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!

Good grief. Like flowers in cellophane and teddies on the railings? Why can't people light a candle in their place of worship or on their windowsill (minding the curtains) FFS?

My “village” is a lot smaller than Ambridge, but litter is a real problem on the surrounding lanes. I don’t need it PSAd in my face, though. I always take a bag with me to collect litter on my morning run or a walk to the shop etc.

It’s also always noticed (and usually commented on) when a friendship or extra marital affair sparks up.

Denise and Alistair surely wouldn’t consider moving in together this soon into their fraternisation?!

Grundybins?

Horrodys, surely?

Although … Grubbins has a nice flow to it.

My first reaction to a ‘tragic tot’ news story is usually “Oh no, more effing balloons”. There’s grieving, but then again there’s emotional incontinence allied to the taste of a tinker.

Me too under a different username.

They should be illegal.

I know why would two actually quite sensible middle aged people move in together so quickly?

I was disappointed when Roy's house sale decision dropped as had spent at least five minutes thinking Kirsty and Deneez were made to be BFFs.

Oh yes, Horse Slasher Clive as well.

Well yes you'd have thought George would remember his uncle from when he set fire to a barn which children might have been playing in and nearly harmed his mum. ....It'll be interesting to hear if Clive's script has a discreet line in misogyny as well.

Oh well perhaps just me, I listen to the episodes as I fall asleep so I might be picking up more sounds.

Found it odd that Clive wanted to start making a lentil dhaal of all things as soon as he arrived.

Well lentil daal is what hippies and newly reformed people eat don’t you know

Alastair seemed not keen at all to move in with Denise quickly so I don’t think it’s on the cards

Years ago there was a heated debate on MN about helium. A poster said she thought it was wasteful of helium to use it for balloons sold at fetes etc. A lot of people seemed to find it incomprehensible that the earth's resources of helium aren't infinite and there are environmental and other consequences to using a lot of it up for balloons. I wonder if times have changed in that respect.

But it is so easy for them to catch in a sudden breeze or set something alight which then blows away itself on dry land and…well, we know how it can end.

Yes to balloon releases and waste of helium - people can’t look beyond their own wants these days (xref litter)

I find it very hard to believe Will had garam masala at the back of his cupboard

I think he wanted to pretend he’d changed. That was plan A. Plan B - reversion to his usual persona - kicked in when plan A failed.

I wonder where this is going to go. Maybe George will find out about the blackmailing - either Emma or Will will tell him, or he’ll overhear Clive threatening to spill George’s terrible secret far and wide - then he’ll realise he’s backed into a corner with absolutely no way out other than to go to the police.

Susan is going to be in there somewhere, I can just imagine her popping round unannounced:

”Sorry to bother you Emma love, but Kiera left her bag behin…<gasps> CLIVE! What are YOU doing here?”

Much trauma all round once it gets out around the village and even more exposure for the Downfall of George.

Yes, I raised an eyebrow about the garam masala. The lentils too, tbh. Perhaps Mia put them there.

I think I was the poster that thought it was wasteful of helium and I was called a fun sponge. I suppose there might have been more than one thread on the subject.

There might. Often they go quite different ways. It seems to depend on the tone of the first few replies sometimes.

Yes to Mia. But she would have learnt from Nic - who probably watched cookery shows and also observed the Bull kitchen. So even when neither of them was around, those ingredients would probably still have been on Will’s grocery list without any conscious thought on his part.

Clive throwing his wholefood weight around the kitchen? Firstly performative redemption, secondly a swift demonstration that he now owns the space, the people in it, and everyone they’re related to.

Mia is vegetarian. I assume the lentils and garam masala are ingredients she uses.

(I have weird ingredients in my cupboard, put there by veggie DD. It doesn't mean I use them myself.)

I have lentils and garam masala in my cupboards.

I shall be using both lentils and garam masala (and a lot of other stuff) later to make Madhur Jaffrey's Bombay chicken with red split lentils. This does depend rather on the rain easing off, though, as I don't seem to have any onions.

I had forgotten about mia

although they’ve not been living there very long so I doubt the dialogue on this

it’s all feeling too eastenders for my liking. I may just listen through the thread for a while

George would be ok with that because he is stupid and can't think beyond his own nose.

What you have to do when you're being blackmailed: go to the police, or go public with the information yourself. It is the only real choice you have.

gosh i wish i'd have been on that. I have Stories From A Village Featuring A Shetland Pony And Balloon Releases.

Be annoyed with Justin: he's the one insisting on medals, not Lilian.