Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, please put a penny in Joe Grundy's hat. Discuss The Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Ho ho ho! Will this thread last until Christmas?

Whoops. Sorry! Back when I was a silly girl too, I had a big crush on this arsehole who was only interested when he'd fucked me off and I wasn't talking to him. When I was keen, he couldn't care less. Thank god I'm too old now for those mind games but Toby seems just the same, interested only while he's in pursuit.

Can't you just imagine the responses to Pip's AIBU on MN when she asks if SWBU to give her boyfriend of a few months (who she only moved in out of petulance after she fell out with her gran and who risked getting her parents prosecuted) £5000 for an iffy gin venture. The words "cocklodger", "you must be mad" and "only if you want to wave goodbye to £5000" would feature heavily.

When she started talking about an investment in their mutual future and their first Christmas together, I suspect loud alarm bells started ringing in Toby's head - albeit that they were drowned out by the sound of a cash register.

Can Pip even afford to give him £5k ? (sorry my brains not fully functioning this morning) Surely she must owe money to various people

Investing £5k into a business started by someone who didn't even bother to do basic research sounds a great plan

As for Ruth and knowing the holly came from Brookfield - she has a really cavalier attitude to the farm which I guess springs from feeling like the outsider. I think she gets sadistic pleasure when David and Jill are tormented

Can't Pip get exiled to Hungary or Canada forever until she grows up?

She's living off her parents - how about using the £5k as a rental deposit and letting her parents rent the cottage out again rather than living for free

We don't know if she pays rent. I can't imagine the farm could afford to let her have it for nothing. Though I imagine Jill's pension and rent from glebe gets used to contribute to the household expenses. she never seems to have any holidays or treats.

That's true mummytime but it's often the 'arrivistes' who are the worst snobs . Julia was bloomin' dreadful !

I can't imagine the farm could afford to let her have it for nothing

Is this the same farm that let Hollowtree fall into disrepair?

Pip is tragic. Toby is a cocklodger. He'll be off when a better offer presents itself

My favourite bit last night (I just remembered) was when Susan and Ruth were talking about Marriage. Susan asked Ruth what she thought the secret of a happy marriage was, Ruth said "listening to your partner". And Susan was surprised! I loved that bit.

Susan asked Ruth what she thought the secret of a happy marriage was

I didn't understand that bit. I could understand a newly-married asking a long-time-married but why would one LTM ask another? And why would Susan ask Ruth - they are in no way close.

The Toby and the £5k thing is odd. Toby said that he had given up on the gin idea. Pip forced the money on him with emotional blackmail. So now he is backed into a corner and has to go through with it.
Someone should tell Pip: when you are in a hole, stop digging.

The listening to your partner thing was a device to resolve the dress storyline with a nice "Awww" bit when Neil said how lovely Susan looked.

Do Ruth and David listen to each other?

^ The Anti-Boop

I can't work out why Ruth would be baking mince pies. She's not interested in cooking, doesn't have time and would be the first to advocate buying stuff in.

Quite. Or does she have more time now they have robot cows.

I also wondered which mincemeat she was using - Jill's or shop-bought?

I thought Ruth was trying not to seem quite so useless compared to Jill. She used to try to make the kids Birthday cakes in the past too.

Actually Susan sounded quite realistic to me, they were talking about wedding anniversaries, and I've known people who would ask just that kind of "TV panel" question in RL.

And also Susan hasn't been listening to Neil, and doesn't tend to. She is one of those women who treat men like "big boys" etc.

I'm struggling to see much difference between the Pip/Toby thing and the early part of the Hell/Rob story.
She's cutting herself off from the family and handing over her money. He presents a different face to her Gran - all that business about not wanting to tell her but clearly panting to tell her that Granny told him to sling his hook - so he's manipulating her relationship with her family.
The only difference is that Toby seems to be a feckless buffoon while Rob came across as sinister quite early on.

Ref. making mince pies ,the most unusual people cook at Christmas and there is publicity from a chef who's making the "Easiest Mince Pies Ever" . I made some recently following his idea (though I do usually it's true!).

I can't imagine the farm could afford to let her have it for nothing

Quite a few farms still have tied housing if they have any workers left (rather than just outside contractors,) and as Pip's family, I can easily believe she's not paying rent.

Didn't they use to do holiday lets? That would be loss of income.

It's a long time since they did holiday let's, isn't it? Before Ed and Emma were in there, which was when Emma went to the food bank, before they moved into Neil and Susan's, before Grange Farm. So I don't think there's been any income from Rickyard since some time before ye Greate Ambridge Fludde of... 2015. Because that's when Pip first went in there, because Bert was also staying at Brookfield, and there was no room at the inn and Pip needed somewhere to shag Matthew, which was while Ruth was Christmassing in NZ.

I think Toby is opportunistic rather than actually scheming like Rob. He wasn't actually asking Pip for money, and he managed to resist it for a good 10 seconds.

Agree that the 'our first christmas together' will have rung his big anti-commitment siren!