🧦 Archers thread #133: Woolley socks it to them! Discuss The Archers and its Woolley thinking and plotting 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 would love to take part in the Mysteries, 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/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 @ButtonSister and @BorsetshireBanality for title suggestions. I went with their idea in the interests of keeping the title fairly short.

@LillianGish and @FoxgloveSummers made cracking but longer suggestions, which (mashed up) will do a great job of kicking off our new thread.

Evictions (Tom and Tash), depictions (Bridge Farm Christmas card), conniptions (entire cast and crew of the Mysteries), convictions (Philip) and addictions (Alice) - what are our predictions for 2022 in Ambridge? All sure to make this the Best Ambridge Christmas Evah!

This thread should take us through to early January unless something very exciting happens (ha ha, fat chance). My predictions: this is a bit left field, but I wonder if Peggy will offer to buy the shop and flat so Tom and Gnasher (great coinage, whose was it?) can stay put. I don't believe Hazel is sincere about wanting to live in/regularly visit Ambridge. She's always been utterly two-faced and rotten to the core, why would she change now?

The Mysteries will, of course be a triumph and briefly borrowing the🔮 (sorry, Bore!) I expect we are going to hear them at some point over the New Year period.

Over to you!

First time I've listened for ages but NO WAY does JennyDarling keep her eggs in the fridge.

I expect she has one of those pottery hens to keep them in.

Where is Ruairi going to sleep? Alice is living in his room and presumably using his bed.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

I expect she has one of those pottery hens to keep them in.

Where is Ruairi going to sleep? Alice is living in his room and presumably using his bed.

There's plenty of places Alice could go for a few nights. She was initially expecting Rory to be home for Christmas so some thought must have been given to this.

I'm glad Rory came back.

She could go to Ian and Adam's or Peggy and Kate's. Is Chris living in their cottage or with Susan and Neil?

The real point is that this has not been mentioned on air at all. You'd think Jennifer might have noticed that having two of them there for Christmas would involve a logistical problem.

I'm sure both Rory and Alice can cope with a fold up bed/ blow up mattress in the living room.

I don't think it needed to be discussed on air.

The hospitable Jennifer would be having mild conniptions about the dreadfulness of it all, well in advance of any actuality.

It might be the thing which caused her to compel Brian to find a house for them to live in instead of a two-up-two-down granny-annexe such as their present quarters.

Coo … I’ve been re-bingeing Gavin & Stacey over the past couple of days - Ruairi’s fatted calf seems hilariously familiar.

I’m so delighted to hear him back - even if the conversation is a bit laboured.

@WhoppingBigBackside

Maybe my research wasn't quite that extensive Asking

What happens to the wool these days?

I'd like a pet llama. I wanted a family of camels but I didn't have the space

Not many of us would have space for a herd of camels. You'd need a place the size of Longleat. The feral camels of Australia roam wild across the interior and seem very happy, from a brief mention I saw in a documentary about a long train journey there.

I'm afraid I wondered if Alice's immediate departure to the village shop was to buy a bottle of vodka along with the mushrooms.

WhoppingBig Towers makes Longleat look like a starter home

I wondered that too Asking

JD might keep the eggs in the fridge because Willow Cottage is tiny

Perhaps it’s by accident, but Ruairi’s relaying of his skiing holiday news was totally unconvincing.

There would have been nothing to stop him whatsapping Jenny every day from wherever he was - so ‘how was your holiday’ sounds a bit weird. And he had nothing at all to say! Was he actually there, or somewhere else making illegal millions?

If nothing else comes from having Ruari and Alice as house guests, I hope it inspires Brian to buy Jenny a house with enough room for an egg box and a couple of spare bedrooms.

The whole Ruari snowboarding holiday is very odd.

@LiterallyKnowsBest

Perhaps it’s by accident, but Ruairi’s relaying of his skiing holiday news was totally unconvincing.

There would have been nothing to stop him whatsapping Jenny every day from wherever he was - so ‘how was your holiday’ sounds a bit weird. And he had nothing at all to say! Was he actually there, or somewhere else making illegal millions?

Particularly unconvincing given that he would not have been allowed into whichever country it was meant to have happened in, since he would have been coming from England.

Jenny and Brian are in a bit of a bind. They want/need room for Alice and Ruairi, but do not want enough room for Kate, who is quite capable of walking in and simply occupying Ruairi's room while he is away for a term.

A BOOP just for the voices gathered tonight!

But I’m more and more curious about what Ruairi’s really up to. Why is it something he doesn’t want Ben involved in?

Bitcoin is quite likely to be criminal and he knows it and doesn't want his friend caught up in it?

One thing's for sure; he wasn't in the French Alps over Christmas. They wouldn't have allowed him into France from London after 20th when he spoke to Jennifer, even on an Irish passport if he has one.

