ready to go to a football match! time for onion layers!
DeleteCow Girl In reply to your comment above. I agree you don't need "names" but I think David Troughton has 'morphed' into Tony quite well but his son....! Ironic that SOC wanted 'properly trained and more experienced ' actors in TA but then employed new Tom! I have looked on imdb and nowhere is it mentioned when and where he 'trained.' In fact two brothers, father , grandfather and cousin have entries on wikipedia but he doesn't. A man of mystery? However no-one could say that Tom Graham (original Tom) wasn't experienced having played the part for seventeen years! Stupid and nepotistic decision in my view.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking the only time Rex is likely to have come across Lily as when they (Fairbrothers) first came and sold some geese to Lower Loxley or maybe it was Grey Gables? Other than that he may have appeared to pick up a fare after an event.I don't think Lily and Freddie moved in the same circles as Rex and Toby who wouldn't be seen with the school/college kids.
I agree with the other ladies that meat cooked in gravy, with vegetables, on top of the cooker is a stew. Exactly the same recipe when cooked in the oven is a casserole! Either can be made with dumplings too!!
I have been noticing recently how ‘New Tom’ extends the end of his words with a sort of ‘ss’ sound. I find it very distracting and find I am now listening out for this vocal tic, rather than listening to what he is actually saying.
DeleteWonder what Tom Graham is doing these days after being dumped by SO’C? Hope he has not been without work all this time. 😕
I've noticed that too. Off putting, like Pip's contrived pauses.
DeleteWell, there you are.....two of the replacement ’professional’ actors with irritating vocal mannerisms.
DeleteIs that how they are taught at drama school do you think? 😉
I think they must be a lot more 'relaxed' about vocal training in general these days; why, even voice projection has gone by the board - try straining to hear some actors at The Globe !
DeleteSpicycushion, Lily and Rex were both members of Ambridge cricket team. Rex helped to coach the girls when they began playing. He still lodges with Bert at Brookfield Bungalow.
DeleteCasserole verses Stew. It all about the affectations and Pat doesn't any.
ReplyDeletePrior to the advent of one E. David it all got stewed, then she invented posh French cuisine.
I think Jenifer has cooked casseroles from her French recipes. Would ED ever use the word Stew.
My my mother cooked Polish Stew, but she didn't use either of these words. So I suppose it all depends on where we come from.
Bigos.
DeleteI thought "casserole" was cooked slowly in the oven on a low heat, and "stew" is identical, but cooked slowly on the hob!
DeleteI bet Jill would be know the difference.
Jill on "stir up sunday" was stirring then off to steam the puddings. I hope she started the day before, as the puddings need to soak + the dried fruit time to plump up, with all the alcohol put in. I make mine in early Nov. as want at least 6 weeks for the family Xmas pud.
to mature.
Stasia, my mother was teaching me with the maxim 'a stew that is stewed, is no stew at all' and calling the dish cooked in the oven a casserole long before Elizabeth David published.
DeleteMany years later when I met my future mother in law, she was cooking a la E D in her very popular restaurant in Emsworth, and mostly with stews, not casseroles.
( it was my MinLs restaurant, not Elizabeth Davids )
I have returned to my preferred way in listening to, the briiliant Archers.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Sunday Omnibus.
I so prefer to listen to the seamless episodes, as the S/L's just seem to flow together wth more understanding.
I still cannot "warm" to Hannah. She was definitely not so smug, when Natasha understood and accepted, Tom's "friends with benefits" admission. I do feel though, that Natasha is not Tom's future, forever partner.
Hannah is so schemeing and I am hoping Neil will catch her out.
Lily should forgoe her Uni.life, postpone it for a year, so to return and help out at LL and give up the Manchester flat. Lily can help out until Freddie is released, returns home and adjusts to his life. This will take time.
Russ, well he will have to survive, or turn up at LL to try to muscle in.
As for Lynda and her production- this is so much fun to listen to.
PS A secret buyer of Home Farm - my bet is Lilian.
