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Life in Ambridge
THIS POST IS CLOSED "longer off topic comments" - Episode 14 Life Outside Ambridge Have a seat and let's chat.
Miriam & MrsP
ReplyDeleteThe entire extended Grundy family are disgusting. They cheat, lie, steal, sell on stolen goods, peddle illegal chemicals & cover for each other even when lives are at stake! Who cares if they help out at a village fete, or have "problems"? Everybody has their problems - but most of theirs seem to be self inflicted, mainly because of their poisonous family dynamic & their total inability to make the correct decisions in their lives..
They are symbolic of everything that's wrong with our country - barely literate, wilfully ill-educated, always blaming someone else for their lot in life and causing trouble wherever they go. Trouble that other law abiding people have to eventually put right. I wouldn't even like to live in the same village as them, never mind next door....
It's all relative I suppose. .I expect some, maybe many people would give their eye teeth to have neighbours like the Grundys compared to what they've actually got.
DeleteProud to be Yorkshire.September 25, 2019 at 7:05 PM
ReplyDelete"Ps. Sir Ron .....love the hat."
How kind! Bought in Swedish Lappland. Now this will get the vegans/veggies going but it is reindeer hide trimmed with arctic fox fur (summer colouring) and lined with sheepskin. Vital for that part of the world - and given that I have an open car that I drive all year round, vital for winter here, too. To complete the set I have a fur hat bought in Moscow - mink and astrakhan.
Great hat. I knew someone once who had a lovely dark green open top Morgan with running boards and strap over the bonnet.
DeleteApologies in advance because this is nothing to do with Life in Ambridge. Spot on, Janice - mine is a four-seater Morgan in very light blue with running boards and a strap over the bonnet. Now, how can I link that to Ambridge? I bet Lillian wouldn't say know to a spin around the lanes...
DeleteI bet Lillian wouldn't say NO
DeleteLucky Lady Norris to be able to ride in a car like that!
DeleteHey, Gary, the Grundys aren't in the thug category ! For all their scams, perpetrated by Joe & Eddie, I expect they would be amiable neighbours, I really do. I base this on neighbours we had in Wales - a ramshackle lot, various fathers for the many children, I daresay some illegal goings on, but no trouble to have next door. Children of speaking age were pleasant, surprisingly unrowdy, All the family friendly without making demands. I see the Grundys as being rather like that.
ReplyDeleteGrant you, Ed & the chemicals business was very dodgy, but Ed was in too deep before he cottoned on & couldn't get out. Eddie helped with the cover up ( thanks to his own dodgy ways). They're basically good natured.
Sir RN: 6.56pm
ReplyDelete"I can't say she has quite the same appeal for me as she did in 1964. Both 17 at the time and she had a lovely voice with just a hint of a lisp. Very attractive"
............. that's because (sadly in my opinion) she is played by a different actress. It was ever thus!
Bit of a non event with Lexi, wasn't it ? Just post natal blues, & feeling neglected
ReplyDeleteRoy was so kind, plus gently nudging the new dads to pay her some attention.
Still think Will should stay with the job he knows, but that conversation with Iain did the trick. Neat that Iain thought it was the other way around, Will making supportive noises, but it did cause him to think about his own parents, which makes a change.
Sir Ron.....we’ll i’m not offended. Nearly bought a fur hat in Iceland a couple of years ago.....in the end it was soooo expensive I reigned myself in. Regret it really.
ReplyDeletePs that IS Iceland the country not the supermarket😉
Re the Grundys.....not scum, too polite for that, but don’t think I could live next door to em......would worry about escaping ferrets! 😱
I prefer fictional babies and thought the episode with the newest member of the Archer clan and his parents was great, especially theJekyll and Hyde joke about what to name him. Adam’s relaxed manner is standing him in good stead, Ian needs to de-tense. They should form a New Dads Club with T❤️O❤️B❤️Y. !
ReplyDeleteMaryellen, I was totally with you until that last sentence - please - NO !! 😘
DeleteWhy not? There may be other first time dads among the great majority of Ambridge’s population that we never hear about too.
DeleteI thought it was interesting that Ian, who so wanted a baby, was tense, unable to soothe him AND got cramp, whereas Adam was calm and relaxed so baby was too. Of course we all know that changes daily, hourly? with babies.
ReplyDeleteI think it's more than baby blues and feeling neglected for Lexi. Even though the baby is not biologically hers she will have developed a bond and must be feeling bereft.
Grundies? I think they are good hearted, definitely not 'scum'. Maybe they don't always help themselves, but I agree with Carolyn, basically good natured.
Will has seen the light at last, thanks to his chat with Ian. I think it was quite brave of him to voluntarily leave his gamekeeping job, all he has ever known, and also give up his home into the bargain.
ReplyDeleteThe question now is where are they all going to live? Probably not enough room at 1, The Green for C&E, Ed, Will, Poppy and the still extant Joe.
Perhaps, if Will can rent out The Green and find a new job, he and Ed could both contribute to the rent for Grange Farm, if Oliver would change his mind about selling.
However, if Joe is ‘allowed’ to die soon they might all be able to fit into Wills house on The Green.
I think, Hope, things are looking up for the Grundys now Will has seen sense.
I do not think the Grundys are scum but basically decent people with some faults of course.
ReplyDeleteCould Roy be any nicer - he's almost too good to be true. So caring for Lexi. I suppose he still loves her.
🌏🌎🌍
ReplyDeleteWelcome to bloggers from Poland & Azerbaijan...!!
“Could Roy be any nicer”? I think it’s just a temporary makeover in the interests of the current storyline. This is still the man who was happy to jettison the lovely Hayley and their children and then was sorry for himself when he lost her.
