Archers thread #203: It's Affair Cop! 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 would love to attend Pip's wedding with Natasha and the starry twins, 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-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.)

Starting the new thread a bit early as I'm not sure I'll have much internet access for the next few days. Fill up the old one first. And then - over to you!

(Credit for the thread title goes to @TripleSulko.)

Oh I'd love to see Pip and Stella's wedding dance with a lift!

Shopify for me too. I hate them and will now never consider them when my side Hobby turns into a global sensation.

Same here.

DH died 2½ months ago. Entire filing cabinet devoted to paperwork. Every statement of every account he's ever had. I've contacted several companies to find that his account with them had been closed years ago but he'd held onto the statements.

Once I've finished, there will be no filing cabinet.

Wonderful irony from Brian moaning about shareholders and their desire for dividends.

Well yes and no - I don't want this to become a Strictly tie-in after the Repair Shop tie-in. Also I can't really see Pip and Stella being the types to choreograph a wedding dance.

Me too @muddyford🤣

I also had a wicked laugh at ‘Adam used to talk as though he was the only farmer who had ever been interested in soil health’. It’s true.

At least my late DH had disposed of his lifetime collection of car tax discs!

Well Brian certainly used to have no interest in soil health and would sneer at Adam's enthusiasm for the herbal leys. It was Adam who helped restore the flood damaged soil and protect it from further erosion should more floods occur. If it had been up to Brian he would just have continued to throw more fertiliser at the problem. He is rewriting to history if he thinks he can now take credit for the health of the soil at Home Farm.

I don’t disagree with any of that @LillianGish. I just observed that it made me laugh. Brian is a massive hypocrite, that isn’t new news. It doesn’t mean he isn’t funny with it.

If they were old - really old, as in 1920s - they were potentially quite valuable. My DM had a good few discs from when her DF owned a garage at around that era. But if just your own tax discs from your own cars….not so much!

DH and I have disposed of substantial amounts of paperwork in recent months. Rather than cause the shredder to explode, we found a local company that handles confidential waste and gives you a certificate to say it’s all been obliterated. Saved loads of time and effort.

PS I can’t stand Brian.

Tax discs only from the mid-1960s. And bank statements from accounts we've not held forever, receipts for things long gone. I've still got two full ring binders to go through but that's more personal stuff. But it's enabled me to get rid of a whole tall shelving unit, or, rather, re-home it in the garage!

We got through three shredders dealing with my parents' files. One of theirs and two of ours. WIth hindsight, using a service would have been more cost effective but there was something psychologically helpful when I was sorting probate in destroying paperwork that had been dealt with or scanned. I suppose it made me feel I was making progress.

Yes, Brian works well because he's so well acted. You can see the hypocrisy and unreasonableness of the man but there's, I don't know, something very real about him. He's fully rounded. His wife was the person in his life who manage his family relationships for him. With Jenny gone, he has to manage them all himself and he hasn't had the practice for it. He's far more impulsive than he likes to think and instead of sounding off to Jenny before opening his mouth, he just says what he feels at that moment.

That's what makes him compelling (to me). It's not like the slightly manufactured Anna and Carol drama. It comes from decades of family relationships rotating around one person, Jenny, who isn't here any more. All the Aldridge drama has its roots in the love affairs and marriages of Jenny and Brian,but she was the only one of the two who could really keep the strands together.

Fascinated to see the BBC devoting a week of Farming Today to The Archers. Whether it will have any effect at all on the SWs interest in farming remains to be seen - but it’ll be nice to listen to Farming Today whilst fully awake.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0032qnr

Huh! So it's farming week on the Archers. But there should be farming EVERY week.

Are there no other vets?

Virtually every significant vet practice has been acquired by Private Equify, hence why prices have gone through the roof and the Competition and Markets Authority launched their review.

Private Equity has taken such a huge hold on Britain’s High Streets and service companies and it doesn’t receive nearly enough attention. The impact of their ownership on end users /customers is dire.

I thought it would be realistic for the farmers to at least shop around for a bit before complaining to Lovell James.

Two hundred quid plus for a blood test for a cat. I am not sure how that price is arrived at.

I suspect things aren't as settled as Usha hopes.
I thought that "Thank you for telling me about that conversation" had a bit of an ominous ring to it...

What had Ruth done to upset Azra? I must have missed that bit.

She showed Khalil the photos of the damage Monty had done to the sheep when K went over to plead Monty's case with David and Ruth, @CaptainMyCaptain

Eta And they upset him (possibly gave him nightmares? Not sure on that)

Showed Khalil photos of the savaged sheep and traumatised him.

let's not forget that Khalid was v rude to D & R

this whole payment business is beginning to sound like a case study for vicars' CPD

Oh yes. I remember that. Thanks.