Archers thread #147: Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder how old Ambridge is. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Many thanks to @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 have the general public watching you work and asking questions, 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.)

Title comes from this poem, with which I drive my family to distraction at this time of year.

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is.
The bird is on the wing.
But that’s absurd, the wing is on the bird.
Or so I’ve heard.

Ogden Nash

Apologies to @TeenDivided for ignoring her good ideas for the thread title. Here they are to kickstart our ruminations:
'window on the world of cheesemaking'
'how long until the intercom is fatal'
'will Brian settle in new pastures'
'Springing towards Easter with Widowers, Windows, and wails'

Over to you!

and the 🔮 was just a pebble Well, that's added a dimension to my knowledge of geology.

So after 5 minutes online research on the benefits of multi generational households Alice decides a) Brian must move in purely to benefit Martha and b) he will have to go to the Bull every evening to enjoy a drink since the Nest is booze free. And she actually sounded surprised he didn’t want to move in.

Its funny how one minute Alice cant have Brian living with her has he likes a tipple in the evening because The Nest is drink free which is fair enough. Then after talking to Jackob she thought oh yes dad can help me out with Martha never mind id dont want drink in my home. What a turn around. Glad Brian said he dosnt want to live with her or Adam. Its like Brian in their eyes has become old and infirm all of a sudden and he is far from that.

thanks for the new thread, love that poem.

brian to move into the free room at the stables?

I wonder if home farm has a grandad annexe? Would be too bitter sweet though I think.

Glad Brian said he dosnt want to live with her or Adam. Its like Brian in their eyes has become old and infirm all of a sudden and he is far from that.

Yes, that was quite a leap. Suddenly Alice was talking about him needing to move into a care home! I would have liked them both to have used their imagination a bit- they could have speculated on how he could move to Rome for a few months as he’s always loved art and opera (for instance, don’t know if he has) or once they had concluded he won’t leave Home Farm then they could have mused on how he might need to get a cleaner. No wonder Brian shot them down. While his life is going to be different, it’s certainly not over…

I do think that some work well as couples but would cope less well alone. I think my DPs are in that situation. Together they are a good team, but apart... not so sure.

I think Brian needs to be in a farm cottages, and learn how to do some basic cooking.

I bet Lucy Davis, who played the first Hayley, is having a wry smile that her RL Dad is now appearing as curmudgeonly Sykesy!

Of all these possibilities I must say Hungary seems the most attractive option!

Perhaps he might say he wants to spend six months there with his favourite child. And then just never come back. (Except for his own funeral.)

No Totters. He must come back so that he can have a high old time gallivanting around with Joy.

Relevant to tunagate

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64986345

Oof no, cannot see Brian and Joy together.

The 🔮 is quietly confident

❤for tiny Bore and her pebble

@Jellykat I also fancied the Artful Dodger. It's not really the sort of thing you can admit to people usually.

If Brian doesn't go with the Hungary option, then my money's on a luxury serviced flat with restaurant attached.

What’s to stop Brian applying for planning permission to knock down an outbuilding on Home Farm land and getting a small house for himself built, after all he has the contacts - Justin, Lillian, various Parish Council bods and surely a man of his standing would know important people at District and County level.

It was a bit Learish, now you come to mention it. Brian will be 80 in November. I want him in Ambridge and regularly in the cast. All the actors I've known have been keen to keep on working as long as they are physically and mentally up to it. I hope Mr Collingwood is of their mind.

Susan and and Neil are a great couple.

I too predict some oh-so-hilarious speaker-accidentally-broadcasting gossip storyline.

All the actors I've known have been keen to keep on working as long as they are physically and mentally up to it. I hope Mr Collingwood is of their mind.

I would agree with you if Shula hadn't gone to administer to the deprived north.

Hopefully they will both just pop up occasionally at least.

Judy Bennett: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1cq51TFpNfc51kcnZBd0Jrl/half-a-century-as-shula-judy-bennett-looks-back-at-her-time-in-the-archers

Brian can move into Lillys old room!

Pleased Paul's not going anywhere after all.

Wow …

I’m BOOPING - but I’m actually a bit flabbergasted. Weren’t Brian and Usha just breathtaking together? Their voices just found a rhythm. (Ohhh, if only …)

Curious about Brian’s memories of Blossom Hill. Presumably this was (at the time) the ‘cottage on the Bellamy Estate’ that Peggy moved into after Jack Woolley proposed, in 1974, and she turned him down and left her job at Grey Gables. Brian arrived in Ambridge the following year, shortly after Lilian and Ralph left England. Fascinating slice of history!

Aww... Brine's gone back to where it all began. <sniffle>

And Alistair was clearly gutted that Denise won't be back any time soon. I wonder how long it will be before Paul shares that she's splitting from her husband (partner?)