Archers thread #144: Window pains again! Light relief or dark times ahead for Ambridge in 2023? 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, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you’d love to volunteer in the shop with Susan, 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/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-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.)

New year, new thread. Many thanks to @LillianGish for the window pains pun! Hoping to hear a lot less from the Caseys this year and a good deal more about farming and how Ambridge is coping with Brexit, cost of living crisis, ageing population and all sorts of credible character-based storylines. Yes, I know, but one can only hope.

Over to you!

I was thinking about this during tonight's conversation with Adam. They are all in their own way being a bit arsey but people do react in strange ways after a death, especially when its a shock.

I wouldn't want to judge anyone for their reaction at that time but we shall see how they settle over the next few weeks.

Oh dear. Stella is going to buy that bloody drill, isn’t she. I think this is a mistake. It’s her job to keep the show on the road at the moment- she should read the room and understand that now is not the time for any big changes.

She knows Brian is not keen and yet still she is pushing it through - Adam only encouraged her as he thought the plan has Brian’s backing. Bad decision, Stella. She will be fired long before she becomes a step-mama…

Glad to see Brian agreeing with me that losing her home (and kitchen) was what broke poor JD.

I laughed at how realistic it was that David would hoot at poor recently bereaved Brian from his car, but then as the scene went on and you could tell David was holding him it was very emotional.

I listened again to that, and could hear David's voice closer to the mic, not quite muffled but clearly holding Brian.

The other bit that got to me was Brian's describing of the cottage as "crap". There are unrealistically low levels of stronger language on TA, and I'm not complaining. It's also plainly not part of Brian's character to use such language, so this single word, not strong by modern standards, spoke so eloquently of how Jenny's life had been diminished by his actions.

I wondered what Brian had said and thought it might have been 'cramped'. Might need to listen again.

is there nothing in stella's contract about large purchases?

@greenacrylicpaint you would think, wouldn't you, that there would be a line saying "purchases up to £x at the farm manager's discretion; up to £x verbally agreed by a partner; over £x full discussion at a partnership meeting."

I also had leaky eyes last night. Brian's such a perfect flawed character, brilliantly acted for decades so that although he's often awful he does feel like family or a well-loved friend and I'm sad for him in just the same way that I would be if I 'really' knew him.

I thought "crap" cottage at first, but then realised, it being Brian Aldridge, it could only be "cramped".
I appear to be the only one here who thought Brian hammed it up and overdid it towards the end of last night's episode, for the first time I can remember (and I've listened on and off since being in my mother's womb in 1956).
I agree about Stella deliberately overstepping the mark about the drill. There'll be fallout for Adam from that, you mark my words!

Yes, I was initially pleased that he said “crap” but, on reflection, I’m fairly sure it was “cramped”.

Brian was talking to Justin about the drill just before he got the call about Jenny and I got the impression Justin had pretty much talked him into it. Not that this is strictly "enough", as he hadn't confirmed it with Stella, but I suppose she may get away with it.

Going back a bit, I reckon Ruauri is living in a flat Julianne owns outright & would normally have tenants in. I can’t imagine she’d want to pay the full commercial rent on a one bedroom flat she wouldn’t benefit from.

I think Stella is going to have problems after buying/ordering the drill.

I can well believe there have been no discussions about the funeral, I have no idea what my father (who seems to have a big op once a year) would like as it seems insensitive to ask him.

i think the Aldridge clan, the shareholders, need to bite the bullet and have a short meeting where they give Stella temporary authority to do certain things.

Justin had pretty much talked Brian into the drill, but. I don't trust Justin's motives tbh. Although i wonder if he would shaft someone he's related to by marriage.

I thought it was well done, but also an odd scene. I'm of an age where I've experienced a lot of bereavements over the last decade ago, and sympathised with many bereaved friends and I've never heard anything like this. Even the bereavements after suicide didn't descend into 'if only' 'I'm to blame' to that extent. Though I suppose I've listened to news reports on a few murders motivated by farm inheritance disputes, so maybe all of them shouting at each other and Brian blubbering on David's shoulder is the healthier option.

