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!

Wasn't his volunteering to get some sort of business award? I'm not sure how keen your average Titan of Industry would be on winning Borsetshire Businessman of The Year...

i thought it was so he could get the inside goss on the anti charging station lot

Bit of both, iirc.

typical Grundy short termism - why not get yourself on a list for a location you’re interested in. Rather than subjecting us to warbling clarrie when they have to leave grange farm and can only find an almshouse in Tyneside

But he’s ALL about community , doncha know

Another interesting compare and contrast is Tom n Tasha able to say it's just bricks and mortar. They have the benefit of young-ish age and of course family to fall back on unlike the Grundys.

Or you could say that the grundies are obsessed with a particular house and land and they only just realised that it’s just bricks and mortar/memories. Whereas tomtash figured it out already

The silly thing is that the one who was obsessive about Grange Farm (in spite of having frequently claimed that he ought to have owned Brookfield if only the Archers hadn't somehow cheated him out of it) was Joe, and he is dead. Will left home at seventeen, Ed at about the same age, neither has showed the least sign of obsession with that farm until now – and in Ed's case I feel fairly sure that as long as he has enough land to graze his Texels he doesn't much care where his caravan is set up. Will doesn't even live there, was not happy there as a child, and only came back because his father destroyed his livelihood elsewhere so that he lost his house, and he was worried about his mother, so having him being all "this is always going to be our home" about the place now is absurd.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime Spot on. And the talk between Eddie and Clarrie in last night's episode about almshouses really did suggest that neither of them now realistically believed that Grange Farm was home for the Grundies in the long term.

Is Bartleby still alive? If so, what happens to him?

Dunno, how much does the glue factory pay these days? Could buy them a month’s rent…

And also Gem?

Now that would be quite the episode.

The BBC's switchboard would melt!

Wouldn’t it just!

Joe's unfortunate pony was lent to him by Shula because the person it belonged to couldn't afford to keep a pony that was too old to work. That was in 2001, I think. So assuming that Bartleby would have been at least twenty then or he wouldn't have been too old to work, he's well over forty now, which is a very good age for a pony.

why on earth would brian let Justin move in with him? The SL is f-ng nuts. Brian has always been the more convincing businessman - Justin is a bad joke.

Brian is always good value!!

Auctioneer a bit sexist - does he only expect men to bid? How much did Oliver need?

so who is the 3rd party? Talk about dragging the sl out

I hope for Debbie.

Dread Hazel.

But would be spectacularly dissatisfied with yet another faceless entity (Gills / GG ‘partners’ …)

Stella! On behalf of home farm but to trick justin

or adil - cos that would be the kind of unbelievable sl I would expect

Bruisername
How much did Oliver need?

£250,000

I thought it was more for some reason. Well he did well! Although I guess after tax it won’t be so great

Do we really pay good licence fee money to listen to someone counting in 5000s? The most boring episode ever.

TA is on the radio and I don't have a telly so I am not paying a licence fee to listen to it. (smug git noises)

Lilian. To spite Justin.

No, she'll be buying The Lodge.