"From the morning of Saturday 18 December 2021 (0.00) onwards, the following rules will apply to all people travelling from the United Kingdom, whether or not they are vaccinated:

"Both non-vaccinated and vaccinated people will be required to have a compelling reason to travel to or from the UK. These reasons are listed in the document here and at the following address: www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/L-actu-du-Ministere/Attestation-de-deplacement-et-de-voyage.
"People will not be permitted to travel as tourists"

uk.ambafrance.org/COVID-19-rules-for-travel-between-France-and-the-UK-28918

Bitcoin isn’t illegal but unless you’re very savvy you’re unlikely to make a large profit straightaway. I understand ‘Ash’ is supposed to have helped him but Ruairi sounded very shifty.

I also doubt he was skiing over Christmas.

I predict he’ll drop out of Uni to devote himself to whatever hair brained scheme he’s caught up in.

I’m not overly concerned with pandemic travel inaccuracies - it must be a nightmare when you’re writing and recording ahead of time.

But the scriptwriters (KD this week) are all too often guilty of carelessly implying intrigue where no such story actually exists. So it’s hard to know if one should be anticipating exciting revelations - or whether it’s wisest just to shrug and move on. In this instance I’m inclined to the former - simply because it has such potential!

Eventually, sometime next year, Ben will receive a desperate phone call from Ruairi, hiding out in a cave somewhere, relentlessly chased by international gangsters … While Ben wonders which of his siblings to ask for advice, Beth will throw their passports and the dog into a truck, and hurtle them across Europe on a daring rescue mission. Bess, in the nick of time, will fling herself, teeth bared, upon the worst aggressor with the biggest gun, as BnB drag Ruairi to safety and a pint of Shires and another round of ‘Love you, bro.’

🤮

Tonight was weird.

Why the inexplicable return of Mike Tucker? And why is he going round fixing things up?

@KimikosNightmare

Tonight was weird.

Why the inexplicable return of Mike Tucker? And why is he going round fixing things up?

Wasn't it just? Mike Tucker working as a painter/ decorator/ handyman for free for at least a week at Brookfield. To do up a cottage for perfectly capable family members.

Just why? Although truly I'm not particularly bothered about this story line

Wow yes what a strange episode. If Rory genuinely had been skiing wouldn't everyone be exclaiming how well he looked and admiring his skiers tan ? He's a Val D'isere type isn't he ?
And as for Mike Tucker, decorating in return for cake, no way ! Is he planning a return back to Ambridge or was it just a guest appearance ?
And has Harrison become religious ?
And why has Kirsty become everyone's confidante ?

I have just caught up on the Ambridge Nativity, which however was excellent.

2022
Ruaridh (?) has not been skiing. He will come a cropper in his crypto business.
Mike Tucker will move into the bungalow, probably alone. He will replace Philip Moss as Ambridge's only builder.
Harrison will leave the police and train to be a vicar (maybe not) or otherwise 'get religion'.
Alice will be found drunk in a ditch, although why anyone in the village shop would sell alcohol to her now I can't imagine.
Out on a limb here but next Christmas Jazzer and Tracey's wedding.

Maybe Rory just spent Christmas with the Irish bunch? Money is surely from a sugar daddy 😃

R U A I R I

(Not shouting, honest!)

But if Mike and Vicki have fallen out why - oh, I don’t know. So many hints that all was not well. But are the BBC really going to have him leave Bethany??

It would be rather wonderful to have him back in Ambridge, if the SWs knew what to do with him.

[quote AskingQuestionsAllTheTime]Bitcoin is quite likely to be criminal and he knows it and doesn't want his friend caught up in it?

One thing's for sure; he wasn't in the French Alps over Christmas. They wouldn't have allowed him into France from London after 20th when he spoke to Jennifer, even on an Irish passport if he has one.

"From the morning of Saturday 18 December 2021 (0.00) onwards, the following rules will apply to all people travelling from the United Kingdom, whether or not they are vaccinated:

"Both non-vaccinated and vaccinated people will be required to have a compelling reason to travel to or from the UK. These reasons are listed in the document here and at the following address: www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/L-actu-du-Ministere/Attestation-de-deplacement-et-de-voyage.
"People will not be permitted to travel as tourists"

uk.ambafrance.org/COVID-19-rules-for-travel-between-France-and-the-UK-28918[/quote]
Given the way that the population of Ambridge were merrily holding village events, going to the pub and meeting and chatting all over the place when the rest of us were in strict lockdown last year, I can't get too bothered about the skiing trip. I suspect it did happen, we'd have had more signals if Ruari was up to something dangerous or sinister.

Oh ruari - you'll come a cropper with crypto!! It's probably a ponzi