Archers thread #201: Tempting fête in Ambridge? Free entry to 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 love to administer Bert's mucus medicine, 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/5538836-the-archers-spoilers-thread-12-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.)

There's a fair amount of stuff going on at the moment but I don't feel inspired to say anything more about any of it for now. Over to you - I hope you all have more enthusiasm than I do!

Perhaps Khalil will join whassername Joy’s daughter in her mission to end farming for meat.

Harrison and Lily's get-together was extremely contrived, too.

That occurred to me too, except Rochelle now seems to be out of the programme as a speaking character. I can see Khalil going full vegan, though.

Edited to say @Darker I didn't realise the posts I had quoted were both yours!
Great minds must think alike 😊

Why did they drag Conrad over to Ambridge? Is it normal to offer to buy complete strangers a drink or are The Bull’s prices even better than a typical ‘Spoons?

For a young lady who has been celibate for most of her 20’s, Lily is acting very strangely ATM.

And what was the crap about Lily spending enough time in Australia to form a hitherto unknown relationship? From what I recall she was barely there for a long weekend. She might have managed a one night stand but that's not exactly a relationship.

Conrad nearly had a second pint (or perhaps he did. It got a bit unclear there). For someone in the motor trade that's a tad risky.

@LaMarschallin , You put butter on them?! I don't remember eating any but I must have tried them because I didn't like them. Why on earth would someone butter a biscuit?

@LillianGish ,Conrad introduced himself as Conrad Mahoney.

@EBearhug , Marneys (Marney's?). It's somewhere with industrial units.

See, I clearly didn't listen closely to last night.

Fallon’s creepy pushiness over Lily and Conrad reminded me of Jolene’s creepy pushiness over Fallon and Harrison …

🍏🌳

@Every1ElseInKnowsley
You put butter on them?! I don't remember eating any but I must have tried them because I didn't like them.Why on earth would someone butter a biscuit?

I'm very fond of butter and often buttered plain biscuits as a child to make them more palatable.
I don't buy things like Marie Biscuits or Rich Tea now because I find them uninteresting, but I still butter digestive biscuits (usually add cheese too) and I had some Ginger Nuts left over from a cheesecake base the other day so I buttered a couple of those.
I think it's down to individual taste.

Marney's is a 19-acre field belonging to Brookfield, more or less slap-dab in the middle, with Lakey Hill to the north of it, Coombebell to the east, Badger's Bank to the west and Round Robin and Ashfield to the south. Unless the sheep-pens there have been turned into industrial units I don't think there are any at Marney's.

@JanFebAndOnwards ”Yes and Fallon’s expected to make a decision when there’s been no mention of any terms including salary.
Did we hear this cruck(?) barn conversation?
I thought it would involve Fallon cooking but sounds like it wouldn’t.”

I’m just at the first mention of this barn on 19th July, (I’m very behind, yes) and I had to search for this comment. I thought they were calling it a crap barn 😳😁.

Sorry if I am repeating an earlier discussion, I am still catching up on the thread but does anyone else think this Monty storyline is Lynda’s exit? It all seems to be shaping up with Robert mentioning money being tight, bad reviews, and the opportunity to save Monty.

Lynda can’t age like Jill or Peggy with family mentioning her so she is more likely to retire.

Again apologies if this has all been discussed 8 pages ago 😀

Nigel got the cruck barn built back in 2003-4; that is, he and a friend of his and a lot of volunteers built it as a community project.. Last mention of it before just recently was in 2022.

@LaMarschallin , I only butter toast and only if I am not adding marmalade or jam.
I might with honey or marmite but I can't remember when I last had toast.

Doesn't the biscuit ruin the taste of the butter?
Butter and cheese? Together?

A few weeks ago Susan and Bert were having chocolate biscuits, and I thought I'd quite like one. I have now bought some chocolate digestives.
When I was in the supermarket with several things in my basket I don't normally eat, hiding the salad and veg, I got chatting to a very pleasant man. Said he was single and lived in a nearby town. We swapped phone numbers.

Will he call or has he gone away thinking i drink too much, eat crisps and biscuits, and am a scary cat lady?

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime, I was mixing it up with Sawyer's wasn't I.

this kind of detail would be so nice to hear more of in the day to day of the programme rather then the SW trying to be a soap opera.

It was the B&B reviewer, referring to the Snells as (I paraphrase) “too old to be in the hospitality game” and the possibility of Monty getting a reprieve if he moves to an urban home which got me wondering whether the Snells might leave Ambridge, too.

