Archers thread #151: A Fête worse than death or a reverse ferret? Helen’s got the Borsetshire Blues, Tom’s talking shiitake, George is a rotten apple. 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 Helen and Tom would do well on Dragons' Den, 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 @OverArmour for various title ideas! I would have liked to incorporate the suggestion from @Fleetress, which was

‘Do do one Ron, Ron, do do one Ron’

(Rob is Ron for many on this thread now)

Possibly a bit obscure for newer posters, though!

Anyway: we got through that last thread in no time at all. Combined effect of Rob and George, I suspect. I wonder if Rob will have made it to Ambridge by the time we need a new thread. I'm still waiting for Pat's shotgun to feature. That can't have been mentioned for the first time ever for no reason at all.

Over to you!

In our very small rural hamlet of only 12 houses we have a gay couple and a lesbian couple. They don't like each other much.

@NetZeroZealot , and how many of the 12 houses are holiday lets?

The Pip/Stella snog is just what we can expect in Ambridge these days. The days of Jean-Paul being the only gay in the village are long gone. I think a rural village would probably have a gay or lesbian couple, and possibly one or two that you weren't sure about. The difference is that I think the gay couple would probably be running the pub, not a farmer and pizza chef, with a son

I have a vague memory of Nelson Gabriel having a cook called Shane who was gay (but possibly silent). Actually wasn’t Nelson gay? I always rather thought he was.

The attractive barman Fallon had such a crush on was bi, he left the camper van to move in with his former boyfriend.

Fallon slept with Jazzer that night on the rebound.

I remember Shane! Nelson was definitely camp.

What about Alastair’s sister?

Fiona. Yes, she's the older professional woman who you never were sure if she was a lesbian. She came out around the time Jim opened up about his abuse.

I thought the only reason Fiona came to the village at all, never having been mentioned except as not having wanted Jim staying with her when he had his broken leg, was to come to Jim's party, and she had never been heard before that. She was in the cast for three weeks after it in 2019 demanding her right to know why her father didn't want to tell her why he was upset about something when she didn't know what he was upset about. (Ignore him for ten years and then insist on hearing all the gory details of childhood abuse that he absolutely does not want to talk about: way to go, Fi.)

The following year she was in the cast for one week, and that was when she came out before vanishing again. Jim was said to have gone to visit her and meet her new partner later that year, and she invited him to "virtual Christmas dinner" in 2020; otherwise she has vanished back off the face of the earth.

Thank goodness for Asking. I suspected that I'd got the details wrong. I got the impression that she'd been brought in to tick a check box.

Nelson was bi, I think. He fathered a child as a young man, but in later life seemed happy to be on companionly terms only with women.

On my parents' island, there are/have been at least three hotels run by gay couples. They had a Pride weekend recently.

I think that as well as fathering a child, Nelson also made a pass at Sophie Barlow (he invited her to come and inspect his black satin sheets, I think) and went out with Jennifer (he was thought to be Adam's father while Jennifer was pregnant). I don't remember his ever showing the slightest interest in anyone male; he employed a gay chef, but that really is no evidence about his own sexuality.

It is possible essentially not to have much interest in sex without being bi.

None. Rural area but not holiday area.

Where I am from is rural and not a tourist area but is popular for cottage rentals. A noticeable proportion of the housing stock is let. Family homes empty. The land sold, rented or farmed by the owner.
I had a look on a holiday rentals site and there were houses listed where I'd been many times as a child. Warm, cosy, real family homes now lying empty, their interiors modified for rentals all grey open plan kitchens, grey bathrooms, engineered wood floors or neutral carpets, all walls Wimborne White or whatever it's called. They're not homes any more.

Feel free to be pedantic. It breaks my heart.

Heartbreaking, @PedantScorner
In Durham, it's a similar but different story. Student accommodation and AirBnb has pushed the ordinary residents of Durham out, and there are now very few of them living in the centre

I can understand why they do it, it's business. Things evolve, but it's wrecking the communities.

I wouldn't mind visiting Durham but I'd stay in a B&B or similar.
At least, if you stay in a B&B, you'd probably contribute more to the local economy, you'd probably shop and eat locally, and it wouldn't mean family homes not being available.

The holiday rentals will have people turning up with a car full of shopping, and probably use it as a base for days out in the car. There's not much in the village other than scenic views, peace and quiet, and fresh air.

No family homes means no children, the few children go to a primary school about 7 miles away now. Not like in my day, when we could walk to some of each other's houses. There won't be a rising generation to create a close-knit community.

It doesn't seem to happen in Ambridge. Even if it did, they'd probably be silently shopping at the Village Shop and the Bridge Farm Shop, and eating at the Ambridge Tea Room or The Bull, not using it a a convenient base for driving to Worcester, Ludlow, Malvern, Warwick and Stratford.

Talking of business and evolving, Fallon should definitely go for a site at the charging station. It sounds ideal.
I'd love to see the look on Tom's face when he finds out. Good old Lynda!

A recent article in the Sunday Times magazine described how AirBnB is ruining communities
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-uks-airbnb-hotspots-and-what-its-like-to-live-in-them-273hrjjmj

(unfortunately it seems to be behind a paywall that even 12ft.io can’t handle)

You've lost me. Is there an Airbnb storyline on the Archers?

(Don't worry Beatrice, some have chosen to go off at a bit of a tangent!)

Oh that's alright then! I thought I'd missed something ... like Stella and Ed getting flirty in the pub. That passed me by too.

I'm annoyed with Pip for experimenting on her friend when she was upset about her dog. There would have been a better time and place, surely.

George getting in on the farm so he can get Ed sacked sounds plausible - I also think he has ideas about taking Stella's job, he hates women after all. Although obviously it could just have been to twist the knife about Ed the dog killer.

It is quite creepy, the way George is muscling in on one august Ambridge place after another. Bridge Farm, Home Farm … Wonder what plans he has for Brookfield? Or Lower Loxley?

I would I imagine a relatively high number of "first kisses" happen under heightened emotional circumstances, generally, @Grimchmas?

Emotionally heightened because there's attraction, yes I agree. In situations with higher emotional or sensory arousal like a new years eve, a concert, around a campfire huddling together to keep warm, that sort of thing, yes. While comforting a friend who is upset about their dog dying, though? It's hardly a romantic situation 😬 - is it really just me?me?