It's got a happy ending appeal for both, but I kind of hope Rex & Lily don't become a couple a) too contrived ( helping her to grow out of parasite Russ, & enabling him to jettison Pip hankering, leaving her & bro' to reignite whatever, sigh). b) they don't seem well suited. She could do with another student, at a similar stage of growing up & I reckon he'd do well with someone like NIC was - good natured, capable, but who needs a bit of TLC.
ReplyDeletePtbY - I agree with you - Lily + Rex - they were relaxed together in sharing a couple of hours. I hope their relationship develops, and Rex and be a great help at LL.
ReplyDeleteJust read the string of L+R started with LanJan - I do hope they get together and Lily can dump Russ and all his pretentiousness.
DeleteThat would throw all the listeners who are convinced that Rex will marry Pip!
DeleteOh I was one of them Maryellen but I would prefer Lilty to marry Rex.
DeletePip isn't good enough for him and recently I think Lily has shown a bit of mettle.
All this business about Pip not getting any sleep.
What a load of rubbish.
Is she the only person who has had a baby?
On the other hand I would have thought the baby should be sleeping better now.
Try having a premature baby Pip and having to feed him or her every three hours with no help from anyone else because you were feeding the baby yourself when each feed took an hour..
I think Lily’s preference is for older men. In many ways, but not all,she is very mature and might find males of her own age a bit boring! Rex is older and although he has his faults he is basically a very nice unpretentious man. Anyway we will see! It might take a long time for her to untangle from Russ’s tentacles!
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued as to who the "mystery" buyer of Home Farm is. My first thought was Lillian, but am having other toughts, in that could it be:-
ReplyDeletea) Matt
b) Bruce Titchenor (re-enter Rob)
c) Fairbrother Senior, Rex + Toby father - sorry can't recall his name.
There has to be a twist in the tail, as to the sale of Home Farm, esp. as Tony received the "offer" in The Bull, late in the evening. What estate agent, works at that time of night?
There has to something "odd" about this offer.
I reckon we have got 5weeks of Pip -if not every night,certainly quite a few .
ReplyDeleteYou know I think Jill has got a cheek.
Brookfield is not her house .
She is not going to be able to cook a Christmas Dinner for so many without help.
Ruth and David have got enough on their plate with the watched Show without inviting the whole family for a meal.
Surely pubs are open on Christmas Day so Jolene and Kenton would be busy.
Will Lily prefer to be with Russ (or Ross ) or even Rex?
Shula will be a real ray of sunshine since her son has chosen his step father over her
Lily will not feel in the party spirit either
Think again Jill.
Jill is making a very big thing about it being Rosie’s First Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it’s not going to be Jill’s last!
Jill hinted it could be her last - I wasn’t sure if that was emotional blackmail or the actor trying to tell us something!
DeleteBabies as young as Rosie don't know it's Christmas anyway so why try to make a big thing out of 'her first Christmas'.
ReplyDeleteSlow episode tonight, nothing much happening, except talk of Christmas lunch and the trip to France.
Re the L and Rex talk - isn't Rex with someone? I can't remember her name but I thought he was living with someone.
Rex was with Anisha but she left Ambridge for a big veterinary job.
DeletePersonally, I rather enjoyed last nights episode and a blessed relief from all the various ‘couples’ and their problems.
DeleteThere has been so much speculation about who is going out with whom, who might marry whom, who fancies whom, who has broken up with whom that I was beginning to feel TA was morphing into a TV style soap opera.
Good to get back to a few farming/country life practicalities for one evening, such as going to buy some cows and who is doing the family Christmas this year.
I apologise for disappointing you Archerphile.
DeleteI heard it said that it is a radio soap opera.
Thank you Ruthy. I do remember that scene now.
DeleteThere must be lots of 15/16 year old kids who would love to play Ben. Instead we have an adult who sounds like a thirty something trying to make the occasional squeaky sounds. Until Jill mentioned his name I thought he was Tom/Rex/Toby or even the parasitic Russ.