ReplyDeleteGot it! Ed can move into the room vacated by Kirsty at Roy’s place.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Ed will go after Williams gamekeeper job ? or are we going to have another new character, would be good to have a female gamekeeper.
ReplyDeleteCalling all bakers.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s edition of The Times, David Aaronovtch is featured ,in a Borsetshire bake off.
(The recipes are taken from a new book Keri Davies has written)
It costs £18.99,
I won’t be buying it.
Who will?
(There must be more cookery books in Remainder bookshops than any other type of book -apart possibly autobiographies of faded “celebs”)
Today, I have seen an advert for a new Head Gamekeeper at none other than Highclere Castle, quite near where I live. (The place where Downton Abbey was filmed)
ReplyDeleteAn opportunity for Will? I bet the tied Cottage would be quite sumptuous compared with his Ambridge one!
Bur perhaps not, he has made the sensible decision to give up his much loved job and pay more attention to his own health and looking after Poopy.
Good for him. I hope he finds a new job that suits his situation better and can fit around Poppy’s needs, but be enjoyable at the same time.
I make no bones about it.
ReplyDeleteI hate the whole idea of surrogacy .
Why would any woman be altruistic enough to put herself through that whole process to give up the baby at the end of it?
In Lexi’s case..........
She had a partner she professed to love and who loved her.
She had a good job.
Her partner, Roy ,wanted to marry her.
There is something that doesn’t add up.
Is anyone able to tell me what I am missing?
LanJan - there are loads of accounts by surrogate mothers explaining why in the media - just google...
Delete6.29 today, Maryellen, succinctly put about Roy's fairly recent past. He certainly paid the price for his time of blind extra marital lust.( Elizabeth got away with the part she played, aside from losing a good manager), but I don't think that amounts to a contrived change of character now. He's not an inveterate womanizer, rather a basically sound person who made a grave mistake, forced to move on, & rebuild his life. Currently, whatever he feels, he's just being a very compassionate friend to Lexi, & not putting any pressure on her whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteGary, the Grundys have had a chequered past granted but now they all work for their living unlike some in our country who are perfectly fit but are up to the third generation claiming benefits ie milking your and my taxes!
ReplyDeleteLanjan (8.37am), I understand your puzzlement in Lexi's case ! I do see the case for surrogacy generally, but it doesn't really add up with her particular circumstances, which you outline (add to which, a family & 2 daughters back in Bulgaria). A bungled SL.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Zoetrope (10.24 last night), it's more than post natal baby blues with Lexi. I think it's unnatural separation. Her heart agreed with the surrogacy decision, but not the chemicals in her body post birth. Everything physical is now geared to nurturing & bonding & she's deprived of that.
Lanjan, I agree with you and I wouldn't 'google', you may find mothers being surrogates for daughters. In some countries any assisted procreation is not allowed except for heterosexual couples.
ReplyDeleteLexi feels neglected and her spurned lover runs to the rescue, with flowers!? Adam has some qualms about the set up but not Ian, that was the deal.
William must have thought about the previous gamekeeper, anyone with access to guns is very likely to use them.
When Adam and Ian desperately wanted a baby, some bloggers suggested they got a dog instead. Perhaps that’s what Lexi should do?
ReplyDelete✔😀✔😀✔
DeleteLexi could go home to Bulgaria and work with rescuing street dogs and re homing them to the UK.
DeleteThat would enable her to use her maternal hormones with needy dogs instead of needy men.
What a great idea! Everyone (and their dog) is a winner!
DeleteI didn’t know the UK needed Bulgarian street dogs. Why is that?
DeleteWe have enough dogs needing rehoming here already. We have three of them!!! They each have different backgrounds but nevertheless just needed a new forever home. The best thing Lexi could do would be just to go home to her girls. In Ambridge even if she settled down with Roy again it would be difficult to see her baby around.
DeleteWhen exactly did Adam 'desperately' want a baby?
DeleteLexi is not in the same position, she has two daughters already and can lavish her maternal instincts on them. They have a non-existent father because it was her mother who looked after them during her absence.
ReplyDeleteMaryellen , Like Basia ,I won’t be googling anything to do with surrogacy although in Lexi’s case I find it particularly baffling.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody explain that particular case to me?
Come on Maryellen you must have an idea of why she would do that
If I were Roy I would have nothing to do with her.
I must ask Lanjan - why would you not want to find out what other people do and why they do it if you have such a strong opinion on it?
DeleteLexi has done an amazing thing. Whether or not you or I agree with what she and others like her have done, I 100% respect her right to do so. Her choice. Her body. Of course she may turn out to regret her decision. That just means that it wasn't the right decision for HER. And in that case I would feel so sorry for all concerned.
LanJan - the word is altruism, as the accounts you “won’t be googling” also imply. Surrogacy has been practised in various ways for various reasons from Biblical times if not before, and altruism has probably always been a feature.
DeleteI suppose the answer to your question regarding why I won’t google surrogacy,Gary is that it is a subject in which I am uninterested.
ReplyDeletePresumably it will be done to help a member of a family or friend or possibly for financial gain.
I don’t like the idea of it.
Too many pitfalls.
However as it has “turned up” in The Archers I would quite like to know why Lexi has become a surrogate mother because in this particular case I find it utterly bewildering.
I know what altruism means Maryellen.
ReplyDeleteLanJan - if you are uninterested in surrogacy, why continue to raise the subject? Do you want people to reassure you they agree with your view?
DeleteEv - please see my reply to LanJan.
ReplyDeleteMaryellen, Lanjan's answer your question is in the last paragraph of her 2.48 post.
ReplyDeleteAnd my answer to LanJan’s question is in my 2.45 post. But if one doesn’t accept that womankind is capable of the degree of altruism required to become a surrogate mother, it’s clearly an unacceptable answer - in Lexi’s case and any other woman's case.
