🌱 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!

Oh no instead of tucking one under each arm. Shame 🐴

[quote IShoveLula]@FoxgloveSummers, what's that got to do with it? She's female and in Ambridge, she'll be a natural.

Would anyone comment about the not preparing summer had it been Amos not Amy?[/quote]
I have never in my entire life heard a real or fictional man berated for not having cooked dinner, unless they’d specifically agreed to do so.

Best thing Amy could do is retrain to work in one of Vince's slaughterhouses! That voice is enough to send anybody to sleep without the need for carbon dioxide..

She's used to a bit of blood, after all.

My daughter is a bit younger than Josh, but she has some many kids at her school allergic to something she would automatically ask where their Epipen was if they started to look unwell. That was just crass.

Hmmph! Leave my lovely Shula alone.

Yes to the epipen - that was my first thought. I also spot the medi-care bracelets. Trained but lapsed first aider, me.

Pigs going to the slaughterhouse weigh about 22 st,

Chemenger brill idea re Shula!!

Wasn't it the Ifor Williams trailer Shula had?

Imagine Brookfield, @FoxgloveSummers, Pip and Josh have the afternoon off and have been watching Rosie and catching up with admin and telly. Jill has gone to Leonard's for the weekend. Dayveed and WR have had a bit of a crisis and come back to the farmmhouse absolutely ravenous and they all have a takeaway.

Who would get slagged off- on here and at Brookfield?

At Brookfield, no one probably. Here, pip

Josh would slag Pip off, wouldn't he?

@FoxgloveSummers, at Brookfield it would be Jill, here WR or possibly Pip.

Oh dear, that was a typo. Pigs not Pips. I can't imagine Pip weighing 22 st. dons tin hat or fear of being called fattist

If I had DC like Pip and Josh, I'd consider myself having failed as a parent

Amy is not working at the moment. She was at home while the people she is staying with - who happen to be her father and stepmother - were out all day working while she was hanging around at home. In our family, there would be no question who was responsible for getting dinner on the table -whatever their gender. And pouring a nice glass of wine to welcome the workers back. Gender battles aside, I think Amy displayed good old-fashioned bad manners.

She'd have needed to cook something easy to keep hot for several hours; neither of her parents seems to have said when or whether they were going to get in.

I welcome houseguests for a long weekends. I expect them to be making plans to head home by Monday morning, unless it was substantially pre-arranged, but Sunday evening would be preferable.

If a 35year old busy busy child pitched up with no sense of keeping in touch with busy busy work, I'd be dancing around the subject by day 5 or 6 and asking David and Ruth to stage a Hoedown by day 10. After a fortnight I'd be asking Alice for hints and tips.

I'll cut Amy a bit of slack because we are supposed to observe that she seems to have lost her mojo, but she's giving the death eaters in Harry Potter a run for their money

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Josh would slag Pip off, wouldn't he?

Pip would definitely blame Josh.

Would anyone comment about the not preparing summer had it been Amos not Amy?

Yes- in the context of any adult child, not indisposed but loafing around all day doing nothing. She could make chilli or spag bol which can easily sit around for hours and be reheated when her parents got home.

She could make chilli or spag bol
Or the family's signature parsnip lasagne. (If 'you are what you eat', that explains a lot.)

@IShoveLula

Imagine Brookfield, *@FoxgloveSummers*, Pip and Josh have the afternoon off and have been watching Rosie and catching up with admin and telly. Jill has gone to Leonard's for the weekend. Dayveed and WR have had a bit of a crisis and come back to the farmmhouse absolutely ravenous and they all have a takeaway.

Who would get slagged off- on here and at Brookfield?

Who would get slagged off- on here and at Brookfield? At Brookfield? Ben.

I think actually having been that adult child at one point, what we did was have a conversation about it. “Shall I put something on for dinner? What do you fancy?” Or “foxglove can you Chuck some jacket potatoes in around 5?”

That would be too sensible for Ambridge

I’m still enjoying Beth’s general approach. Wasn’t super keen on Ben being the healer of rifts. It’s a bit much given how new he is to the scene isn’t it? I’d have told him to piss off tbh given his fragmentary knowledge of the back story.

It’s not realistic that Vince would confide in Ben

It’s not realistic that Vince would confide in Ben.

Possibly not - but I always (mostly) enjoy unexpected dialogues and new conversational relationships in TA. In that sense Beth is a breath of fresh air - she opens up so many new possibilities.

I assume she lives in or around Borchester? And Ben is already ‘at home’ in her flat. So … presumably he’ll be moving in with her soon. More convenient for his nursing course - though what would happen to Bess? He definitely needs to move out from under Josh’s heel …

And Beth is a great new way to actively connect LL with the next generation of Brookfield. Apart from that time Pip stormed off to live there for a while, there’s less interaction than I would have expected between the Brookfield and LL heirs and heiresses.

And Beth is a great new way to actively connect LL with the next generation of Brookfield. Exactly this. Vince’s character is gradually being fleshed out - we know he likes a joke (and we know that’s one of the things Elizabeth likes about him - reminds her of Nigel). Now he’s mending fences with his daughter and we’re starting to understand where he went wrong in that relationship. He and Lizzie will be the new Piggoi and Jick - and it feels believable (unlike the sale of Home Farm). Having Beth there too makes his character more rounded - unlike Justin (I think he does have family somewhere, but you’d never know it since they are never referenced in anyway).

Ugh. Parsnip Lasagne sounds disgusting.

Is that layered with parsnip instead of pasta or with a parsnip sauce (instead of beef)?