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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.

975 replies

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 01/12/2023 10:07

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

Archers 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. Grin

Archers 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!

Archers 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. Grin 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!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
Fink · 15/12/2023 16:47

In Year 9 English class, we had to create an advertising brochure for a new town we'd created. Part of the marks were for thinking up a suitably positive name, like Sunshineville or Happy Town. I thought no one would be such an idiot as to fall for such an in your face marketing ploy, and people would be embarrassed to ever say they lived in Happy Town, so I researched Irish words which had positive associations but not so overt as Happy (things that were to do with nature) and spent a long time crafting a village name which sounded attractive, and people would look into its Irish meaning and like it, without feeling that they were being taken for idiots. I was marked down and told to change it. Of course, now I realise that some people really do respond well to the sort of advertising that says 'Buy this now' and subtle maybe isn't the best strategy.

The misspelling of characters' names does grate on me, but I try to let it go. I don't expect people to go to the website to check, but if they're here already it surprises me that they wouldn't pick up the correct spelling from other posters, particularly when you know that certain posters (e.g. Asking) are very knowledgeable about TA and unlikely to be getting names wrong themselves. Anyway, I appreciate that it's not the biggest deal in the world so I try to ignore it, mostly successfully.

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 17:11

No not at all @Fartooold , just asking because I've only heard it as Irish, like in 'Owen' (Eoin) Morgan. Scottish might be quite different.

@MereDintofPandiculation , g doesn't change if followed by an a or u. I've no idea why Meghan has an h in it unless it's to avoid Mee-gun. Is omega omeega or om-eg-a? Is it an american thing?

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 15/12/2023 17:19

Passepartoute · 15/12/2023 14:47

I don't understand why Ian is insisting that he's only working at GG till they find a replacement. He presumably wanted the job when he took it, he resigned in a huff because of the kitchen mess-up, they sorted the mess-up and begged him to come back and he duly did. So why is it only temporary? Surely whatever made him want the job before is still there, plus a spiffy new kitchen as a bonus?

Ian actually has a fair old cheek assuming that whether he stays or leaves is his decision, because he was hired as (I'm quoting here) Interim Head of Food; Adil made it very clear that this was not a permanent position and only available short-term and because the woman they'd hired for the post was impossible to work with. (As indeed is Ian...)

He was not employed to be the Chef. I think the editorial team may have forgotten this.

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 17:22

That's awful , @Fink . Happy Town or something sounds like a renamed sink estate. There are areas near me where the bad roads got renamed to fairly bland pleasant-sounding names because they had such bad reputations.
You should have been given marks for originality and effort.

The woman more difficult than Ian? Confused, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime . She must have been horrendous. Adil seems to be the common denominator.

bakedpotatoforlunch · 15/12/2023 17:27

@ILoveShula There are areas near me where the bad roads got renamed to fairly bland pleasant-sounding names because they had such bad reputations.

Meadow Rise suddenly sprang to mind as I read your words.....

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 15/12/2023 17:28

ILoveShula
The woman more difficult than Ian? , @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime . She must have been horrendous.

It was Adil who got rid of her, but Oliver who then hired Ian without consultation. So I don't think we can blame Adil for the horrendous mistake that was allowing Ian anywhere near the place in any capacity.

(If he were any good, he would have noticed the flaws in the kitchen design the moment he set foot in the place; that it took him over two months to get round t0 looking at the kitchen and doing his idiot block about it instead of arranging with someone to talk about it before driving away the workmen by railing at them speaks very badly of him.)

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 17:38

@bakedpotatoforlunch , a perfect example.
@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , you're right. I used to have a soft spot for Ian but he seems to have had a personality change.

AngryBirdsNoMore · 15/12/2023 17:45

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 09:57

Joy's backstory will come out eventually, I expect, once she has become established in the community.
She's very chatty so there must be a reason why we know so little about her.

A popular theory on this thread is that she’s in Witness Protection.

Maybe she was actually a doctor or nurse, and can no longer practice because she’d need to be on the professional databases and WP prevents this. And that’s why she was so good with Ben during his psychotic episode.

My other theory is that perhaps Rochelle is dead, and by moving to somewhere where she has no prior connections, Joy can keep her alive in her mind.

Maybe she was so good with Ben because she had a mental break after Rochelle’s death, or because Rochelle died as a result of mental health.

I hope it’s not the latter 💔

AngryBirdsNoMore · 15/12/2023 17:52

AngryBirdsNoMore · 15/12/2023 17:45

A popular theory on this thread is that she’s in Witness Protection.

Maybe she was actually a doctor or nurse, and can no longer practice because she’d need to be on the professional databases and WP prevents this. And that’s why she was so good with Ben during his psychotic episode.

My other theory is that perhaps Rochelle is dead, and by moving to somewhere where she has no prior connections, Joy can keep her alive in her mind.

