The Archers #96: Is that a rat I smell or the whiff of Snell? In Chaucer’s famous Tale of Two Torsos, Brian’s ‘still got it’ and Poldark is searching for scything opportunities in Susan’s kitchen.

[NotdeadyetBOING]

Welcome..... I'd concocted a longer title with all sorts of references to bitch stitching and pasta bakes, but was thwarted by the pesky character limit

I wonder if we are actually going to meet these new owners. Perhaps they will just be silent characters who are referrred to by the trouble they cause. Mess, noise, not fitting in to the village. Then they disappear suddenely when they realise rural life is not for them leaving the place free again for the Aldridges who have had a sudden turn around financially.

Maybe the new owners just intend to use the house as a sort of corporate hospitality venue, hence their anxiety for completion before New Year's Eve.

I knew that I would get called harsh. JD has seen this coming and hasn't done much in the way of preparing for the future. She could have got a job working for the new Shoot caterers or similar. But instead she has just sat there wringing her hands. She is probably in denial: there still seems to be money for school fees, jewellery and fancy restaurants* so perhaps she hasn't fully taken on board their financial situation.

• I didn't get that storyline about Brian springing the Fin du Monde booking on JD on Christmas Eve. She (the hostess with the mostest, remember) will have organised the shopping and preparation of food long ago. She would not be impressed with any last minute change of plan like that.

If anyone is in denial it’s Brian. Jenny has pushed this through even though she’s the one who is being hurt the most.

Presumably the school fees etc are a few thousand while the clean up etc is costing hundreds of thousands. They will still have income from the farm and Brian’s business interests.

How long before we see Jenny’s beloved kitchen in a skip?

Not very long, I'll bet. We once had next-door neighbours (in a very ordinary London terrace, I hasten to add, not a lovely old country house) who ripped out the kitchen in their house as soon as they moved in. Ditto the bathroom.

Then re-ripped out both in the shortish time they lived there because, presumably, they just fancied a change and didn't think it mattered that their own previous choices worked perfectly well and hadn't even had time to get outdated.

If the mysterious Gills have so much money - and have already complained that JD's kitchen isn't up to scratch - I reckon it's a dead cert that she'll see it being junked and be heartbroken.

Although I think Jenny possibly needs counselling to help her stop measuring her self worth by the size of her kitchen and the number of appliances she has

Its her workplace from which she looks after the family - its a symbol, she can no longer do the job which defined her life through no fault of her own. I think she is allowed the odd emotional outburst after losing something she cared deeply about because of more of Brian's fecklessness.

I'm afraid that I don't have much sympathy for JD. She was happy to live her life on Brian's money when things were going well (i.e. never bothered to maintain her own earning power) so she can live her life on Brian's absence-of-money too.

Massively unfair. Jenny is typical of most corporate wives who run hearth and home and a chunk of the business for their "too busy" husbands. The partners of corporate spouses could not achieve what they do without those spouses manning the home front. That was her job, including running the business when Brian was ill.

She could have got a job working for the new Shoot caterers or similar.

Because companies are falling over themselves to employ 70yr old women in physically demanding jobs on zero hours contracts.

This downfall was entirely down to Brian's dishonesty, no Jenny's complacency.

I just don't think this storyline has anything to do with JD not having/getting a job R4. Brian needs to raise hundreds of thousands to pay his fine - not the sort of money that can be raised by doing a bit of catering or getting a job in the chicken factory. He wanted to sell land, Jenny insisted on the house instead. For some inexplicable reason they/she chose to put Kate's feelings first - their ruined daughter who is now nowhere to be seen. I'm really curious about who has move into Home Farm - the SW have gone to extreme lengths to remove all non-Archer related families from the scene so it seems a bit if they are about to move in a new set of characters à la EastEnders to put the cat among the pigeons.

Shall I go back to one of my favourite subjects: finances in Ambridge families, and how they seem to live in a different universe from the rest of us where money stretches in unfathomable ways.
Ruairi said something the other day about one of his teachers discussing A Level subjects with him. Surely he will be going somewhere else cheaper, if not free for sixth form.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if now that R has found his voice he wasn't moved to Borchester College.

