🏏Archers thread #136: Howzat! Oliver’s bowled a googly, Kathy’s out, Grey Gables left with nightwatchman. Tracy knocked for six. Is Ambridge on a sticky wicket? 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 are entranced by new character Adil, 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 if anybody made a thread title suggestion and I missed it. I decided to mark the start of the cricket season in the hope that things will take a turn for the better for poor Tracy.

It feels like months since the last new thread, which was just after Phoebe departed for Scotland. Has she been mentioned since? I can't recall. Not greatly missed, by me, at any rate. Her fish gifts didn't last long.

I can't shake off the feeling that The Archers is going through a long dull patch. I don't feel greatly engaged by anything that's happening at the moment other than Tracy's plight. Such a good actor, which helps, of course.

What's keeping you listening? Habit? Genuinely enjoying it? Over to you!

(PS In the process of starting this thread, I've discovered that our custom-made Archers emoji has gone. You used to get it by typing . Not any more.)

Agreed. Even setting aside the possibility of a Pip deading that was a ridiculous story line.

What on earth was the mystery ingredient supposed to be? Very odd.

Also very odd that Tracy didn't go along at the start of the cricket match. Totally out of character.

It's a nonsense story. I decant spices bought in bags into glass jars. Not all of them are labelled. From their appearance, dried coriander, cumin and garam masala look similar but they smell different. It's obvious what they are when they are opened.

Cayenne , chilli powder and paprika look similar too. They aren't strong smelling so when I open an unmarked jar of red powder I do a quick taste to check. A professional cook wouldn't make this mistake.

Vince buying would definitely square some corners. But I still prefer my Hazel theory!

In my mind Adam Woodyatt (?) has always been in Ambridge.

Roy.

This is a bit late in the day but I meant to say at the time it was broadcast how odd I found the scene where Kathy said something along the lines of “I knew Grey Gables wasn’t doing well, I could see it because it was my job to do the accounts”. Er, she was the MANAGER of the hotel, was it not also her job to come up with strategies to improve things? She seemed to take absolutely zero responsibility for the place going down the tubes. The way she talked you’d think the role began and ended with doing the rota for the chambermaids and ordering in the chocolates for the pillows. There was this ridiculous fiction that Oliver (way past retirement age and only the “boss” because he inherited the place from the previous owner, with no previous hospitality experience) was somehow overseeing all the marketing, recruitment, long-term strategy and everything that required any sort of thinking, while Kathy, Roy and also Iain, the executive chef with 20 years’ experience, sat passively by with their hands tied. It was bizarre.

To be fair, Kathy doesn't sound like she'd be able to strategise those things but I agree, too many clunky and unbelievable stories at the moment.

Agreed in spades, Havering! They never do business stories well.

Too many clunky and unbelievable stories at the moment - this in spades. It's a sad day for me when the cricket story feels like the most relatable. The quiche mix up feels like a new low for all the reasons already outlined (and also surely if you were making some amazing new variation you'd have a little taste of the mixture to se if you'd got the balance right?) If Hazel Woolley is the new owner of GG it will be tedious beyond belief - it feels like she's lazily rolled out every time the SW want to create a bit of upheaval. She's evolved into this caricature of an arch villain when in reality she seemed like a very peripheral character when he father was alive. Even worse would the Gills - slowly taking every piece of Ambridge real estate off the set until the entire village disappears in a puff of smoke.

Ha! Metaleptical endings have been on my mind in other contexts lately. I love this proposed destruction of Ambridge, Lil’G!

As soon as Fallon said “secret ingredient” my first thought was to wonder how that could possibly work, when she has to have allergy information available. With people like Jennifer around is it really plausible that there is some exciting new herb or spice that nobody in ambridge has encountered?

thought the same @HaveringWavering - Oliver would have been sitting down with Kathy to devise new offers/schemes/maybe even some redecoration of their own, like Jolene and Kenton do in the Bull.

Also absolute rubbish that Fallon wouldn't have tasted her quiches and noticed whether they were "horrible" or not. Do you think they'll eventually tell us that the new wunderquiches are actually made with e.g. tealeaves, hundreds and thousands, cloves? (thinking of some of my random jars)

I'm rather surprised that The Intern didn't raise that at the SW meeting @Chemenger

Or perhaps s/he did?

Nope @BowerOfBramble: it'll become a long-running joke though and we'll all fall around laughing every time it appears.

Or not.

Would anyone put spices in a keesh?

No, not very likely. This has been on the go forever but I don't think it's terribly well known (although given the demographics of Archers' listeners it's probably commonplace). It does the same as umami paste.

It is possible to have an allergic reaction to it, although you'd only use a tiny quantity.

Other possibilities- mustard or poppy seeds- both can cause reactions.

I mentioned cumin- I love cumin. I suppose you could put it in a quiche.
Oregano, thyme, coriander, caraway seed, cumin and cayenne pepper can all cause reactions.

The obvious special ingredient is wild garlic at this time of year.

I thought she’d have used herbal cannabis instead of marjoram. At least we were spared that

Using cannabis as the mistaken secret ingredient would have actually been quite a good plot twist given Fallon is married to a policeman. We could have witnessed Harrison wrestling with the dilemma of whether to arrest his wife. As it is, the twist seems to be the tired and boring Jubilee cooking competition- haven’t we suffered enough?

But it's a Local Authority property. The rent will be manageable especially with Bert living there

But it came out of a jar that she found and subsequently chose accidentally instead of a similar looking jar.

Yes, I know that. I was just commenting that the obvious "secret ingredient" for any cook worth her while, in a rural setting, at this time of year would be wild garlic.

DNiece is having to do more overtime than she wants in her waitressing job because her employers are struggling so much to find staff, and she says word is that everyone else in the hospitality/catering industry has he same problem. So it's definitely odd that the GG staff are struggling so much.

Country house hotels have been generally doing a roaring trade since Covid

Thinking about dogs, and Stella's conversion is very quick, surely the greyhound tied to the gate will be microchipped? I don't know what it's like in the UK, but every greyhound I've encountered in my bit of Melbourne is a retired/failed runner, so documented out the wazoo.

Alastair can trace its owner, though to be sure it would be pointless,as they won't take them back.

Oh come on, don't be silly. This is Ambridge. Normal rules don't apply.