DeleteI am happy to halt the discussion now ,Maryellen but since I thought that perhaps there was something I was missing in this particular case that someone else had picked up on ,I thought it might be interesting to learn what it might be.
ReplyDeleteSince nobody seems to be any the wiser than me,I am happy to drop it.
No more surrogacy blogs from me.
I never really understood why Lexi broke up with Roy. They both said they loved each other, he was prepared to go to Bulgaria with her and meet her girls. I think he would even have been willing to move there permanently, learn the language and seek a job in the hotel/tourism industry to enable them to stay together.
ReplyDeleteI remember how heartbroken he was seeing her off at the airport. Can anyone remind me why she refused to let him go with her and insisted they could never be together again?
It did sound, last night, that he still really cares for her. Could anything permanent be rekindled between them?
Both Kate and Helen offered to be surrogates but Lexi was chosen, possibly because she is foreign and would not stay around. At first Lexi told Roy that there'd be no more that you know and then gradually withdrew leaving him dejected. Roy said she was doing a marvellous thing. How could it work out? Waking up every day next to a woman carrying a child for somebody else, so she went away. All totally absolutely baffling, but not to Adam, Ian, Lexi and Roy. This is Ambridge.
ReplyDeleteAnd both Kate and Helen withdrew their offers, making Lexi the only choice when the surrogates from the clinics didn’t work out. I still resent the scriptwriters turning an important and credible human situation into a pantomime. Hopefully they can now get it back on track.
DeleteEssccee 1.45
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question about the cost of surrogacy, in this country you are allowed to pay the surrogate mother her legitimate expenses, but as you say no other funding.
LanJan There are a number of women who love being pregnant, but don't want any more children, they use surrogacy to fulfil their desires, often as many as three or four times.
All I am prepared to say about the Grundy's is, that I, personally think, that Will hasn't thought it through properly and will, in time, regret his decision. However I do think Joe's sad passing, which can't be surely, not that far away, could make a big difference to them all.
ReplyDeleteI just think that Joe will have a hidden cash of monies - from where - no idea yet.
DeletePerhaps a forgotten life assurance policy or similar....who knows, I don't. I am just floating a thought.
There is nothing altruistic about Asian women who are forced into surrogacy by their families for financial gain and spend their time in camps, producing babies for western couples.
ReplyDelete👏👏👏
DeleteBasia - please understand me. I am not saying that all surrogacy is prompted by altruism. Clearly there is more than one reason why women become surrogates and altruism is one of them. What I am saying in answer to LanJan’s question about Lexi is that imo Lexi was inspired by altruism. But LanJan doesn’t accept altruism as a reason for any woman to become a surrogate (and isn’t interested in finding out that it is), so wants to know if there’s another answer about Lexi’s motivation.
DeleteMaryellen, I accept that Lexi acted out of altruism but didn't think of the consequences. She was prepared to cut off Roy even though, surprisingly, he was supportive. Emma's reaction was, how would she be able to give up her baby and now Lexi is confused.
DeleteI don't think it's a pantomime, they are addressing real issues. We only hear of celebrity couples having a baby by a surrogate from abroad but we know nothing about her. There was also Jennifer telling Shula that she did the same. Yes, Shula had IVF because of a previous ectopic pregnancy but she was not a surrogate. We know that Jennifer was on the defensive but people who didn't listen at the time may think that it's been covered before. I do wish that it's resolved satisfactorily for all parties.
We don’t just hear about celebrity couples etc, we also hear about ordinary women doing it for non-celebrity couples who can’t have children by the usual route, for altruistic reasons and/or their own enjoyment (as mentioned by Cow Girl.).
DeleteI agree it has stopped being pantomimic (apart from Jennifer) and as I said, it is now getting back on track and addressing the question everyone asks about altruistic surrogacy: will she give the baby up? I don’t know what the statistics are or if they even exist
I was interested in your reference to biblical times Maryellen. I think in those times it was at least sometimes enforced. When reading about Abraham and Sarai I felt really annoyed at both of them. Sarai was getting on in years and so gave her Egyptian slave Hagar (and as far as we know Hagar had no choice in the matter ) to Abraham to bear him a child. Hagar had Ishmael, but then Sarai became jealous and then when she finally did have a child herself, Isaac, she turned on Hagar and her son and insisted Abraham send them away out into the desert ( basically a death sentence ) and that wimp of a man did exactly that, trying to redeem his conscience by handing her some bread and water as she left. They did manage to survive and Ishmael eventually did well.
DeleteThank you Maryellen for making that comment earlier and so allowing me to let off steam about Abraham and Sarai !
I think that Ian and Adam are at present pushing Lexi out into the desert, and don't like that either.
You told that story so well, Janice, I think you should rewrite the whole of the Old Testament!
DeleteGenesis 21 verses 8 to 21 etc. My Bible is a very old one. Does anyone have any suggestions for a modern one that keeps to an accurate translation but is in present day language?
DeleteSorry , wrong blog I suppose!
DeleteI reckon that Vince’s accent has a touch of West Midlands.
ReplyDeleteAbout time we heard a local.
Am I correct?
Lanjan 7.12 tonight. Not sure of the region but at one point during the lunch yesterday with Lilian, I thought Vince's voice had the same tone and resonance as Matt Crawford's!
ReplyDeleteI thought - Brummie accent - the first time I heard Vince.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Birmingham for 10 years from 8-18. It took me back to my youth🤣
Totally agree with GG on the previous blog that anyone who thinks that Will should resume his previous way of life with 'support' from his parents and mother-in-law has NO idea of serious mental illness or treatment of such.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way he should have access to a gun. Both he and his brother have had anger management issues since they were teenagers, and Will now has depression, stress and anxiety.
