Archers thread #158: Te Rum? You numpty, numpty, Tom! Empty tearoom follows. Christmas coming, farmers’ stand up, will it make us LOL? No! 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 Tom Archer is a great businessman, 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 @LillianGish for the title idea, which may plant an earworm if my scansion just about holds up. @BeatriceBatchelor wanted 'plebby coffee' inserted in reference to my Bolivian coffee anecdote on the last thread, so I'll mention it here instead. Here's hoping Fallon and Emma decamp to the charging station or Grey Gables, or both, to run the type of coffee shop/tearoom people actually enjoy spending time in. Tom's cauliflower eclairs and kale criossants approach sounds more likely to drive the casual trade away from the farm shop and cheese window as well as the Google Translate-named Te Rum.

Feeling very uninspired by TA at the moment, so I have nothing more to say for now. Over to you!

Hmm … Generally I can listen to TA with a degree of distance.

But Lilian’s likely to receive a solicitor’s letter soon. I feel sick with worry for her.

Also go Emma! Not grovelling gratefully like Kate expected her to.

absolutely

Kate's description of Emma as "ungrateful" says everything about how she sees her. Very Lady Bountiful. Not.

Lilian will be fine. She owns a lot of property, and has family all over Ambridge. And she really doesn't need Justin.

Ideally I would like him to realise he is universally despised in Ambridge, and sell up and leave. Lilian could sell a couple of Amside properties and buy The Lodge.

Make sure that if you acquire a SAHF, you transfer child benefit allowance to him, however illogical this seems. You can’t get your NI credited for years you’re at home bringing up children unless you’re being paid child benefit.

But Emma’s doing Eng Lit not Eng Lang.

I too think Eddie was angling to be in the will. Probably hoping to get Grange Farm back,

I thought the Dower House story had years to run. I am surprised they are raising the issue now. It feels a bit early. May be Simon Williams has had enough (aged 77) or perhaps the SWs think J and L have run their course - which I would definitely agree with…Remember that dreadful yachting SL. What a low point…

@harriethoyle that’s so kind of you to ask - he’s ok. Still very wheezy, breathing remains difficult, but he’s been off oxygen for a few hours now and is managing to eat without a nasal tube - progress! Home by the weekend.

Bless him. Poor little chap. Hope he continues to improve apace 😊

Go Lillian but she should never have allowed Justin to take ownership of the Dower House. I can't remember the circumstances of it being signed over - can anyone else remember?

Thank you both Gasp0de and Asking for answering my question about the Grundys’ landlord. I’ve been listening for decades (I think I came in roughly when Caroline married Guy Pemberton; it was when Kate went missing and Jennifer had to go and identify a body that turned out not to be her). However I think that I always glazed over at the intricacies of the estate ownership.

Justin rented from Lilian but discovered that the house actually belonged to Matt in trust for her and was appalled at the idea of living in a house belonging to That Man, so he talked her into breaking the trust and the house being sold to him.

In other words, Lilian was a complete idiot and left herself without a house of her own for no reason whatever. She could have got Matt to break the trust and then kept the house rather than selling it to Justin, after all.

I knew you'd have the answer, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime !

Lillian was a fool to allow Justin to own the Dower House without having the rights to it that marriage would convey. I sense she will have a battle on her hands for her own home.

when Kate went missing and Jennifer had to go and identify a body that turned out not to be her)

As I remember, it was Brian who was on stiff inspection duty - Jennifer wimped out.

That does ring a bell. I was about Kate’s age at the time, my parents were both listeners and I remember them both being quite upset by it. What better reason for us all to tune into future episodes together eh?!

Well Lilian had it coming but she'll be fine.
I have it down as her to buy The Lodge and Justin to stay simmering in the Dower House (with the lovely kitchen - who paid for that) on his own. And now we're going to have weeks of Jakub trying (and failing) to keep Kate out of his space. That's going to be no fun.

Lilian was right about him being too sneaky about the EV Charging station so there is that.

And GO EMMA! Kate was awful. All "oh yes I'll do all the care for Granny" (and a bit stunned when Jakub pointed out that she couldn't even say the words 'intimate care' let alone do it) and then whingeing about occasionally driving The Peggster to a different church. (SWers driving it home as usual, with a mallet, so we all understand just what a pratt Kate is)

But i really wish there had been (even just Fallon) a small audience for Emma biting Kate's hand that feeds. That was brilliant.

Yes, now I understand why the sudden rush for Peggy to vacate The Lodge.

Justin is so unbelievable to me I struggle when he’s on.

so If the dower house was in a trust with Lillian as beneficiary, is she benefitting from the cash Justin paid? the whole thing about the house is ridiculous as well.

It’s true the requirement to provide drama in every single scene and weekly / monthly set up does leave Ambridge residents in the most bizarre and complicated property ownership situations.

(I sound like @ppeatfruit!)

Justin’s just completely one-dimensional, that’s my problem with him. Peevish, gigantically pompous, obsessed with 'business' and perpetually on the lookout for the next opportunity to make a buck and do someone else down. All this while allegedly being some sort of mega-tycoon who lived the smart upper-class London life complete with skiing, riding and international travel, but gave it all up to immure himself with Lillian in total obscurity in a tiny nowheresville village. Yet he wouldn’t even marry her and seems to view her as a business rival at best.

He’s a cardboard character.

And of course we know he was married when he started dallying with Lil (and didn’t it become fairly clear that it was by no means the first time he’d played away from the marital sphere?). What a catch 🙄

Keri's having fun this week! If he sees Justin off, that will be an early Christmas present, although I expect we are in for prolonged bickering, and I fear they will be reconciled. Emma's reply to Kate was absolute gold. Poor, poor Jakob.

Yep - none of the big hotshots I know of have gone from international jetsetter to concentrating his power base around a small village and resorting to volunteering in a village shop to get a small deal through (the ev charging station is hardly business deal of the century). it’s all thoroughly bizarre

Lil'n'Kate (and Hilda the terrorcat) sharing the Lodge would be a perfect antidote to all the garbage we've had poured into our ears in the last six months.

This week's compare n contrast is "what happens when you don't own the home you live in" featuring The Grundies, Kate and Lilian.