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.

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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/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!

I loved Open Farm Sunday - it felt like a wonderful reminder of everything going on around the farm right down to owl nesting boxes and wildflower meadows. There's just so much potential in all of that - four generations on the farm, ramblers and rubbish, everything David shouted through his megaphone, we really don't need fabricated drama delivered by random drop-ins. Peggy's will just feels so contrived - and at a point when Bridge Farm could really do with a cash injection for them all to fight over. What happens if Tony does get dementia - who will pay for his care? I can't believe they are all so accepting about Arthur's intervention. Instead it appears we are gearing up for some awful awayday (or longer) in the worst tradition of any soap or sitcom where the poorest episodes always take place in an unfamiliar location. Why can't the SWs get it into their heads that Ambridge and the various locations in and around the village (especially the farms) are as important as the characters, as last night's episode proved. I'm not interested in listening in on an utterly improbable package holiday or cruise - I just want to go up Lakey Hill, do some birdwatching at Arkwright Lake, have lunch in The Bull and dinner at Grey Gables so I don't have to miss the milking.

I guess the issue I had was that it felt all so crammed in. I wish they would spread the farming out so it was more part of everyday life so to speak

and then the hordes was just unnecessary really - or maybe it was just the way the last scene wa written

I thought that the implication was that the "hordes" showed up because David sent them over (presumably explicitly asking them to head over, after the scene shift). So not a miracle in any sense.

I really, really want to know what happens at a "Goat Gymkhana". How does Henry explain to the goats what to do? Has he been training them in Pole Bending and other gymkhana games, and going over jumps, a bit like dog agility? I'd like to see that, and the chaos that would presumably ensue! I remember Pig Races from country fairs, which are entertaining, and even a Tortoise Race at my sister's school fair, when I was about 6. The tortoise race was excellent: the tracks were arranged like spokes of a wheel, with all the tortoises in the middle, and lettuce placed at the outside end. The tortoises had no clue what they were meant to do, and kept randomly walking sideways across several tracks, or just plain stopping somewhere. I was vastly entertained!

Yes they certainly turned up because of David - I think that was clear. But it was the suggestion there were so many people

Tony’s been massively irritable and forgetful for years. I find him pretty unpleasant actually.

Yes I think you've got it @Bruisername. I couldn't quite figure out what was bugging me about it but you're spot on. It felt like cramming in all the farming content that's been missing for months into one episode and that's farming ticked off the list again for a while. We'll see I suppose! Then the fairy tale ending at the end probably signalling to us that Bridge Farm's hard times are over. Which is just not relatable. I know I sound miserable but why not portray a farm genuinely struggling? Because that's what happens when the links fall out of the chain. It's not a few bad weeks or months, it would take a year or two at least to recover.

Same with the dairy. Im sure we wont hear of financial struggles anymore. Peggys legacy could have been such a rich story line..Helen banking on inheritance to save her business, Natasha banking on it to get her out of the secret debts etc. Instead as @LillianGish says we are going to get a stupid story about them all going away some where. No doubt for a week of larks.

I now want to see a tortoise race @Trivium4all - I just can't imagine being able to rustle up that many tortoises in one place (unless it was at somewhere like the tortoise sanctuary we once visited in the south of France).

If you can't manage a tortoise race, snails do a pretty good job. When my DCs were small they'd paint numbers on the shells and build "race tracks" for them.

Snails with numbers on would turn up for a long time afterwards.

If Lillian is anywhere near Oxford you have just missed their annual tortoise race (maybe next year!) : oxfordvisit.com/articles/oxford-university-tortoise-race-and-fair/

Ferret races are popular events at country shows. They use drainpipes about 10 metres long with some "open" bits made of fencing(?).
Do the Grundys still have ferrets?

It was nice to hear from Stella.

The visitors were queuing at the gates of Brookfield at least 20 minutes before it opened. I mean seriously?

They used to do hen racing in Bonsall in Derbyshire. I don't know if they still do but people used to keep special hens for it.

https://visitpeakdistrict.com/events/bonsall-hen-races

recovery in Ambridge is stupidly fast (cf. Alice, Ben etc) so i won't be surprised if - due to the intervention of the charity - Tony recovers instantly from dementia. And THAT will be why all the clan will be ok with Peggy cutting them all out of her will.

I love all the farming stuff. Presumably Home Farm doesn't join in because it's just acres of arable farming? And no farmhouse to do teas. Stella as Pip's beloved is just joining in with the Brookfield Archers because of that.

I don’t think Tony’s affected by dementia, he was just grumpy. Cut him some slack- there was Poogate then Peggy’s death, stress can build up.
We’ve heard plenty about how Lilian’s been affected by grief, but poor old Tony? Not a mention.
I’m Team Tony!

I think it's just one of those things that always gets said.

Elderly man is grumpy: must have Alzheimer's.
Young woman is tired: must be pregnant.

Being irrationally argumentative was the first sign of my mothers dementia although she was always a bit like that so it took a while for us to realise it.

Not everyone who argues and is irrational has dementia, or is going to get dementia, though. I have examples in my family, but for more immediate ample evidence of this than my various cousins and uncles I refer you to the "Royal Family" threads on this board, where at regular intervals irrational arguers crawl out of the woodwork frothing.

Home Farm did have some deer (no idea if they still do).

They used to have some polytunnels of strawberries. At some point they seemed to morph into an orchard of cherry trees (orchards have a habit of just springing up from nowhere in Ambridge since the Millenium), but I think they were grubbed up for some reason.

I do hope they eventually find a way to marry up the farmhouse and land; it will probably be down to Ruari to become a Clarkson-like "hobby farmer" with a land agent and a "Kaleb"/"Charlotte".

They also had fish in a lake at one point.

And isn't Home Farm where the riding course is?

Well crispin and Peggy had a hatred of Alan in common

i I feel like Susan is mismanaging the shop tbh

Still odd he never mentioned meeting Lillian

the scene with Kate and Alan at the end was odd - since when did she hate Alan too. Got a mention of the stupid window🙄 which from Kate can’t be a good enough reason to hate him

anyway, I suspect crispin will mess up and Alan will save the day

and henry showing his unusual behaviour. Or special behaviour

Yes, @Bruisername , exceedingly odd.

I enjoyed Open Farm Sunday and I even went to one this year! Did NOT queue outside before it opened though, that’s just weird.

I’m sure this dementia charity is just a red herring btw and there’s tonnes of money coming to someone else.

Maybe the coffin will be dropped and all the loot will roll out