Home Fires

Let's hope he trips and falls down the stairs when he's anticipating a night of conjugal bliss (!) with Pat. Although even with him out of the way I can't see how she can realistically be with her lover...

I remember reading something about children collecting conkers but I didn't know about the Maize. I do hope something happens to Bob I haven't disliked a TV baddie so much for a long time.

I tried googling it, but could find nothing about maize as a crop in England in the 1940s,

Well, who knew, thank you merlotgran

We shouted, 'Noooooooo' when we saw the maize crop so I googled it.

Apparently, it was used in the manufacture of cordite. They also collected conkers for the same reason.

Who knew?

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/makhist10_prog3d.shtml

We commented on the maize too.
I sooo want to slap Bob.
NO SPOILERS but we knew what the outcome would be for the factory didn't we.

There are a couple of types of maize and I don't think the one we eat is the same variety as that used for animal feed and flour etc. A farmer's wife told me that type could only be cooked and eaten when very young or it was too hard.

I said to OH about the maize - I don't remember knowing about the existence of it till after the war. But did we feed the animals then on so much cereal?

Yes, I thought the same thing Deedaa. Didn't it look manky compared to what we see in the supermarkets now?

Watching last night's episode I did wonder if we were actually growing much Maize in the 1940s? If we did it was surely for animal feed, I remember sweetcorn being something my father talked about after spending part of the war in the US. Along with Coca Cola and hot dogs which were strange and exotic treats.

I wondered about the mouth to mouth, but when I googled it I read that blowing air into the lungs had been known about for hundreds of years. Whether anyone would have done it in the 1940s is something else.

The hair styles and the clothes were aging. But then in those days you went straight from school to looking like a thirty five year old with nothing in between.

It's all going to end in tears (let's hope it will be Bob in tears or worse)

Is it just me, but were the hairstyles awful and ageing in those days?

It's not just you gillybob!! I wouldn't refuse the back of the 1/9d's with him!! I know, first it's the Archers, and now it's Pat being the cause of anxiety!! As has been said, it's so much easier to separate these days with more help and understanding. In those days it was virtually impossible. Even if the affair went well, after the war Marek is bound to be sent back to Czechoslovakia, straight into the arms of Stalin. He can never marry Pat as Bob would never give her a divorce even on a good day!!! More worry ahead I fear!!!!!

Me too nigglynellie (a simple soul that is ).

I think situations such as Pat have always existed. Poor put upon (beaten) wife with a tyrant of a husband she is stuck with. Much easier for a woman to get away these days.

Is it just me or is that Czech guy (Marek) quite desirable?

I do hope we're not going to get any more dramas highlighting domestic abuse.

I haven't had time to recover from The Archers on a Sunday night before Home Fires has me worried about Pat.

'is' not i.e. !!!!!!

I think Pats husband i.e. a typical fireside tyrant. I can't quite see how else Pat could behave in those days in this situation as she can't leave, where would she go? In 1940 she'd have been the subject of gossip, and Bob the injured party. I think Bob is going to use more subtle methods of ruining her relationship with Marek (spelling?) Marek speaks fluent German, maybe some mischief can be orchestrated by this if Bob finds out?! He won't kick Pat out of the house as he he needs a slave, but he'll find some way to destroy her life. I love it, but then I'm a simple soul!!!!

I find Pat really annoying and her husband is a sort of pantomime bad guy. Not convinced by that storyline at all.

Another one here who's hoping for a happy ending for Pat! I think she's possibly starting to stand up to Bob a bit more though - perhaps meeting her Czech lover has given her more confidence, a greater feeling of self-worth. I do hope that's the way the story line is going!

Glad to see you've ordered the first series Parsleywin. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

And the doctor commented at the end of the First Aid training session that he would be teaching mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at the next session. This wasn't used until at least 1960.
I do like the series, though.

I'm really not enjoying this series as much. Don't know quite why but I just don't warm to any of the characters.

Please please can there be a happy ending for Pat.

It's on ITV, isn't it?
I missed two episodes and their catch-up is hopeless, so I have had to try and pick it up.

The Navy can have beards, the RAF would have gone for a moustache, they weren't allowed beards (and still aren't as far as I know). Sorry to be pedantic but they really should get these things right (DH is ex Navy.)

You're right, rubysong; we have an ex RAF friend (in his 80s) who still has his moustache and DH (ex RN) had a 'full set' and still would if I let him.
The Army are allowed beards only if: they are Sikh, if they are Special Forces or Commando. They are allowed a moustache.

Love this series. It seems very reminiscent of my mother's war time stories.

I'm beginning to fear for Pat, Bob will stop at nothing to discredit her, and I can't see any good coming out of her affair . Little boy isn't going to disappear over night and there's something funny about the WI chairlady's husband! I'm so glad this series is back!!!!!!

He didn't have the beard in the first series did he? My father came home from the RAF to get married having grown a moustache. My mother told him that if he turned up at the church with the moustache she would walk straight out. It wasn't till after the wedding that she realised she'd been so nervous that she hadn't noticed whether he'd shaved it off (He had )