ReplyDeleteSo Toby is working hard, really?
Pip is having to care for HER child, and isn't getting any sleep, really?
A woman of nearly ninety is left holding the baby, watching and crying over a silly film, really?
I am now more often listening in disbelief, I mean really!!
I agree with you stasia about listening in disbelief, I am increasingly doing so
DeleteYou are right about Jill, LanJan - what an old besom that woman is! Rosie’s first Christmas indeed, and her first Christmas without her daddy, if Jill has her way. There will be 6. of us, she said, and Pip underlined the point for us with her ‘Rosie makes 7’.
ReplyDeleteSo it’s okay for her father-to tun himself ragged dealing single-handedly with the Christmas rush for his increasingly successful product, and providing night time care for his fretful daughter while the rest of her family enjoy their sleep. But he’s ignorable at other times when they can enjoy Rosie at their convenience. Let’s hope Ruth can inject some common humanity into Brookfield’s Christmas - once she’s got over Jill’s gait accompli.
Sorry, should be fait accompli (achieved by emotional blackmail).
DeleteI assumed that Jill *had* included Toby in her calculations for Christmas dinner and had not included Rosie (as Pip mentioned), thinking that Rosie wouldn’t be needing Turkey with all the trimmings and Christmas Pud. I don’t think for one moment that Jill would, even subconsciously, try to leave Toby out of the family celebrations.
DeleteDavid, Ruth, Jill, Pip, Josh, Ben = 6, or is one of them doing something different Christmas Day that I missed? If so, I will apologise to Jill unreservedly! Can’t have been just her poor arithmetic because Pip confirmed it with Rosie makes 7.
DeleteChange of subject - Now that Tom has given up on producing organic baby foods AND kefir, will he be having to pay back his Nuffield grant? He didn’t seem to have benefitted from it much apart from finding a new girlfriend!
ReplyDeleteA I agree - and if Natasha disappears, will he give up the fruit and nut trees as well? Wasn't Tom also talking about other fermented foods - I seems to remember pickled vegetables and sauerkraut?
DeleteI am still grateful to Tom Archer for introducing me to kefir, as cheese, which is now a staple item in my fridge.
ReplyDeleteTom really is pretty useless, isn't he? The baby food and kefir were non-starters; what'll happen when Nuffield appraise the schemes they've funded? And I've lost track of his sausage and ready-meal empire. I've a memory it went non-organic, and isn't there a butcher called Maurice involved? I do remember a time he had a contract with a large supermarket which also involved him having a relationship with their young female buyer. Both the commercial and sexual relationships failed, of course! And the less we say about his treatment of Kirsty, the better. (In the aftermath didn't he go off to Canada? That led nowhere too.) And now we have Hannah and Natasha on the scene. Emotional intelligence demonstrated by Tom: nil.
ReplyDeleteThe actor's not much good either!
That's all off my chest now
Well said. 👏🆙
DeleteWith Helen and Tom in charge it doesn't bode well for Bridge Farm's future.
DeleteI suppose Tom Archer and Johnny Phillips are opposite types. Tom Archer is high on initiative but lower on stickability, while Johnny Phillips is high on stickability (stick in the mud, some might say) but low on initiative. On 2nd thoughts, maybe that’s not entirely fair. Tom Archer has stuck with his parents’ veg boxes and and his pigs.
DeleteWhat accent is Glen the new Manager going to have?
ReplyDeleteWill we ever hear him speak?
Will he leave quickly meaning that Lily will have to take over as some of us predicted?
I reckon glen will be another silent character.
DeleteGlen’s been at Lower Loxley a whole day - shouldn’t we be pairing him off with Elizabeth by now?
DeleteI do hope Lily and Rex pair up!
ReplyDeleteLily didn't sound so thrilled about going back to sponger Russ.
ReplyDeleteDid I hear someone mention makings Pasta Bake ? 😱
ReplyDeleteRuss...
DeleteNot a tuna pasta bake I hope.
DeleteExactly!!
