Archers thread #155: Cold Comfort Farms! The rural sagas continue. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

FILL THE OLD THREAD UP FIRST! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4902507-archers-thread-154-cider-with-fat-rosie-meadow-rise-to-candleford-or-the-darling-horrobins-of-september-get-your-rural-saga-fix-discuss-the-archers-here?page=10

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 hear more scenes in the abattoir, 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.)

Lots of lively discussion about Brad's university aspirations and the Open Day on the last thread. Do you want him to end up at Felpersham or do you want him to spread his wings and go further afield? Where will Mia go?

Will this thread see the end of Rob, or do we have many weeks more before his long overdue demise?

What's going on at Grey Gables? Are they running into financial trouble? Will we hear from Roy, who I had forgotten was working there until he was mentioned the other day? Who are the mysterious 'Owners'? Will the locum GP turn out to be Adil's sister, as we have been surmising since she first spoke? Why's she been conjured up?

Talking of the GP, I'm hoping against hope we're not in for bad news about Jim's mole.

Praying that we're going to get a long and much-needed break from hearing P*p. Not praying that we hear Rob being christened. Who would be his sponsor, as someone commented on the last thread? Harrison? Surely that would be a conflict of interest. Can't see who else would do it locally.

I wonder how Ben is getting on now he's back on his nursing degree? Will we ever hear anything about Lily's course, or how Freddie's getting on at the abattoir?

So many questions! Over to you for some answers and boundless speculation.

I've never known of a neutered guinea pig. I am very much here for a guinea pig based storyline
Less GGP (Grey Gables Peril) More GPP (Guinea Pig Plot)!

Bruisername
I did wonder - do people get Guinea pigs neutered?

They do indeed. I wondered that so I did a quick search, and got lots of information about when it would be a good idea to have it done.

👊🐹

(closest I could find)

Good work for the cause!!

I asked dh about the likelihood of the hotel refurb going the way it is as he has expertise in that field. I’m now being roundly mocked for expecting my fiction to be realistic.

I'm going to ignore the kitchen debacle. BOOP for @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g's Lady Peggy de Bourgh.

Yes, guinea pigs are frequently neutered as they should always be kept in pairs or small groups (although boars are less popular pets anyway, a lot of people only keep sows). Poor Lola, they are not supposed to live alone. And also they need to be introduced to each other carefully, they take time to bond, you can't just dump them in a hutch together. I really hope the Grundys have a big enough hutch/cage for two pigs, they need a surprisingly large amount of space relative to their size.

In Switzerland it’s illegal to own only one Guinea pig.

Good for them. It's really cruel to keep them alone. It's not banned by law in the UK but it is very strongly discouraged.

We had a rescue Guinea pig when I was a kid and he was terrified of other Guinea pigs so we had him on his own. Poor thing was terrified of pretty much everything to be fair - dread to think how he was treated

I think that’s a different kind of programme…

Look, as I see it the current SWs have been left a pig's ear of the GG refurb backstory, and they are doing their best to wrestle it back towards a more realistic depiction.

From today's episode, I understood Ian to have been fighting to get a realistic kitchen layout for some time, in his consultancy role, which is only temporary. From what I heard today, he has been attempting to do his professional best, only to be repeatedly over-ruled by Ardil, on the grounds of Chef Theatre. I thought he acted perfectly in character today. And so did the contractors.

I have an idea that, yes, you can neuter Guinea pigs. (Have just re-read @Fink's post.) Male ones will of course be much simpler, as anyone in Ambridge who rears livestock can probably tell you

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g you have surpassed yourself

Indeed, excellent work from Gasp0de

Now, I could really get behind a production of Pride and Prejudice (or S&S)by the denizens of Ambridge.

And I must admit to finding Adil's sudden personality change quite perplexing.

Ardil is stressed to the max. He hates that Lynda and Oliver has spotted it, and hence is in denial. Added to that, he had an unexpected encounter with his big sister, when he was expecting merely to talk to his GP, probably for the first time about any ailment, about insomnia - due to worrying about GG. And currently, as these things have a habit of doing, all the little mistakes that have been building up over time are manifesting their consequences now, as the deadline for them coming together looms towards him, at a speed which feels to him feels like 100mph.

I have just watched an excellent episode of The Hotel Inspector, about a new hotel in Recar. Anyone who follows this programme knows that first-timers opening hotels are sometimes blind to basic and obvious considerations - usually because they have a Grand Vision which ofter does not take into account practicalities, which leads to their grand plans omitting details such as having somewhere for guests to unpack their knickers into

Damn. Too late for another edit. Redcar. And the novice hotelier, and Alex, and lots of other people were brilliant in it

I actually think the GG Sl is getting worse as all of the sw mistakes are coming to a head!!

Love the Guinea pig squeeking noises. Why do people have to get involved and then as we know cause trouble and upset. Lola has been quite happy living alone then she has to have a hutch mate without being consulted. Perhaps the new Guinea pig is like Rob and he starts his narc ways on Lola. Im really worried for her. ( TA is really rubbish at the moment.)

i rescued a GP when i was in the army, one of my bosses got a GP for his son, on the proviso that he looked after it...
So I said I'd have it (I already had rabbits) and he was lovely, long haired white one with a brown nose. Mackenzie.
He came with the tiniest hutch imaginable so thee first thing we did was build a big enclosure, and as he came more bold he had a hutch that he could access all the time as did the rabbits, and free run of the garden. I used to have a cup of tea before work, and I'd sit on the kitchen step and he'd come up whistling for snacks. And again in the evening he'd run up whistling for dinner, and stay for a chat and a bit of a play. I really miss him. (it's been 30 years)

<makes note for next title>

We had a rescue Guinea pig that lived alone. She was very sweet.

I discovered her dead one morning but left her in her cage as the bank man was coming for a meeting. Over coffee he said “Sorry to say this but …… I think your Guinea Pig might be dead”. He had stopped look in the hutch on his way in bless him.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

This is why I love this thread - thank you for this window into your world...

Guinea pig drama over here this morning, I was hugely stressed!

We have outdoor guinea pigs, and at this time of year slugs and snails often get into the hutch, especially the feeding bowl. I was trying to get a slug out and, without thinking of the consequences, pulled out a piece of the floor of the hutch which meant that the pigs could get loose into the garden. Mostly they wouldn't, but there's one really nervous one who jumped out and then wedged herself between the hutch and the garden wall. She wouldn't come out with coaxing or the offer of food. She was terrified, but so was I. She's never liked being handled so we only ever pick her up inside her hide. If she'd run into the main garden and hidden there, I never would have got her back, she's too fast and she doesn't ever come when called. Years ago, we had one taken by a fox, I was so worried she'd end up the same way. Eventually she hopped back in and I transferred them over to the run while I repaired the hutch, but that was a stressful 15 minutes kneeling on the wet ground trying to nudge her in without her bolting off. I was dreading having to tell the kids too. Thank goodness I got her back!

Now I find myself wondering about the end of the story @JayAlfredPrufrock

Did you brazen it out and breezily say ‘oh I know’ or feign shock, pretend you didn’t know and accept his proffered handkerchief?

I’m ashamed to say I did indeed feign shock, then had to explain I knew but was leaving her until my daughter got home from school so we could have a family burial.

Her name was Freckles.

It's a pregnant female Guinea pig, isn't it? <sigh>

You see Fink - we could have a whole episode based around the GPs!!!

I would rather hear about the Guinea pigs than Pip!!