Maybe they could move into a granny annex at Leonie’s house (was I imagining it or was she at Peggie’s Legacy “immediate family” Scotland jaunt without James?).

According to the continuity announcer this lunchtime’s episode was supposed to be a “cricket club social at The Bull”, which presumably Lily would have organised? All very odd.

Ah! Yes, that's on the lane near Bridge Farm and has become nothing but industrial units; I don't think it's an actual farm any more at all. Who owns the fields near it I have no idea.

@Every1ElseInKnowsley

Doesn't the biscuit ruin the taste of the butter?
No. It enhances it for me.
Personal taste, remember?

Butter and cheese? Together?
Yes. I do refrain from going the full dairy and adding a blob of cream.
This is beginning to remind me of my late MiL (of whom, in the face of MN lore, I was very fond). She wouldn't let you have cheese without it being accompanied by a biscuit (savoury, don't worry).

When I was in the supermarket with several things in my basket I don't normally eat, hiding the salad and veg, I got chatting to a very pleasant man. Said he was single and lived in a nearby town. We swapped phone numbers.
Will he call or has he gone away thinking i drink too much, eat crisps and biscuits, and am a scary cat lady?

That's so nice!
And I'm sure he'll call (how could he not? You seem lovely) but what if he's actually looking for someone who likes a drink and some tasty carbs?
Why would he think you're a scary cat lady? Were you buying a lot of Whiskers?
And if he doesn't call, well...
You've got his phone number too.

I used to volunteer for a breed rescue charity. There is absolutely no way Harrison would be permitted to pass on Lynda's letter to Monty's new owners. One of our rules was no contact between the old owner and the new. All the things that went to the new home were searched to ensure no covert messages. The most that could happen was a photo sent via the charity to the old owner, if the new owner wanted to.

I listened online this evening, at about 8:30. It is now 9:30 and I have no recollection whatsoever of what happened. Now obviously this might be incipient dementia, but I think it's more likely that the episode was even more than usually unmemorable.

@Gonners , same here. High spot was Conrad, Unless you consider Martyn Gibson's foot spa.

@LaMarschallin , I eat scottish oatcakes but don't put anything on them and only eat the plain ones.(I do put things on staffordshire oatcakes. Yum!)
I don't like cream. Butter is delicious.
Cheese and biscuits are fine. Water biscuits are nice.

It was own brand cat food from the yellow sticker section. I'd timed my visit to try to get bargains hence the strange basket. Cat loves pouches and didn't take offence at them being 'senior'.

Yes, I thought so too. He guessed roughly where I am originally from. Said he went to university in the big city there, fairly niche science degree, RG uni.
I've had 'streetpull' attempts in shops in the past, but this was me looking at something and talking to myself, and someone answered and he was good-looking and nice, and had a single man's shopping basket (not like the man years ago, same supermarket, who tried to pull me when he had Pampers in his basket) and was carrying a takeaway.
We chatted for quite some time. I was about an hour later than normal getting home.
If he sounds too good to be true, the takeaway wouldn't appeal to me, and his clothes had logos.
(I on the other hand looked like Barbara Good's much older haggard wannabe).

There's a lovely Scot who lives nearby, with a very much older and pretty much immobile wife. We bonded in the Co-op queue, dancing to Status Quo and I impressed him by revealing that I used to know Andrew Bown (never Andy IRL!) quite well, as he owned the off-licence across the road.

Were we both single ... well, who knows?

@LaMarschallin , @Every1ElseInKnowsley ,

oatcakes are a marvellous base for cheese boards, speaking from experience of organising many a cheeseboard for conferences in Scotland etc. They are quite neutral, but with a hint of sweetness that is very complementary to the stronger cheeses, especially. Huge fan.

@Every1ElseInKnowsley

Excellent choice in Staffordshire oatcakes, although the recipe I use calls itself Derbyshire oatcakes. I wouldn't dare call them that where I live though.
Water biscuits are good (still improved by butter of course).
My cat hates your cat. Or, actually, is horribly jealous of your cat. Poor creature is on a diet and pouches are for things like Christmas, birthdays, Easter etc
My DD said "Oh, poor Mama's cat being body shamed!" until she saw said feline.
"Ah. She is a bit roundy".
I blame the menopause; same thing happened to me.

If he sounds too good to be true, the takeaway wouldn't appeal to me, and his clothes had logos.
Depends on the logos and the type of takeaway.
The former is much more important than the latter.
He certainly sounds worth pursuing and, if you're a look-like of Barbara Good's much older haggard wannabe, so do you.
That's aging well, that's is.
I wish I was capable of saying "You go, girl!" without making my daughters cringe.