🌱 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!

Would they know? As far as I know, no record is kept of british citizens returning. All I think they could tell her is “If he has returned, we didn’t notice”.

@Eastie77Returns

Did the police actually tell Helen Rob had re-entered the country? I didn’t really follow her rant about their incompetence but she seemed to suggest they failed to let her know and he had definitely returned (from the US?)

Helen did not say that the police had told her that Rob had returned. What she said was, "If the police were doing their job properly they'd have picked Rob up as soon as he came back into the country. That's what they promised the first time he tried to take Jack. ... I'm not trusting them again. We can't rely on the police or anyone else."

Nothing about whether the police think it is actually him; that is something they would be able to check within an hour or so, because all passengers arriving from the States with British passports have those passports' numbers checked, and that list is kept. And given that Rob is a Person of Interest to the British Police, he would not have been able to become an American citizen and get an American passport in less than three years. The thing that is amazing is that the British police were apparently unable to notify the American police of his imminent arrival back in 2017, so that he could be arrested at whichever airport's immigration he arrived at it the States and deported immediately: if there is one thing for sure it is that the States would not have wanted him at that point even if he had by some strange means happened to have a work permit of some sort.

@MereDintofPandiculation

Would they know? As far as I know, no record is kept of british citizens returning. All I think they could tell her is “If he has returned, we didn’t notice”.

Airlines have names and the passport numbers, and if asked by the police about a particular name there is no reason for them not to share them.

There is a lot of security around airlines. It's much harder to abscond that way than say by train; and I've been on a couple of trains which were searched for a person of interest.
And COVID has made everything harder. But if I wanted to come from the US to the UK, I'd fly to Europe and the use trains and Ferries. Maybe even crossing a border in North America.

Isn't Alice's interest in Home Farm a non- matrimonial asset?

Arguably it is; but do you seriously imagine that will stop them hyping up the (non-existent) jeopardy? In which cade Alice's desth would be in everyone's best interests. C'mon, Rowley, good hoss, you know what you ned to do.

NEED not ned, although 'Neddy', as in 'Gee up, to the fair ' is not entirely inapposite.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

That's really interesting: thanks, Madcats! Definitely better than Pip and Adam's non-explanations -- I don't think that's what they are doing at Brookfield, is it?

Adam used to bang on about mob grazing (when I thought they had deer and strawberries and acres of arable).

He graduated to soliloquies about herbal leys .... and then he just started sighing a lot!

Didn't the Dopeys get some sort of mobile milking unit to follow their cows around (after Ruth went off to NZ in a strop because they wouldn't go 'up North')?

I’m going for someone casing the joint to steal Lee’s superhero figures after Joy has shared information on them widely 🤣

Or someone that works for the woman that bought the horses.

@milesofsand how could you suggest such a wicked thing?!

@MilesOfSand

Or someone that works for the woman that bought the horses.

Philip and Gavin were charged and convicted. The enslaved men have disappeared. Kirsty knows nothing about the buyer. If the police are still investigating this they're doing so without her help- so why would the new slave master risk bringing attention to herself?

@KimikosNightmare just that it’s a loose end, that Kirstie was so actively searching for them and lived in that house and the woman herself was such a bad character. Unlikely but just having fun speculating 🤷‍♀️

I'm very late checking into this new thread but belated thanks Gasp0de and hello everyone.

I was a bit disappointed that Brian couldn't have made tonight's doom laden comments about Chris and Home Farm at the end of the Fall of the House of Aldridge thread. Despite his infamous comment about a starter marriage, it didn't seem to have entered his head when they set up the partnership about what would happen if any of the partners got divorced.

I was also a bit shocked that the expensive rehab place asked Chris to read out his letter to Alice but didn't discuss with him what would happen if he wanted a drink around Alice. Some people who've been sober for years don't mind if they are in social situations where other people are drinking alcohol but Alice is only a few weeks sober.

I hope Joy catches the intruder and we finally find out why she moved to Ambridge.

I was sure Joy featured in the BBC website cast list - but she’s not there (now).

Which makes me all the more certain that the Beechwood lurker is a (sadly incompetent) hit man sent by Rochelle.

This is a late observation but I don’t have many views on Joy’s prowler.

Just wanted to mention the cinnamon content in Tony’s crumble as I share Pat’s lack of enthusiasm for the spice. Its use has become ubiquitous here - another unwelcome trend from America - and I find it tastes a bit like TCP. Judicious use of cloves and nutmeg (very Delia) is more than welcome but the thought of Tony’s heavy hand with a teaspoon and cinnamon jar worries me. Pat’s reaction to the crumble confirmed my fears were not misplaced.

I think Tony’s talents are probably better suited to drilling. He was very snappy with Joy which I thought was uncharacteristic, by the way.

@EdmontinaDonsAutumnalHues

I was sure Joy featured in the BBC website cast list - but she’s not there (now).

Which makes me all the more certain that the Beechwood lurker is a (sadly incompetent) hit man sent by Rochelle.

Well Joy IS rather irritating She gets some dreadful lines to say. Agree about the over cinamonned environment, RoysNewShirt

I agree about the non-existent Home Farm jeopardy. Chris will get a touch of the caveman and announce that he couldn't possibly live off a woman, they'll do some sort of deal to secure Martha's future, and the storyline will disappear. Unless, of course, it turns out that Marth has FAS and they end up having to shell out a fortune on expensive special schools, because the scriptwriters don't know enough about the SEN system to write a convincing storyline about it.

What I found odd about 'the prowler' was that nobody thought to ask Joy for a description/indication of height or demeanour.

When's Amy going back to work? Some of her lines make it sound as if she's no plans to go back to her old role.

I share Pat’s lack of enthusiasm for the spice
Lack of enthusiasm? During the Time of Olwyn (I think), she was making disgusting vegetable stews heavily flavoured with cinnamon. I conclude she only doesn't like it when Tony uses it.

I like cinnamon in moderation. I also like cloves, nutmeg and ginger. I don't often eat pastries outside the house, but I have seen many references in recent years to cinnamon buns. Are these what we used to call Danish pastries? I like a little cinnamon in apple crumble. I also add it when cooking lamb mince for moussaka. In both cases it needs a light touch.

I've been hankering over a huge, messy divorce in The Archers for a long time. I wanted it to be Jennifer vs Brian. I'd have settled for Ruth vs David. Chris vs Alice doesn't cut the mustard. Like the rest of you, I don't believe it will happen, which removes all the drama at the outset.

In my opinion very few things are not improved by a hint of cinnamon. I don’t know why there aren’t more cinnamon chocolates, they are divine when you find them.

By “hint” I mean “hit”.