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!

Do they have farmers in Ambridge?

Thinking about the rich in The Archers:
Brian and Jennydarling had to sell the house and move to a tiny rented cottage.
Peggy's money got left to a charity.
Freddie, heir to a stately pile, works in an abattoir and his sister in an hotel.
That only leaves Lilian.

According the Telegraph 'Rewilding has been blamed for triggering the wildfire in Suffolk.' possible story line.

Dear Fallon,
Please move back into your childhood bedroom at The Bull (I know you don't want to, but I am sure you could upcycle some furniture to get you in the mood for whatever it is you are planning at Lower Loxley's barn)....

or
Dear Harrison
Remember that time when you "discovered God" and a number of Mumsnetters thought you might "take the cloth"? I think now would be a good time to go on a pilgrimage (no, not necessarily through the Spanish forest fires; St Cuthbert's Way will do). Perhaps you could hire a wheelchair so that Bert could accompany you too!

I know it's the school holidays, but that's all the more reason to have something exciting to entice the young'uns into regular listening.

It’s very sad Susan thinks Bert was a good father just because he didn’t beat his children. He is an abusive father. She just can’t see it as she doesn’t realise abuse comes in many different forms.

There is a lot about fathers…

Brian
Bert
Chris
Adam/Ian
(George)

I worked at Minsmere as a warden and later Dunwich Heath ditto. Absolutely tragic to see it like that. Rewilding shouldn't mean no management. The most biodiverse moorland and heathland is managed so there’s a mosaic of areas of different aged heather. Controlled burning in patches over the winter reduces the fuel load and the risk of wildfires in the summer.

Chelsea mainly has adenoids.

Tracy did not have a good reputation until recently. One of the reasons she and Jazzer make such a good pair. (Him, ditto, for any newcomers)

Surely Harrison should be taken under the wing of St Shula in Northumberland?

If he set out to make a pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and was too stubbornly stupid to pay attention to the state of the tide, he could get caught by the sea while making the crossing, and swept away never to be heard (from) again.

Shula isn't in Northumberland, she's in Tyne and Wear.

Oh, sorry!

So Fallon and Harrison are going to live together in order to support each other in their separation...from each other🙄

It’s very topical, though! Separated couples living together because they cannot easily afford to set up two households.

How long until ‘arrison is on the apps? 😄

I used to work with somebody whose divorced parents lived in the same house. It was all very odd, but I think both were too bloody-minded to move out of a house they’d built their life around. I don’t recall Fallon and Harrison living in a particularly big property, though.

Perhaps Fallon could live in some of the servants’ quarters at Lower Loxley?

Fallon really is quite unfortunate in her parent and step-parent.

However, although I’ve never worked in a pub, I’m quite surprised that a crucial member of staff doesn’t have to give a reasonable period of notice?

Although I don’t think Fallon’s dad gave much, if any notice when he did his flit to wherever in the world it was. (I daresay he’s set up home in a cave somewhere; with Johnny.)

(Three months would have seemed reasonable to me - not one month and then a random agency replacement.)

Unbearable to hear Joy's voice again, but....I never thought I'd say this but some sensible words came out of her mouth when she talked to Jolene about Fallon doing her own thing.

Kenton and Jolene are both acting like idiots. Fallon is in her forties, Jazzer and Ed have been her friends since before Kenton became her step father I think, why is he warning them off?

Didn't Joy take over the kitchen at The Bull at some point? Rather successfully, as I recall, even if it all did happen in my head! 😅

Oh, and Kenton has always been a useless idiot and Jolene must be an idiot too, what with having married the fool.

Well I guess we must look forward to Eternal J*y @ The Bull …

I'm fairly sure she did, yes. Rescuing them from one of their perennial crises. Possibly when Wayne vanished at no notice?

Maybe we’ll get a new chef at The Bull.

Too lowly for Ian?

Fucksake. I have been delighted not to hear from
her in a long time.

Wasn't Joy's proffering sage advice to Jolene ridiculous? Joy has been a self -confessed terrible parent. She stayed with her abusive ex husband when Rochelle was little (which is more understandable), but then she abandoned young teenage Rochelle leaving her alone for several weeks with a dying dog. Definitely enough for a safeguarding referral! She lied to all in Ambridge about their close relationship to the extent we all thought she was a Bates- motel style fantasist. When Rochelle tried to reconcile recently Joy left again. When Rochelle was part of an activist group that held Joy's friends and colleagues hostage, Joy was just a bit vague as far as I remember!

Kenton was just weird.