Had the authorities been notified I feel certain he would have been Sectioned and thus would have received drugs for the first and been removed from the second and third illnesses from which he apparently is suffering.
The suicide rate for agricultural workers (includes gamekeepers) is the highest in any occupational group.
Tea and sympathy just don't cut it!
Love it.....pip needs a break!!
ReplyDeletePip wanders around to wherever whenever she wants. It’s not as if she does the milking 7 days a week. Never seems to have that baby in tow. That bairn won’t recognise who it’s mother is. It’ll be calling great grandma it’s mother.
Just istened to tonight's episode. Vince's accent definitely had traces of Lenny Henry's 'Dudley' accent!
ReplyDeleteVince is pure Brummie and Matt was clearly from London and its environs. Any similarity is due to their wide-boy tendencies. Their distinctive voices are to be welcomed - Rex and Toby were confusing me again!
ReplyDeleteVince definitely has the vocal mannerisms of Matt to me, I found his winding up of Justin very reminiscent of Matt ( I think Justin did too hence his snappiness with Lillian) It was good to be able to distinguish the speakers, I really struggle to separate out Rex and Toby.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Lilian is beginning to get fed up with Justin? They have been arguing a lot and she obviously disapproves of the way he is conducting his business concerns.
ReplyDeleteCould the rot be setting in, leading to the unlikely couple breaking up?
And is there any chance that Vince, who we are suddenly hearing a lot from, could be the one to step into Justin’s shoes, as it were?
Agree that Vince's accent is Brummie. Matt's was a London accent unmistakably. Also agree about not being able to tell Rex from Toby.
ReplyDeleteMaybe as Spicycushion suggests ,Vince comes from Dudloi
ReplyDeleteI don’t Know what he looks like but if he is anything like Sean Bean I think Lilian should ditch Justin and go for a new bit of rough.
They are obviously well suited.
KPnuts September 26, 2019 at 9:46 PM
ReplyDelete"It was good to be able to distinguish the speakers, I really struggle to separate out Rex and Toby".
Me, too. And Josh and Ben and Ruairi 🙄
I struggled with Justin and Oliver in their one scene together. Fortunately, their paths don’t seem to cross much.
ReplyDeleteTook me a while to work out who the first two speakers were last night, until verbal clues confirmed it was the Fairbrothers.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear them together again but it seems they retain their traditional positions - Rex trying to be a farmer and needing help; Toby too busy to help because of his burgeoning gin business; Rex pleading for Pip to get more support from Toby; Toby, again, too busy to do more babysitting.
I think Rex still holds a candle for Pip, but why he thinks she needs more help when she has her whole family on tap to look after Rosie I don’t know.
Do we know if Toby still lives, wholetime, at Rickyard with Pip? If so, I expect he takes his turn with Rosie in the evenings and at night, but like Pip, he has a job to do during the day.
That poor little girl must sometimes wonder exactly who her parents are as she gets passed around the family like a parcel!
As per usual, Rex trying to fault T❤️O❤️B❤️Y, never the other way round, Rex needing help from his brother, but slow to offer help in return. Oh well, good to hear the gin business is still going strong.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I think Rex did help Toby in with the boxes of new bottles, reluctantly, but those two are just different personalities and Toby really seems to have found his niche while Rex is still flailing around with different ‘farming-type’ ideas. Quite what he thinks he is going to contribute to the ré-wielding scheme I don’t know.
DeleteI used to think it was Rex who had a business head and Toby was the unfocused brother but now they seem to have swooped places!
Re-wilding ...and....swopped
DeleteI blame Apple’s autocorrect!
maryellenSeptember 27, 2019 at 8:01 AM
ReplyDeleteYou told that story so well, Janice, I think you should rewrite the whole of the Old Testament!
Janice September 27, 2019 at 10:44 AM
"Genesis 21 verses 8 to 21 etc."
Janice September 27, 2019 at 10:48 AM
"Sorry , wrong blog I suppose!"
Not necessarily, Janice - you can angle most things towards Ambridge. For example, I think you have given Rev Alan Franks material for a future sermon. Or even the saintly Shula when - as no doubt she will - gets fast-tracked by the SWs to ordination.
New Revised Standard Version, (with Apocrypha) Try the Book of Tobit - a tiny bit stilted, I suppose, but as a story it's a gas. I'd love to send Rev Alan my 'radio play' version, which we presented as a whole service, with hymns in appropriate places and passages written in 'fakespeare' as a nod to the bard. Dramatis personae included: Mongrel, a dog; Carp, a fish, Tigris, a river; God, a Voice (with enamel jug for a megaphone.)The Button girls could dance at Tobias's wedding!
ReplyDeleteMr S's cousin Angela said it was like being allowed to sit in on an omnibus edition of TA!
Thanks Sarnia. I would like to read the Apocrypha, and have never come across Tobit.
DeleteAs you're interested, Janice, as well as providing a link between the Old and New Testament the Apocrypha supplies some useful socio-political background that explains several changes in attitude, belief and practice in the history of the Jewish nation.
DeleteI think the point behind the Tobit story was that sometimes being brave enough to embrace a new idea can actually enhance established tradition rather than destroying it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks again Sarnia. I shall find and read it.
DeleteJust caught up on the radio repeat. Missed a bit of Rex & Toby, no great loss, but quite enjoyed brummie Vince winding up JE, who now wants Lil to, as it were, pimp for him ! Touched a raw nerve though, with the Crawford comparison. Still, don't blame her for being cross, especially as she doesn't agree with his plans, & wants the farmers to have an abattoir.
