Archers thread #146: They did fall apart. Can they put themselves together again? 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, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. 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 like to donate your time as a guide at Lower Loxley to save the Pargetters paying someone else a living wage, 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.)

Thanks to @Impostersyndrome for the thread title suggestion Buses and trains are sorely lacking, canals might be nearby, but all roads lead to Ambridge, picking up on transport discussions in the last thread. In the end I didn't use it, having in mind the character limit. @TottersBlankly contributed an early draft title Wreathes, wrath, writhing (Jennifer, Lilian, Ruairi). Both good starting points for the new thread, which I hope will last till Jennifer's funeral, surely not too far off now. So, over to you - whither the Aldridges? Also, does anyone care if Lee goes to the US? Is anyone even slightly interested in the Brookfield B&B venture?

What was the name Lynda used? Sounded like Eeniss Pectaghoul. Knowing Lynda I'm sure it will be a literary reference, but couldn't work it out at all.

With a difficult calving, David would be quite likely to have stripped to the waist.
Boilersuits/overalls can only keep out so much dirt.

Washing in the kitchen sink sounds quite normal to me. I don't, but I would if I was desperate for a wash.

I've washed my hair and a baby in the kitchen sink. although not at the same time.

According to the Mustardlanders it's a anagram for and inspector calls. Normally I'm very pro-anagram for obvious reasons, but am not convinced this was a good idea.

an inspector . . .

Loving the CCF references!

[Just back from the hand trauma clinic with hand in a custom-made splint. The NHS at its best. No operation required, phew. I think I now have 1.5 functioning hands which is a massive improvement on the last three days in a cast. Can't touch type or lift but limited chopping may now be possible. Thank goodness we live in an age where using a pen or pencil is no longer much needed as that is impossible for now. I'm left-handed and it's the pinkie of the left hand that has the broken bone. Sod's law.]

References An Inspector Calls where the inspector's name is Goole.

Throwback to Dylan Nells. Did she use that for reviewing restaurants?

"I've washed my hair and a baby in the kitchen sink. although not at the same time."

I read that as "... and had a baby ..." 😲

Oh yes, I'd forgotten Dylan Nells.

I'm sorry about your injury - I hope you are able to work round it and keep the pain under control.

Sorry to hear about your hand *Gasp0de".

In case you do normally cook from scratch have a quick google of a manual minichopper (I have a Zyliss one, that Amazon tells me I bought in 2019 before knowing I would have to cater for 10 on holiday). It chops up onions/peppers/carrots a treat.

I bathed a baby in the kitchen sink, @Gonners

The dog got washed in the kitchen sink too.

David is antisocial and doesn’t really enjoy being around people who are not his immediate family. Hard to understand why he is undertaking a venture that involves complete strangers living in his house. They can’t be in a position to charge more than about £45 a night for what sounds like quite a tawdry set-up so it doesn’t seem worth it financially.

It would make a lot more sense to move Pip and Rosie in to the farmhouse, and rent out Rickyard to locals.

I am not recommending they let it like an UnfAir B&B, because I think that sort of thing destroys rural communities.

It can't be an anagram because there's no G in "An Inspector Calls" unless I've lost it somewhere. I think it's more of a silly pun on the name: "Innis Pectra-Goole" sounds a bit like "an inspector call[s]" but also references Goole as a PP said.

I think the name is meant to sound like Inspector Goole, not be an anagram.

Thinking about Pip and Rosie in Rickyard - that's exactly what many posters on here are saying Tom/Helen should be living like, isn't it. In a converted outbuilding on their family land. However you can see the downside as it may feel like you're constantly liable to be shuffled about the minute your family want to make some money from the building.

Inspector Goole is the name of the police inspector in the play An Inspector Calls. His name is itself a pun as he might possibly have supernatural origins (spectre, ghoul) and he is a figure rather like Marley's ghost: showing the family the error of their ways

there's something about that place that sounds properly grim. I picture the kitchen littered with empty frozen pizza boxes and dog-hair I felt exactly the same and it got me thinking how back in the day the Brookfield kitchen used to be so cosy and desirable that when Elizabeth moved to LL she had an exact replica constructed for herself. Brookfield as it is now doesn't sound in the least bit appealing for a farm stay. If that's what the kitchen is like I imagine the family bathroom is equally grim. Would anyone stay somewhere like that in this day and age? I did think Lynda's (or rather Innis's) allergies and specific requirements perfectly illustrated why running a B&B (or any sort of accommodation) would be a compete PITA - it's certainly not just one up from hosting friends. You really earn your money!

The odd thing is that I thought he said he was washing there because he couldn't use the bathroom. Surely he wouldn't normally expect to wander through the house trailing blood and afterbirth?

I thought that he had probably taken off his bloody overalls and his boots in the laundry-room at the back of the house before coming into the kitchen, and was therefore in his comparatively clean long-johns and vest washing off sweat rather than blood.

It might be stretching it a bit but perhaps Innes could develop a small crush on David. I’m sure guests falling for the farmer/farmhands must happen all the time during farm stays - it certainly does on working ranches in the US when visiting ladies from the city fall for the local rugged cowboys…

Maybe David normally strips off the grubby boilersuit and heads off to the family bathroom to wash, but couldn't do so because the bathroom was out of bounds. Surely he'd be wearing clothes under the boilersuit? My boilersuit has pockets that have gaps so I can use my trouser pockets.

Inspector Goole was a character in An Inspector Calls.

I'd prefer it if the Inees character did not develop a crush on David. Ugh!

Lynda Snell did reviews using the pseudonym Dylan Nells. Her submissions under her real name had been rejected after she upset someone, but Dylan Nells' reviews were accepted.

The boilersuit I referred to is a proper work one, not the fashion (?) ones, which I also have. Apparently according to The Guardian dungarees are 'mum's uniform'
I thought what I wear is more overgrown toddler or labourer but hey ho.

Yes, obviously a rugged cowboy from a cattle ranch in Oklahoma or Montana would be far more appealing than David in his long johns at the kitchen sink.

I assumed that because he'd been doing an assisted calving he'd stripped to the waist in the manner of James Herriot.