Archers thread #178: Ambridge or Scambridge? 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 fancy Mucky Mick, 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.)

The scars from Scambridge week will take some healing. Most of us felt we were the ones scammed - where was The Archers we know and (very occasionally) love?

Anyway, onwards and - almost certainly not - upwards. Will it be the best Christmas ever in Ambridge? Do we still care? Over to you!

I was under the impression they received a lot of money (£million or so) when they sold some land a while ago.

Not so, and it was invested in the business and paid for Helen's legal costs.

I remember a MN thread some time ago where the OP had a house they let to a tenant but now needed to sell the property. The tenant was very upset that they needed to move out. There was much righteous indignation on the tenant’s behalf from some posters, one of whom suggested in apparent seriousness that the OP should just give the house to the tenant.

I often think of that thread when Helen gets into full flow.

@Scambridge She runs a dairy , but isn’t that part of the overall farm? It’s a magical dairy too given that it only does one cheese and a few yoghurts by the sound of it

I’m not sure about that. There was talk about building a modern building that would be architecturally attractive and used for running things like cheese making classes, organic farming appreciation weeks etc, until they realised that there wasn’t enough money in offering such things. The scaled-down version was the extended dairy with the window, but I think there is still a fair bit of the money probably invested somewhere it can be withdrawn at relatively short notice. I assumed that was why Tony was contemplating building the Passivhaus, because the cash was there waiting to be used.

It’s kind of ironic really that the children are in conflict about buying a home built on land that Bridge Farm have already been paid for.

Two cheeses- Borsetshire Blue and Sterling Gold.
Not to mention the legendary ice cream sold in Underwoods, with the current seasonal special edition Christmas Pudding flavour.

@Scambridge Are you Helen?😁

She guilt tripped him by saying she was envious he had the money to buy Beechwood but had already told Tony she didn’t want to buy it. Perhaps she is actually envious of his settled family unit. I think you are onto something here @Eastie77Returns. She didn't really want it - it only became desirable when she thought someone else might move in. I think she is envious of Tom's ability to settle for something that's not quite perfect, but is good enough and of his (or rather Natasha's) clear-sightedness that in waiting for the perfect option you are in danger of wasting years waiting for something that might never come along. Helen can only appreciate being well off in hindsight. I'm increasingly thinking how good Natasha is for Tom as she tolerates his attitude to Helen while at the same time challenging him to kick back.

How many bedrooms does Bridge Farm have? At least 3, certainly. I've only been in a handful of farmhouses, but I think they have all had 5 or 6 minimum.

Johnny has sailed off the edge of the world, so there have to be at least 2 spare rooms for Helen and the boys.

I don't understand why Helen is so fixated on Beechwood when she has only lived there for 3 years and spent a similar length of time being incredibly snobby about the "New Builds".

<smug> I have one </smug>

@Madcats I don't understand why Helen is so fixated on Beechwood when she has only lived there for 3 years and spent a similar length of time being incredibly snobby about the "New Builds".

Dog in a manger. If only I could think of the word for "female dog"!

Regarding George's secret prison visitor, has anyone suggested that it might have been another scammed B&B victim? I'm sure HMP Borsetshire would happily put them up.

I like Natasha. She is annoying and obtuse at times (with Fallon, for instance) but this incarnation of her is often a corrective to the faffing around everyone else does. She sees something she wants and she goes for it.

I assume Natasha is gambling on Helen point-blank refusing her incredibly generous offer, which I would guess involves her paying twice her current rent for the benefit of having her children moved into the smallest bedroom? Go, Natasha!

A thing I very much like about Natasha is the sheer terror she inspires in TomTit. The other night he sounded like a trapped weasel (admittedly, he was trapped between wife and batshit, ‘fragile’ sister, an unenviable position, but it couldn’t happen to a nicer little twonk).

It would be really, really nice if they had some sort of voting mechanism on that thread so they could see how many people liked and how many disliked their spiffy new nonsense. And so we could all see, as in an AIBU thread.

Madcats
How many bedrooms does Bridge Farm have? At least 3, certainly.

When Pat and Tony first moved into it, there was one for Pat-and-Tony, one for John, one for Helen and one for Tommy, makes four.

Ther's an AIBU thread by someone wanting to go back to the "thanks" button, and it's about 50-50 at the moment.

The same land that they're trying to buy back with a house on it

Someone on there has posted "I feel the value of the site has been trivialised." I wasn't keen on the new buttons, mainly because they tend to pop up when you're scrolling down, but that sort of po-faced piety makes me want to defend them.

I don't like Brenda or Natasha.

Boop for Vince.

Brenda was really laying it on thick about her money and designer clothes. She's right about the house sale though

Westwood 😂

I had to check that TomTash did not, in fact, call their twins Astra and Nova. Arf.

I like Natasha too.

You beat me to it. Priceless.