Archers thread #157: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless clan! Discuss The Grundys here. Bicker about The Archers as well if you like.

[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, 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 the idea of making it clear in the title many of us are inveterate bickerers!

Now over to you, as we are about to eat and I won't hear tonight's offering till later ....

I just use my phone. It wasn't a big gesture I just stopped putting it on.

@EmmasBirthdayEarrings Not that I have given it much thought…

Wasn’t he being objectionable about the whole party? Jess was trying desperately to meet people and Rob couldn’t understand why she needed anyone apart from himself. So any party-sized main dish was going to come under criticism

Bravo to the SW for the salmon Easter egg!

Bold!

she should have kept the ring, sold it and donated the money to womens aid
or possibly a charity that supports women in prison

John Finnemore is excellent on expensive watches: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p028sb25

This. It was sheer waste. Someone else will pick it up, sell it and keep the money. A detectorist maybe.

I've never quite understood the thing about having a really expensive watch. At one place I worked we had a competition to find the cheapest watch, the winner came in at £2.25 at a petrol station! I'd be terrified of breaking or losing a timepiece coasting hundreds, if not thousands. Now I'm retired I just use my phone.

@CaptainMyCaptain oooh a Dectectorists/Archers mash-up.....

the advantage of a watch is that (if there is no clock) you can discreetly glance at it, whereas if you check the time on a phone its very obvious to your interlocutor/class

I feel naked without a watch

nice watches are like nice jewellery - some people are willing to spend a lot more than others

I mean, Rolexes are tens of thousands, or more. I met a chap who would have been a member of a Rajasthani royal family; after a few drinks he was boasting about his ‘favourite’ Rolex. He intimated the price was the equivalent of over £100,000.

I just can’t imagine wearing something on my wrist that’s the same price as something I could live in! Im clumsy, I’m always scratching the face of my Fitbit watch.

I just get the feeling that Brian’s children will have got him something disappointing. They won’t have wanted to fork out a lot for it and they’re pretty much all very thoughtless. I think Alice is least thoughtless now she’s sober but she’s still quite wrapped up in herself I think.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................................................

If it had been said by someone who knew about the party, rather than by Jakob who would not have done since it happened years before he moved to Ambridge, and if the salmon at Jess's party having gone on the floor had been known to anyone except Jess and Rob, which it wasn't, then well done. But I rather think smoked salmon sandwiches, as opposed to whole cooked salmon, were a coincidence.

I would like to think the Easter Egg was a reward to attentive long-term listeners. I certainly thought immediately of all the shenanigans around fish that Rob inflicted on both Jess and Helen.

It's been done.

After the coin (a stater, I think it was) was found by Jill at Brookfield they had people with metal detectors making a nuisance of themselves and digging holes everywhere for a while.

Eddie and Joe had a metal detector they used to try to find treasure on Grange Farm after Oliver had bought the place.

It was said that Lillian paid the bulk so she probably rescued it from being from the pound shop

I’m sure Lilian paid the lions share. It seems unlikely Kate would be able to stump up a lot of cash and not long ago Adam had to resort to theft to pay his electricity bill.

The Denise situation is ridiculous. She allegedly told her husband she was going on a course to avoid the uncle (not sure if he is her uncle or an in law) but that was weeks ago. Has it not occurred to Paul that his dad surely can’t think she’s still on the course so she is obviously lying? Why hasn’t he even spoken to his dad during this time to ask when Uncle Rufus is leaving? And the different surname thing is odd as well.

I ♥️ the prof! BOOP

Nice to hear Jim - I too have a book buying addiction. Although I disagree about salad cream. I fear his loveliness may be bad news for his mole. Nice to hear Helen at least showing her troubles and discussing them with someone - and she was fine in that interaction.

also nice to hear Stella again without pip!! Quite a sizeable barn of it can be turned into 5 holiday lets.

Nice to see Brian is still canny

good old Jim

Great episode!

And Helen ended up eating the biscuits.

Nice biscuit symbolism. I love Jim. Like him I'm addicted to books. On the watch front, thought retired, I still wear my pricy watch which is also my engagement ring, twin watches my late DH bought for us.