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!

Yes, they do, which is odd, because we all know that in real life they probably would go on for six months, but in Ambridge they only start thinking about the panto in November at the latest. It just feels as if rehearsals then go on for months.

Our local (v.good) Am Dram does auditions for panto in early Sept and performs the last 3 weeks of Jan. Agree the Ambridge ones always seem very last minute.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g and @TeenDivided yes, I agree which is strange really given that, at least when Lynda has been in charge in years past, her iron grip on organisation would suggest that she'd have been thinking about it in July.

But the same is true of the other annual events too - I can't think of specifics but I do remember thinking more than once - wow! they've only got a week to sort that out, they're very relaxed about it!

Agree, the Village Fair springs to mind.

(*Fete, Teen)

They are clearly trying to show Jakub as socially awkward. It's getting tedious

Isn’t that a bit of a faux pas to ask your ex to come to your place to babysit so you can go out with your new squeeze? Wouldn’t it be better to let Martha stay at his?

lucky Alice can go for dinner with someone who the waiters don’t look down on

so who is bryony?

Harry is clearly a wrong’un

a limerick through the letterbox and then mooned him. How gullible is Emma?

Harry is clearly a wrong’un So it would seem! What is he playing at?* *

Nooooooooooooooo!

What is Harry playing at? Definitely sounds potentially very cruel.

(Bryony is presumably his ex-wife.)

or maybe not quite an ex?

Will be an interesting listen tomorrow - Chris will figure out at some point that Harry and mr chilcott are the same person. And tell Alice he called while they were on a date? Is he trying to engineer a fall out? This is much more gripping stuff!!

There is a list at https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/Village_Entertainments.html

It doesn't have last year, though. I am glad to say that i can't remember what did happen last year....

Oh dear. Harry seems quite sinister.

Listening to yesterday’s episode and Usha’s voice was very odd when talking about Jakob at the end. She sounded as if she had a crush on him.

Boop points for Harry having a distinctive voice!!

Run a mile Alice. Ideally back to Chris. Now you're through the awfulness of the alcoholic binging with all its destructiveness and sorrow, now you're so much more self-aware and back on track with everything, just go back to the guy who still loves and wants you. When did you stop loving him? Or have you?

So does Harry live close (other side of where? And how does that relate to ambridge?)

or is he getting Chris in some lay-by

I wonder if he is married

Yes she did! She implied that all the women have a crush on him. First I’ve heard of it.

Panto baddy Chilcott just in time for Christmas 🙄

Darrington is about six miles east-north-east of Ambridge on the road past Penny Hassett and Loxley Barrett. Harry said he was just the other side of Darrington.

Harry was said (by him; nobody has bothered to Google him as far as we know) to have had a marriage which came apart when he was injured and stopped being able to event. I assume from tonight's offering that his wife's name was Bryony/Briony. But I absolutely refuse to credit that a national event champion living that close to Ambridge was unknown to Lilian and to Alice. Horse people are a clan.

Interesting. I reckon he’s either going to be Rob mark 2 or a married man that is also abusive but for a different purpose.

agree that it seems odd that he isn’t known - and how many farriers would there be in that sort of area?

I’ve always liked that Chris went out and got himself a good specialist job. I hope they don’t jeopardise that with this SL because I haven’t forgiven them for taking the career from Will.

Just caught up with tonight's episode - well ...

At dinner I had thought that perhaps the writers were going down the Alice will realise how lovely down to earth Chris is and as I predicted many pages ago they will be back together with Marfa before New Year cos they both still love each other.

However who calls their date's ex at 10:30pm with a crappy line about needing a farrier asap - really - si Harry is not going to be that upstanding easy on the eye but upperclass new partner for Alice - we await tomorrow !

Re Jakob - I thought Usha seemed like she had a crush - perhaps the fundraiser should be a Ambridge farmer and vet calendar with machinery covering certain features - when he first arrived didn't Lillian make a comment about how good looking he was ??

Going back to Usha- I can think of better compares that Jakob

Oh, this is a bit more interesting. I wonder whether he’s going to try to get information about Alice when she was actively drinking.

might have to change my mind from When Harry met Alice to Dirty Harry.

Do Harry's actions have to be sinister? I got the impression he was just scoping out the competition. I was only half listening, but was Chris looking after Martha, and knew Alice was on a date, but sent a photo of their child? Isn't that a bit pointed: don't forget your responsibilities, woman! If I were Harry I would sense a saboteur.

hes been on 3 dates with Alice - using a rouse to meet her ex is weird.

Chris had messaged asking where the favourite book was

it was weird she asked him to babysit and she was looking for a babysitter at such short notice.

if I were her date it wouldn’t be the text asking about the book that would bother me but about the fact the ex is babysitting in her house. That seems really weird

I don’t know, I’d see it as a major red flag, but maybe I’ve been on MN too long. Also, I suppose they did start off the first scene with Harry being aggressive, and wasn’t it on someone else’s behalf too - was it his niece?

I just find it strange that he wants to check /meet Chris so early on and it's the way he did it - mind you perhaps it's only to ask Chris what he could buy Alice for Christmas (!)

Oooh Harry on the phone to Chris was Rob reincarnated.