For some inexplicable reason they/she chose to put Kate's feelings first - their ruined daughter who is now nowhere to be seen

I think it was because of what Kate said about the business helping her rebuild the relationship with her own children. And the farm meeting where Ruth, Kate, Debbie and Adam all said it was the logical thing to do to save the farm without selling land, because it was only a house. Debbie also lobbied for Kate separately, Adam wouldn't agree to selling of any other parcels of land.

Its consistent with Jenny to put her children and family peace and potential inheritance first, however much it costs her.

I've never understood the Jenny hate on most TA discussion groups. She can be a bit silly and snobby at times about trivial but fundamentally she is hard working, self sacrificing and far better than Brian or her children deserve.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if now that R has found his voice he wasn't moved to Borchester College.

Yes I've been wondering that. Alice made that change and it seems pointless reintroducing him now just to disappear again. It would need to be a R driven choice though - I suspect Brian would sell Jenny's earrings before her let R leave Sherbourne.

Gill is not exclusively a Sikh name. I fee, possibly cynically, that the SWs are unlikely to introduce a family who are both loathsome and from an ethnic minority. One or the other, and on the basis of their selfish party behaviour so far my money's on the former.

Because companies are falling over themselves to employ 70yr old women in physically demanding jobs on zero hours contracts.
JD lives in the world of 'contacts' not 'zero hour contracts'. What was the point of being Schmoozer In Chief if she can't call in some favours now?
Lilian picked herself up off the floor, so JD can too.

I wonder if the Gills are going to be the “filthy rich neighbours from hell” types, and if their money comes from something illegal/immoral.

Once Brian has paid his fine and done a bit of time in an open prison why can’t they build a new house somewhere on Home Farm land.

JD lives in the world of 'contacts' not 'zero hour contracts'. What was the point of being Schmoozer In Chief if she can't call in some favours now?

Oh come on, I can see some somewhat foot shuffly conversations where Brian is asked to explain to Jenny. She is a 70 yr old woman (or late 60s I can't remember) whose life experience is generally valued at 0 on the jobs market.

If she had seed money should could use those contacts to possibly start up private catering but that would be long hours and investment without bringing in a return for a long time.

Lillian wasn't in a comparable position (financially).

Once Brian has paid his fine and done a bit of time in an open prison why can’t they build a new house somewhere on Home Farm land.

Yes I don't understand why that wasn't even considered. They could even build a an eco home on Spiritual Home land which was already land no good for anything else (which is why I never could see why it was suddenly so fantastically valuable to the farm)

why can’t they build a new house somewhere on Home Farm land.
It would make sense for Adam and Ian to build the house. As the farmer of the land, Adam would have an easier time getting planning permission and they could build a family-sized home (on the assumption that Lexi does her bit). Brian and JD could move into Honeysuckle.

Perhaps the house has been bought for rental as an Airbnb party house?

Surely it should be Brian who gets a job at the chicken factory or the bull , he messed up after all.

AirBnB! I like it. Yes, Gill can be a Sikh or non-Sikh name.
I am not impressed with any of the Home Farm SL but I like Ruairi.

I have always tended to find JD quite irritating, but she has gone up in my esteem considerably of late. Putting others before herself - and not in a martyrish way. She has my sympathy.

How old is Brian? It seems unlikely he’d find it easy to get a job, although Oliver has just started at the Bull so it isn’t impossible. Being paid minimum wage wouldn’t make any difference to their/the business’s finances, I assume farmers don’t need/can’t afford consultants.

Loving the thought of Brine working in the chicken factory.

but I like Ruairi

If you take away the veneer of public school charm then so far he has been a manipulative, two faced little liar who thinks laws are for other people.

I'm not sure if he is being set up to be the next Matt, Brian or Nelson Gabriel.

Loving the thought of Brine working in the chicken factory

Yes me too - on the line in between Emma and Lexi