Archers thread #171: Harvest's nearly over – but will George ever reap what he has sown? 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 have been delighted with a hand-painted squirrel tray for your 40th, as shown below, 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 https://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.)

All I have to say about current storylines for now is that I want the George Alice crash stuff to come to a resolution, sooner rather than later, and I also want to hear very little indeed of Alistair, Denise and Paul maundering on. More of Jakob would be very welcome. His brother can come back any time too.

I now declare this thread open for business!

Does Jim own his house do we know?

They seem to book hotel rooms all the time🤢 I think Denise would be happy to continue casual hook-ups like that but Alistair will be looking to make things more permanent between them very quickly.

He does; he bought it with the proceeds from selling his half share of a bookshop in Melrose and his house wherever that was.

Did I mis-hear, or was something said (by John, I think) about Denise expecting him to move out of the marital home? Or maybe Denise said that John was complaining about it. Either way, that sounds mad to me so perhaps I dreamed it!

Gosh I wouldn’t want to be Emma or Will right now - such a web of lies they’ve caught themselves in …

How long are Emma and Will going to keep up this charade? The tales get taller and taller, and they’re getting much more likely to trip themselves up. And/or it will all come apart about George and those involved will realise that Emma and Will must have known the truth for some time.

Anyone else think Denise is not so keen on Alistair as he is on her?
also Alistair is 62, would he want to be buying, or maybe he has saved up.

I don't believe that Denise gives a flying flunky about Alistair. And nor, quite honestly, do I.

I'm coming round to the Meg idea. At least she'll be able to crate George or dah, dah, DAH !!!! let him sleep in a stable.

Speaking of stables: https://www.vettimes.co.uk/in-context-the-archers-and-contextualised-care/ I'm not a vet but this blog post was in my Google news feed.

Pat and Gnasher tonight sounded like Victoria Wood Archers parody. Truly dreadful acting.

I'm unsure as to how the SWs seem to have made such a dramatic storyline so boring.

And I'm coming round to the idea which I previously argued against / this will become a major rock in Ed and Emmur's relationship. How much longer is she going to skulk around with Will and lie to her husband?

Begs the question which Ambridge resident most possesses tendencies of Acorn Antiques' Mrs Overall?!

There's already a Miss Babs connection, what with Celia Imrie's RL actor son playing Josh... 😮

I think Pat and Natasha really expect a lot of help from people, its sounds as though they havnt got enough time to do everything on the farm. I know farmers are hard pressed but really, how do they manage at all the rest of the time and to be honest why do it anyway if it is such hard work and a worry all the time, there is no joy in it if you only get satisfaction from different coloured chard.

They pay for the seasonal and casual work as and when it needs doing. Isn't that how farmers always operate?

I’m definitely not finding it boring - and the fear that George could have gone to harm himself was awful.

I didn’t mind Pat and Natasha.

I hope tomorrow we hear more about Brad and Mia, and also when does Chelsea’s course finish? Or has it already?

the fear that George could have gone to harm himself was awful

Or risible: Will had already said he’d taken some clothes.

Maybe there won't be great chainsaw accident and this us the downfall of the business

That would be "interesting" as Will would be instrumental in it.

Yeah I didn't get any sort of jeopardy for George, it feels to me more like he's a 7 year old who's "run away" up the lane with a jam sandwich in his rucksack.

It's unclear to me why Bridge Farm are struggling so much without George (whom even they had the decency to admit is only part-time). To the extent that Natasha personally has to do the deliveries with her kids in the back. My family have a much smaller farm (nowadays it would really be considered a hobby farm rather than a going concern), and there's always locals and extended family who could be drafted in to help at short notice, particularly if it's relatively unskilled work and during the summer holidays. Pat was talking as though getting casual labour in would be difficult and time-consuming, surely she could just ring up Ben, for example (who must be able to drive a tractor, though I don't specifically remember hearing him do so), or Brad or Mia, Azra's children, even Henry might be able to manage packing veg boxes for cash. If they're really desperate, Alice doesn't appear to be up to full-time hours at The Stables yet, and there's quite a few other characters whose jobs don't seem to be full-time to me (although I'm a bad judge on this, as my family can attest).

The George storyline could have been just as interesting without him running away. It's like the scriptwriters play that game where you create a story chain in the car and it gets more and more ridiculous.

The Bridge Farm lot always seem exhausted, rushed off their feet and not enough staff. Where is Helen in all this?

I think Chelsea's course has finished. Possibly if the idiot savant hadn't made the ludicrous assumption about Russ someone in the village might have pointed out why is she wasting her time in the Bridge Farm tea shop rather than making something of her talent

Hang on, are Brad and Chelsea in the same school year? Surely not? Brad's older isn't he?

Chelsea will have a 2 year course, and if she went in at level 2 or 1 (do we know her gcses?) She can extend to 3. So surely her other work is just summer/part time to give cash?

I only listen intermittently these days so may be completely wrong.😀

Chelsea’s older.