Lies and subterfuge in Ambridge - from a policeman? That's just not cricket! Discuss The Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Thank you R4 for the title.

The finances are completely baffling.

I don't understand the Grundy finances either.

Whatever Eddie's sins, I did enjoy him siding with Rex against Josh.

I wonder what George and Keira are getting for their birthdays from their Carter grandparents? I would have thought that Neil and Susan were in a position to improve the birthday situation. They are their only grandchildren and they seem to be fond grandparents.

Tesco Direct are selling two styles of 10ft trampoline (both with enclosures) for £100 and £130 respectively. I think Ed may be over-estimating the cost.

Maybe Em bought hers from John Lewis as a supreme act of defiance.

I'm glad someone is working in food processing factory. I've always found the lack of them in the archers, at least within my memory, puzzling. In my experience that's where anyone with a lack of any other immediate job prospects goes to work.

Three eight hour night shifts a week (I think she said 7-3?) will pay for quite a lot of trampolines. Even if the day shift is only minimum wage (and it might not be, they often have to pay a bit more because no one wants to chop up poultry) the night shift will be extra. They often lay on free transport as well just to get people in.

I hope she meets some some new people and gets a boost from making something of it.

I thought she said to midnight. Will have to LA.

I thought she said 7 to midnight, 3 nights a week. That still adds up to a significant amount, relatively, if they're as broke as they say they are.
Witch is it likely she'll have been given fixed hours or is zero hours more likely in that industry?
I don't think they have much entitlement to benefits. Joe's state pension and he might be claiming Attendance Allowance; they'll be getting Child Benefit. Working Tax Credit possibly, but Ed's varied earnings would complicate any claim. Not sure about Housing Benefit.

Might have misheard - 7-12 would be better because then you can still get most of a night's sleep, supplemented by napping, and do school run etc. In my, admittedly out of date, experience it's a mix of directly employed and agency staff, and the directly employed staff were not zero hours.

I thought she said 7 to midnight, 3 nights a week. That still adds up to a significant amount, relatively, if they're as broke as they say they are.

If she's doing 15 hours a week at NMW, that's still about £112 a week pre-tax. We'ré at the start of April. If she starts work this week, she could definitely be done by June, for a £200 deluxe trampoline, and whatever the soft play party costs. Ed doesn't seem to be giving her any credit for having worked it all out.

So. Jo has his pension. Clarrie works full time at the Dairy. Eddie works at the market and gets quite a lot of casual work. Ed is employed by Damara (?) and does cultivating and shearing and casual work. Emma cleans for Peggy, works in the Farm Shop and does catering with Fallon, gets child benefit and presumably some money for the children from Will. Presumably their rent isn't Rackman-like? Bartalby won't cost much to keep.What other livestock do they have? A few sheep? Anything else? Their cows got nicked along with the bunting and the charity money, didn't they? Oh, and there are the repayments on the tractor......

She starts on Monday, that much I did hear. So that's eight weeks before June, or 900 quid pre tax. I have no experience of soft play parties but I'd like to think she'd be on the way to saving for a holiday too!

The tragedy is that farming seems to cost the Grundy's money - as you say, stolen cattle, sheep which are bad doers. .

But I bet their rent is quite high.

Will contributes for George but not Kiera, and I'm not sure it will be a lot - one child and he has Poppy now.

I'd assumed the answer to the "why haven't the grundys got any money?" question is that Eddie and Joe have always eaten their heads off, come up with stupid schemes that cost money, but not actually gone and got a proper regular job because they can't get over the idea that they ought to be farmers.

Clarrie and Emma and Ed and Eddie all go to work but variable shifts so even Emma's two jobs probably only add up to 6 or 7 hours on a day when she does both. And Eddie rarely does a whole day and spends a lot of time drinking Shires. And never helps with the fucking bed making.

Even if their rent is high, they have four adults, all bringing in some income, five if Joe's pension goes into the pot. The rent isn't likely to be more than double what they'd pay if they were renting two properties as two families. Five adults and only two children. Will must be contributing something for George, even if it's not much. They have no childcare costs. Susan would intervene if she thought things were really bad.

Clarrie's income is a constant. Is she full time?

How much is Emma working at the moment? At a conservative estimate, 20 hours a week. Even on the National Minimum wage that would be £144 per week, with no childcare, or commuting costs. I get the impression she works more than that, though.

Joe's pension should be about £120 per week.

I don't think Emma works in the Farm Shop, but she's in the cafe with Fallon and seems to be at least a junior partner in Fallon's upthingying and catering business. Then there's the cleaning for Peggy and now the chicken factory. Poor woman.

She too grew up with a mother working hard at more than one job - did Susan ever work in The Bull? She was the secretary in the Estate Office at one time, and she was the receptionist at the GP surgery before Tim left the village and it closed. And she's had the Post Office and shop for years, and now a part-time job in the Bridge Farm dairy. However, somehow or other Neil and Susan have made far more money from their portfolio careers than Eddie and Clarrie have - probably because Neil is a much more successful businessman and farmer than Eddie or Joe could ever be, and not given to scams. Hence Neil and Susan now having a lovely self-built house of their own, and the Grundys living in a rented house that they can scarcely afford.

I'm not sure Clarrie's full-time in the dairy but I certainly think she works more hours there than Susan does. Did Susan replace the silent Colin?

Eddie and Joe always wanting to take the shortcut or get rich quick means that they have missed out on some slower and steadier ways of earning money.

Why isn't Eddie doing some chicken factory shifts too?

This isn't out of character for Ed at all, he hates her working. He is being particularly unpleasant this time though. I cannot WAIT for the Pipshit to hit the fan!

I'm not quite understanding the significance of Pip & the cow mixing lies. Ruth & David are most likely responsible for the IBR breakout anyway for buying the cows which had not been certified free of the infection, so if it spread from their farm by Pip's incompetence rather than any other method - so what? Why the big deal?

Although after tonight's episode I fear Pip's never going to 'fess up,

I suppose it's their second big mistake.

1. They bought uncertified cows.
2. They think Pip can do no wrong, and their judgement is way off there.

Really enjoyed all that yelling tonight. I hate rows in real life but love it on TA.

Poor Clarrie, though.

How many listeners were shouting SHUT UP RUTH at their radios then?

I think it's the first time I've felt the need to swear at the radio.

Ruth, STFU!

Actually I had some sympathy with Ruth's view that Bridge Farm hasn't always been perfect as far as disease is concerned. Though shouting it out like that was not a good idea.

The Grundys have probably spread the odd bug around as well.