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!

Oh do shut up Oliver. Enough already over that bench. And please stop being blinded by George's obvious lies

Also wanted to say, I sincerely hope that Brad spills the beans to Oliver. I also hope that that Oliver pulls the plug on the money (regardless) and teaches George a valuable lesson.

I would like it if Chelsea, generally pretty straightforward, heard about the injustice from Brad or possibly from Tracy and took steps to tell Oliver in no uncertain terms exactly why it was she "accidentally" shaved half George's head and just what sort of scumbag (his chosen word for whoever broke the bench) George is.

I'm not sure George will ever learn a lesson. He seems bad to the core.. a congenital liar. I really don't like him

What's frustrating is that nobody (adult) recognises it! I know of a teenager like this and the adults surrounding them talk about it (because they're either worried or at their wits end). Everyone seems to be much more blinkered than they would be in real life...

Also, @faffadoodledo I agree with you. I found myself wanting Brad to punch George during the last episode...

I know, has any under 20 yo in Ambridge ever allowed to not be seen as innocent?

Welcome to the thread @Shouldbehoovering. I love a delurker.

Maybe Henry will shoot Rob 🤔.

I’m annoyed at how wound up I am by George. Unbelievable that Chelsea is the only one who sees him clearly. And correct me if I’m wrong, because this seems completely and utterly ridiculous, but IS OLIVER REALLY PAYING GEORGE TO FIX THE BLOODY BENCH????? Really???

There’s no point. George has got in first. Oliver won’t listen to Brad, and, if he does, it will only be to confirm his idea that Brad is lying.

No, he’s not paying George. But he’d previously offered George £5000 to help him set himself up, and if George mends the bench satisfactorily, he won’t rescind the offer.

George clearly expects to be paid for materials for his work on the bench even if he makes a mess of the job and it has to go to the professionals. And, George being George, they will presumably be charged at a vastly inflated price.

Rylan?

Perhaps George could get caught in the cross fire

I'll shoot him if needs be.

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon - this is the main thread, not the other one!

(I always have to double-check before posting.)

I love the idea of Rylan being an assassin hired by Pat to take Rob down....

Me too, imagine how scary it would be when he's hiding in the dark and then he smiles. The moonlight catches his bright white teeth as he smiles a second before opening fire, killing his target Rob, and accidentally (on purpose) shooting George.

I presume pp means Paul?

👀

No. I think she mean Rylan.

Ohh, I always think Paul sounds like Rylan when I hear him 🙈

It’s strange that Oliver, who is so willing to see the worst of Brad (which is obviously, not that bad) doesn’t see the worst of George (which is).

I wonder whether his involvement in the hunt ball protest is going to come up, it was strange at the time that it didn’t, when Oliver paid for his trip soon after.

There’s something uncomfortable in Oliver’s over the top beneficence that is then rescinded based on perceived worthiness. I feel like we keep hearing the same story over and over.

I have got lost; when did Oliver previously rescind an act of generosity?

Oh, maybe when he decided that the Grundys had to pay rent to live in his house on an apparently permanent basis after being there rent-free for a few months?

Oliver has always sounded overly-pompous - rather like Justin in that respect. Both have the sort of deliberate Rees-Moggish/Borisian accents that I haven't really heard in anyone younger than my father's generation, and my father (who, I hasten to add, had a plum-free mouth) was born in 1923. It's as though they're out of kilter by a generation.

Jimmus sounds vaguely similar, but in his case it's not OTT.

from your mouth (keyboard) to the SW ear please!

the Pat/gun/Rob stuff is so bloody irritating