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!

I've never figured out why the Horrobin/Carters all have such different accents/speaking styles (Tracy and Chelsea excepted). I think Bert spoke a couple of years ago, possibly with Jazzer.

Anyway, whilst faffing, I chanced on a delightful piece in the Grauniad by Nancy B-S:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/dec/13/a-month-in-ambridge-archers

😊😂

Is a herbal lay what happens when you've had a bit too much of the whacky baccy and had the equivalent of a drunken ONS?

😂

You lot can sod off - just because I'm the only fucker on this thread who didn't go to Oxbridge 😊

Not at all. You will have noticed that we're a very international thread. I have no doubt that some people went to UCD/Trinity, possibly ENS in France. TUM in Germany, or Yale/Harvard. Fear not, you're not a lone non-Oxbridge graduate! 😂

I think they brought Cloyve back so they could retell all Susan’s history and the impact it had on Emma etc. Oblique references wasn’t going to cut it so bringing him back is simply a way to highlight the whole backstory. I think you may be onto something here @JoelenesParrot. As a long-time listener from the days when you had to ask your mum to fill you in on backstory (now we have @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime for that sort of thing) I'm finding the whole Cloyve thing overkill. We have a villain in George, we don't need to resurrect an old villain to supercharge the drama. Apart from anything else I find it unrealistic that George would have called Clive - if he knew what Clive did (getting his nanna sent to prison) why would he think Clive might be the person to help him? It just doesn't make sense. What started off as a reasonable premise - George causes the crash out of good intentions and tries to pin the blame on Alice - has now spiralled beyond the realms of credibility.

You are not alone: I didn't go to Oxbridge. My mother did, and one of my daughters did, but I didn't

@BeatriceBatchelor , I wouldn't even have got into Uxbridge.

I didn’t go to Oxbridge. Went to a far better uni for my subject! Having known a lot of Oxbridge yes I find the esteem they hold themselves in to be a bit of a puzzle.

I'm not an Oxbridge graduate either. I went to a far superior and notably godless institution which suited me down to the ground, not least because I met Mr Gasp on day 3.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I went to an Ey Oop uni and met Mr Mogger on day 1 😁

I remember the 70s where there was no veggie option on the menu, but pushed, they would make you an omelette or at worst ask “can’t you just eat the vegetables?”

Arf @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g If it's the one I suspect (WC1), I went to a neighbouring one and did some of my courses there ... as their students in the subject did some at mine. This was 20 years after dropping out of another godless place in WC2. Interestingly, both of them actually taught religion-based courses, though presumably sarcastically. 😉

<on edit> ... I met MrG there, though he was a prof and I can't say I cared much about him one way or the other at the time! About 6 years later we were both single and moaning about it, and were set-up by a mutual friend who invited us both to lunch. 27 years on, I still rue the day ...

Oops I quoted and laughed at my own post instead of the reply pointing out my diary/dairy error.

<I'll get me coat >

Not at all. You will have noticed that we're a very international thread. I have no doubt that some people went to UCD/Trinity, possibly ENS in France. TUM in Germany, or Yale/Harvard. Fear not, you're not a lone non-Oxbridge graduate!

Glad to know I'm hanging out with thickos from Yale and Harvard 😊

That's the one. Stuffed founder in a box. A long time ago now!

Oh gosh yes. My brother decided to become a vegetarian in the late 1970s. My parents were absolutely nonplussed. At home he ate what the rest of us ate minus the meat or fish (ignoring the gravy problem, I suppose) and as he is over 6' and was then still growing he must have made up the protein gap somehow - cheese? eggs? baked beans? No idea. I remember cringing when we went out for a meal and my Dad cheerily informed the waiter as we sat down that the lad here was a vegetarian, would that be a problem? The waiter's face indicated that it was indeed going to be a problem, but all credit to them, they rustled up an omelette for him.

He eventually reverted to meat-eating after finding himself camping with a friend in the Lake District and having no food except a pork pie. However, all these decades later he and his wife have gradually moved to a sort of hybrid position between pescatarian and vegan, i.e. some fish, no meat, no dairy, plenty of vegetables, pulses, seeds and nuts. They'd be ideal customers for Fallon.

Oh boop, boop, Joy and Kate. I want to hug both of them.

Clive really is a waste of skin, organs and oxygen. He pushed a shotgun in 15-year-old Kate’s face?

And didn’t pull the trigger?
Git.

what these chefs need to realise is that most vegetarians are decent cooks and can rustle up a delicious nourishing meal that doesn't cost very much. So we're not at all impressed by a risotto, whatever they put in it because....
we can make it at home for nothing!!!
they need to provide us with a VARIETY of meals we are unlikely to cook at home and charge a price that fairly reflects the ingredients and time/skill to make it
I don't mind if 1 or 2 of the veggie dishes are vegan but we're going out for a treat, we don't want to settle for something that probably won't be too awful

UCC here, another godless college. Even if I hadn't wanted to stay in Ireland, Oxbridge would have been no good for my subject area, and I do not admire their tutor-based teaching system.

Oh and thank you all for inspiring me to make a mushroom omelette for dinner, I couldn't think what to cook.

Bravo Joy and Kate, but I could have done without all the GRAPHIC SEX.

Graphic sex? Do I want to know?

I’ve not been listening as I can’t bear the idiocy of the SL

Listen on iplayer and fast forward Fallon and Harrison. Joy and Kate are well worth listening to.

So, is it's being set up for Clive to out George in a flouncy departure?

no @Bruisername you do not. There are people over on Mustardland claiming it was all right because we didn't hear squelching noises, but they are wrong.