🧚‍♀️ Archers thread #120: Magic time. Dialogue! Good Fairy Lilian made Lynda’s wish come true. Will Phil vanish in a puff of smoke? Join the Magic Circle in Alice’s shed, where time is never called!

[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 hear more about the Naughty Milkman, 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 @Roysnewshirt for the excellent title suggestion, which I tweaked a bit.

I wonder how much dialogue we're going to get in the coming weeks. They're back to normal recording, I believe, albeit socially distanced. Also, when will we get our Friday and Sunday episodes back? I know I'm not the only regular to miss TA a lot more on Friday than on Sunday. The Sunday episode is still an incomer, of course, having only been introduced some 20 years ago, of course.

(My parents retired to a village and some features of Ambridge life are very familiar from their experience, the 'incomer' label being one.)

I used to have two friends one of whom was a blacksmith who worked for British rail and the other of whom was a farrier, and they used to have the most amazing arguments about the proper treatment of metal -- but the blacksmith was afraid of horses!

@MikeUniformMike

Thanks Asking.

Sorry @MikeUniformMike did you feel I needed correcting in some way?!

CheetasOnFajitas, I suspect that calling a farrier a blacksmith is a bit like calling a barrister a solicitor: ever so slightly insulting to him.

Chris worked hard for that qualification for several years, after all.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

CheetasOnFajitas, I suspect that calling a farrier a blacksmith is a bit like calling a barrister a solicitor: ever so slightly insulting to him.

Chris worked hard for that qualification for several years, after all.

But I didn’t say that Chris was not a farrier. I am perfectly well aware of what a farrier is, having ridden horses all my life and listened to Chris’ entire career path throughout the Archers. I said he was a farrier AND a blacksmith.

Just like he could be a farrier and a gardener. Or a farrier and a kindergarten teacher. Or a farrier and a shop assistant. How was that not clear from my posts!?

I think it was LillianGish saying "she’s more rooted in Ambridge than ever married to the local blacksmith" that caused comment to be made. Farrier was mentioned later, by MUM in reply to that comment.

We have to stop this agreeing furiously....

Welcome, @DappledThings - lovely GMH reference there.

Welcome back, @Augustbreeze! I also feel very sorry for Kirsty, but the SWs are laying on the dramatic irony with a trowel at the moment. Just cut to the chase! We need to see those unfortunate young men rescued from their situation, and Philip and Gavin locked up.

PPE, if we carry on at this rate, we will indeed be needing a new title soon (maybe a fortnight? it rather depends on whether anything exciting happens), and that's a great title. I will bare bear it in mind!

Y'know how Harriet Vane says Peter had always been a bit funny about Donne? Around 17/18 I had an actual crush on Hopkins and devoured everything by and about him.

If anyone could have lead me to religion it would have been him - but even now, there's always a tension in reading anything of his; I'm there all the way, in every breath and image, but remain unpersuaded ...

(I imagine the SWs are, erm, champing at the bit to satisfy their frustrated pre-lockdown story plans. So we may get a speedy thread! ...)

I had to read Hopkins at university and absolutely loved his work. (And had no time for the entire "obviously gay" critics' schtick.)

But the result was a poem called Preservéd Bounty

Glory be to God for bottled things —
For pies all mustard-crusted in the pantry now;
For garlic copper-coloured from ginger and wine;
Well-seasoned onions in plaited strings;
Pâtés potted and spiced — boar, venison, cow;
And allspice, relish, piccalillis fine.

All eggs devilled, balsamical, cured, soused;
Whatever is pickled, preservéd (who cares how?)
With clove, sloe; sweet, sour; astringent, brine;
We muster forth from larders where they're housed:
Now dine.

(that was properly spaced when I typed it; you'll just have to imagine that the lines are indented to match the original.)

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime I wonder why he omits any mention of kefir???

I'd never heard of it in 2001!

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

I had to read Hopkins at university and absolutely loved his work. (And had no time for the entire "obviously gay" critics' schtick.)

But the result was a poem called Preservéd Bounty

Glory be to God for bottled things —
For pies all mustard-crusted in the pantry now;
For garlic copper-coloured from ginger and wine;
Well-seasoned onions in plaited strings;
Pâtés potted and spiced — boar, venison, cow;
And allspice, relish, piccalillis fine.

All eggs devilled, balsamical, cured, soused;
Whatever is pickled, preservéd (who cares how?)
With clove, sloe; sweet, sour; astringent, brine;
We muster forth from larders where they're housed:
Now dine.

Wonderful stuff!

That is impressive, Asking! Must have been enormous fun to write. Presumably you did extremely well in your degree.

Which reminds me - can someone remind me what class of degree Phoebe achieved?

2:1. The important thing was that I had a very good time indeed, not the degree I got at the end of it; I didn't need to use it for anything, so it was just for the joy of it. An expensive hobby.

Phoebe also got a 2:1.

Hey, I didn't just write them: I made them! Apart from venison pâté, which I swerved because of the cost of venison.

Lilian inadvertently gives Alice permission to carry on her (out of control) drinking whilst pregnant! It seems like the prospect of having to dry out was the only barrier to Alice accepting the idea of motherhood.

Where is this going to end??

Disaster, I should think. I wonder whether she'll tell Chris that she's been told it's fine to drink during pregnancy?

Lilian inadvertently gives Alice permission to carry on her (out of control) drinking whilst pregnant!

Lilian just wants to hang onto the perception that she is a cool aunt who knows how to live life on the edge. Cajoling her pregnant niece into having a drink - champagne/red wine/white spirit/anything - with her when she has refused one several times is irresponsible and serves solely to help justify her own drinking habit. She’s not so out of touch that she is unaware of the real reasons underpinning the ‘don’t drink when you’re pregnant’ message.

Lilian is always over-confident in her own opinions and then invariably bullies vulnerable others into following her advice. She is one of my least favourite people in Ambridge (along with Joelene and Eddie Grundy) and the very last person a confused Alice should have confided in.

Lilian is awful.

She is also a pretty terrible mother. I have it in my mind that she sent James away to school but also spoiled him.

Cajoling her pregnant niece into having a drink - champagne/red wine/white spirit/anything - with her when she has refused one several times is irresponsible and serves solely to help justify her own drinking habit

Its wrong and I'm sure it is partly justifying her own drinking but the degree to which women's bodies are policed in pregnancy these days is also ridiculous.

Why has Alice got such weird ideas about what motherhood entails. Does she not, at age 32, have any friends who have had babies?
I said that she should speak to someone. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong person.

She is another one not properly picking up on Alices distress. Cajoling her with ‘Jennifer and Susan will be over the moon’ ‘Chris must be delighted’ was just more pressure as a precursor to ‘have a drink’.

Why has Alice got such weird ideas about what motherhood entails. Does she not, at age 32, have any friends who have had babies?

She seemed more concerned that should wouldn't be any good at it. Everyone else will be over the moon just like Ian and Adam were with their baby and Alice is trapped pretending to be happy about a baby she doesn't want and managing a drink problem.

Oh, I missed a compare&contrast!
We have had a few conversations where Chris has tried to lure Alice away from some pressing farm matter but Alice has been conscientious and done the task. Farming is a bit like babies - there's no 'off' button, you have to do the right thing at the right time or face consequences, you try to manage but it's all down to Mother Nature.

She seemed more concerned that should wouldn't be any good at it.
Hmm, she may have a point. Is there any family in Ambridge that isn't dysfunctional?