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 was concerned (unreasonably, I know) to notice Alan sounding older than he did last time I heard him at any length. It reminded me that he might not continue as the vicar for ever.

I am finding the cricket SL very irritating. However, I don't think Rex necessarily need worry about being able to get back to the taxi driving afterwards.

I have always assumed he works for a local company. My small local taxi firm is absolutely desperate for drivers. Before the pandemic they had around 30 drivers and it was always possible to order a taxi on the day. Now they have only 8 drivers and you have to book a taxi a day in advance - or several days in advance for popular times like Friday and Saturday evenings. As a result of the driver shortage they have had to give up their lucrative regular contracts taking children to school or people to hospital. I have no doubt they would let an experienced driver like Rex do whatever hours he wanted and would welcome him back with open arms if he wanted to work more hours again after the cricket season.

(I have spent a lot of time using taxis recently and have had a lot of long chats with the drivers.)

Susan, Clarrie and Tracey do all most of the work.

I missed that! Are you sure she wasn't talking about the sward?

Why didn't Pat pull Neal up on his comment about the water companies working for the public good.

My understanding is that they are all privatised and working for their shareholders. Profit above all else.

Am I wrong?

Pat's voice gets on my wick, and the "sewage" pronunciation reminds me of a very fussy teacher i had in Junior school in the early 70s who said "tis-sue" (pronounced "tis-siew") i loathed her.

I live next to a church. We have bells at 6:30 am (for 10 minutes) and 6pm (for 15 minutes) and intermittently according to funerals/weddings. That is fine. (Church was here before i moved in). If i got wind they were going to be ringing peals for 10 hours? I'd feel stabby, but in reality would just go out for the duration if i approved of the cause.

Talking of stabby. We need to fire Lily into the sun. She is AWFUL. Who was Freddy trying to talk to?

The Sward of Damocles, @Gonners ?

I say sewage with the ew like in few. What's wrong with tissue said as tiss-ew?

I'm supplied by Welsh Water which is a not for profit company with no shareholders, the only water company in the UK run like that apparently. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the cost of our bills though.

Maybe in Ambridgeland their water company is like that.

I enjoyed Freddie’s posh telephone voice.

And was amazed that Mr Malik has the time to be up to speed with the village website. Guess he doesn’t work..?

If they don't have shareholders to pay, presumably that leaves them with more to spend on infrastructure and so fewer problems for customers? A Good Thing!

Guess he doesn’t work.

Or one might guess - given his conversation with his wife about sharing fliers for plumbing services - that he has yet to build up new clients after being abroad for more than a year, and coming back to a new area …

Ah, I must have missed the mention of plumbing.
I heard him talking about delivering (?cardboard?) and wasn’t sure if that was what he was planning to do now.

I assumed that was a long time ago in Pakistan. How he got together with his doctor wife is a mystery.

Thus turning it into a patch of grass. This might be better than beating it into a ploughshare.

Might be my imagination but Lily and Freddie's voices seem to be getting more "upper class" lately. Especially Freddie. It's like he's given up trying to pretend he's just a normal guy.

Mr M doesn't seem busy if doing anything at all. Decent plumbers have a long waits or have contracts lined up and definitely don't need to hand out fliers. Has anyone ever had a leaflet from a plumber?

But his business area was in Solihull. And then he was away for an extended period! I’m not sure there’s any evidence that he isn’t perfectly competent at his job.

He only came back on 28th February - so three weeks tomorrow - which I remember because it was the beginning of Ramadan. The fact that he hasn't yet set up a vast plumbing empire in Borsetshire is shocking, though.

Yes I know. He's effectively starting again. Which if you're a self employed tradesman, is professional suicide. There will be well established plumbers in the area who get all their jobs through word of mouth and repeat contracts but no doubt in Ambridge land suddenly Mr M will be the only plumber in a 20 mile radius.

What’s the exact status of the property empire Lilian gave away to Justin?

(Years ago I wrote that working didn’t suit Lilian - that she was in her element lounging by the GG pool or shopping for event wear at Underwoods - but now I honestly miss the Amside Property days. Even though she singularly failed to help any Ambridge residents desperately in need of work.)

My point being that Amside, whoever owns it now, could surely take on another plumber, even if they have ongoing contracts with other firms.

Mr M probably doesn't need or want to rush to find work. He's presumably supposed to be about 50( although to me sounds a lot older), and who wants to still be grovelling around under sinks and loos at that age, his knees must be knackered!
Also Azra must earn around £100k so maybe he'll be a stay at home dad or retire early. Certainly seems like he's going to be heavily involved in village life the way he keeps being put in so many scenes, probably won't have time to work.

Maybe he was looking at the village website to see if he could advertise

TottersBlithely
What’s the exact status of the property empire Lilian gave away to Justin?

Amside Properties still belongs to Lilian; she firmly declined to allow Justin to take control of it.

That’s good to know! Maybe the SWs could remind us of her continued involvement in her business occasionally.

(I confidently expect a convoluted story in coming weeks where her pet plumbing company goes bust - or takes to the high seas - and she needs an instant one man replacement for a multi million £ contract …)

Last time she employed someone to deal with a bathroom in an emergency it was Philip Moss....