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!

Interesting! But I’m sticking to 'crap'…..iyswim 😬

Adam was completely unreasonable to have expected Jenny and Brian to have discussed her funeral - I don't agree. Jenny was a cultured and literary person - exactly the type of person why might have indicated what she wanted at her funeral. Not necessarily in a sitting down to discuss funeral arrangements type of way, but incidentally or in passing over the years. I don't think posing the question is insensitive in fact in my experience it's exactly what happens after a death - a way of trying to carry out the dead person's wishes. It sort of carries you through the initial shock with the real grief not hitting until the dust has settled and it's all over and done with.

You may be right. I listened again. I couldn't hear the "ed" enunciated and this makes sense in his extreme state, cramped world be right.

I've listened only the once and must admit I thought Brian said "crap little cottage", which to my mind suited his profound emotional outburst and use of a word we've not heard him use before to reflect that. I'm not sure doubt can be cast upon it because he's of a generation that wouldn't use the word "crap". My late FIL who would be 84 now used it occasionally when expressing frustration about something or other.

But I could be wrong and it might be "cramped". This might of course never be resolved. I recall there is ongoing difference of opinion over Neil Armstrong's immortal words coming through the crackling radio signal from the moon, "That's one small step for man....." Or was it, "That's one small step for A man......."? I don't think Armstrong himself clearly remembered.

The "crap" v "cramped" debate could rumble on for decades to come.....!

It's a whole new misheard song lyrics

'Lady Mondegreen'….😂

briefcase . . .

Listening to Desert Island Discs this morning I heard the song by Louis Armstrong. Now that would be an interesting choice at a funeral.

I assume Jenny will have a traditional church funeral.

You've just made me listen again (which I could have done without) and it sounded to me like "a cram little cottage", which suggests he was going for cramped or perhaps crammed and just missed.

Surely it’s just Brian’s old school enunciation, where a person swallows the ending of a word? (I know lots of people who speak like this. Probably do it myself.)

@Iloveabaconbutty AIUI he was supposed to say "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" but fluffed his line and said "one small step for man" thus ruining it!

A pity "mankind" had not yet been replaced in common parlance by "humankind."

Hmm, well, I went back again for multiple listens, still think he said 'crap'. FWIW so did DH and I didn’t warn him in advance, just asked him to listen to something and repeat what he thought was said. But hey ho 🤷‍♀️

I heard cramped, but whatever.

Adam was right to ask about funeral wishes. DH has known mine for years and I’m 25 years younger than Jennifer. My parents told us their wishes before they were 60. It’s a normal thing to know about your spouse.

My Dad's funeral wishes were written out in copperplate - and hidden in a box of old gas bills. I didn't find it until it was too late but fortunately we were thinking on the same lines. Cremation followed by tree planting.

I'm 67 and hale and hearty but must get round to writing things down and putting it somewhere sensible .

've been pondering what's the highest age I might be when I would still be prepared to accept the risk of having a major operation under general anaesthetic Depends on your state beforehand I’d have thought. Operation to prevent something that may never happen is different from operation to cure something that is causing almost unbearable pain every day.

Parsnip and apple soup….bleugh…surely that’s far too sweet I-read it as parsnip and pineapple! You can sneak in apples almost anywhere. I read somewhere that if you hold your nose, it’s impossible to tell whether you’re being fed pureed onion or puréed apple.

I'd have leeks or onions as a base and plenty of pepper, probably nutmeg and ginger. If nutmeg, why not cinnamon? (In a different recipe I mean)

The Aldridges have been my first family in Ambridge for a very long time. I wonder if that feeling is amplified by their largely RP accents compared with the assorted rural accents if the rest of the clan.

Perhaps she’s an old flame of Brian’s. Shagging both the oldest and the youngest member of the family? A lot of dramatic potential there

I don't eat soup, I'm not keen on parsnips and parsnip and apple soup sounds vile. There are recipes online, if anyone is curious.
Patricia Gallimore's book doesn't seem to contain recipes.
There's a cookbook by JennyDarling so maybe we could ask if Pat could write one.

First point, yes, agreed. Far more difficult to weigh up the pros and cons then, especially in the case of a cardiac condition, as I assume the risk from a general anaesthetic goes up.

Cinnamon as a strong flavour in soup just seems wrong to me. I like it in many other things, including the meat sauce in a moussaka.

#teamcrap, btw. I've just re-listened.

Its perfectly reasonable to ask Brian if he was aware of any wishes or if he would like to think about preferences for later on when they make the arrangements. It it was unreasonable of Adam to start ranting at Brian for not having sorted this out with Jenny so soon after her diagnosis.

Honestly, having been involved in arranging rather too many funerals over the last couple of years there was only one where the deceased had expressed any concrete preferences whilst alive (and she had written out the full ceremony in detail!). Each time I've thought that I should give more thought to this myself but I haven't actually done anything about it yet. I don't think I'm unusual.

My first instinct was to agree. For instance, I've mentioned in passing what my favourite piece of music is and said that's the one for the funeral, guys.

However, I then realised that I have no idea what DH might want. He's not in obvious danger of imminently falling off the twig, but suddenly I realise it could be worth steering the conversation that way sometime.

Given that Brian acknowledges that Jenny loathed the cottage, it would be good to have some explanation for why they never moved, especially given that when they first moved in it was definitely only temporary because the owners were coming back.

#teamcram, #teamnatasha re cinnamon
cloves other than garlic can FOTTOSOF, and I'm not keen on nutmeg
I use bay leaves fresh not dried

Brian wouldn't say crap.

No word from Jenny, Lilian and Tony’s evil adopted step-sister?

Or Ruairi’s Irish family?

Or the Travers-Macys?

Or the Tregorrans?

Though mostly I want to hear from Susan and Neil - they actually will be somewhat devastated. Will, too. And Mike …

Or Christine - apparently still alive at The Laurels?

Thanks to this thread, Mr Gasp and I had a brief conversation about funerals this morning. It was direct and to the point, as conversations with him tend to be. I said I supposed I ought to write something down about what I would want, but then on the other hand I wouldn't be there, so really it was down to him. He nodded. I said I did want some sort of gathering/memorial, not just a direct cremation. I think he took it in. I asked if he had any strong views about his own arrangements. He looked bemused. That was about it! More than we'd discussed before, though, so progress has been made.

I do find it very difficult to get my head round the fact that I won't be present at my own funeral - well, obviously, but I hope others know what I mean.