Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and 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'd love to be married to Harrison, 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.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

I like that picture of Lilian!

There is a Joanna (Joanne?) working at the stables but as far as I know she has been a silent character.

The marmalade cake sounds nice, I was thinking of making it on Sunday (Sunday, after church, is cake making day - I'm basically reliving my grandmother's life; the other grandmother went down the pub after church on Sundays). But the recipes I've looked up online seem quite varied - no consensus as to whether it's a baked in a loaf tin with icing, double rounds like a Victoria Sandwich, un-iced but with a warm glaze ... Does anyone have a family recipe to share?

We know that Chelsea has an active social life; it's been mentioned many times (particularly by Brad) and she's been asked to get her mates involved in village events. Plus, she has a large collection of going out clothes (bought from charity shops) which she was willing to share with Denise a while back. She and Brad both have bikes for getting to LL and around the village. They got the bus to college. She presumably isn't still at college, or else she's doing the world's longest hairdressing course, but AFAIK we haven't heard about it finishing. We heard (in detail, including hitting Blake) Chelsea learning to drive and wanting to learn to ride a motorbike. But I don't remember if we heard of her passing her test or not.

Strangles can asymptomatic or potentially fatal. We bought a new horse who after a couple of weeks had a mild cough but only when ridden and the teensiest bit of snot. Only called the vet out because we'd have sent him back to the dealer if it was RAO otherwisexwe would have rested for a few days and kept an eye on him. Vet only swabbed because he was new and thought it was a mild respiratory bug that virtually all adult horses carry that can come out when they are stressed. My other horse who was in isolation with him ( we were new to the yard) was completely asymptomatic despite being considered high risk for complications due to a different recent issue. On the other hand my friends horse nearly died ( not the same outbreak). When they ran blood tests on the other horses at the yard it turned our all but the 2 most recent arrivals had been infected a few months before and again only 1 had shown symptoms.
But it can be really horrible and is something that petrifies horse owners because the lockdown and recovery can take a long time and if they get the fabcesses it's vile.
I hope they cover the potential financial disaster for the riding school and the sort of crazy rumours that spread like wildfire. I had someone tell me both one horse had died and the other wasn't expected to live when mine had it. They didn't realise it was my horses. A girl on our yard had all sorts of vile abuse because someone said she was out competing and her horse was actually on box rest from an injury that occurred before the outbreak.

In real life, yes, the Stables would probably have be shut for at least a while. But last time they had a case of strangles at the Stables, back in 2014, it was mentioned once when it was discovered, and once a few weeks later by Jill as giving Shula something to think about apart from Daniel being at Sandhurst, and that was absolutely all it got. Oh, apart from Shula managing by some weird freak of illogic to blame Alistair for the strangles because she thought he had left a gate open.

Lowfield 25th June, 2014
There's trouble too at The Stables: Alistair has discovered a case of Strangles in a horse that arrived only a few days ago - so he must have brought the infection in. Shula does not relish telling the owner - one of her more difficult clients.

Lowfield 10th July, 2014
Jill and Elizabeth talk about the strangles at The Stables and Jill says at least it gives her something else to worry about other than Dan. You'd think she'd be over it by now.

BBC synopsis Friday, 11 July 2014
Shula thinks Alistair is to blame for the strangles, but he insists it wasn't him who left the gate open.

TottersDeterminedlyTowardsThePollingStation
I haven’t heard of any bus that travels within the village?

I don't think any bus company would be all that interested in a route less than a mile long, which is how big the village is. Even Walter Gabriel, back when he ran a coach service for a while after the buses stopped going to Ambridge at all, didn't run it within the village; he ran it from the village to Borchester and to Hollerton Junction.

Oh, apart from Shula managing by some weird freak of illogic to blame Alistair for the strangles because she thought he had left a gate open.

Did she think that's how the virus got in and shutting gates usually keeps the blighters out?!

It is all the fault of you lot that I have a lime marmalade cake in the oven.

Oh I bet thats delicious let us know.🍰☕

It's not my fault, it's Lynda's.

Last time I made a Dundee cake I found a recipe that included both whisky and marmalade. It was wonderful. I think it was this one. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/dundee_cake_22157

Goodness only knows. Alistair was a bit baffled about that one, along with her assertion that strangles was all they needed when she was so worried about Dan.

(Hint: Sandhurst very rarely kills its cadets-in-training. I have managed to find one death there this century, a suicide in 2019. There was also a sergeant-instructor who died by falling into the lake there and drowning during the night in 2022; he was possibly a little drunk at the time, or to put it another way an officer at the party he had been attending earlier had told him to go home because he was so drunk. Maybe deaths there just don't get onto the internet....)

It's out and cooling, but you will have to wait until I'm back from aquafit for a taste report.

The ambridge hall d day event is painful. I might not listen until it’s over. Did you know… The weight of history…

so is Fallons house just a one bed?

best part of it was the awkwardness between Chelsea and Ben - well written

@Bruisername ... so is Fallons house just a one bed?

They probably have both a spare bedroom and a boxroom. Sleeping on the sofa is just performative suffering.

That’s what i was thinking! But in dramas they always go and sleep on a sofa even if they live in an enormous mansion

Bruisername
so is Fallons house just a one bed?

Woodbine Cottage had at least two bedrooms when Jethro Larkin, his wife Lizzie and their two daughters Clarrie and Rose lived there in the 1960s and 1970s. They were glad to move there because it was bigger than Rickyard Cottage, where they had been before; and even now Rickyard has two bedrooms as far as I know.

So it is performative!

Or possibly the spare room has no bed in it, and is devoted to upcycling projects on the go and nature-watching equipment (a portable hide?!).

Jethro Larkin! Am belatedly furious on behalf of stereotyped rural folk

Googling lime marmalade cake got me a recipe for one with parsnips. Which sounded quite tempting - but I fear I may not be able to buy lime marmalade.

With luck the spare bed in Rickyard cottage is completely engulfed in half-finished tatty old furniture evicted from the te rum, leaving no space for sulky cops.

I thought Rickyard Cottage was a 1 bedroom cottage. Pip and Toe B shared a bed. It had previously housed Mianed and DC.
Why would the tat from Te Rum be in Rickyard Cottage?

All Natasha's victims supporting each other.

Why was Fallon bringing bread from the tea room to the bull?

The awkwardness was great. I had a moment thinking "why are they so awkward with each other?" before I remembered.