Still, it's good to be actively looking forward to TA after a rather long dull spell - does this explain why Christmas was relatively low key- were they saving the good stuff for now?

BOOP for David for showing concern and compassion to an elderly grieving widower.

Adam was loathsome. My 3 siblings and I were teens and younger when our mum died but we showed more maturity than the Ambridge brats.

Just listened back, several times, to that passage, and Brian definitely said 'stuck in a crap little cottage she loathed'.

I have no wish to drag down the thread too much but I know from personal experience that bereavement can indeed trigger feelings of guilt and convictions of being to blame. Unfounded as those feelings may be, they can still cause tremendous pain and self-recrimination.

You'd think wouldn't you? But not in Ambridge apparently where Oxbridge grads stay in the village and whoever advises on business forgot to speak to the LSWs.

OTOH now that Stella has caught Adam in the aftermath and shock of Jenny's death and he was said to take responsibility it does set up plenty of drahma for the coming months.

• Stella will buy the drill (presumably has access to the funds without going back to Brian)
• The drill purchase will go horribly wrong in some way
• Stella will say "Adam told me to buy it"
• Brian will blame Adam
• There will be no Jenny to smooth the resulting argument

• At this point, Justin/Stella's relationship will be revealed along with their evil plan to take over Home Farm will realise itself in some form.
• Brian will blame Adam for ever more.

(With apologies to the crystal ball)

And in fairness to Brian he has treated Jenny badly in various ways over the years. In the course of a long marriage many things are left by the wayside as you have to get on with life. Not surprising imo that he would feel regret and guilt about that when she's died so suddenly. Has she had an 'end of life' stage they could have had significant conversations and put things to rest. But in this situation I'm sure he feels there are things that were left unsaid.

Yes, I know grief and guilt can go hand in hand, and Brian certainly has stuff to feel guilty about. So maybe it was realistic.

BOOP for David for showing concern and compassion to an elderly grieving widower.

Eh? Sarcasm presumably? They’ve been relations by marriage, fellow farmers, and close confidants for decades. It would be extraordinary if David wasn’t providing constant support. I was only surprised that he asked Ruth ‘whether’ he should go see Brian - I’d have expected all the Archers of David’s generation to be camped out at Willow Cottage 24 hours a day right now.

I’ve tried listening again through earphones - and although it’s not clear from the sound of the words I’m throwing my hat in the ‘cramped’ camp.

1. The rhythm of the sentence suggests cramped.
2. You wouldn’t form a sentence using crap in exactly that way. You’d say ‘crappy little cottage’
3. They didn’t think the cottage was crap. If they had they’d have gone somewhere else. They thought it was small - cramped.
4. Cramped is a word that Brian might use. I have no doubt he swore roundly and fluently off air, but crap (not actually swearing) is a bit too modern for him. He might say tatty, or pokey, or describe somewhere as a hovel. Crap just isn’t his vocabulary.

🦉

"I’d have expected all the Archers of David’s generation to be camped out at Willow Cottage 24 hours a day right now."

Good grief, has Brian not suffered enough?

The enunciation isn't clear, but I am sure it's "cramped", and I agree with @TottersBlankly reasoning to back that up. I'd also add that I think it's the word the writers would use for this scene - an evocative description rather than an outburst of anger.

Adam was completely unreasonable to have expected Jenny and Brian to have discussed her funeral when its only a couple of months since the diagnosis (which said she could have years ahead) and Christmas was in between.

But people do weird stuff in shock and bereavement and at the moment they are all demonstrating that Jenny was right not to tell them. They will also likely be feeling guilty because they all know she was right and hurt because she kept it from them. Its a weird cocktail of emotions on top of the shock of sudden death.

Definitely cramped to my ears. Brian asking the same question we've been asking ever since - why did he sacrifice Home Farm so Kate could keep Spiritual Home (a collection of yurts and therefore infinitely portable)? A ludicrous decision and one which he is right to blame himself for. Good too to hear him finally acknowledging that Jenny was the better part of him despite his appalling treatment of her over the years.