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.

Yet again several episodes are dominated by birthdays, with everyone (non-family members) knowing when birthdays are, and going to quite elaborate efforts to congratulate the person involved - a surprise party for Joy, a cake for Lynda (I liked the way she asked Fallon if she was sure she wanted to make 'a WHOLE cake for me?' - would she have preferred half a cake?). Other characters drop by specially to pay homage. Does this honestly happen in RL? Because it's definitely never happened to me and my neighbours have no clue when my birthday is, let alone throw surprise parties for me. Not that I’d want them to, I hasten to add.

Brexit has affected farmers, but The Archers doesn't seem to feature much farming nowadays

Sounds lovely. I must give it a go but I dont think I will be making that Lord woolton pie. I wonder if Jill has made a marmalade cake.
Im not surprised Harrison is grumpy if his sleeping on the sofa. Id be grumpy too. He is such a drama llama why cant he sleep with Fallon.

Most of us have agreed in the past we'd like to hear more about farming. If we got our wish and the SWs did it in a realistic way, Brexit might well be mentioned, e.g. because of difficulties getting staff, effect on export markets. It's still incredible to me that it's now so difficult to export to the only country with which we have a land border, i.e. Ireland, which I believe is where Dean lives. I heard on the radio the other day that many small businesses in the UK have given up the idea of exporting altogether because it's so bureaucratic and expensive, so there's a potential storyline for Helen, Tom, Natasha and Vince right there - they all want to expand their businesses but the obvious market right on our doorsteps is too difficult to access. Probably too political for the SWs to go there, though.

I've made Lord Woolton's pie. It's just a vegetarian pie really using whatever you've got rather than sticking to a set recipe. A good proportion of root vegetables gives it some substance then add some leeks, cabbage, beans, peas or whatever is to hand. The mashed potato in the pastry is delicious and means less fat is used.

You’re completely right, @Ambridge - unless it were a 90th or 100th birthday it’s inconceivable that even in a small, ‘closely knit’ village so much fuss would be made over the birthday of someone outside your own family.

But now that they’ve excised actual farming from the story they must be scratching around for events to hang dialogue upon.

No protein in it except a tiny amount from the wheat in the pastry. They wouldn't have done this in wartime but I'd consider adding cheese to the pastry or having some cheese on the side.

I will be 70 soon but I dont expect my neighbours or anyone in this town here where I live to buy me a cake and give me a card but im not Lynda Snell.🤣🤣🤣 have to start hinting to my DH what I would like.

This is it in a nutshell in answer to the query I still cant understand why Brexit was brought up on this thread. It is absolutely the elephant in the room and might perhaps explain why there is virtually no farming in The Archers anymore - because it’s just too controversial to be included easier to pretend it never happened and talk about something else instead. It’s ironic really because the programme was originally conceived to discuss farming issues.

I really dont think they have stopped talking about farming because of Brexit, they mentioned it a lot when it first happened and the BBC was always mentioning it in everything.
I just think that the SW we have now dont really know much about farming and would rather turn The Archers into a soap.
I would like to hear more about the farming side as that is what TA is supposed to be about.

I have a good marmalade cake recipe somewhere, I’ll dig it out later.

When I was young there were very limited busses in our village. One to get you to the town for about 8.30 and one to get you back at about 5. I think there might have been another at lunch time.

Brexit was brought up on the thread as a poster here said they were unable to get lime marmalade where they live outside the U.K. due to U.K. based manufactures being reluctant to export to the EU.

If you use pulses in the filling, there would be a bit.

The buses on Gaspmother Island are mostly timed to get passengers to and from the ferry, and do a good job there. From most parts of the island you can get a bus every couple of hours. There's also a bus that just runs between the three main villages so that people can get to the hospital, the council office, the one remaining bank branch, the library, one of the few remaining Post Offices, the main pharmacy and the Big Co-op without using a car. Taxis are eyewateringly expensive and not always available. Volunteer drivers can be booked to take people with mobility problems to GP appointments and the like (my parents were very grateful for this when Dad was unable to drive).

But that poster didnt say she lived outside the uk until later. So it sounded like she was saying you cant get certain stuff here because of Brexit which was a very random thing to say as we were just talking about lime marmalade. I can see that Brexit it still a very sore point for people but as I have said I dont think this is the right place for that discussion.

I’m quite surprised at Robert saying he wished he had a recipe for Woolton Pie. They’re everywhere over the internet. DH and I went on holiday to somewhere hot and exotic once and, in our post-flight jet-lagged daze, flopped down on the bed and switched on the TV to see a white-toqued chef on an American cooking show solemnly instructing viewers on the ‘best in fine British cuisine’.

It was Woolton Pie with ‘gooseberry Brown Betty and crème anglaise’ to follow. I kid you not.

Yes, that's probably what I'd do, but it's not in the recipe. There seems to be a current fad for eating a lot of protein (and not much carbohydrate). People following that way of eating would have had a meltdown faced with WW2 rations. The tiny number of vegetarians would have coped well, I'm sure, as it would have been much what they were eating anyway.

I only mentioned Brexit because people doubted my comment that I feared I wouldn't be able to source lime marmalade, so explained. An explanation that wasn't accepted by people who seem unable to imagine that MN posters don't all live in the UK.

Woolton pie - I wonder did the original suggestion mention using pulses, fresh or dried,as available either home grown or on points? Nutrition advice was mostly good during the war, and middle-class, non-conformist, socially conscious, Marquis / Woolton was very prepared to listen to advice, including from his own wife who had experience of housekeeping on a budget and during WW1. Total contrast to old Etonian Strachey post-war who rationed bread - a thing Woolton had managed to avoid all through the war because he knew how bad it would be for morale.

Performative element aside, I can think of at least one very good reason for the arrangement.
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Whereas I struggle to see why anyone thinks the Victory-Roll-and-Wilton-Pie nonsense is deemed appropriate, or even relevant, to the D-Day anniversary.

I doubt that Harrison's recent behaviour has been conducive to encouraging marital relations.

How much would you bet that he wouldn’t try it on?

Coom on Fallon loov, let's meck a behbeh?

Rationing bread was not just bad for morale but inadvisable nutritionally. The Germans did it, I believe. We put regulations in place to require bread to be made with all or part wholemeal flour with various vitamins and minerals added - the National loaf. Heavy and not very popular, but filling and nourishing.

Aaargh! Horribly plausible.

Eurgh, @FlyingFlapjack!

🥴🥴🥴

Going against the grain (not pulses) here to say that I really enjoyed last night’s episode. I have a nostalgic fondness for Lynda’s am-dram dramas, and liked hearing a bit of that again.