Archers thread #182: The Shit hits the Am! 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 be delighted to oblige your employer by cleaning up sewage spills without proper training or equipment in place of your normal duties, 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.)

Credit for the title goes to @echt. Can't think of anything much to say about current storylines. Credulity is strained to its limit on many fronts, unfortunately, but there are a few nuggets in the slurry. I did enjoy hearing Natasha's outrage that Fallon is doing obvious, sensible things at The Bull even though it might hit Terum. I thought Natasha was supposed to be an entrepreneur!

Over to you!

I like the possibilities of the Jim/Brad alliance..and now back to the scorekeeping. I really like both characters. Never too mush Jim on TA.

Emma's motherly joy was delightful.

As for George, there'll be tension between his very real love and regard for Brad and the fall-out from whatever dodgy stuff he'll get up to on release. The character has been set up to have shown a full moral consciousness, unlike Knob for instance, so real possibilities.

If the SWs don't feck it up.

So do we have to conclude that doughtily independent Helen was under-insured? If I were Clarrie or Susan, I would be deeply unimpressed to discover that that was the reason I had had to spend three weeks scrubbing.

I took it to mean that whilst there was insurance for the lost production period, there's not insurance for the no-one wants to buy your product after the clean up.

And who else suspects the tearum will continue to suffer. Will Susan and Emmur both be made redundant at the same time?

But the Bull daytime food service will be BOOMING so both of them will get jobs there.

Trying to understand how Bridge Farm finances are arranged. They seem to operate as a small collection of separate businesses? Cheese is Helen’s baby but is there a Chinese wall between the Montbeliards and the dairy and everything else? H often serves in the shop so where does that fit in? Surely BF has reserves to prop up the cheese branch of the business for a few more months if needed? And where does the Terum fit in? It’s presented as T and Gn’s venture yet Tony was hanging the cowhides as if he was part-owner, not just a helpful father-in-law.

All sounds a bit like a pyramid scheme to me…

You make it sound as if Tony is just a visitor on his own farm!

Bridge Farm deep history:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fthearchers%2Fentries%2Fcc276f82-97d3-3e2a-bc20-5c30270a5bbe

Also leaving this here in case the SWs need a reminder about tax issues - Torygraph on the ‘tractor tax’, Dec 2024:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/144a43f80d384ab5

As I remember it, the Tea Room was built / expanded / whatever from the proceeds of the sale of what became the Beechwood land to Damara. So it’s part of the farm, not Natasha’s personal property.

I don't think Natasha is capable of running the tearoom so I think Emma is probably safe. More likely her tree surgery commitments will grow and she won't want to work there any longer. In the case of Clarrie and Susan I wonder if either would want to work in the dairy without the other. Also I think it's fair to say that after being up to their elbows in s* for the clean up, they'll be more than a little miffed to be considered surplus to requirements.

Jim ❤️

Lovely episode. Nice to see the friendship developing between Pam and Emma. Emma's sounding perkier, hope George isn't going to bring her down again.

Why can't Helen put Clarrie & Susan on reduced hours rather than making one of them redundant?

But Helen was talking about both losses together and saying insurance wouldn't help?

How about suing the water company?

this sounds very contrived tbh

Thanks!

I have a feeling that my library card has lapsed since they closed the library here and the nearest one is too far to visit in a direction I don't often go in, and only open about three hours a week. I have a feeling they tend to be "use it or lose it", don't they?

One of my library cards is for a library I don’t live especially near to - they happily let me sign up and I have a virtual digital card, not even a physical one. You might need to hunt around a bit to find a library service that lets you do that but Westminster certainly do! You can then use Libby to borrow ebooks and the PressReader app to borrow e-newspapers and e-magazines.

Farm Shops and cafes near Bath seem to be booming, in large part because it doesn’t cost £2/hour to park when meeting friends for coffee.

To rescue the tearoom:
-Pop some kiddies ride on tractors into the orchard, surrounded by bales of hay to keep the young riders enclosed. (Swings and a climbing frame too).
-Add some fenced petting pens for daily arrival of baby cows, sow and piglets, lambs, ducks and chickens
-Add a 10 minute signposted walk around with big wooden animal signs for Instagram.

https://www.whiterowfarm.co.uk/

Am I the only one who wouldn’t be bothered by what happened at bridge farm? I don’t understand why their reputation has gone down the toilet (pun intended) so quickly. I think the public tend to be far more forgiving and would see it as David vs Goliath wrt the water company

And I don’t get the deli cancelling everything given they have a longstanding relationship

unless they know Helen well and this is a convenient excuse

I have discovered I have very low standards by MN standards, but I wouldn't be rushing back. Mainly because the clean up wasn't done by a professional bio- hazard specialist.

Well that’s true - and makes no sense

The lack of professional assistance is truly bizarre and makes me just think they had to come up with an excuse to put the farm in financial peril

Re not using professionals, it's not just that I would have little faith that Susan, Chelsea and clarty Clarrie would have done it properly, but the skinflintedness of making employees do it.

Sorry about that Asking - adding it here. Stephen Collins is wonderful.

Bless you, noodlezoodle, that's kind! And now I know about the advantages of library membership too, which is a bonus.

I’d have thought the first thing they’d need to do to sound like a serious operation (after getting professionals in to do the clean-up, of course) is send round prominent statements assuring all their customers and clients that every possible measure had been taken to ensure absolute compliance with every standard of cleanliness. Can they actually say that, though? It kind of doesn’t seem so - didn’t they fail one of the tests?