He's behind you! Rob's not the messiah - he's a very naughty boy! Watch The Archers pantomime here.

[PseudoBadger]

Oh no he isn't! Oh yes he is!

And yes, I could spot the bits that wouldn't make it to the omnibus.

But each Friday ended with a "cliff-hanger" that turned out to be - nothing at all (as we discovered each Monday (twas the days before Sunday epi)

As I said, TA has always been a slight irritant, but I could forgive. Not any more.

Right, I'll shut up about lurkers after this. (Partly, because I've seen the word "lurk" so many times now, it's doing that thing where if you keep saying a word it loses its meaning ).

I count 41 people claiming to be (mainly) lurkers upthread. Thank you all for your contributions! More welcome, I'm sure.

Is Samantha expensive RNRN?

(I seem to recall there was some small fuss, did it involve legal fees?)

So how are the stats DadDadDad?

Wood - I pay £60 a load (the back of a pick up) but around here you can pay up to £110 a load for kiln-dried stuff from the local estate. £60 is cheap, and £80 is more usual.

I pay £80 for a load of logs that sees us just through the winter. We are talking an open fire once or twice a week. PIL spend more like £300 per year but their logburner is pretty much their only form of heating. Wood is expensive hence MIL can't walk past a skip without ferreting through it for cut offs.

Poor David has probs using his left hand and with Ruth away...

Another one delurking here!

I ve listened to TA ( and indeed Radio 4) all my life, it's a comforting sound from my childhood.

Thought the Hel / Knob storyline was brilliantly done at the start. Now it's so frustrating, Pat's lack of insight is completely unbelievable. I can't stop listening, even if I wanted to, daytime evenings at 7pm = The Archers. Thank goodness for all of your insights, makes the whole listening experience much more bearable...

And how, if you were a sad obsessive even in toddlerhood you could spot which of those chats had been excised from the omnibus to fit the time available. (though not in toddlerhood in my case!)
And also There was a point in my life when I often heard every episode during the week and the omnibus as well, and I'm afraid a large part of the reason for that was so I could check I was right!
I so identify with both of these statements - I truly feel I am among friends on this thread

Just saw your message RocknRoll. Life getting back to normal here - though there is an enormous shrine at the end of our street - Barak Obama was there last night laying a rose.

Another de-lurker here - been listening for about 20 years. Something that has been bothering me for a while (I think I must have missed an episode or two) that perhaps you wise MNers can clear up. What happened to Anthea (Matt and Lillian's secretary)? She would have seen all the money going off to Matt's account surely?

Love this thread. Don't really have anyone in RL who is as heavily invested in it as me so it's great to read what fellow followers think.

I'm one episode behind, but why, in the name of all that is holy, does David Archer require Pip (zero likelihood of admiring the custard served in Oxford halls, and oblivious to the posh boy dancing before her with a rugby shirt emblazoned "I am taking the piss" - not the sharpest scraper in the yard) to tell him that he will further antagonise his own wife and lose money if he hires a contract fucking milker. Eddie just walked out of the room. Crash bang as my 2 year old says when he's raging.

And Rickyards? Crash bang! Crash bang! Crash bang!

We are getting 2.5 m^3 of firewood delivered next week for £150. That is £5 cheaper than usual because we are only half mile from the woodyard!! We also scavenge quite a bit. All of our kindling is scavenged & any time the neighbour's fence panels are replaced.

... Toddlerhood was perhaps a bit of poetic license. From toddlerhood up is probably more accurate.

output Your two year old is wonderfully eloquent.

De-lurking to say hello. Listening for last 20+ years.
Not much to say right now as watching Universally Challenged whilst reading this thread.

How dare the scriptwriters say they take no notice of comments etc we are their audience < indignant>

(I ate lunch in an Oxford college dining hall a couple of weeks ago. The custard was freezing.)

However having grown up on Bird's powder and bought the chilled ready made stuff most of my adult life (only experiencing home made at the home of a former bf's grandparents who employed a cook) I suddenly felt the urge to make my own a few days ago. Google told me I needed the cornflower mouldering in a cupboard, I didn't weigh anything, just utilised a tiny amount of patience. Having completely failed to become a farmer's wife I assumed it would be a disaster. But it was perfect. I feel fooled. Making custard is easy.

Proper custard needs cornflour? I though it was just eggs, milk & vanilla!

The cornflower "stabilizes" the egg yolk apparently.

And gives the authentic Bird's taste and texture.

I was so impressed with myself.

Delia Smith suggests adding cornflour to custard made with eggs as a precaution. Bird's custard powder is largely cornflour with yellow colouring, as far as I can recall. I love all forms of custard but haven't made any for ages. The last time I needed some (for trifle) I bought it ready-made in a carton, I must admit. Jill would ostracise me for that, I'm sure.

Oh Birds is def cornflour-based

You can tell because it's a liquid but if you smack it it's solid

When I make Birds it always goes into lumps. I prefer foolproof (me bring the fool) Ambrosia in cartons these days

I don't know why they said that Jill shuns packet custard. As a Brummie lass, she would have been raised on Bird's - another fine Birmingham institution, nay, National Treasure. Not sure where it's made these days but it's not Digbeth any more.

They found reserves of naturally occurring custard under Wolverhampton city centre, and it's now brought up through a bore hole.

Good point R4 and for shame Jill. According to Wikipedia, production relocated to Banbury in the 60s.

Ah right so they were probably getting all their wood for the whole winter in one go? That makes more sense then, I thought it was like a week's supply or something. Thanks!