DeleteWhat does Helen know about buying cows?
ReplyDeleteI hope the cows' passports are in order.
Passports !!! ✓ &, yes, what does Helen know about cows ? I suppose it'll be Tony who assessed in reality, & she's going along for company & for the ride. Not sure how either will see from looking a cow in the eye whether it will produce the fantastic quality milk for the fantastic quality cheese which might meet Iain's standards, but still fail to attract people to cheese making courses...
DeleteHelen did say she an agent out in France checking on farms and cows. Can't remember his name.
Delete2nd sigh in a few days - Lily this time after that ridiculous phone call with Russ. She's making the expected right noises, but it seems to be dawning on her, very reluctantly, that he is a liability.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that another friendly, undemanding chat with Rex, which supports the view that they're the next coupling on the horizon !
What is Russ supposed to be doing at Christmas?
ReplyDeleteIf Lily is going to Brookfield with Elizabeth, will she ask to take Russ too?
Or will she leave him festering in the Manchester flat with a nut roast or PASTA BAKE?
My imagination is boggling at the thought ofJill’s réaction if he does turn up at Brookfield - the explanation Lily would have to give could polish her off! 🙄 😆
Far too many reasons not to go back to Manchester - Elizabeth not well enough to look after herself even if she has a fantastic new business manager, Lily wanting to see Freddie perhaps on their birthday next week, and term is coming to an end - can’t see her wanting to be alone with Russ and his dietary difficulties for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteNo offence to those of us who need to restrict their diet, it’s how you deal with it.
DeleteJust caught up with Sunday; to be curmudgeonly, hope Pat does say 'no' - why should she have to cope with 2 children + all else, despite blithe offers of other busy people's assistance, without asking them first ? Of course, she'll say 'yes', they always oblige Helen, & there's a plot reason, I bet, for H. & T. to be on a jaunt.
ReplyDeleteBen's turning out to be the best of the 3 younger Brookfield residents( but then, as often remarked, he is really 10 years older than the other 2....)
ReplyDeleteOf course, Rosie won't know it's Christmas, instead of any other food filled, sleepy day, followed by another sleepless night for for mum. Telly down low, because she can't drag herself upstairs with babe. Urrgh...
Hopefully, David & Ruth won't be greatly incommoded by the crowd of sad relatives, as Jill & Ben will take care of everything.
Am listening to tonight’s offering. What world do the Aldridge live in where they accept an offer and have to be out by New Year? In my world it then takes about 3 months for searches etc before a moving date is decided.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree Ev. I imagine non of the SW's have ever bought or sold a property before. Ludicrous! As for Roy proposing to Lexi.....words fail me! Well obviously not really! What world do these SW's live in. Man marries woman who is just about to embark on the last round of a surrogacy implant. The honeymoon won't be a bundle laughs or anything else! Give me strength. 😟
DeleteExactly Ev and. BB both regarding the house sale and Roy proposing to Lexi.
DeleteDoes Phoebe know about the surrogacy?-and from where did she get that silly accent?
Alice hasn't been around recently to copy .
Oh and I think I am right.
We have a new Henry.
Agree Ev. I have a friend who accepted an offer on her house 4 months ago and is only now discussing whether she moves before or after Christmas.
DeleteJennifer seems almost as if leaving her lovely house & beautiful kitchen is something she couldn't care less whether they do or they don't, especially when they haven't even found anywhere to rent yet - sounds very odd to me!
ReplyDeleteI think you’re wrong there, Phoenix - Jenny made it very clear that moving wasn’t a case of want but must, and anything was better than having a huge debt hanging round their necks (and we know whose fault that is.)
DeleteJenny has been behaving in a rather odd way recently, I can only pinpoint her behaviour with Lillian but I know there have been other incidents which I felt were out of character at the time. I hope she isn’t heading towards some sort of breakdown.
ReplyDeleteI do hope Roy does not proposed to Lexi - because we all well know what her answer will be.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we need a new post. See you in the morning.
ReplyDelete