Archers thread #197: Runs, Ambridge, runs! 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 find it credible that Kate, who changed continents twice to get away from her own children, has now morphed into Grandmother of the Year, 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.)

Well, Finlay may have made good his escape, but we're all still stuck inside the Borsetshire forcefield. The cricket team is rising phoenix-like from the ashes but will now be The Bull's team, not Ambridge's. Will Alice and Rex make a go of things? Will George cope with a month off the booze? Will the real Brian Aldridge re-appear? Will we hear a bit more about farming? We did get a lambing scene the other night, which was good.

Over to you!

P. S. The pointless new AI title generator MN has introduced in spite of absolutely nobody ever asking for it wanted to call this thread something like Discuss The Archers here, no spoilers. I won't be following its suggestions.

And the fact that she’s been in prison!

In England. Apparently in Scotland the children have the automatic right to inherit a chunk of the deceased's estate, regardless of what the will says. I can't remember the details, but was reading about this on another thread earlier. I think that's more like the rest of Europe.

Poor Tony. Helen is being predictably horrible about his Anguses. People may not be buying as much beef, which I would think has as much to do with health issues and (possibly misplaced) environmental concerns as price, but surely the livestock are an essential part of an organic farm. What would they do for manure without them?

Why was Esme buttering scones that were destined to have Jam and cream on them? People don't have butter as well do they? ( I speak as a butter-fiend who butters egg mayonnaise sandwiches and has been waiting for years for it to be rediscovered as "healthy" in some way".)

Can't see how Brian was out of breath carrying stuff from the kitchen, as in real life he is just standing by a microphone.

That was either very good acting, suggesting that Brian has a health condition affecting his breathing, or is just getting very frail and struggling with exertion, or (and I really hope this isn't it) Charles Collingwood has COPD or another health problem. Brian and CC are both 82.

Yes, I think they do. On the odd occasion I've had a cream tea butter has always been provided as well as jam and cream.

I always have butter as well.

I thought butter had been decreed as healthy. Well, at least better than manufactured spreads.

It depends. If you do cream then jam, then no butter. If you do jam then cream, then butter.

One way is most definitely wrong.

Also, it shoukd be clotted cream.

I think there's plenty of bullshit to go around without the Anguses.

The Montys will still defecate.

I was very surprised by the butter…

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g In England. Apparently in Scotland the children have the automatic right to inherit a chunk of the deceased's estate, regardless of what the will says. I can't remember the details, but was reading about this on another thread earlier. I think that's more like the rest of Europe.

Perhaps (historically) in England and Wales fathers, who were mostly the ones with the money, have been less confident that the children were actually theirs?

I'm a jam first person so, yes, I would butter them.

Yes, disappointing to hear that the cream was whipped. On the other hand, it was Leonard's hedgerow jam. That was a good detail. I hope the scones were good. I had a scone on the ferry the other day which was the kind that takes a lot of masticating and sticks to the roof of the mouth. I remarked to my brother that I had hoped it would be freshly baked and he said it probably had been, just several days ago.

I’m butter cream then jam but I’m a Leeds United supporter, so I’m used to being ostracised.

CC was very hale and hearty when I saw him 6/9 months ago.

It's been so long since I had a scone that I can't be sure what order the cream and jam went on - the maternal unit was from North Notts, for what that's worth. But my father was from the land of laverbread and probably rebelled by doing it the opposite way. My sister and I would have sided with him!

Does he butter his Welsh cakes, @Gonners?

Off topic but might be of interest:
Rural crime programme
It's not short and has English subtitles, but it is fascinating.

Pice'r maen (Welsh cakes) are vile.

I can't remember - he would have been 103 last month, had he not died 40 years ago. But I do, so I suspect he did!

<on edit> Oh, and give me Welsh cakes over scones any day! Also, seaweed on pizza.

Welsh cakes should not be gritted - sugar on the outside is just wrong.
Laverbread is good.

"Oh look, Josh has sent a photo. Anyway, back to you Ben.."

Jam first. Clotted cream (room temp, not straight out of the fridge).

Thought Brian was heading for a heart attack tonight.

I think this is the perfect time for my cream tea horror story.

Last year DH and I were on Dartmoor, an area we know well but hadn't been able to visit for a few years. When we arrived at our favourite cream tea spot, the first sign of trouble was that the nearby car park was surprisingly empty. But, it was the very beginning of the season, and a weekday, so we ignored the warning signs.

It turns out that said cream tea spot is no longer in business. Once we'd recovered from the shock, we went back to the car park where there is a sort of gift shop/takeaway cafe/shed type affair which used to just sell the sort of cake in a plastic wrapper you used to get at stations, and tea in polystyrene cups.

Maybe, I thought, they've started doing cream teas to catch the trade of the now defunct Proper Cafe.

They had. The sign boasted cream teas so I went and ordered two. My first mistake was paying before I saw what was actually on offer. I watched as the woman working there went over to the freezer, took out two scones and microwaved them. They weren't just defrosted, they were hot. Served with a blob of cheap jam and whipped cream!

I practically fainted dead away, it was an absolute abomination.

The next day we headed home, via the supermarket where I bought clotted cream and posh jam, and got scones in the oven at home before I'd taken my coat off.

Shirgar – Gower View Foods
Laverbread - Traditional Welsh Cusine - Welsh Food and Drink

** Shirgar is from Sir Gâr (pronounced sheer like in Sheeran ,gare like in Gare du Nord), the local name for Carmarthenshire/Sir Gaerfyrddin.
Not Shergar. 🐴

the woman working there went over to the freezer, took out two scones and microwaved them. They weren't just defrosted, they were hot. Served with a blob of cheap jam and whipped cream!

Pearls were clutched. A fainting couch and smelling salts would have been beneficial.

Poor Ben. Locked in the cereal cupboard for years and he thinks he has good parents.

Served with a blob of cheap jam and whipped cream!
I'm literally imagining the squirty cream stuff here. It's traumatic just thinking about it.