Archers thread #173: The Fall of the House of Grundy? 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 wish we were hearing more of Pip, 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.)

I chose the thread title to echo one I used three years ago, which is here if anyone fancies a trip down Memory Lane: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4320618--Archers-thread-130-The-Fall-of-the-House-of-Aldridge-Discuss-The-Archers-here. That was the thread where I caused all sorts of confusion at the start by not starting it before the old thread filled up, but others stepped in, fortunately.

At that point I see Ruairi was heading off to London to start his degree, which he has now finished, with none of us any the wiser about what he studied or where. Perhaps this will finally be mentioned now he's graduating.

And now, over to you!

@Eastie77Returns , if only it really had been neatly done.

I like Ed so don't really mean it.

So nice to meet someone else whose meal planning consists of “what will be inedible if I don’t eat it today? How can these two ingredients be combined in a dish?”

I have never eaten tuna pasta bake. Never even seen it, or smelt it. No plans to change this.

@MereDintofPandiculation , my meals are like that, especially towards the end of the week.

I can report back that the 'Cantonese' sauce was far too sweet, predictably really. Ah well. It was a resoundingly adequate meal. This is a phrase we often use here. Long ago, when Ofsted was new, a colleague of my husband's had a child about to start school. There was a meeting for new parents. The Head came in brandishing the school's first Ofsted report, just received. He said portentously 'There is one word that is repeated again and again throughout this report ... and that word is .... adequate.' Now, this may have had a technical meaning at the time in Ofsted's scale of judgements which made it a great relief to the school and LEA staff, but in ordinary English it didn't have the effect he was aiming for. We have adopted it ever since for all sorts of things that were all right, but no more than that, and we don't want to repeat.

Pasta & tinned tuna, baked or not, if made with tomatoes and onions and herbs and stuff doesn't smell or taste particularly fishy. The tuna provides the protein and a bit of umami. Jolly good stuff, some of you are missing out on a treat.

Yotam Ottolenghi is very keen on tinned fish. He has wonderful easy recipes using it.

Mackerel and sardines work well too.

Do you have any German blood @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g ? German food compliments are typically understated. A common one is '[Das] kann man essen', roughly translated to 'it's edible'.

No, but I feel the Scottish blood probably does the same job.

That will explain the trendiness.

(Haven't heard tonight's TA yet. A treat to come.)

What on earth is the point of the "comic relief" about this blasted sunflower?

Firstly, the Flower and Produce entries are meant to be things you've grown. Everyone , including Jazzer knows that.
Secondly, Jazzer has never shown the slightest interest before.
Thirdly, as much as I dislike Jazzer I don't think he'd cheat.
Fourthly, as much as I dislike Jazzer even if I'm wrong about thirdly, he likes children. He'd never cheat at a child's expense.

I'm sure it is but to be fair to Ottolenghi his tinned fish recipes are easy and cheap.

The magical flavour-enhancing effects of anchovy essence, and indeed actual anchovies, are universally acknowledged. No? Preserved fish, good stuff since Roman times.

@MereDintofPandiculation I have never eaten tuna pasta bake. Never even seen it, or smelt it. No plans to change this.

Ditto. The combination of tuna, tomato, cheese and pasta somehow fails to appeal, no matter what you add to it.

I'd be utterly appalled by (okay, mildly less uninterested in) Jazzer's sunflower shenanigans if I (a) cared or (b) there is no (b).It's just a harmless bit of filler.

Still hating Eddie.

Is he going to interfere with some sort of legal process and make things worse for George?

Eddie is vile.

Poor Ed and Emma. I felt so sorry for them.

Eddie has gone from idiotic but sometimes (okay, rarely) ever-so-slightly-loveable rogue to absolute horror. I hope Clarrie doesn't come back.

(Oh, and @DeanElderberry ... very much Yes to anchovies. I had a lower back tooth out on Monday and they are making the scrambled egg diet very acceptable.)

I often make it with variations according to what I have in - tinned tomatoes, cream cheese, onions, courgettes, peppers, spinach, broccoli etc and always cheese. We really like it.

Tinned fish is more interesting than the episode 😂

@Bruisername

There was no wrecks and nobody drowneded
'Fact, nothin' to laugh at at all!

Eddie is quite thick and annoying… but he’s not wrong about the fact that Brian / Justin would have the reach to be moving some strings. Not with the judge necessarily but just with the defence and the general strength of having “class” and money. Poor Eddie is just intelligent enough to see the shortcomings of George’s social place in Ambridge… but not enough to allow a moral compass.

Please Keep Britain Tidy | Mumsnet

One of the spoilers for tonight was ‘Ed takes a monumental step’. I feel quite cheated.

I hadn't heard the spoiler, but I felt quite cheated when he reached to answer his wife's phone and the wrath of God didn't descend on him! The near-miss tree branch was just another predictable Casualty set up and doesn't count as wrathful enough.

The Ed n Emmur convo, and tears, was lovely, but v v worrying in the context of Emmur (OK led entirely by her rather dumb ex/BIL) leaping to the unwise assumption of a happy conclusion.

And surely at least one of the three would have said "This doesn't help George though - of course I'd go to prison if that could somehow prevent him going!" (I know that couldn't logically happen but it's the kind of thing you'd say as a (step) parent.)