🌱 Archers thread #131: A time to plant, a time to reap. 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 also have a few millions lying around you're not sure how to invest, or other unusual things.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the week night episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-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 and @Edmontine for title suggestions, and apologies to anyone I’ve missed or forgotten. In the end, inspired by Edmontine's idea and a brief discussion at the end of the last thread, I remembered that it's autumn now and the Ambridge farmers are presumably sowing barley, winter wheat, potatoes etc, so I found myself recollecting Ecclesiastes 3 (King James version) - my Church of Scotland upbringing has a lot to answer for. This led me back to one of my favourite numbers by The Byrds (written by Pete Seeger):

Roysnewshirt suggested Prayer cards, rehab, a glass of scotch, a bowl of chilli or even a dish of lasagne…we offer a range of solutions here to help you solve any Ambridge problem - large or small etc etc, which is as good a point as any to start this thread. Do we think Neil and Susan are solid again? Will Alice relapse? Will Shula confess all to the Bishop?

Reflecting on last night's offering, Edmontine said I’m musing on Baby steps … - but we need the culmination of Alice’s story this week. We have a new nurse in training, a possibly resigning midwife settling in Ambridge, Xander, Martha, Alice somewhere trying to find her feet sans grog, Shula trying to find her saintly feet sans Neil …B(ill)eth & Ben. Lots and lots of newness. Stir in Three’s blood and jam …

The blood and jam made me laugh. A lot. Just as well, as the storyline that line inspired is pants.

Over to you!

It would be simple enough to set up and control 3 new bank accounts, I'd have thought. I expect one of Victoria's friends could have magic'd up a few ID's to get them opened.

I had a quick Google to establish the date, but found the omnibus when the 3 slaves were chatting (around 14/18/22 minutes):

It sounds as if they had troubled family backgrounds, and probably weren't great with literacy and numeracy, but I'll be charitable and conclude that Blake has taken several bad knocks to the head since December.

Chelsea's only claim would be against her own mother, would it not?

The stuff about divorce and farms can't possibly be right, can it?

As for selling Home Farm, it'll be Brookfield all over again, won't it?

Farms are sold because of divorce, often. In the real world, that is. Probably not very often to liquidate half the value of a minor share, though.

Weev is right. Farmers don't tend to get divorced on a whim

Is Josh going to make a play for Ben's girlfriend?

Home Farm (and let's not forget all the money from the sale of the farmhouse that wasn't used to pay the Am compensation or to buy Jenny her new house) is divided into shares.

Asking will know chapter and verse, but let's say:
Adam
Debbie
Kate
Alice
Ruari
Brian and Jenny?

Alice's share presumably takes account of The Nest, Adam's will take account of his place, and Kate must be in deficit for Spiritual Home.

Chris runs a successful business (well he shoes a few horses and sells some garden ornaments). Alice pissed away her earnings potential over the past 3+ years.

I am sure Usha can brush up on a bit of divorce law or "ask Mumsnet" to advise.

The shares in Home Farm Ltd (or Partnership or whatever it is, I don't think we were told) are

Brian x 3
Jennifer x 3
Adam x 2
Debbie x 2
Kate x 1
Alice x 1
Ruairi x 1

Adam and Debbie were given two shares each because at the time they were working on the farm. (Neither now is, and I would suggest that they ought now to have one each like the other three members of the family who are not working at Home Farm. I am amazed Kate is not already agitating for that change.)

The Nest and Kate's holiday cottage specifically reverted to Home Farm ownership when the shares were distributed, and Adam and Ian's house, Honeysuckle Cottage, has never been part of Home Farm nor been owned by Brian. At Jennifer's insistence Brian gave Adam money towards the deposit on it, because Adam was not given a cottage on Home Farm and she felt that this was unfair on him.

Oh, and the farmhouse was not part of the farm; it was and remained Brian's property. That he sold it in order to pay the farm's debts as the owners of the contaminated land, the farm's partners were liable for that fine, not Brian alone as well as having cashed in his personal investments such as those in Hungary in order to meet the farm's costs, was beneficent of him but not in fact a responsibility he was obliged to meet.

Just catching up with last night’s episode. I think NOW Rob can come back, now we’ve had a false alarm.