ReplyDeleteAlso, along with others, noted the unnecessary concern over Pip. What's the matter with them, especially Rex, as she has lots of family support, though, in fairness, probably less than Helen has with her 2, given Pat & Tony have more free time than David & Ruth who are very full on.
Lillian will just do what she feels best, as the feisty character she is.
ReplyDeletePS How old is Vince, as he has said, thay he has had a couple of wives, and has a 8yr old daughter.
Will Lillian join forces in purely a financial nature, in partnership with Vince to oust Justin and set up the abbatoir again.
DeleteWhat a load of twaddle. Justin Elliot grunted more than Will Grundy. Would a man (Vince) who has never been introduced to another (Justin) really wind him up with taunts about his partner, his shooting ability and business acumen? Even thought Justin had to ask him who he was because he’d never clapped eyes one before. I thought should there have be a gun moment in Am/ridge let it be JE shooting big businessman Vince.
ReplyDeleteHas it occurred to Rex that the🐷 might be gay? It’s not unusual in the animal world. Cows are at it all the time. I though asking his brother about sexual behaviour was definitely appropriate. Wallowing about in a bouncy castle is no different to a pig 🐽snorting in the mud.🐖
I listened again at lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is just the one actor playing both Rex and Toby so that the BBC can save money.
I think though that when we have dialogues between two Soundalikes they should preface each time they speak with the other Soundalike’s name.
This would solve the problem.
Stasia(4.58), ✓✓✓ 😂last 2 sentences !
ReplyDeleteAlexander, hardly a surprise. Lexi is so matter of fact about it not being her baby that I'm beginning to think Jennifer might have a cause to worry.
ReplyDeleteHow do Jennifer and Brian have the time or energy to insert 'darling' between every word! It's beginning to sound like a nervous tick. Jennifer's obsession with her children.........Adam and Zander being top of the list at the moment, is almost pathological. Someone throw some cold water over her!! 😌
ReplyDeleteWhile looking for a nursery P&T could ask Lexi to look after Rosie, after all she is used to 'extreme baby-sitting'.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where the nearest childminder is, as there doesn't seem to be one in Ambridge. Who will transport Rosie to them?
ReplyDeleteCould this be something Emma could train for and do?
It would be far better than cleaning and working in the chicken factory.
The down point for this - is where could she do it....
No waiting lists for nursery places in Ambridge then 😮 and as for mum Pip 😡 who only days ago was telling us all how well she has settled into motherhood - so well established in juggling Rosie, Brookfield and the rewinding project (and seemingly all by herself for the most part 😂)
DeleteI think we're being 'educated' about surrogacy, as Iain said, so we have a right on PC view about it. See ? It's a good thing, not all women want to keep the baby after giving birth, & we'll make the granny a suspicious neurotic mess to emphasize how silly & wrong headed such fears are.
ReplyDeleteCynicism aside, I completely believed Lexi tonight. She genuinely wanted to do this ( despite all the things against it her own life, rehearsed too often to repeat), & just felt sad, left out & insecure as to whether she was merely being used. I think Adam & Iain reassured her, not only in words but in their name choice.
Jennifer is just an extreme case of Ignorant General Public, i.e, all TA lusteners, presumably. How insulting.
👍 Obviously another 'issue' ticked off the list. Cynical moi? 🤔
DeleteI agree with you carolyn about being 'educated' so that we have the 'correct' view.
DeleteI also believed Lexi tonight when she said the baby belongs to Ian and Adam and always has in her mind.
Zander?
ReplyDeleteThink Ian and Adam have been watching too much ‘Pointless’!
Although I , like some others don't like, and never have liked this storyline, I did find it touching that Adam and Ian thought it would be appropriate to let the baby share something with his birth mother.
ReplyDeleteI believe it was Brian who abbreviated the name in the first place. So he chose the form 'Xander' (which I believe it the usual spelling.) It could have been 'Alex' I suppose. We'll have to wait until the cast start to refer to him by name to find out definitely.
My daughter is Alexandra and was usually called Alex by the family except her brothers who called her 'Axel!'
After her divorce she changed her surname to my maiden name, as she said that two men had ledt her down in her life, one her father and one her husband so she went back to her grandad's name. At the same time she officially changed to Lexi!
Spicy (12.12 am), what an extraordinary link from your family to TA. What a creative change your daughter made, symbolic & down to earth at the same time. ( for a girl, Lexi rings better than Alex, imo, & more unusual than Sandra)
ReplyDeletePip, apart from the petulant 'get your own toast !' did try to make amends. Don't know why she didn't think of a morning nursery before, it's hardly an uncommon solution with working mums, & Rosie is well over one yrs. old now. Don't get why she's still so committed to the rewilding project which is getting nowhere & according to many, flawed anyway.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea of Pip’s to find a Nursery for Rosie.
ReplyDeleteDue to circumstances !my younger son went to a Nursery when he was less than two years old.
He adored it.
I have a photograph of him and his little friend Julian with buckets and spades playing in the snow.
I don’t suppose that would be allowed now .
When the time came for him to go to school ,other children were clinging to their mothers crying but he seeing all the toys on display rushed into the classroom without a backward glance.
Apparently when the children cried during the morning he cheerfully kept saying “mummy gone” which didn’t help them .
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ian Craig a Scot? If so, what's wrong with the conventional diminutive "Sandy" instead of the highly affected "Zander"? Or even - in tribute to Lexi's Slavic heritage - "Sasha"?
ReplyDeleteThink he's Irish
DeleteSounds to me more like Northern Ireland.
DeleteThank you both. Always had trouble trying to identify his accent.
DeleteDefinitely a Northern Ireland accent.
DeleteI like it ! Hope he's kept it up, but deliberately tactless now, to test another's mettle/sense of humour ( gosh, that sounds like Mr C....)
