Archers thread #186: Eavesdropping on a home for the terminally confused. 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 swipe right on Dane, the new Grey Gables manager, 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/radioaddicts/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/radioaddicts/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.)

Thanks to @WitcheryDivine for the title inspiration. Over to you!

Yes I bet Chelsea buys a lot from Vinted too

one of those parcel lockers is a no brainer surely? Surprised no one has suggested it for the bull

I pictured the charging station as being a smaller version of a motorway services area till I stopped a couple of weeks ago at a place which I suspect is aimed at a similar market, just off the A303. It was essentially a large farm shop with a wide range of stuff from meat/cheese/milk etc right through to naice china, throws, cards and books, with quite a big restaurant area also. It had a lot of parking and, in particular, several electric charging points for cars. It was probably more upmarket than the Underwoods offering, and in particular the dining area was significantly bigger than what seems to have been offered to Fallon, but I'm now picturing something a bit more like that.

In my Escape to the Country fantasy village, there definitely has to be a village shop within easy walking distance so I can nip out there when I run out of milk or feel in dire need of a biscuit fix. It doesn't sound as if the charging station would really satisfy that criterion.

Do these EV charging stations with fancy shops exist in real life (and what happened to the cafe that Fallon ducked out of running)?

When we hired an electric car in Scotland, and needed to charge, it we sat in the car on the Shell forecourt eating meal deals. I can see the merits of creating a foodie place with a seating area. I wouldn’t have thought that rural Borsetshire gets much EV traffic, though. Locals would want to charge at home for a 10th of the price! Kenton has missed a trick by not putting a couple of chargers in the enormous carpark at The Bull.

@Madcats The cafe is 'Ambridge Grab and Go' or something I think, as too small for eat in. I was only half listening.

@Agapornis , I remember stroop waffles being around in the late 1980s, but they weren't commonplace.

Missed how we got onto the subject of these. Used to buy them in Eindhoven to bring home on my (too) numerous trips for work.

I kind of imagined the charging station as having outdoor space with picnic tables

it’s interesting though as having done a quick google there are a lot of these big farm shops that have 2-10 chargers. It would make sense for the bull to put some in as it can’t be that much further off the main road than the charging station

I imagine anyone who needs to pop to the shop in the car would find the charging station much easier and less judgemental. Alice could fill her boots

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle
I don't believe Jim would say "I was stood here".

Could be worse, he might have said he was "stood standing". As opposed presumably to standing on his head.

EBearhug
The surgery isn't in Ambridge, but I can't remember where it is.

Darrington. It didn't exist five years ago, and people from Ambridge went to one of two surgeries, in Hollerton and in Borchester.

LillianGish
You would definitely have to drive to the charging station (wherever it is located - still not clear)

The land David and Ruth sold, which was then repurposed from agricultural use to charging station, was at Hollowtree, which is closer for anyone living on the east side of the village than the village shop is. The new shop may be as much as two hundred yards from the centre of the village green, and nobody who didn't need a car to get to the village shop would need to take a car to the Underwoods Local. I conclude that the script in which Clarrie had to scrounge a lift back to the village from her place of work must have been written by someone without access to the map of Ambridge used by the editorial team all this century.

Bruisername
It would make sense for the bull to put some [chargers] in as it can’t be that much further off the main road than the charging station

The Bull is probably a bit closer and easier to find and get to, since it isn't down a small lane (which always used to be a tight fit for a tractor) behind the village proper, as Hollowtree is.

I think Chelsea is more likely to buy new from places like Temu and Shein.

Yeah maybe - parcel boxes still helpful!!

@Agapornis i absolutely love Hema. I used to buy lovely baby clothes in there when the DC were tiny. Now it's just for the Stroop Waffeln in the nice tins (i give them to people as presents) and all the Miffy/Nintje themed stuff.

Actually a discussion about parcels and the village shop taking them in or having the lockers would be good. It's a constant topic in my village. As is our little free library.

Just listened to the omnibus for 24th August 1980. Lengthy section at the beginning in church with the congregation singing (this would not happen now). Brian and Jennifer again. Clarrie and Eddie courting, Clarrie's Dad Jethro Larkin horrified about it. Mike and Betty! That was lovely to hear. I always liked Betty. Tony depressed, plus ca change. Pat revealing she is pregnant with Tom. David's voice absolutely unrecognisable (to me, anyway) but I think it was Tim Bentinck. Phil moping over Grace and Jill managing not to whack him over the head with a frying pan. Lovely stuff.

Anyway, Neil was in it, talking to Colonel Danby about his pigs at Ambridge Hall. Aunt Laura made a brief appearance too. I was electrified to hear Neil saying he'd just been to see his mother who was fine - his Dad had made it (some sort of illness or accident, presumably) sound worse than it was. No foundling nonsense back then! This was around 35 mins in.

Tim Bentinck was on the podcast a few weeks ago, they played something from the Posh Sophie days, he sounded var var posh. I've been listening since about 2010 so was rather surprised, definitely unrecognisable.

Mia would definitely buy from Vinted.

@Brefugee there is a book about Dutch emigrants, called Ik mis alleen de Hema - I only miss Hema Tbf I pop in on every visit, about three times a year - to buy a tompouce, nail polish, toy for my niece, new pants, socks... I'm still sad they pulled out of the UK during covid. [Sorry everyone to keep hijacking with department store chat. There are little Hemas at train stations but not at rural charging stations, afaik.]

I think Chelsea and Tracy would use Vinted too, possibly buying and selling. Eddie probably got banned from ebay for scamming...

(I live about 10 kms from the boarder with the Netherlands, i often do my supermarket shop there. I'm all about the Pindakaas and the Bischout)

@Agapornis no, autocorrect messed it up - fortnum and mason (London)!

@Agapornis , I loved Hema. Great shop!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
David's voice absolutely unrecognisable (to me, anyway) but I think it was Tim Bentinck.

You were right not to recognise it, because David's actor has changed. In August 1980 the cast-lists in the Genome Project say

"David Archer: Nigel Carrivick"

Tim Bentinck is first mentioned in the part in August 1982. And in 1978, it was "David Archer: Gordon Gardner"

That’s hilarious re Neil’s mother!

Gosh, I thought David had always been Tim Bentinck.

Thanks, Asking. I'm normally not too bad on recognising voices but I just couldn't match up what I was listening to with Timothy Bentinck, so that's reassuring. I could also have sworn he'd been playing David as long as I've been listening, but obviously not.

I think the other two were for less than a year each.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
I was electrified to hear Neil saying he'd just been to see his mother who was fine - his Dad had made it (some sort of illness or accident, presumably) sound worse than it was. No foundling nonsense back then!

And thus are all our certainties about that load of old foetid dingoes' kidneys proven!

Do you mind me passing that on to a friend on another board, Gasp0de?

I lost track. Could past Neil not just have been talking of his foster/adoptive mum?

Thanks so much for those trips down memory lane @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - I tuned straight back in to all the voices. I probably started listening in earnest around 1983/84 when I started at university. It had been the soundtrack to my childhood, but I never listened in earnest until I left home when it became a link to home. So many voices and so much trivia, even the dramatic death of Polly subsumed in domestic detail. And as you point out, length of time given to the church service at the start of the second extract was quite extraordinary. Just brilliant. Thanks again.