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 keep thinking back to the original storyline, where Oliver was so upset to be selling Grey Gables. And it did sound like he was actually selling it. There was all that stuff about how he tried everything to save people’s jobs and this was the only option left. And how devastated he was about it.

Except now, it turns out he’s still involved, and actually does have access to a pile of money to sort the (improbable) issue out. And in fact he could have done it all along, but instead of doing that and saving everybody’s jobs, he decided to make sure the Grundy’s got to treat him like a lodger in his own house for a bit longer. Bizarre.

Ian's pizza […] would have been a go-to option in the absence of any other takeaway options in the village.

@LillianGish, I’m fairly sure you’re right about Helen and the boys having enthusiastically ingested Ian’s pizzas in the past; memory suggests he made them at home, for lunch, but that could be embellishment. I don’t think his pizzas are a regular takeaway option for the village, though: doesn’t his van do specific ‘events’ at various locations rather than loiter in a lay-by off the bypass? At this time of year, not a lot going on outside, so he’d be wise to hang on to the Grey Gables gig while it lasts. Christmas markets, I suppose. He’s probably developed a range of seasonal toppings… Stilton, rocket and walnut, anyone? Or smoked reindeer and cranberry - that should be a hit with the kiddies 😈

Was it the birthday party where Helen couldn’t deal with the noise at the soft play, or wherever it was, So Ian made pizza at home.

Wouldn't it be splendid if Brian bought the barn and land and used it to build affordable rental housing with long term security for locals?

I know it's not very Brianish but the SWs could use his turning 80, losing Jenny etc as an opportunity for him to develop a social conscience.

I don't think so. My understanding (from what he said about having to raise 250,000 quid) is that he is very much a junior partner in this and that the company who bought it were putting in a lot to rebuild GG. So the 250 grand wouldn't have even touched the sides of what was needed.

Keeping Adil on is just batshit, and his slo-mo breakdown or whatever is just bordering on the very much unbelievable.

I know it's not very Brianish but the SWs could use his turning 80, losing Jenny etc as an opportunity for him to develop a social conscience

Oh please don’t let that happen! That would be so so dull! I would far rather he reverted to his old ways and embarked on a series of inappropriate love affairs…much more fun for CC and us!

I'd find the GG storyline more believable if we'd have heard mention of the new main owners of GG at all, ever since the refurbishment started. Why wasn't Adil being chased up to report to them, for example? Why wasn't Oliver in meetings with them, or redirecting questions to them, and why the hell didn't we had that they had a problem with him randomly recruiting?

When GG closed I thought the whole point of it for Oliver was that he wanted to rid himself of the financial and mental burden and retire. Instead it seems now as if the new owners are more like silent investors. But even that's improbable, because they'd have had a lot to say about it not opening on time and needing a lot more money, surely!

Oh please don’t let that happen! That would be so so dull! I would far rather he reverted to his old ways and embarked on a series of inappropriate love affairs…much more fun for CC and us!

He could combine the two - social conscience and a few dalliances. I'd love more Brian on TA - he is never dull!

Agree we need more Brian but he needs to be being Brian!

it irritates me on the archers when the characters all come together and support each other like some hallmark movie (xref adil disappearing).

<goes off sulking cos no one loves my splendid idea>

Remember when MN used to be full of these < > creepy wee brackets?

Brian should buy the land and convert the barn. Then he could include a home for Ed and Emma to rent, Ed can have the land for his sheep and Emma can manage the holiday homes. Sorted.

When the Summer pickers thing fell apart (in Ambridge and rl) what became of the whole Home Farm infrastructure surrounding it? Caravans, cleaners, etc … (I vaguely recall Jenny changing bedding or something in the caravans - something I never believed would happen.)

<still uses these creepy wee brackets all the time in text messages and had no idea they were creeepy>

I was chatting to the pizza guy at a rather niche music festival, and he was saying for him the absolute earner, exceeding all the rest, was weddings

Why are they creepy?

(I learnt my message etiquette in the 90s on usenet)

I luffs me a <>

gosh those were all the days. Fisking long messages and marking the quoted bits with >>these angled brackets<<

But proper threading! So all the posts going down diversions were together, and you could follow down that string (or ignore it) before going on to the next diversions. We could really do with proper threading here! Also saves having to quote so much.

Such an innocent time. I have good friends from inviting into my house complete strangers on a newsgroup-meet.

Scottishmummy named them creepy wee brackets.

She was eventually banned.

i don't really like threading, i prefer the quote function and one convo, and always have done.

I have a lot of good (RL, now) friends that i first met online over 20 years ago 😀

I have dome good RL friends that I first met online. Some of them from MN, but also a couple of other sites.

The little ones of ambridge seem to love spaghetti

thats all I took from that episode

gosh Lilian's voice is really starting to grate. I had a sudden thought that this might mean the end of that relationship and Lilian would be left high and dry.
Instead they are going to be done for price fixing at an auction, and shunned by the village for doing Oliver out of a good price for his land.

I think more likely we're going to have to endure a hilarious comedic SL of Lilian and Justin trying and failing in various underhand shenanigans to persuade other members of her extended family not to bid. But they will be discovered and other people will play them a merry game. There will be no legal consequences. There will be far too much low-level plotting with a comedic undertone. It will be like an episode of Wacky Races.

could we be building up to a big Christmas Scene?