ReplyDeleteSorry, my 9.13 above refers to Lanjan's 8.38. forgot to make plain.
ReplyDeleteLexi has delivered her gift of life and declared her friendship, it remains to be seen how she'll fill her time for the next six weeks.
ReplyDeleteSeems obvious to me.
ReplyDeleteLexi starts a nursery class/playgroup sessions in the village hall.
Gives Lexi a job and a reason to stay in Ambridge.
Provides a service to the village and surrounding hamlets.
Gives an opportunity for her and Roy to resume their relationship if they both feel and care for each other.
And of course keeps her close but distant enough to the child.
I liked Brian calling him Xanda.
If it's fashionable I didn't know about it.
Mrs P (12.18), I like the name, too
ReplyDeleteLexi stay in Ambridge ?? She has to for 6 weeks, then surely it's home to her girls. Couldn't start a nursery & then abandon it, unless ....
Roy & Lexi do seem to have something, but nothing has changed. She realized, implausibly late in the day, that it wouldn't work because she lives in Bulgaria, & he has 2 daughters here & employment.
Admittedly, Pheobe is grown up ( kind of) & we never hear that he sees Abigail at all. Unlikely he'd find work abroad, I'd have thought.
Well of course another underlying story line here is Brexit I suppose.
ReplyDeleteSo the SWs are spinning it out until such time as............ ???????
I have a friend whose grandson is Alexander but goes by Zander so I'm used to hearing this and actually prefer it to Alex which could be male or female.
ReplyDeleteAlexander Armstrong is called Zander by his friends and if (as I suspect he is) a listener probably quite chuffed!
DeleteXander is very common in Scotland amongst a certain rugby union playing demographic and has been for decades. And one of the main characters in Buffy The Vampire Slayer was called it too!
DeleteI loved that series Gary
DeleteIs it that easy to start a nursery? So many rules and regs these days especially around children and the police clearance can take an age I also think you have to pay for the checks 🤔
ReplyDeleteLexi due to be here for a short time only and as she is not a British citizen (as yet anyway) would that be a stumbling block?
I believe that these have to go under "Offsted" checks, those who run them have to be suitably qualifed after training courses and pass all the police checks (whatever they are called these days). Also the premises have to pass all Health + Safety checks.
DeleteAs per ususal, a lot of red tape, and not as easy as it sounds.
Agree with the posts above, red tape, OFFSTED etc, but this is the Archers.
DeleteWe don't need to worry about such trifling matters.
The Ambridge fairy could just wave her magic wand and hey ho..... we have a nursery.
😂 quite so! Mrs P
DeleteJust to be a wet blanket,, most places have s nursery or two, why would Ambridge be any different ? They have a school, surgery, vets, presumably dentist, so what's the difference...
ReplyDeleteMrs P, you mentioned Brexit in connection with Lexi. Presume you meant immigration laws, if Lexi wants to a) work here b) marry Roy & bring her girls over ? Xander could be adult before that's sorted, on current showing !
ReplyDeleteMy point, precisely !
DeleteNot so sure that Ambridge does have all the facilities, Carolyn. There used to be a village school but that closed some years ago and the little ones have to go to the school at one of the nearby villages (not sure which, Penny Hasset or Loxley Barret perhaps?)
ReplyDeleteThe surgery in the village was closed and villagers now have to drive to somewhere else, possibly as far as Borchester.
They do have a vets, a pub, the village shop and Post Office run by volunteers and also the farm shop and cafe but I have never heard of a dentist!
I suppose Ambridge is very typical of many villages these days, sadly lacking in some of the services once thought of as absolute
necessities.
I have issues about Adam and Ian’s relationship and the inclusion of the baby Xander. They were having difficulties and unpleasant arguments, and at one point they nearly broke up because Adam was attracted to Charlie. The attraction was mutual and Charlie tried to tempt Adam to move to Scotland 🏴 but in the end he (Adam) decided to stay in Ambridge. Adam and Ian then made an effort to make the relationship work by getting married and then at some point there was Ian’s ‘I want a baby’.
ReplyDeleteRelationship difficulties sorted by introduction of Lexie’s womb, and now they Are a happy doting loving family!
But are they?
The other issue for me is the exploitation of a poor foreign picker/caravan cleaner who agrees to be rent a womb, and although no money has changed they paid for her to return to Bulgaria for six months so that she could be with her girls. They are also paying for her to remain in Ambridge until all the paper work is complete. Lexie’s motives for undertaking the surrogacy have never really been explored. She was a S/Ws convenience to bind the only gays in the village together.
No one has mentioned the other aspect of the effects on Lexie having given birth, Hormones in flux, breast milk and her need to express It, a very painful experience otherwise.
Sir Ron, I spent 19years of my life growing up in Belfast and am still being asked if I am Scottish.
I can’t see why Adam and Ian’s family relationship shouldn’t survive to become as “doting” as Jennifer and Brian’s or Ruth and David’s which have both experienced similar strains - even more severe, I would say, in the Aldridges’s case.
DeleteStasia (9.56am), I do think Ian & Adam are fine now, have worked out the two major problems you mention, not anything specific to back this up, just the feeling that they are settled, Adam in particular.
ReplyDeleteDo agree about Lexi, a bungled & unclear SL. We are meant to think now that her decision was selfless, but how can that ring true ? She is not an unencumbered woman helping out two good friends. She lives in what must be impoverished circumstances in Bulgaria, else why come to the UK to do these menial jobs in the first place ? She's only getting all expenses paid, presumably during the pregnancy abroad, there are long absences from her daughters, what a lot of hassle, it doesn't add up. Then there's Roy ( her not realizing from the outset it wouldn't work, &, before that, expecting him to accept the surrogacy, & continue their relationship)
I did refer to separation anxiety post birth, which none of the characters cottoned on to, only that she felt neglected by the dads. I don't think the physical side is so bad - i.e, no baby, milk production often fizzles out. Not always, perhaps, but often.
