💥 Archers thread #119: Has the Bull reopened? Will Ambridge pull through? We’ve all dozed off and haven't a clue. Moan about the monologues 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 think we should have monologues all the time from now on, 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/3853783--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-5-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here, 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 PPE on the last thread for the title suggestion, which I tweaked a bit.

As for the current state of affairs: here's how it could have been done. www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRSVdfQWAjNhNu1AtABYjw Nigel Pargetter returns, albeit in spectral form. I loved these.

I don't love the current set up. Very, very hit and miss for me - but I am too much of an addict to give it up. Looking for a silver lining, maybe the rather clunky trot through the Aldridge family tree last night was helpful to newer listeners. It is rather convoluted. In 12.5 minutes they managed to explain that Adam and Debbie are Jennifer's children by different fathers, that Debbie's father Roger Travers-Macy adopted Adam, that after he and Jenny divorced she married Brian and that he (secretly) loves Adam and not nearly so secretly adores Debbie. I don't think they explicitly stated that Kate and Alice are Brian's children with Jenny, but they did manage to squeeze in a mention of Siobhan and Ruairi, and explain that Xander is Adam's son by a surrogate and has no genetic connection to either Brian or Xander's other father Ian. Phew!

So ... Thinking of Emma and the Tea Room, after all our (my) speculation, it seems Joe really didn't leave any secret stash that might transform a Grundy life.

Seriously disappointed ...

@SparklingLime, I do hope not! < not envy

I wonder how feasible the business is without Emma - she seems to be the one who does most of the baking, but that could just be a wrong impression.

Was she furloughed when the tea shop was closed?

@MereDintofPandiculation

Was she furloughed when the tea shop was closed?

Didn't they both carry on baking and doing deliveries? Emma seemed to be very busy.

Helen isn’t obliged to keep the rent low, because it will mean her tenant will have to fire her friend

Indeed she isn't; but which is better: half the rent Fallon was paying in better days, or no rent at all? That is Helen's choice at present. Nobody else is going to be starting a business at the end of a cart-track off a lane some distance from a small village, in the present climate.

So Helen is exchanging some rent for no rent, a classic example of Bridge Farm business practice.

Helen should be working with Fallon, and Natasha should mind her own business

Yes it seems that they were extremely busy with home deliveries and Bridge Fresh orders, as were any of the bakers I know who decided to do any sort of delivery or postal service during lockdown, so that's realistic.

... which makes it feel very unrealistic that suddenly Emma has to be let go. Fallon will never be able to do that level of orders on her own

Mystic Perm predicts that Fallon will make Emma redundant, they'll fall out, Fallon will immediately realise she can't do without Emma and try to get her back part time... Emma will be too proud and will take on more shifts at the chicken factory instead, hating every minute. MeAnEd will row, an Ed will end up embroiled in dodgy shit again and lose his job at home farm for good

Please no @Permastress not all that again.

Nah ... I really would have to stop listening if they repeated all that, PermaStress.

Did anyone else hear the sound of Emma doing up a zip last night as she redressed? It was very well done but left little to the imagination! I can’t decide if it might have been a sound-effect too far!

Yes, the whole tea shop thing doesn't make sense. As Asking says, surely half rent is better than no rent, and if Fallon sacks Emma, she won't be able to run the tea shop on her own, as well as doing the online orders and delivering them.

I'm trying to work out why Helen and Natasha haven't seen this.

Because Plot, is the only explanation I can come up with. They have something or other planned, and are going about getting to it in a totally unrealistic way.

Helen's cheese didn't do too well over lockdown I believe but they didn't pursue this storyline. I don't know why she didn't either furlough Emma if their income has dipped so much or that actually they aren't in as much trouble as they've been busy. Storyline doesn't add up quite. Also, no one else seems to have been furloughed so not very topical.

I don't know why Fallon doesn't reduce Emma's hours with the promise of increase once back up and running.

Fallon will not be able to run the tearoom single--handed; that's why she ought not to reduce Emma's hours or "let her go".

Even the "delivery" tea-room seems to rely on Emma both making and delivering the goods they are selling.

Fallon will not be able to run the tearoom single--handed; that's why she ought not to reduce Emma's hours or "let her go".

But she is right to consider both options, even if they're quickly rejected, because no idea should be off the table. We just know it's not likely to result in her saying, "we'll, obviously I can't run the place single-handed, but we need more income if the rent's going back up, so how shall we do it? Oh, Emma, that idea of yours is great! Why didn't we do it before?" No, it'll be, "I just can't afford it." And Emma will go, and Fallon will end up collapsing trying to make it work.

Ah yes, like Ruth's wonderful idea to get rid of the entire dairy herd which had been being carefully bred to suit Brookfield for longer than Ruth had been alive, and replace them a couple of months later with uncertified cows which turned out top be diseased and infected half the cows in Ambridge, costing a large amount to compensate the other herds' owners. Or like Tom's decision that he didn't like milking so the dairy herd at Bridge Farm had to go -- those weren't replaced for a couple of years, but they ended up being replaced at great expense.

I really enjoyed last nights episode. So sad to hear Lynda feeling so down but lovely to hear Robert's love for her. I also enjoyed the subtle references to Ed and Emma's quickie - I wish I had a MIL so close who could conveniently keep the kids a bit longer.

This is one of those nights when the radio is in severe danger of flying through the closed window ...

Hello you lot!

I've just caught up in a binge of 2 films and this week's episodes. But have not quite caught up with the thread. I usually listen from my speaker or the radio, but have now got headphones.

If you have headphones, do try listening to TA through them. The sound effects sound superb - the Am flowing by, even cars passing in the background, and it felt like I was right in the tractor cab when Ed was hauling grain. It did mean my attention wasn't totally on the monologues though

and replace them a couple of months later with uncertified cows which turned out top be diseased and infected half the cows in Ambridge, costing a large amount to compensate the other herds' owners

To be fair, it was David who screwed up the paperwork and GoldenPip who failed to fix the fencing. It was fully a family enterprise

I assumed Emma wasn't furloughed as they were so busy.

But that makes no sense in terms of the income. If they are both fully occupied baking and delivering then their operating costs should be a lot lower with more money coming in and Fallon should be able to pay the rent.

To be absolutely fair, it is Ruth's herd (the old one was as well) and Ruth is in charge of it, and she should have done her own paperwork! David is in charge of the beef cattle; Ruth is the dairy czarina.

Ruth is in charge of it, and she should have done her own paperwork

Probably but if DH had said "I'll do that" and then hadn't done it when it was so critical I'd have been pretty unimpressed.

I can understand changing the breed to better suit modern dairy farming and breeding cyclese. I never quite grasped why it had to be so all or nothing (rather like getting shot of the herd at Bridge Farm). I'd vaguely imagined a small trial for a year or something first before the big investment.

Mind you I find most of the business economics in Ambridge seem to be in the Twilight Zone.