Archers thread #113: Who’ll find some Magic Time this Christmas in Ambridge? Share the glad tidings (and bad writing) in The Archers! Election-free zone so far ...

[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 Hannah 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 @SurpriseSparDay for the title. I haven't heard 12/12 yet so must catch up now, seeking relief from the outside world.

My bill for TA thread usage of the trademark Spoonerism of the word "bollocks" is pending.

Merry Christmas Everyone! It's funny but I would like both and Pat and Joy so much more if they were to form a close friendship where they supported and enriched each other's lives. Probably too much to hope for, but I do.

I can't recall anything about Joy that showed she's interested in helping other people.

How can you have forgotten her enrolling all the pets of Ambridge to find Hilda and send her home to Peggy?

Whaaaaaaat?

Komedy gold

Two quick predictions:

Oliver will end up living at Grange Farm with the Grundys (sort of a replacement for Joe)

Pat will mull over Tom's outburst and start wondering exactly where Tony was on their anniversary.

Well, I interrupted my enjoyment of The West Highland Railway (slow tv at its best) to endure that beau de lollox. Wish I hadn't bothered #humbug

I quite enjoyed it. We had Batasha, Helen happy for once, and some drama.

Oh dear. Rather than work through the ramifications of the economics of renting and a change of place, the Magic Housing Fairy strikes again.
it spoiled my morning cuppa and I'll have to take the dog for a walk to recover my composure.

How can you have forgotten her enrolling all the pets of Ambridge to find Hilda and send her home to Peggy?

Well yes but that was pure QBL.

Tom is back to idiot mode. I'm sure he's right re Joy. Even if Joy's motive wasn't enticing Tony away it is definitely to inveigle her way in so that Tony will be constantly helping her out/ spending time with her.
She was insufferable in even the short time we heard her.

When I say back to idiot mode I was referring to his timing tonight. Terrible, terrible timing.

Magic Housing Fairy strikes again. Yup. Much as I want them to stay there it’s hard to avoid the feeling that the Editor/SWs Just Can’t Be Bothered to think through any realistic house move for them.

And Tom Is Still Right. It works to Evil Joy’s advantage that the Bridge Farm Archers will all now be falling over themselves to be extra-welcoming to her. And Pat will throw herself into Cool Wife mode just to prove whatever.

Pat and Tony’s marriage will be taken to the brink of collapse. The brink, I tell you ...

** Does it really matter about the invoice? Isn't it a way to show that it wasn't someone connected to Josh driving through vehicle?

when a document was created on a computer?

Well, you can check what date the computer was set to. If you wanted it to appear to have been longer ago than it actually happened, it's child's play to change the computers date and time setting and then create the document.

Do yourself a favour and set the time back again , though.

If you printed it out it would just be a sheet of paper. I don’t know who sends invoices by paper nowadays but maybe the scriptwriters bill by post?

Well, I enjoyed it. Judging by MN on Christmas Day, a huge family fallout on Christmas Day is actually quite realistic. I liked Lee's and Helen's reaction to it. Bodes well for their future, and soppy old fool that I am, I'd like Helen to have a few quiet, unremarkable years for the sake of Henry and Jack.

Re Housing Fairy - why didn't she swing into action before Joe died? Then he could have seen his days out at Grange Farm content in the knowledge that his family would completely undeservedly be there for the rest of their days.

Asking, thanks for correcting me on the birthdays. I knew I was bound to get that wrong if I relied in memory alone! I suppose I was remembering that it's always been a special family time for the Bridge Farm Archers that they've made a big deal of. I seem to recall that Rob prevented Helen and Henry from joining them one Christmas Eve, although there again I may be muddling up more than one thing ...

Yes, John died a long time ago now. Had I had the misfortune to lose a child, I don't think the pain would ever leave me, and times like Christmas with the huge focus on family would, I imagine, be especially difficult. (Thoughts to anyone on this thread who's been missing a loved one this year. )

Agree with all you say, Gasp0. (And yes, Rob was vile in keeping Helen away from Bridge Farm.)

But. What’s going to happen about No 1 The Green? Johnny and Hannah have already moved out, haven’t they? The SWs invented a tiny snag that prevented the Grundys moving in a little while ago. But I’m sure that’s fixed.

So ... Will and Poppy living at Grange Farm with his parents works well; there’s no reason for him to move. Ed? Don’t know. He won’t care where he lives unless he’s with his wife and child/stepchild. He probably won’t move either.

Unless Will gives him that house and Ed n Emma are reconciled.

Of course, Neil and Susan might eventually decide to downsize - particularly if/when Neil retires. Christopher and Alice are better placed to buy a different house if they want to - so perhaps Emma ... ?

Do people give away their only house, in the experience of anyone on this board? I have never heard of it happening, and I bet the editorial team of TA can't point to such a case either.

I think Emma and the kids should move in there, with Ed possibly joining them later. Emma would then have a house that she doesn't have to share with parents/in-laws, she'll be able to decorate it how she wants, and will have a secure tenancy.

I did like the scene with Lee and Helen. You could just imagine it, them sitting on the sofa in shock, and then saying what they did, when everyone else had left the room.
I don't think I've ever heard Helen laughing before!

Unless Willgiveshim that house and Ed n Emma are reconciled

That would be madness and very unfair on George and Poppy. Will could let them rent it.

Johnny and Hannah have already moved out, haven’t they?

Batasha and Tom could move back out of pokey flat and constant scrutiny of Radio Carter?

Agree the very brief Helen and Lee scene was good and believable.

Agreed it must be very rare for a wealthy person to grant an open-ended tenancy at a rent well below market rates to people who aren't blood relations.

However:

• Oliver has another home, at Grey Gables
• He appears to have very little contact with his blood relations (like everyone else in Ambridge who grew up elsewhere)
• He's very close to the Grundy clan and Ed in particular, and they were extremely kind to him when Caroline died (and she was close to them too - William's godmother)
• He doesn't need the money from a full market rate rent

I can overlook this one piece of absurdity as long as there are some slightly more realistic consequences for Will's house on The Green.

I really enjoyed Natasha’s rôle in the Christmas shenanigans. She was the voice of reason.

it's child's play to change the computers date and time Do all the documents change their data and time of creation to fit the new time frame? Or do they stick with the original time frame?

Do all the documents change their data and time of creation to fit the new time frame? Or do they stick with the original time frame?
In effect you are time travelling. You go into the computer today and then tell the computer to reset the date to (say) a month ago. You create the invoice "today", as per usual, and do the necessary printing, saving, updating, etc. You then reset the computer date back to today-today. You don't mess with other documents because you will probably create a rift in the space time continuum
At least that was the way that you used to do it. It's probably a bit more tricky these days with 'saving to the cloud' i.e. using another computer's memory.

I'm not sure that the Tony and Joy thing has been put to bed (eek! wrong phrase!!). It's an old trope to have persons A & B being in an innocent relationship but, when they find out that they have been gossiped about, they have a bit of a revelation and only then have the relationship that was suspected all along. But the SW don't do old tropes, do they ...

R4 has just described my early twenties