I just have no real interest in anyone's babies - be they straight, gay, single or married. I actually haven't listened to any of the episodes in the past week or so and don't plan to. And istening to people bore on about their childcare "issues" doesn't do much for me either... 😪
ReplyDeleteStasia, I share the concerns you have about the relationship of ' the boys' !
ReplyDeleteBut we cannot imagine for one minute that the SWs do not know where they are going with this S line. They can play whatever games they like and probably will.
Exploration being the game, I imagine.
We do know that planning is done far ahead of what we, the listening public get to hear.
As far as Lexi being a ' poor' foreign picker being exploited, I'm not so sure.
She had a professional or management role when in Bulgaria, and probably went to college.
I think it's easy to view such individuals as being exploited, but perhaps we are then in a position of patronising them. They know when they come to the UK that they will probably be required to do work of a lesser status when they get here, but see it as a way forward. And many do move forward in different ways.
I think of the few individuals amongst friends in London who grew up under the communist system and the thirst for success generated by such experiences.
One who arrived at age 30 with fifty pounds and who now lives in a million pound flat and owns thirty five properties. And she is only 54. A very smart woman and very driven.
Lexi is far more relaxed about life than my friend, and perhaps takes life in an easier way, but nevertheless may be driven in much the same way, and is taking steps towards her future for her and her girls.
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DeleteJust listened more carefully to the exchanges between Ruth & Pip on Fri (via Omnibus)
ReplyDeleteWhen Pip offered to
make Ruth breakfast, then stormed out because her Mum refused to comment on the rewinding scheme, saying, very petulantly ‘make your own breakfast’ she reminded me so much of the teenage Pip, always at odds with her parents and stomping out!
The S/Ws got that bit of continuity just right.
Then, later she tries to
mollify Ruth saying - don’t worry Mum, I’ve got it sorted out, we
are going to find a nursery for Rosie - I don’t think that’s what Ruth was expecting at all. She probably hoped Pip was going to say she’d decided to quit the rewilding scheme in favour of working full time at Brookfield - or the other way round. Ruth didn’t sound too pleased that it was Rosie’s care that was the thing to be altered.
Grrrr...
ReplyDeleteIf I hear Jennifer insert the word ‘darling’, in that patronising way, into every sentence again....
I shall scream, very loudly, at the radio.
Enough ‘darlings’ already, Jennifer’
✔️✔️✔️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 AP
DeleteAs far as I remember Lexi had little to do with Ian and Adam before the agreement to be a surrogate but suddenly became their best friend. After her recent conversation with them though I am inclined to agree with Maryellen that her motive was altruistic. Only time will tell! Please no more cooing over Xander! Jennifer will need treatment if she carries on with her angst over the baby!! Calm down, dear!!
ReplyDeleteI read on another site that Jennifer's anxieties now could be related to events around Adam's birth.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't listening then. I know she was a young single mum at a time when that was not accepted as it is now. Was she thinking of - or encouraged to - give him up for adoption?
Ev. 103pm.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we as human beings do small acts of kindness all the time, and in my book that amounts to altruism. However, I don’t think many woman would behave altruistically for two men she didn’t know gratis , it might happen, but in most cases surrogacy is usually a paid job which is why so many who want babies head for the US. There it is possible to buy a womb for nine months at a cost, a bit like shopping at Macy’s.
Adam and Ian wanted a baby, they didn’t need one. Now Lexie is fretting about their ‘friendship’ and the need to see the baby.
Gary is spot on. Whinging babies are also not my cup of tea.
Adam and Ian aren’t alone in wanting a baby but not needing one. No one in Ambridge needed or needs a baby, but most wanted them, and those who had babies thrust upon them learned to want them
DeleteAs was Kirsty. She suddenly wanted her baby until fate intervened.
DeleteIf I remember correctly, Jennifer used Lexi as a servant, getting her cleaning all the caravans out, after the pickers had left. Wasn't this the time that Lexi helped Phoebe out?
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is why Jennifer is so anti- Lexi, or is it pure selfishness on her part as her beloved son, Adam has provided her with another grandson (the other being in SA and not seen nor heard from) and wants to be the only true Grandmother.
I think Lexi, will stand by her arrangement with Adam + Ian.
If Jennifer is not careful, she could easily alient herself away from Adam, Ian + Xander. I still don't understand her reaction as to the name, as surely it reflects the surrogacy, and why not.
DeleteIf it hadn't been for Lexi, would she have another grandchild?
She should just accept things as they are, relax and enjoy the situation.
Not every-one has the joy of becoming a Grandma - I wish I have had this.
I see David and Ruth are on "Pointless Celebrities" tonight at 17.05 on BBC One....
ReplyDeleteSadly it's a repeat.😣
DeleteWith regards to the exploitation of foreign farm workers, I have an acquaintance who has a fair amount of land that depended on polish workers to harvest the grapes...im talking about 15 - 20!years ago . She often boasted that what she paid enabled these workers to buy a house in their home country after about 5 years.
ReplyDeleteImagine working 2 months a year for 5 years and being able to buy a house in your own country!!!
When in fact what she paid wouldn't even cover the bus fare for an Italian to do the same job.
And they say that locals don't want to work...don't get me started!!
As were some of the local Ambridge youngsters not wanting to do strawberry picking...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had put this on the other blog...obviously not....sorry!
ReplyDeleteZoetrope- 1:58 pm
ReplyDeleteThat thought occurred to me today, though not when I heard it earlier in the week.
