Archers thread #148: Unseasonably, it's panto time in Ambridge. He's behind you, Pat! BANG. 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 think George Grundy isn't a psychopath, 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.)

Will Rob return, or are they playing with us? Will Pat run amok with her shotgun and wipe out half the village? (We can but hope ...) Will Oliver come to his senses and turf the Grundy clan out of Grange Farm? So many questions, so much time.

Over to you!

The Eurovision thing is a bit ludicrous. I live rurally and don’t know many villages that would be having a Eurovision event with nothing for the Coronation (unless I’ve missed something?). If they were going to, it would 100% be organised by the pub!
It was similar with the jubilee last year - endless chat about something that weekend called The Community Party or Village Celebration or something, and no mention of the jubilee that I recall.
I’m beginning to suspect republican leanings among the SWs… (back to lurking/bunting making for our village event 👑🇬🇧)

I think Justin has volunteered himself to organise some sort of coronation thing. He'll probably try to sell tickets.

All meetings here which involve planning anything (or more usually protesting about anything that has been planned, regardless of what it is) invariably take place at 7:30 in the evening and go on for hours. Every time I say "Sorry, but that's when we eat" and people look at me as though I'm insane.

They are probably all times to be "after The Archers".

timed. I could do without mindless typos.... Sorry.

That was so funny reading your thread @emsiewill - someone commented "I think that Brian may have bitten off more than he can chew with Siobhan" then speculation about whether or not she was pregnant, along with a few tears at the safe delivery of baby Ben- how funny that we are now listening to storylines of those two babies' friendship as young men.

And I particularly love that the thread was about looking for fellow people under 40 listening- now you are a MUCH more suitable age for TA

You’re not the only one, but I got a bit heated when I dared mention it previously

Love this!

poor Lilian with everyone dissing Justin!
I really like the idea that there is a huge schism in the village with the pro- and contra-charging station people. The prospect of jobs in a rural area like that? That is a very very big draw in places like that.

Also i do think the church is the obvious place to light up, since there is the Bull and The Feathers, right? how come the landlord/lady of the Feathers never get involved in anything. Or did i dream up another pub?

also meant to say i loved Lynda's self-awareness when she told Paul that nobody normally says "no" to her.

There is a place call the Feathers, I think it's a hotel rather than a pub. And I don't think it's in the village, it's somewhere in Borsetshire but a bit further afield I think.

I think it's in Felpersham. If I'm wrong, it must be in Borchester.

There was the Cat and Fiddle yonks ago I think but it shut down.

I thought Chelsea's joy at the prospect of local work was very realistic - less realistic is the idea of a roadside hairdresser out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

There was a second pub in Ambridge many years ago - the Cat and Fiddle. It was where Joe and Eddie preferred to drink, or from time to time had to drink, if one or both of them were barred from The Bull. I believe there was an incident when Eddie was sick in the piano at The Bull, for example. This pub was notorious on the old BBC Archers messageboard (the original Mustardland) for moving around the village at will, as the SWs never seemed to know where it was.

Latterly it had two gay men as landlords, and they took it upmarket a bit. One was called Sean, but that may not have been the spelling, as he was Welsh. I'm not sure the other one spoke. Sid, who was landlord at The Bull, was a homophobe and was really unpleasant to them. Eventually they sold up and the pub was converted into flats. Nobody ever reminisces about it now.

Brefugee

No idea how that happened. Sorry.

Anyhow...

The Feathers is in Borchester; it's a hotel on the Market Square.

Thanks, Asking, I knew you'd know! I have a dim memory of that being THE place to go for a special occasion meal back in the 80s.

Get your hair cut while your car charges; seems like a great business model to me.

We don't have a car of any type, so I really don't understand this charging stuff. In London it's becoming more common to see charging points (is that the right term?) on the pavement. Are they in multi-storey, work and railway station carparks too? That would seem sensible. I have no idea how long it takes to charge an electric car. Would a commuter drive home from Brum, park up at the charging station, and then stroll through the fields to get home to Glebelands, say? How often would they need to charge their vehicle?

I would look at it the other way round: charge your car while you have your hair done. That would be a sensible business model: hairdresser with parking area puts in electric chargers makes sense.

I don't think building a two-acre retail park in the middle of nowhere, with a hairdressing salon, a shop, a coffee place and a nail bar, using 30 electric car charging points as the "draw" to get people to go there, works quite so well.

Maybe the business model doesn't matter, maybe it's a money laundering scheme.

Ironically we picked up our new EV today so I feel very invested in this story!
Our favourite coffee shop has charge points outside it. I may be drinking a lot more coffee in the coming months!

Most Archers' residents who want to drive an EV will have a charger installed at home as most will have off street parking. You plug in when you get home so you have full battery the next morning, much as you do with your phone

For those who don't, who are commuters, our EV does a range of 200+miles easily so they would be plugging in every 3 to 4 days assuming a 50-mile round trip.

Time depends on how powerful the charger it is. The type of chargers being installed in Ambridge will vary from 20 minutes to 3 hours to get a full charge. The slower ones will be cheaper.

I've never heard of hairdressers or nail bars at EV charging stations - any more than you would get them at a Motorway Service station. That bit is ridiculous.

The division among the community is more realistic. I work on similar green projects and they can be divisive. There are always people who dont like any sort of change.

May be a barber shop would be more suitable than a salon?

Illuminating a building at the last minute to mark the coronation seems to reflect the low-key national mood. No sign of any street parties being planned around here. I have bought a commemorative tea caddy and biscuit tin from M and S but that’s about as far as I am prepared to go with regards to my own celebrations. I’m a bit royalled out after the Jubilee and the funeral last year.

I think a lot of people don't want to organise another street party so soon after the jubilee ones. Certainly there's no enthusiasm where I am.