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!

That reminds me! Does anyone else find it odd how people in Ambridge use names? It's either a short version / nickname, where you never hear the "proper" name (Pip presumably is a Phillipa) or it's the full version of the name even if it's a long one. I don't think I've ever come across an Elizabeth who has been called that (royalty excepted 😆). I know there are exceptions - the ones that feel realistic to me are Ed and Will, where Eddie and Clarrie them Edward and William in that sort of "those are the names we chose for them" way that parents sometimes do.

I guess for practical reasons, there's already enough scope for listeners losing track of names without half the characters having more than one.

@PuggyPuggyPuggy , Pip is Philippa Rose Archer but has been Pip all along. Josh and Ben have always been Josh and Ben not Joshua and Benjamin.
I know several Elizabeths whose names don't get shortened.

Debbie, Kate and Freddie are never Deborah, Katherine and Frederick. Xander is never Alexander and Susan is never Sue.

Tom was Tommy, Dan was Daniel and Chris was Kristiffur.

I can’t think of anyone apart from Susan and Neil who calls Chris by his full name. Ed and Clarrie are the only ones who refer to ‘Edward’ and ‘William’. It’s a bit odd to refuse to use the version of your child’s name that they obviously prefer.

I went out with an Andy for some years. Back in the days before mobile phones, I called him at his sister's where he was spending Christmas -they did not know who I meant. He was only ever Andrew to family. Likewise I know a Lottie/Charlotte and a Bex/Rebecca.

It's easier to have Ed and Eddie etc, so we can distinguish them. It would be more often confusing if we had old Edward and young Edward.

Is it? I am known by my full name by everyone who knew me until I was 21, and by the diminutive by those who met me afterwards.
It would be weird if my parent/sibling/cousin/childhood friend started calling me Eve when I've always been Every to them.

My sister's the same. No diminutive until starting work when she went from muddy2 to muddsie. Family have never called her that.

yes this is the sort of thing that I mean. People call you one thing when you're a child, but later on you prefer to be called something else, or parents use the proper version (I forgot Chris in that category) and everyone else uses the short version. Everyone calls my brother Dave but my mum hates it and somehow, I can't inflict it on her when we're talking about him.* *Full name when mum is telling you off. Silly nickname that only your cousins use. People are always making short names longer and long names shorter, I just can't believe someone who is mostly Freddie isn't sometimes "young Frederick here" and sometimes Fred. Especially when people are using names as frequently as in TA which is "enough times that listeners know who is in this scene", rather than "the normal amount amongst people who know their own names". My name has two syllables and people have come up with three varations on it.

I just remembered, I was once approached by someone asking if I had seen "Weenie". It turned out she meant her daughter, known to everyone else in that environment as Rowena, or Row 😂

I don't know why Neil didn't just make Bert some chips. He's 90+ so hardly going to do him any harm.

Eta: aren't Bert and the actor who plays Neal around the same age?

Because Neil is sick of everyone pandering to Bert when he’s mostly just putting it on and being unpleasant.

I see Jazzer is the golden one now.

Just listened to mondays episode. Is kenton barking?

If I'd been Fallon I would have chucked the job in straight away and told Kenton where to get off.

Gosh, I hadn't even thought of that. Brian Hewlett (Neil) is 87! He doesn't sound it. David Sterne (Bert) is apparently 80.

Excellent point about the chips. If Neil and Susan have an air frier I assume it could have been done very quickly. (We may be the last family in the country not to have one, so I don't know timings.) I know you can buy micro chips as well, another thing I've not tried.

If Fallon posted on MN, somebody would be bound to ask her if she thought Kenton might be showing early signs of dementia.

I rather liked that detail. I bet he isn't constantly singing Jazzer's praises when they're in the same house.

Lilian is 79 and still working in the pub.

Lots of characters working while drawing their pension.

I had an Uncle John and my cousin, his son, was Young John well into his 50s and possibly to this day.

@PuggyPuggyPuggy , I don't 'prefer' to be known as either the full name or the diminutive.
I prefer those who always called me Every to call me Every and for those who call me Eve to call me Eve.

I would correct someone who called me the 'wrong' name, and have done so, which seems weird in mixed company.

I used to use my full name at work and a diminutive in my private life. Now I am retired ex colleagues I'm still in contact with call me by the diminutive.

I'm with Bert on this one! WHAT SORT OF ANIMAL HAS SALAD WITH SAUSAGES? That's possibly the most outrageous thing I've hear on TA this year!

Sausage and mash all the way. And not mashed sweet potatoes.

If Bert were not an unreasonable old fart he might not get such unaccommodating responses to his demands.

how does the Neil actor sound so young???

He eats salad with his sausages, clearly!

🤣

I have a friend only a year younger, so 86, whose voice hasn't aged at all in the 40 years I've known him. Mind you, he did give up skiing on his 85th birthday. Lightweight!