Although nothing has been said on the subject by Jennifer, with her beloved son being gay, she probably never expected a grandchild from him, and now this ' special' baby has come along and it must bring thoughts and memories back from when Adam himself was born.
However, the exaggerated manner in which she has behaved recently is certainly egging the custard or whatever the expression is. And the sooner she calms down the better, or as Miriam said, she is likely to find her son turning against her, or at the very least 'having words'.
Yes MrsP, the best thing Jennifer can do is to stay out of it. Lexi is going back next week.
ReplyDeleteSome interesting exchanges at Lower Loxley, Tracy gave as good as she got and Lily mentioned divorce in front of others.
Lily is goading Russ.
DeleteA sign of a sour relationship ?
And several snide remarks from Russ to Tracey, and Lily picked up on that too.
Shut up Jennifer. You really are getting on my nerves, and Brian's too.
Have I had enough of the baby stuff & Jennifer ! Tonight was saved by Tracey's quick & cutting rejoinders to Mr Precious Russ, who was in excellent prat form. No surprises there, then, & Lily getting irritated with him again. The man's a snob in the usual sense, too, but Liy & Elizabeth got on famously with Tracey.
ReplyDeleteEven Helen came out well, soothing noises to Ian, moderating the Jennifer affect.
Lexi did the job she was well paid for, and very successfully, and knows it is now over and done with.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe, that she now will not try to claim the baby as her own, and will return to her family in Bulgaria.
She was just "rent a womb". Remember she has no genetic/family connection to Xander, as it was a donor egg.
I think the only unstraightforward thing about Adam’s birth at the time was that 21 year old, unmarried Jennifer refused to name the father. It was only after the birth that he was revealed to be Phil’s dairyman,. Paddy Redmond. Maybe the scriptwriters will develop past events retrospectively.
ReplyDeleteWhen Adam realises what Jennifer is up to he will most likely fall out with her in which case she will lose out on her grandson anyway (for awhile at least!) In any case what on earth does Jennifer think she can do the law is the law and even she will have to wait for it to take its course.
ReplyDeleteHelen came over supportive with Ian tonight without irritating me for once, although I always have to smile when Pip and Helen talk of motherhood as neither have experience of managing it without Hugh in house support and would no doubt find it a completely different kettle of fish if they did!
Tracey managed to annoy Russ so good for her 😂 at this rate she may well be head hunted by LL for her fresh approach to increasing visitor footfall at upmarket establishments 😮
Carolyn 7:45 pm,I hope the next storyline will one involving Lily and Russ because to me it is pretty obvious that Lily is getting sick and fed up with his rudeness.
ReplyDeleteRuss would have been paid pretty well as the Deputy of a College.
He is only going to be getting a fraction of the Salary he got as a teacher .
What about his pension?
Does he intend to sponge on Elizabeth until Freddie takes over and then presumably having married Lily he will be in the right place at the right time.?
On the other hand as Lily mentioned ,what was he doing about the divorce?
Does he actually wan t one?
Is he actually still married?
Why has his wife not sued him for desertion?
Yes I hope this is the next storyline especially if Tracey can be involved in some way.
We need a bit of light hearted humour
We don”t hear anything about her children.
Does anybody know their ages?
You will have noticed that it was Russ doing all the cooking, rather like Jill at Brookfield.
DeleteAnd a good cook too it seems, as the others enjoyed the meal.🥘🍜
DeleteLoved the scenes at Lower Loxley - Tracy was a real breath of fresh air there and Lizzy and Lily seemed to find her an amusing guest.
ReplyDeleteRuss, on the other hand, sells to have turned into an even bigger snob than before and I hope Lily soon gives him his marching orders.
As for Jennifer, I think she is either heading for a huge breakdown or is going to do something so stupid that she will alienate Adam and Ian forever. She is becoming quite paranoid about Lexi (Sorry if thats not quite the right terminology Stasia) and needs someone to calm her down and send her off on holiday for a few weeks!
Funny conversation with Tracy with Russ rude - haven't heard from him in a while. Lily actually asked Russ about his divorce. I wonder if she's having second thoughts about him. It sounded that way.
ReplyDeleteJennifer needs to shut up and go away.
Unfortunately slimy Russ is back, I hope 🤞 Lily sees what twerp he and sends him packing.
ReplyDeleteTracy said about Russ's cooking that he would make a good wife and he replied that it had many undertones, still if he was free she also said she'd consider him!
ReplyDeleteArcherphile 10.40pm.
ReplyDeleteJenifer does appear to have an irrational distrust and fear about Lexie not leaving Ambridge, also her fear that the baby will be taken away from Adam and Ian. These thought processes are making her sound demented and her agitation and anxiety about Lexie are fast becoming a delusional fixation. If these suspicious thoughts are not based on any current reality then they could be located in the past, did someone try to take Adam away from her when she gave birth? All paranoia has a basis in reality but it’s how the individual interprets that reality that suggests she/ he might be paranoid.
For example, I had a patient who was convinced that MI5 were spying 🕵🏻♀️ on her, and when asked how they might be doing this, she claimed that they were using driving schools. . In fact a driving school was using the Cul-de-Sac outside her house to teach three point turns. This meant cars were sitting there for long periods.
I would suggest Jenifer is paranoid, but what has triggered that we might never know.
It was Russ who made a reference to Tracy and an old rich man, she is divorced and Oliver a widower. Russ is still married and found work thanks to his girlfriend's mother who offered him a job on an estate owned by her.
ReplyDeleteIf Russ left Lower Loxley, Elizabeth would have to employ someone to do. the cooking that she and Lily don’t seem to have the time or inclination to do.
ReplyDelete