Archers thread #189: Brian reaps what he sows, in spite of himself. 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 want to hear more from Markey, 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.)

Over to you!

Depends. Dad always did it for the farm. Even if she's not directly doing it, she shoukd have an awareness.

Man shall not live by bread alone. Matthew 4:4 KJV (yes, I googled, and then copied and pasted)

This surely implies, though, that bread, i.e. food, is actually required. Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is also given as a requirement but not a replacement.

The level of Alice's "awareness" about anything not about Alice was demonstrated by her mystification that Chris had also looked up foetal alcohol syndrome.

Yeah, but there is all that boring stuff about rendering to God that which is God's and unto Caesar that which is Caesar's (God not really needing tins of baked beans all that much might come under that ruling) not to mention Christ hoofing the commercial concerns out of the Temple....

Seems odd having the shop in the church. Food bank sure. And what about the post office?

I don’t really see the shop as a charity though so can’t see why it needs to be there at all

I think it is officially a Community Asset rather than a charity.

In reality, the shop doesn't need to exist but without it we'd lose another useful location for people to meet and talk.

If Home Farm are struggling to get the harvest in, they should just ask Joy. She's bound to know how to operate a combine.

Jesus was able to make wine out of water and used 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed several thousand people (take that, Mumsnet chicken!) so I feel his advice on how to feed one's family is not to be followed closely. He had an unusual advantage.

True, he did, but neither of the events you reference took place in a religious building. It's a bit of a puzzler, for sure.

😁 I may be mistaken, but I don't think Jesus was a member of the CofE.

Also true. I think people might even argue that the CoE is a member of him. As I said, a right old puzzler.

In the immortal words that Father Jack never uttered, that would be an ecumenical matter.

Poor Martyn!

(Words I never contemplated uttering before.)

Well if any part of St Stephen's is medieval they can argue they're going back to an early association of the church the market in their relationship with the village shop. Markets were sometimes held in churchyards - often enough for the practice to be banned in the late C13th. I'm sure I've also read accounts of trading taking place within the church buildings themselves but, unhelpfully, I can't remember where.

Wasn't the hoofing more to do with disgust at the exploitation of foreign pilgrims to the temple? Only one currency was accepted for offerings/the purchase of animals for sacrifice so foreign visitors had to change their money, and the moneylenders charged them an exorbitant rate for doing so. And they set up in the part of the temple where gentiles were allowed to worship, taking up space and reducing their opportunity to worship.

There's been an awful lot of La Snell recently.

Well that was an odd episode.

So stilted, the plotlines as well! Had to come here to say that.
And where exactly did they get the kebabs from, is there a van suddenly?
None of that flowed properly or was credible.
The only good line was nr the beginning when Martyn said that this was a big step for “us” and Jazzer thought he meant the two of them!

Rather like modern airline franchise shops. With added hellfire and brimstone.

What has happened to the Post Office? That can’t just be randomly moved somewhere due to all the tech and security.

The peregrinations of the village shop don't ring true at all. Even setting aside the unrealistically swift eviction from one day to the next, surely the shop (if it needed to stay open at all during the works) would have moved once and stayed put. The village hall move seemed designed to illustrate the packed schedule of events available to Ambridge residents (though never before mentioned, with the possible exception of the WI) and there was some comedy sound effects mileage in that. I'm not sure what the move to the church is supposed to achieve - I can't imagine going in for the Sunday papers (does anyone even do that anymore?) and staying for the service. And to go through all the palaver of getting permission and paying rent - how long is the eviction expected to last? Is the long term plan that the shop will eventually be so happy and successful in its new home it will never go back? I'm finding it irritating because I don't find it credible.

I think the sw have forgotten the post office

and without that the shop is pointless. Ambridge is close enough to a big town, online shopping and a small shop (charging station) not to need it. In fact the charging station isn’t full yet is it?

And where exactly did they get the kebabs from, is there a van suddenly?

they were in a town. Borcester? Don't you have kebab shops in UK?

They'll have got kebabs in a shop presumably. Our kebabs come with chips so it seemed odd for Tracey to order those as extra. Do kebabs everywhere come with chips?

I've done a mega listen and caught up the last 2 weeks. Lovely farming stuff with Ruth and Stella, more of that please.

Where's this Martin Gibson storyline going?

Tginj (thank goodness it's not Joy).

Enjoying the thread massively as always, and enjoying TA too- including Stella and Ruth’s CombineCam (less so Brian’s bonkers intention re the wheat harvest ofc…) . But just delurking to ask- with apologies if I’m on the wrong thread- is anyone else watching Ch4 at the mo and the 24 Hours Which Changed the World Japanese Surrender episode and just hearing the narrator talking about Wayne’s pies? 95% sure it’s Fallon! 😁so weird when this happens! (Edit to correct name)