🐠 Archers thread #135: An Everyday Story of Fishy Folk. 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 would be delighted to be given a goldfish named after your ex, 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.)

Apologies for ignoring the various title suggestions on the last thread. However, here they are, plus a couple of other pithy observations, to kickstart the new thread. I think it's fair to say nobody is looking on this as a Golden Era! Goldfish Era, though ...

@Roysnewshirt: Everyone wants more! Chris wants more Amy; Jazzer wants more Tracey; Alice wants more time with Martha and Amy wants more space… Very true. And now we know Kirsty wants more farming expertise in the rewilding project, but not Pip (thank the lord) so does that mean approaching Adam? Currently under-employed.

@LillianGish: I tune in to hear birdsong and bleating in the English countryside not hammy acting and suggestive grunting.

@stilldumdedumming: Archers is good at the dynamics of family, farming, what it means to have your job, your home and your inheritance so closely aligned etc etc not this nonsense!

@DoctorTwo: Like fuck would Pheobe buy her parents a goldfish each. The Ambridge character transplant fairy has been working overtime this past few weeks, it's been absolutely fucking appalling bar a couple of exceptions.

Can't disagree with any of that. I want to hear more about the pigs and any other effects of Brexit. A topical insert about the war in Ukraine must surely be on the way.

Any happy listeners out there? Any disgruntled listeners with even more grumbles? Over to you!

The Ian's redundancy storyline is absurd. We all know that- the script writers must know we know that.

Oh and the woodfired pizza oven storyline is absurd as well. It's a pizza; pizza is nice; everyone likes pizza but for goodness sake there are gazillions of good supermarket versions.

That depends on your definition of good pizza.

It's still at its best a pizza.

You've obviously not had a good handmade italian pizza

Oh fgs - it's really neither rare not a big deal.

I used to quite like pizza, and the supermarket ones were fine and I'd trough in even if it was a delivered pizza. Pizza restaurants and ''Italian' chain restaurant ones tend to be a bit disappointing.

An italian friend makes ones that are amazing. No comparison

Adam’s lines have been ridiculous this week. He has become a parody of his former self.

I’m afraid I agree with @KimikosNightmare in the great pizza debate. Everyone loves a pizza but at the end of the day, even a good, authentic pizza is ultimately still only a pizza…

Horsebox pizzas are quite a big thing here.
They must have a spare horse box (Alices?)

We'll agree to disagree, and I am a fussy eater.

I’m definitely team handmade sourdough pizza is a a million times better than the supermarket shite. I’ve make my own bread and pizza and my little madam doesn’t know she’s born. She was kindly offered pizza on a play date and responded “is it shop pizza? I only like homemade sourdough.” I felt an awful mix of tremendous pride and mortification.

Ugh I need an edit button

@BeardieWeirdie , you are officially middle class

www.thehorseboxpizzacompany.co.uk

An authentic Neapolitan pizza wouldn't be made with sourdough. You can if you want, but it's not authentic.

allpizzaholic.com/is-neapolitan-pizza-sourdough/

I'd go with "mortification".

What doesn't really make sense to me is that Adam has left Home Farm - Brian effectively replaced him with Stella after he borrowed money for the electricity bill (or whatever). Now - having effectively sacked him for borrowing cash from the business - Brian expects Adam to loan him money to bail out the business... and Adam's happy to do that, despite apparently never being happier being free from the shackles blah blah blah. I know he still has shares etc etc, but it feels like very lazy plotting without properly following through on the previous drama. It all feels like a highly contrived way of clipping Adam and Ian's wings to ensure they (and Xander) never leave Ambridge - which presumably is the general idea because otherwise with Adam now a free agent and Ian footloose and with a bit of cash behind him, why would they stay?

The costs for starting a food cart are nothing like they would be for setting up a restaurant. Adam and Ian are talking as if they are risking several million on this ambitious venture which is crazy. The reason new food businesses start as a food cart is because it is extremely low risk financially. This pair don’t seem to have a clue.

I have never thought of Jazza romantically before but he nearly got me to that point last night. It almost erased the terrible image of him lounging naked on a GG bed….I say almost…

Start up costs may be low, but it's still self-employment and the capital put in and risks taken would be their own, not Ian's employer's. I can see why they're still mulling it over. It would be a lot easier in some ways for Ian to register with an agency and do a few restaurant shifts here and there at times when Adam was free to look after Zander. As it is, if they're both away at a festival for several days with some sort of mobile food van, who's going to look after the kid?

JD, i expect, or maybe SAHM Alice, or maybe thevAmbridge childcare fairy

I didn’t say my pizzas were authentic Neapolitan. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous. They still beat any cardboard supermarket pizza hands down.

Unlike your child then? I'd be mortified if a child of mine said what yours said to the parent hosting her on a play date. You might think it's terribly charming and sophisticated- it's just downright rude.

And pizza, no matter how authentic or home made blah, blah, blah, is still just pizza. Adam sounded ridiculous.

Children say a lot worse things! Don't worry she'll likely go thru a stage asking for Macdonalds or something and won't want any of that homemade rubbish!!! One of mine is still in that stage. Though it's soup that's the thing in this house.

Pizza vans are very popular and Iain can go a bit upmarket. I love pizza. I'll give Iain's a go for sure.

I’d feel a hell of a lot worse if they said something like “why are you so fat?” or “you have a yucky moustache”.

I have an Italian friend who makes her own sourdough pizza base. With sourdough starter she brought from Italy. She’s not from Naples though. My Italian colleagues (for some reason about a third of my department is Italian (though two of them are Sicilian and would prefer to be called that)) refuse to eat pizza which a) has more than two toppings in addition to tomato and mozzarella, or b) has anything other than a very thin base. We used to get Domino’s delivered for some events but that had to stop because nobody could take the endless emotional lectures about the corruption of their culture. Now we get pizza from their approved restaurant and it is, to be fair, fantastic. Sometimes, just to provoke them, I request ham and pineapple.

My DH has team members based in Milan but from Naples

they go on about pizza and that the pizza in Milan is rubbish and have them sent from Naples!

Did Adam actually mention Naples? He now seems to think Ambridge is centre of the pizza universe…I wonder if he is aware he has strayed into very choppy waters…I had no idea pizza was such a controversial issue…