🌱 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!

Isn't it hilarious not that Ian has already nicknamed Adam's new employer "Sweeney Todd"! I expect the writer was very pleased with themselves after coming up with that I wondered whether this will be usual SW stereotyping of "male hairdresser, so might be gay" to have us speculating that Ian will get jealous by the end of the week.

The lack of childcare for Xander is just ridiculous. A head chef at a hotel wouldn't just nip in for a few hours after 6pm, and have weekends off, just as Adam wouldn't do a spot of farming 9-5 Monday-Friday.
Helen and Pip were almost as bad.

But he's not a male hairdresser madcats , he's a barber .
My sons' barber is a trained hairdresser and he told me that when he worked as a hairdresser, everyone assumed he was gay. Now he's a barber he is 'the man' . It's basically the same job but the assumptions are very different.

Fer cryin out loud. Oh good Alish and Emmurr

Fer cryin out loud
That was dire.
And why didn't Alish tell Emmur to foxtrot oscar (assuming she had no brick handy)?

Apropos of nothing, I feel that recently there has been a tendency to drop out of a conversation just before a bombshell and return when the bombshell has been dropped. Like listening to the Test Match while doing the housework - every time you leave the room for a few seconds, you come back to find they've taken a wicket.

That’s true, actually, Mere. (A mean person might be inclined to conclude - purely in jest - that the SWs have been dragged to a lecture on post-dramatic theatre, but have somehow misunderstood what they were taught …)

I am cringing at the Grundy Flower and Produce show stuff. Why haven't people just said no? Maybe even giving the reason that it is no tribute to Joe to "win" by dubious means although also fitting in a strange way.

Was Joe in the habit of cheating in the F&P? Outwitting Bert Fry perhaps, can't remember the details, but out and out cheating? Can anyone bear to remember?

cringing at the Grundy Flower and Produce show stuff
Indeed, SilveryPuss: it is lazy, cheap, embarrassingly bad writing.

'Disembowel Eddie with rusty teaspoons', a quid a scoop: that should get the punters in (Is that Clarrie with a £50 note?)

I am annoyed by the xander out of bed scene. It makes no sense. He would have a stairgate on the door surely. And hadn't Ian said that xander was ready for bed? They could have had the same message of poor tired Adam by Ian finding him asleep in xander's room which is quite likely. Whereas Adam either fell asleep before putting xander to bed or immediately after. He's allowed to do the latter! There's "sleep when the baby sleeps" advice for a reason.

Adam's a grown man, he knows when he's exhausted and is quite capable of lying down and settling a 20 min alarm on his phone like everyone else does.

However I did think that Alice sounded like Jenny when she was speaking to Chris, she really nailed the sort of breathy anxious delivery that JD does when she's worried. It reminded me of how original and best Emma used to sound like Susan.

Ah, well, Original and Best … Yeah … ⭐️⚔️

But that’ll learn me. Found this recent clip from Songs of Praise - featuring Second & Ever-Evolving into Susan … All my words have turned to honey.

An audience with Emma would immediately require a drink. What a sticky-beak! Justifying a break-up to a nosy sister-in-law the next morning is surely too much to bear! I thought Alice handled it with surprising generosity.

Off you pop, Alice, I'm bored with you now. See also: F&P show. Is it soon? I hope so, then we can move on to more interesting things.

So many loose ends, so much time to fill - you'd think those two things might marry up in some strange way. Will Brian and Jennifer ever tire of living in a tiny rented house and buy a new house? What's going on at Home Farm? Do the Gills ever show up there? Etc etc.

Ooh yes - if the Gills were repossessed today, J&B could be back at Home Farm house by Christmas.

(I pray for this in the fantasy world of Ambridge, while being sadly aware, from the worst part of my previous profession, that this is not how things work in real life.)

Can I ask how it is that Oliver is not embarrassed by being so closely-associated with the Grundies. I know there’s a history there but while he is clearly mortified by Eddie’s scheme/scam, he still condones it. I just don’t believe a man of his means, position and good nature would be so pushed for friends/acquaintances that the Grundies were his best option. Can anyone explain this?

Scripterwritis, @Roysnewshirt.

Dyac, but you can see what I was trying to say there. Sigh.

Take the baby and run Alice!

@Pinkycheeks

Take the baby and run Alice!

Um, I think you might be misunderstanding the situation. She doesn't want the wretched thing.

@Roysnewshirt

Can I ask how it is that Oliver is not embarrassed by being so closely-associated with the Grundies. I know there’s a history there but while he is clearly mortified by Eddie’s scheme/scam, he still condones it. I just don’t believe a man of his means, position and good nature would be so pushed for friends/acquaintances that the Grundies were his best option. Can anyone explain this?

Oliver and his wife rented their house to the Grundys. That is absolutely all the relationship I ever noticed them having, before the insane "Oliver is bessie mates with Joe" garbage that was suddenly foisted on us after Caroline's death..

There is no way to explain his now being apparently in thrall to Eddie.

Exactly what Weevil said.

Just run Alice. Away from the Neanderthal and his sprog

So is Alice going to fly off to Canada for a few months? I think they are letting double vaccinated foreigners in now.

I'm not sure I can cope with her finding her true self in Ambridge all winter.

Eddie is even more unpleasant than I remembered.

Thanks for the link @EdmontinaDonsAutumnalHues

Oliver and his wife rented their house to the Grundys. That is absolutely all the relationship I ever noticed them having, before the insane "Oliver is bessie mates with Joe" garbage that was suddenly foisted on us after Caroline's death..

Was Oliver in the cider club?

Also, why do some posts offer Quote, while others don't? Hence my cut and paste.