It would be simple enough to set up and control 3 new bank accounts, I'd have thought. I expect one of Victoria's friends could have magic'd up a few ID's to get them opened.

But then you'd have to find a non-traceable way to spend the money in those accounts or siphon it back to yourself, otherwise there's no point in trafficking anyway. And there isn't really any guaranteed non-traceable way of doing that.

If I was writing/planning the Archer's I would want at least one more Rob red herring - maybe hearing he's back in the country (for his father or mother's funeral). But then he stays away, so everyone relaxes. Helen again says how strong she feels.
Then at Christmas/New Year or other significant date...

Oooh! That sounds good MollyButton.

Brian selling Home Farm? It’s meaty. Prompts lots of scrambling amongst the other farmers and anyone else with some cash doing nothing. But I find it hard to believe Adam isn’t expecting a working farm to return to as primary owner.

13 shares! I'm not a superstitious person, she lies, but ...

This could be juicy. Kate may well make the point Asking raises, that Adam and Debbie are no longer entitled to two shares each as they don't work on the farm any more. However, their counter-argument would be that they have contributed a lot to the success of Home Farm and associated investments over the years and Kate hasn't, so yah boo sucks (or words to that effect).

If the sale goes ahead, it reduces the chances of Ruairi returning to Ambridge in the future to almost zero, I'd have thought.

Odds on Brian and Jennifer buying Home Farm back from the silent Gills?

@EdmontinaDonsAutumnalHues

However - Tamsin Greig is about to be in this:

Meet Me at the Museum

at 12.00 on R4, with Paul Ritter. May or may not be worth a listen.

It's wonderful.

I listened to it on the recommendation of someone on this thread when it was on earlier this year. Thanks to whoever it was

It is, isn't it! I've heard odd snatches just before You and Yours comes on (my husband enjoys listening to that - yes, he's an oddball). Must listen to the whole thing. I tried before but it wasn't available on catch up for some reason.

Yes, I’m still listening and it’s so absorbing. Tamsin Greig has awesome voice skills - she manages to make something new with every syllable of the text. And Paul Ritter is making me care …

For what seems like a lifetime I have invariably leapt to switch off the radio the very second You and Yours happens.

With you on that, Edmontina! Especially the phone in.

• Now over to Joe Bloggs in Anytown. Hello, Joe ...
• Oh, hello, Winifred! [pause] It's Joe here. [pause] Can you hear me?
• Yes, hello, Joe. You were going to tell us how you ended up being overcharged for your most recent grocery shop, I believe.
• Oh yes. Well, I told the whole thing to your researcher earlier. Do you want me to go through it all again?
• Yes please!
• Oh. Oh, all right then. Well, Winifred, what it was, right, was, I take a calculator with me and I tot up what I'm spending all the way round, so when the cashier told me I'd spent £2.06 I knew that was wrong, because my calculator said £2.04. Long story short, they ended up calling the police and now I have a lifetime ban from Tesco, and I'm not happy about any of it, as you can imagine.

Etc etc.

Yup!

Absolutely bang on @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g! I don’t know how Winifred is still doing that job! She sounds genuinely interested in all her callers which is impossible! Unlike the extremely snippy Anita Anand on Any Answers who shows utter contempt for anyone who has the temerity to dial in.

I agree the sale of Home Farm is unlikely but a potential sale could provide many excellent hours of entertainment for us with endless family rows and all the siblings jostling for their slice of the cherry pie! Also it puts Brian front and centre of the narrative which can only ever be a good thing! Hurrah! At last a plot twist I can enjoy…

*settles down with the popcorn🍿

I really like You & Yours and usually make a point of having it on.
Winifred Robinson is great on it.

I also like Any Answers

Oh, yes! Ms Anand’s benevolent disdain is sometimes hilarious on Any Answers. (I do only catch bits by accident.) I love the way she shuts down no-filter callers eager to express their beyond unacceptable views.

Anita Anand is terrific on Any Answers. So much better than Jonathan Dimbleby.

I'd like to be Winifred Robinson's friend

And if it is sold, Spiritual Home will be homeless.

Did the rewilding project get any land from Home Farm?

Talking of unacceptable views, did anyone hear the pregnant man on PM a few days ago?

Yes indeed. There was a lot of reaction on the Feminism board. I'd better not start sounding off on that subject over here.