nineveh_uk: Illustration that looks like Harriet Vane (Default)
nineveh_uk ([personal profile] nineveh_uk) wrote2006-10-16 02:59 pm

Country Matters

After listening to last night's episode of The Archers there is only thing to say:

“OOoohh NOooo!”

[identity profile] dolorous-ett.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I read the summary this morning. As a result, I will take GREAT care that I don't go anywhere where I might accidentally hear any of the repeats - just don't have the stomach.

Strangely, judging by the summaries, I don't think this will run and run - no landowning Archer will ever be allowed to divorce. Or more accurately, the Powers that Dwell Beneath the Earth with which the clan of Archer have long been in alliance will come to David's aid and keep Ruth bound to the land with many chains (and if he's too oblivious to realise what's going on, then expect Jill to get out her casseroles and ingredients and do a bit of summoning and trafficking of unseen powers on her own account!)

[identity profile] bookwormsarah.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 02:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Twas exactly my reaction and I texted Jo with those very same words...

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, and I know this is rare for The Archers, it was rather good. No horror-in-the-shower scenes. Though I fear it's all just going to end in reconciliation.

Had forgotten that the PtWBtE would doubtless have a hand in this - can their evil be denied?

On another subject entirely

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Can you or Jo remember which teacher, in which Chalet book, goes to teh Prefect's party as "Whose Body"?

Re: On another subject entirely

[identity profile] bookwormsarah.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Peggy Burnett, In Shocks. Nope, didn't remember (at least I remembered it was in Shocks), but I have the transcript...

Re: On another subject entirely

[identity profile] bookwormsarah.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The obove should, of course, have read "didn't remember off the top of my head (at least..."
tree_and_leaf: Watercolour of barn owl perched on post. (Default)

[personal profile] tree_and_leaf 2006-10-16 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
You got there first!

Of course it won't last - though it will be interesting to see how Ruth behaves in the next couple of days: she seemed much less remorseful than David, who is chiefly guilty of being a complete and utter idiot. Well - and of insensitivity, but Ruth hasn't exactly been nice to him of late either, and that before Sophy came on the scene.†

† Though she does seem to have changed since her youth, as IIRC one of the problems between her and David the first time around was that she wouldn't consumate the relationship before marriage, and while she might plausibly have later come to regret that, the sudden switch to the 'nothing wrong with a spot of light-hearted adultery' viewpoint seems a bit of a stretch.

Also, Sam remains deeply creepy, though I almost feel a bit sorry for him, as he can kiss goodbye to his job, whatever happens.

Re: On another subject entirely

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Splendid - thanks!

Well, it was the obvious response.

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I suppose Ruth could be "justified" in that she thought David was having an affair when It Happened. I do wonder what David's going to say when he gets home.

I've rather enjoyed this story. David's obvious enjoyment of having his ego stroked (David, you're so handsome, David, you're so manly, yet caring and a wonderful father, David, let me watch you do some heavy lifting) has been a delight to hear. Ruth's cack-handed handling of things, Usha's sympathy, but missing any suggestion Ruth might question herself a bit just in case. I loved Sophy's quick volte face, No, no, I don't want to hurt your marriage. Alas, I do not remember her first time round.

Sam is very creepy (and how rose-coloured are Ruth's glasses that she thinks all's well with him and Kirsty?), but on the other hand, he is not Brian.

[identity profile] dolorous-ett.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sure David would have a go at denying them - using that special Scoffing Voice of his, no doubt.

Nonetheless, his life was sworn to them before he was born - and sooner or later they will come to reclaim what is rightfully theirs...

[identity profile] antisoppist.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I was waiting for "Oh Sam, what a solid lump of comfort you are..."
tree_and_leaf: Watercolour of barn owl perched on post. (Default)

Re: Well, it was the obvious response.

[personal profile] tree_and_leaf 2006-10-16 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I'm far to young to remember Soph, she said hastily, I'm just going onwhat my mother told me...

Re: Well, it was the obvious response.

[identity profile] antisoppist.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm (rather worryingly) not too young to remember her first time round and fear your mother might have slightly misled you, in that Sophie's refusal to consummate the relationship wasn't anything to do with moral scruples but because she had some kind of problem with the idea of sex at all. There was a conversation in which David accused her of acting like a frightened sheep whenever he came near her and she tearfully confessed that with a previous boyfriend they had "tried to be like all the other couples but never really could..." The mind boggles but it did leave them with unfinished business.

I was sure I had it on cassette somewhere but despite having spent the evening listening to a 1986 Sophie revealing Brian's affair with Caroline to Jennifer, haven't tracked that bit down yet.
tree_and_leaf: Watercolour of barn owl perched on post. (Default)

Re: Well, it was the obvious response.

[personal profile] tree_and_leaf 2006-10-16 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
That does make more sense - don't blame my mother, i expect I picked her up wrong...

Begging the question

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-17 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
of how David knows how frightened sheep react when he comes near them with nookie in mind.

Well...

[identity profile] wemyss.livejournal.com 2006-10-17 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
On the most recent re-broadcast of ISIHAC, regarding GCSE scores:
Two ‘A’s and a ‘B’ will get you a place at Oxbridge, two ‘C’s and a ‘D’ will get you a place at De Montfort Leicester, while an ‘E’, an ‘O’, and an ‘R’ will get you a part in ‘The Archers’….

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-17 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Except such a line would _surely_ not be followed by anything so unrestrained as kissing?

Given Ruth and David's approach to housework, your icon is strangely fitting...

Re: Well...

[identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com 2006-10-17 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Straight into the second year if you can do a realistic hack, cough and complaint about farmers' lung.

[identity profile] antisoppist.livejournal.com 2006-10-18 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
It's Antonia Forest. I don't have a Chalet one because I claim not to Do Chalet - it just seems to happen by osmosis.