Archers thread #185: Some farming would be nice. 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, or other unusual views.

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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.)

Over to you!

The little note my late mother included with a Christmas cake is on my fridge. It reminded me to take two layers of greaseproof paper off its bottom!

Ooh are they rewilding Christine?

First Tom and Natasha and now Henry mentally spending Peggy's inheritance before it's been divulged strongly suggests they won't be left anything.

I love it

I think I’m rewilding myself recently, if that’s what going to seed means

I previously mentioned that I wouldn’t mind hearing from Pip if it meant not hearing from Joy or Rochelle. I feel I may have been hasty. Her acting is atrocious. And she’s obsessed with Rosie in the most irritating way

I generally struggle to listen to Pip (and the Pip/Stella romance scenes are excruciating), however, after months and months of Joy/Rochelle/Lynda/The Maliks I actually enjoyed listening to David and Pip. Boring -yes; bad actress - definitely; but a breath of fresh air after Rochelle’s sulking and Joy’s wailing about being a bad mother.

Tony was right to clamp down on Henry’s speculation re Peggy’s will and a potential inheritance- very unattractive in a child. Lilian shouldn’t have undermined him like that.

Pip is one of those mothers who thinks her child is fascinating. Face it, Pip, even her grandfather doesn't agree, and Ruth seems to take about as much interest in her as I do (i.e. zero).

I can't bear to delete the last voicemail I had from my mum.

Anyone else think Henry’s lock box was dropped in as a hint he will be keeping drugs / cash / vapes / deets and squares records in it once George recruits him for his county lines?

I quite liked David roaring ‘I don’t want to talk about Rosie’. No, no one does.

When the time comes I do wonder how they will find a teenage actress skilled enough to convey just how annoying Rosie is in the heads of listeners.

Who are the Executors of Peggy's will? Is no family member an Executor? I hope they're not going to do that silly soap thing of reading the will at the funeral. Many people put information about their funeral wishes in wills (I have, so has my brother) so Executors will have read the will by now to see if that's the case and consulted family members about any funeral requests.

@MissMarplesNieceJoy and Hilda are the executors 😂

I liked Tony and Lillian! Do people say ‘great aunt’ rather than just generic ‘aunt’ when the name is appended

I had a great aunt from Harrogate and i always called her Great Aunt J... because, well because of Swallows & Amazons actually. But i have about 2 billion aunties (sadly dying off at a rate of knots) and had a few Great Aunts so we always specified when growing up.

God Pip - let your dad get a word in edgeways. And take his mental state, post attack, seriously. He is not wrong and an open farm day would be an "ideal" time/place for vegan activists to do their thing (not necessarily in balaclavas). I really don't know why Pip is minimising that.

I was shouting at Lilian and Tony though. I am currently trying to fend off my mum's Stuff overwhelming us when she eventually dies. The answer is hold the thing, talk about the thing then take a flippin' photograph. Although as with pp above (❤sorry for your losses) keep one or two written things. (totally outing but i have a postcard from my mum asking if i have seen her whats-app messages - which i had answered) and that is never ever going anywhere.

I previously mentioned that I wouldn’t mind hearing from Pip if it meant not hearing from Joy or Rochelle. I feel I may have been hasty. Her acting is atrocious

Yes, I promised myself I wouldn't let Pip irritate me if she provided some respite from Joy. But the actress's delivery is so unnatural, she sets my teeth on edge.

My two unmarried great-aunts were always "the Aunts" or "Jane and Mary". If we addressed them directly, whether it person or by letter, it was Jane and Mary. The married ones were just by name, unless it was a detailed discussion of the family tree (which does happen at times...)

It's easier without titles. "Hi, second cousin once removed Pip!"

Im a great -great - aunt and if anyone referred to me as that there’d be hell to pay!

I'm a great-aunt too. I don't mind. But my great-aunt did. She was an absolute sticker for (old fashioned) protocol.

Once we got into our teens, we stopped calling our aunts/uncles "aunty/uncle." Other than our one great aunt who was always Aunty Nellie.

My nieces and nephews were the same. I stopped being aunt Beatrice and now I am a friend. Which I like. I find it odd when the Archers not-so-youngsters say "Hello, Aunty Lillian."

Each to their own.

Just tried to listen to the 2 pm repeat of TA as I missed it last night. Unfortunately I must have tuned into the wrong programme as Joy wasn't in it, most of the characters seemed to be called Archer and there was mention of farming.

TherapistInATabard
And David’s earnest lecture on evil veganism was nearly as irritating as Rochelle’s rantings!

Yes.

And your post led me to muse about David. I used to find him reasonably likeable, now I find him a pita, and I think I have worked out why I've gone off him.

He has not had a positive storyline, or been given a positive thing to say, in a very long time. He is always ANTI something. People from towns, dogs, badgers, beavers, vegans... Does he in fact like anything at all?

not even his own son or granddaughter!

He likes Ruth I think. But yeah nothing else.

Back BO'C, David sometimes had a quick "look at how well that hedge is recovering from winter" or "I do like looking at the sheep on a fine day" speech given to him by the sws, but no longer, it seems. The miserable old git back then was Tony, had been for decades, while his cousin David was more equable and even occasionally upbeat.

It's hard to want to listen to a Grumpy Old Man, and that's what David has been turned into. I'd avoid him in the pub, these days.

On my 15th birthday, my eldest aunt told me to drop the "Auntie" business and just call her Lily. My mother was appalled at The Disrespect. Lily's response was "Pay her no attention, dear. She's a very silly woman."

Your radio’s broken, @Godesstobe …

But it's so deliciously in character for her to assume blithely that she and Rosie are the centre of everyone else's world, and her parents can't possibly have anything more important to occupy their minds with.

The SW need to develop Josh Archer's character instead of leaving him fading in the background. He's 27 years old, time to be getting into a proper self-supporting career instead of doing bits and bobs of whatever he does these days. Also didn't he have a girlfriend at one point? What's happened with her? I'd be much more interested in some stories related to him rather than bloody boring Joy whose name should really be Tedium. Or even some discussions between Ruth and David about all their children's lives and how they're doing and what they're planning for their futures etc, you know, like actual parents of adult children do.