Maybe she was so good with Ben because she had a mental break after Rochelle’s death, or because Rochelle died as a result of mental health.

I hope it’s not the latter 💔

Show quote history

Oh sorry, I missed a page when reading and see this has all already been discussed - sorry!

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 18:09

No need to apologise @AngryBirdsNoMore . There's definitely a back story but we will need to be patient. It's a shame that the current SLs are less intriguing.
I'd hate it if Joy turned out to be a wrong 'un.

FortunataTagnips · 15/12/2023 18:19

Maybe there is no Joy and this will become apparent when she sits down for Christmas dinner but nothing actually disappears from her plate.

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 18:21

Maybe that's why she was prepared to be a life model and keeps giving away sachertorte.

FortunataTagnips · 15/12/2023 18:33

It’s all starting to make sense.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 15/12/2023 18:39

Has anyone seen her in a mirror?

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/12/2023 21:14

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 17:11

No not at all @Fartooold , just asking because I've only heard it as Irish, like in 'Owen' (Eoin) Morgan. Scottish might be quite different.

@MereDintofPandiculation , g doesn't change if followed by an a or u. I've no idea why Meghan has an h in it unless it's to avoid Mee-gun. Is omega omeega or om-eg-a? Is it an american thing?

Yes, quite. Meghan is pronounced with a hard g, g is hard before a, so what is the h doing there?

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/12/2023 21:16

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 17:22

That's awful , @Fink . Happy Town or something sounds like a renamed sink estate. There are areas near me where the bad roads got renamed to fairly bland pleasant-sounding names because they had such bad reputations.
You should have been given marks for originality and effort.

The woman more difficult than Ian? Confused, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime . She must have been horrendous. Adil seems to be the common denominator.

And don't forget Windscale, renamed Sellafield after the worst nuclear accident in the UK's history.

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/12/2023 21:19

My other theory is that perhaps Rochelle is dead, and by moving to somewhere where she has no prior connections, Joy can keep her alive in her mind. Rochelle is serving life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years for some particularly nasty murder.

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 21:57

@MereDintofPandiculation , maybe Americans thought that Megan rhymed with Regan and Vegan.

There was a street in my home town that was renamed from something completely unappealing to a pretty name. I had to look it up because I could only remember the old name.

Casa Nueva was renamed Greenwood Cottage. The Bungalow should have been given a prettier name. Something more in line with its position near the river like Kingfisher Cottage or Heron Lodge.

I like your idea about Rochelle. There's definitely a backstory even if there isn't a Rochelle. Maybe she has fake photos of her daughter and grandchildren in her house.

MereDintofPandiculation · 15/12/2023 22:03

@ILoveShula I'm inclined to
think Meghan's parents were looking for uniqueness, like Amelia, Emelia, Emilia etc.

Thegoldenlion · 15/12/2023 22:12

I wonder if Shula being in Sunderland will be the link to Joy’s past?

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 22:15

But Joy is a geordie. Shock
Isn't Lilian going to see Mungo?

BrightYellowDaffodil · 15/12/2023 22:59

Or maybe…Joy bumped Rochelle off and “Joy” is a new identity after her release from prison. In her mind Rochelle is still alive and it all didn’t happen, hence the references to her.

KingsleyBorder · 15/12/2023 23:29

ILoveShula · 15/12/2023 21:57

@MereDintofPandiculation , maybe Americans thought that Megan rhymed with Regan and Vegan.

There was a street in my home town that was renamed from something completely unappealing to a pretty name. I had to look it up because I could only remember the old name.

Casa Nueva was renamed Greenwood Cottage. The Bungalow should have been given a prettier name. Something more in line with its position near the river like Kingfisher Cottage or Heron Lodge.

I like your idea about Rochelle. There's definitely a backstory even if there isn't a Rochelle. Maybe she has fake photos of her daughter and grandchildren in her house.

Edited

Most Australians called Megan pronounce it Mee-gan.

EmmasBirthdayEarrings · 16/12/2023 08:56

Gosh- that’s lucky that Harry has had experience of alcoholism and understands exactly the devastating impact it can have. What a coincidence…

Bruisername · 16/12/2023 11:10

Just catching up on the last 2 episodes

  • ian was cringe and needs to talk less
  • justin and Lillian’s best holiday was st Ives - some mega mogul he is
  • the comedy night is not going to be very comedy - the run up certainly isn’t
  • best line was Justin - you can trust me ‘but I thought you’d like some earrings as well’ worst line was Harry ‘can I hug you?’
  • was nice to hear David and Freddie chatting even if the chat was a bit boring and functional
  • If the Brookfield archers end up at the stables for xmas they will have truly jumped the shark
  • Harry/alice scenes were badly written imo and highlighted by the other scenes being well written
  • i think Harry is going to be evil. At least I hope so.
  • is that tying up the Ben breakdown sl? A year ago but already forgotten