Archers thread #112: Quelle beau de lollox! And yet we stick with it. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like Alf to stay around, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @DoctorTwo for the thread title! I was strongly tempted by R4's suggestion of Wildlife on Four: Jonneh is wild at Lily, Phoebe rewilds by Occam, Joy is in the wilderness and David is bewildered by a marriage proposal.

So we did make it past Joe's funeral at last. Are we heading for a Christmas octogenarian wedding now?

Poor Johnny. I hope this doesn't indicate the SWs have got bored with having created the one decent, pleasant new character in decades and intend to make him mean and nasty.

I hope this mention of Josh means Angus Imrie will be back soon. I think he does an excellent job with the character.

Any sane person who doesn't cook much but is faced with having to cook a big Christmas dinner at shortish notice for a large party would go off and get a lot of ready-made stuff that will just need heating through, or look for a last-minute booking at The Bull. However, as this is The Archers, I expect Shula will take charge in the Brookfield kitchen.

WheresThatCatGoneNow, Freddie has been heard to call her Lils.

go off and get a lot of ready-made stuff that will just need heating through
Clever thinking. Jill will be so horrified that she will never dare absent herself from the Brookfield kitchen again.

The Brookfield lot just need a trip to M&S.

I didn't understand what Bella said. She told Jonny he was needy, then said he was always inside himself. Those two statements seem contradictory. Also, being inside himself all the time, sounds like depression, but we haven't seen any evidence of that, have we? Why has he changed, he's not had anything traumatic to deal with? I've not noticed any difference in him. (Until now, he did sound very nasty at the end.)

I expect Shula will take charge in the Brookfield kitchen. Eiother that, or golden girl Pip will suddenly reveal herself to be a master cook [vomit].

I really hate what they're done to Johnny. It wiped out my delight as Jill started to explain her Christmas Day invitation and I realised the consequences, long before it hit David.

Motoko I suspect Johnny was getting serious about Bella quicker than she was getting serious about him. And she couldn't take the seriousness. Poor Johnny. Not only has he lost Bella (and won't yet see that it isn't a great loss) but he'll have had his confidence in his judgement dented, and will be scared about showing a future girlfriend how much he cares.

Just a little thought... Joy and Roy? Wouldn't the SW's find that oh-so-hilarious?

We had Phil and Jill.
Wasn't there a Larry Lovett, he could have a fling with Clarrie, or was he gay?
He who must not be named could come back and shack up with Carol...

We are supposed to support Pip and think she is always right
That's working out well

Mere probably, and saying he was needy would explain that, but also saying he was always in his head and no longer fun, sounded like she was describing someone with depression, which didn't sound like Jonny.

Anyway, the repeat's on now, so I'll have another listen.

Any sane person who doesn't cook much but is faced with having to cook a big Christmas dinner at shortish notice for a large party

There are only 5 of them- all adults. How difficult is that?

With any luck the Bridge Farm Christmas will be a roaring success and they'll tell Jill she's never cooking on Christmas Day again.

Motoko I reckon that Johnny wasn't being nasty, he had fallen heavily for bella and she didn't feel the same. I remember a few young men becoming serious too quickly when I was too young to realise . Quite an average ocurrence.

Compare and contrast Leonard and Jill. Maturity gives one a very different viewpoint.

The stir up pudding making was flagged before on R4 as a 'sound symphony' or something

It's usually a lot more at Brookfield than the people who live there.

David, Ruth, Pip, Rosie, Josh, Ben, Jill - Toby too? Rex? Can't remember whether Leonard went there last Christmas.
Elizabeth, Lily, Freddie often attend too, so I suppose Russ tags along now too. Poor old Lewis forgotten as usual.
Shula, Dan sometimes, in days of yore Alistair - Jim?
Kenton and Jolene will be busy at The Bull.
Christine has presumably spent her Christmas Days with Peggy recently.

All those extra people don't have to be there. There is no reason why Elizabeth can't have her lot and Shula at Lower Loxley and David, Ruth, Pip, Ben and Josh have their own lunch.

No, they don't have to be there, but you don't have to spend long on MN in the run up to Christmas to see that for a lot of families getting the entire extended clan together is a big part of what Christmas is about.

It wasn't how we did things at Christmas when I was growing up, and it isn't now, but I can understand why many people love that idea of having a huge feast for a lot of people.

It’s all about tradition though isn’t it and you only have to look at some of the Christmas threads on here starting in around March to see how inflexible some people are about arrangements (grown women who’ve only ever had Christmas at their parents’ house). Unbelievable - and that’s in real life (well MN real life).

Gaspode - we obviously read the same threads.

Yup! I read them largely out of nosiness. I like our cosy Christmas Day with just the four of us here, largely doing our own thing except when we come together to eat and then in the evening possibly all watching a Christmas special of something on the box. The idea of feeding 12 with half of them sitting on folding chairs round a pasting table gives me the heeby jeebies, to be honest, but I do admire those who take all that kind of thing in their stride.

There are only 5 of them- all adults. How difficult is that? It's not the number of people that's difficult, it's the number of items that all have to be ready and hot at the same time. Cooking turkey-and-all-the-trimmings for one person would be just as difficult!

Who currently farms the BL land that Phoebe has her eye on? Presumably if it was for let, then it would have been an obvious target for the rewilding group weeks ago.

From BLs point of view, they know that the money to rent it is there now, but how many years of rent will Peggy's money cover? Once that money has gone, then what? "Light grazing" isn't going to bring in much money.

how many years of rent will Peggy's money cover? and how long does rewilding take? Isn’t it only proper rewilding if you are doing it in the hope it will be in perpetuity? If it’s just for a few years and then the lease is up and everything gets abandoned, dug up and cut down again then what’s the point?

It's not the number of people that's difficult, it's the number of items that all have to be ready and hot at the same time. Cooking turkey-and-all-the-trimmings for one person would be just as difficult!

It really isn't that difficult.

It will be oov'n cheeps n peetsah at Brookfield. All from the supermarket off the by-pass.