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?

Thanks very much, I'll besar that in mind, @Madcats. I do mostly cook from scratch. Have no hangups about ready meals, though, fortunately, but I do like to eat lots of veg, so generally chopping is a key element of my approah to getting a meal on the table. I have a food processor but it chops very small.

I assume the BF family would be up the creek if Jill injured her hand, or realistically given her age, developed such bad arthritis that she couldn't chop onions, carrots and other Brexit-approved vegetables.

Brexit-approved vegetables

If the Bridge Farm Archers grow tomatoes, they could be making a killing at the moment. And if Josh's hens are in lay, so could he. I haven't been able to find either tomatoes or eggs, this week.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , there might be a wraith at the funeral.

I wonder if anyone in Ambridge is growing turnips.

I think turnips have been mentioned as being in the veg boxes. But it was a while ago if so.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , I got eggs earlier in the week, and the chap I let in the queue before me had a punnet of cherry tomatoes - he olly had about 5 things and I had an over-full basket.
The very large supermarket didn't have many empty shelves but looked low on a few things.
During the first lockdown, I got eggs in the Iceland shop.

I quite like turnips and bumping up the thread

I don't have them very often.
Not keen on swedes, they take too long to cook, or parsnips, too sweet, but I'll eat them in a curry so that the taste is lessened
They'd might be quite nice if I followed a proper recipe

I'll be growing my own tomatoes this year, I hope.

I loved the reference to "the Poldark incident".

Here in Melbourne I'm giving very hard looks at my tomatoes. They should have been done and dusted weeks ago but an effectively six-month winter and cool summer put paid to that. It's sheer bloody-mindedness on my part that they're still in the ground, as I grew them from seed and wanted to see how they turned out: prefect in size but resolutely green.

I don't like turnips (which taste "nasty" to me, in a way I can't describe) or swedes (super-bland and pointless) but absolutely love parsnips!

Our local greengrocer sells locally-sourced eggs at half the price (and twice the quality) of the Coop next door.

Good luck with the tomatoes, @ILoveShula Our back garden isn't great for them, but one year a rogue cherry tomato plant somehow escaped into the very sunny front and I just left it to do its thing. It ran riot and I had to make chutney.

Swede turnips mashed with a little cream, a pinch of mace and a twist of black pepper are excellent. They're also nice raw.

I don't normally have much success with tomatoes as they are thirsty plants.
Didn't grow any or much else last year, as we had such a dry summer. I'm not that fussed over tomatoes but like the little ones and homegrown are tasty.
I'm hoping to have a better year this year. I had lots of strawberries and apples last year.

Are swede turnips the same as swedes? Orangey flesh (swede) not white (turnip). With eating them raw, I think you can if the are fresh.

With Pip moving back into the farmhouse, it would be in the interest of the family business, but I wouldn't think it would be ideal for her.

Poldark moment

Ben's sweet, isn't he.

They will ripen inside in a paperbag in a drawer.

I keep wanting to ask Aldridges/Archers "what sort of glue?"

Araldite? Pritt stick? UHU? Cow Gum?

Gloy.

PVA, superglue, gorilla glue, impact glue, nitrocellulose, wallpaper paste...

EvilStink!

@ILoveShula try swede in the microwave - google singing swede (other search engines are available)

Thanks Wilma55. 20 minutes! I could try it, I suppose. Does the taste improve on cooking? I usually boil swede and it tends to be undercooked firm chunks. Carrots, celery and onion generally get much sweeter on cooking.
I might nip to the greengrocer later.

I wonder how Ben does his scrambled eggs…I don’t think we knew he could cook. I’m surprised Innes didn’t opt for poached. There are many pitfalls on a breakfast menu.

It was Ben who used to spend all that time in the kitchen with Jill. Perhaps he learned more than cakes. Then again, he's an adult and should be able to do basic cooking.

I had to laugh (maybe in awe) at Brookfield proposing to rely, for B&B breakfast bread, on the nonagenarian matriarch. (The 90+ year old I know best only steps into the kitchen to admire some shiny new bit of kit, or to look at the garden from the window.)

Ben used to bake with his grandmother. I assumed he made the toast and scrambled egg. It's not a particularly difficult meal to cook.

Why is it a surprise that a nearly 21-yr old can cook scrambled egg on toast?

There is no way my mother would have alllowed my father in the house until he'd cleaned up a bit, if he was covered in dung or blood, even in frosty February, and absolutely no to washing in the kitchen like that. The house was far from spotless, bit basic hygiene...

Glad Tony and Lilian seem to be talking.