Archers thread #176: In which Ian puts the I in PTA. Discuss The Archers here.

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Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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Thanks to @DeanElderberry for the pithy phrase in the thread title and @CaptainMyCaptain for suggesting it should go in there. At least we've got the spooky disco out of the way for now. Plenty of wooden dialogue in the last few episodes that could go on the village bonfire next week. It's all been too dispiriting to discuss in greater depth. I'll just say that I don't hold out any great hopes that the production team will make a good job of reflecting concern in the farming community about the changes announced in the Budget to inheritance tax for farms. So often they get an expert to talk them through stuff like this but instead of ending up with a realistic storyline they pick out the bits they like the sound of and cobble them together in a totally unrealistic way. Maybe I'll be proved wrong this time. I hope so.

Over to you!

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime ... Yes please to the cake recipe. We're not lactose intolerant but a new cake recipe is always welcome. 😀

Re the Kemps, am I the only person who reads that and thinks of Spandau Ballet? I think we need Gary and Martin to appear as the Kray twins of Ambridge.

OK, here goes. It's a wartime recipe so it depended a lot on how the hens were behaving... And it is all in ounces not grams, which does make it easier to remember.

3/4/5 large eggs
3/4/5 ounces caster sugar
3/4/5 ounces plain flour

Heat the oven to Regulo Mark 5 (which is 190 electric, 170 fan, they tell me, but I am not at all sure I believe it, or else my oven is Eccentric. Your oven, your call, on this).

Grease two 8" circular cake tins, and flour them (with that incredibly evocative echoing "clunk" noise as you knock them against the work surface to spread the flour evenly and get rid of any excess). Butter is easiest, but for the lactose-intolerant oil also works.

Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside.
Beat the whites as if for meringue, until they stand up in peaks
Beat in the yolks and go on until the mixture gets a little paler than it was when they first went in
Beat in the sifted sugar
Fold in the sifted flour
Swiftly divide the cake mixture evenly between the two tins, and put them into the oven as soon as possible , because you don't want the mix to have a chance to go flump and lose all the air you've just beaten and folded into it
Cook for 20 minutes.

They rise like a soufflé, which is roughly what they are.

When they've sunk back a bit turn them out onto a mesh to cool, then put jam between the layers and water icing (or icing made with lemon juice) on the top, and voila! A cake for the guests you were not expecting that day.

Thank you @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime - re the oven temperature, according to my Australian Women's Weekly Cakes & Slices cookbook (my go-to for all such dilemmas) gas mark 5 ("moderately hot") = 190C or 375F. It doesn't mention fan, but this Which page suggests 170C is right!
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/built-in-ovens/article/oven-temperature-conversion-table-aA5Ol9b157On

I shall give that a try. MrG is sufficiently well-trained to eat ALL cakes.

Im definitely going to make the Bailey's christmas cake and the sponge cake , its a bit like a swiss roll recipe.
I think Pat wouldnt want to move because they are in there mid 70's and moving is such a big upheavel and didnt pat say that.
Dont know what Susan and Neil expected especially Susan. Do they not know their Grandson at all!!!

How much is this passive house going to cost? And what will happen to it when Pat & Tony die? Will Tom want to live there with his family? Or would they rent it out or have it as a holiday let?

The £900k they got from Justin - would they have paid a chunk of tax on it? Wonder how much is left.

Are we going to get overinfested in this just for it not to happen? Like the vegan cafe at the charging station.

The Bridge Farm clan have loadsa money …

And, by the time the last of the senior couple has died, the youngest generation will be ready to move into it. It’s fantastic dynasty building - or at least it ought to be.

I don’t know what will happen in the short term (although I suspect that Natasha will want whatever comes with most status as a PP said “for the twins”) but I think the long term has Tom and family in one house eg farmhouse and Helen and family in the passivhaus - near enough to annoy each other.

I think the farmhouse might be quite tricky for a single parent to manage as it’ll undoubtedly be more rickety and come with more need for DIY and possibly even time consuming things like cutting wood/getting coal etc. mind you Henry is old enough to wield an axe now… with supervision.

They rise like a soufflé, which is roughly what they are. There’s a Portuguese orange flavoured “swiss roll” which takes the egg:flour level even further, something like 5eggs: 1oz flour. I didn’t quite believe in it when I made it, it shouldn’t have made anything remotely cakey.

I wish that at some point during that visit Neil had not just come back at George with denials that they caused him to be in prison, but a very firm reminder that the only person who caused it was George himself. But George is aligning with the Clarkys and Baseballs of the prison population out of sheer fear, and part of that in his mind involves going back to refusing to admit to himself that he did anything wrong. I hope Brad or someone forces him to reflect on whether it would really be better for Alice to be going through that instead of him.

but a very firm reminder that the only person who caused it was George himself He did say just that.

it didn’t sound like Neil. Higher pitched voice. Not as much projection. I almost wondered whether they’d changed actor

Is Johnny going to come back from sailing the seven seas wondering where his house is in all of this?

I hope he returns sailing a large ship up the Am. Something like the Cutty Sark should do the trick.

Natasha would not say 'for the twins', she refers to them as 'the girls' or by their names.

I'm wondering if George isn't actually friends with baseball & Clarke, but hes just putting it on for show...in his mind emma wouldn't worry about him being beaten up/picked on....he didn't want anyone to look at them or say there name to me it feels like he could ge faking the "friendship"

He's paying them to leave him alone.

Pat and Tony don’t seem to have given much thought to legacy planning. All seems very ad hoc and liable to cause many many problems down the line. Johnny could make things very complicated as he is a grandchild, not a child, however, P and T may want to treat him in the same way they would have treated John. Difficult one…Very clever plot-wise…

Loved yesterday's episode (yes, I have low standards) mostly because I agreed so wholeheartedly with Pat that you don't know how your children will grow up to do... good or bad.

Pat is becoming a fave of mine.

Tut. WHAT your children will grow up to do.

I enjoyed last night's episode with Susan and Neil visiting George in prison. I thought they all acted well and it felt very realistic. I was genuinely moved by poor Susan's reaction. (Neil is one of the few really decent characters in Ambridge and I'm very fond of Susan. She has her faults but I think her heart is basically in the right place and she lives Neil - and there can't be too much wrong with someone who recognises and values Neil's sound but unshowy qualities.)
I can't decide if George really has gone to the Dark Side in prison and has genuinely made friends with sociopaths like Baseball and Clarkey, or whether he is being threatened by them and trying to maintain a hard man front for his family's benefit.

Did anyone hear Last Word? A good week when the youngest person to die was 90! I missed it and tuned in to hear Barwick Green (which panicked me for a moment because, coupled with the early sunset, I was afraid I'd lost several hours and was late for work!). I'll catch up later tonight.

It would be a bit predictable if George comes out of prison a total wrong’un

i would prefer it if he finds God and then goes abroad to do some missionary work before coming back to be the new Alan

the new Alan

Or a lower church version, very keen on adult baptism by full immersion in the Am.

Meanwhile, who’s on Helen-slapping duty this evening?

Oh, I think Natasha may have been. That was a masterly manoeuvre designed to get what Natasha wants, wasn't it.

I love Natasha. She’s a splendid character

I’d love it if she went behind Helen’s back to Kirsty!!

Pat has redeemed herself enormously over the last few weeks.