DumTeeDum - A show about BBC Radio's 'The Archers'

Kitchen crisis

This week’s podcast is presented by Stephen and Jacqueline.

We hear from:

Katherine who wasn’t impressed by Ruth, but who likes Hilda;
Glyn, who, among other things, was also not impressed by Ruth’s treatment of Fallon;
Love Jazzer’s Singing who has been enjoying women’s friendships on The Archers;
and finally Witherspoon who is happy to see an older cyclist among the hills of Borsetshire;

We also have emails from Chris in Indiana, Gillian and Tiffananda

Plus: we have the Week in Ambridge from special guest summariser Michelle, a roundup of the Dumteedum Facebook group from Vicky, and the Tweets of the Week from Theo.

Please call into the show using this link:

www.speakpipe.com/dumteedum

Or send us a voicenote via WhatsApp on: +44 7810 012 881 (07810

012 881 if in the UK) – Open the WhatsApp app, key in the number and click on the microphone icon.

Or email us at dumteedum@mail.com

How to leave a review on Apple podcasts: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/podcasts/pod5facd9d70/mac

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Duration:: 1h 0m
Broadcast on:: 24 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. No. No. Honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited to premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at midmobile.com/switch, whenever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes of CDT. Forging ahead together drives Colorado's pioneering spirit at Chevron. We donate funding and volunteer thousands of hours in support of the community's we call home. We also employ our neighbors to deliver the energy needed as the state's largest oil and natural gas producer. All to help improve lives in our shared backyard. That's Energy in Progress. Visit Colorado. Chevron.com. This is a dumpty-dum production. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is dumpty-dum, a weekly podcast about the archers and the goings-on of Ambridge. I'm Jacqueline Bertham, who's imagining being tied up with the bikers. And I'm Stephen Bowden, and there's not much I can learn now about the local area. And then there's you, our lovely dumpty-dumbers, shiny cars, shiny teeth, shiny, shiny people. Welcome to dumpty-dum, a place to talk about the things that are happening in our favorite borsettia village. This re-script were written by Harry Davis, who's been having a lot of fun with cats and other things. Coming up, we have calls from Catherine, who wasn't impressed by Ruth, but who likes Hilda. Glenn, who among other things was also not impressed by Ruth's treatment of Fallon. Love Jazz's singing, who's been enjoying women's friendships on the archers. And finally, with a spoon, who is happy to see an older cyclist among the hills of Borsettia. We also have emails from Chris in Indiana, Gillian, and Tifananda. Plus, we have the week in Ambridge from our special guest summarisera, Michelle, a ground-up of the dumpty-dum Facebook group from Vicki, and the tweets of the week from Theo. So let's go straight into the week in Ambridge from Michelle. As she takes a week's break from all the goings on in Ambridge, and I'm filling in to bring you all the action until Thursday night. What a week it's been! I fear the Ruth and Helen fan clubs will soon be down to a few remaining members, as they both featured strongly this week, and helped to remind us all why they royally wind up so many dumpty-das. The week began, with Ruth facing a dilemma, as she wrestled with the need to turn down a potential customer for the events bar on Tuesday night. Jolene's seeing an opportunity for her down-on-look daughter asked Ruth if she considered asking Fallon to cater to the event. Fallon jumps at the chance, but spends the next few days wondering if it was a painfully bad decision, and it's certainly made for painful listening. Firstly, the kitchen at the ball is unavailable. Fallon's own kitchen is too small, so she asks to use the kitchen at Brookfield. She goes all weird and says that not a crock or a piece of cutry can be out of place, or else Jill will probably explode, and Lemon Drizzle Cake making in Ambridge will be ruined for eternity. Chelsea, who the screenwriter clearly can't afford at the moment, falls ill and isn't able to help Fallon at all, so she's on her own. Catering the Brookfield, don't forget Jill's kitchen, when Emma turns up and helps her through it all. Hooray! Happy endings all round, until Ruth turns round and tells her she'll never use her again, unless she sorts herself out. Nice. So, we escape Ruth, and now we go to Helen and Hilda. Oh, okay. In one of the strangest, overly contrived storylines in recent history, Helen and Azra figure out that Henry and Khalil probably tricked Azra into taking Hilda on, so she'd get chickens instead of cats. Then, when Hilda clears off, Helen is unbothered and assures Azra she shouldn't worry about the cat she agreed to look after after all. Cut to Azra, bumping into her frazzled Yakob, who was just run over a cat. Uh-oh, they put two and two together, fear the worst. But it wasn't Hilda, the cat wasn't microchipped. Yakob will try and find the owner, and he decides he needs to book a holiday. As the public service broadcast about the need to microchip your pet ended, but we never did find out where Hilda ended up that day. I can only assume carrying in the bushes by Azra's house, watching the chaos ensue with her near neighbours. Helen lets Kirsty down by pulling out of the house sale at the very last moment. Not being settled with ruining Kirsty's day enough, she decides to help out Mick by offering Tony's tractor to tow his camper van onto Joy's front drive, only for it to damage the whole of the front lawn of the house Helen says she doesn't want any more. Just as an estate agent is about to turn up and take photos. Seriously Helen? Seriously? Fortunately, we did get some time with the lovely Brad this week, but this also feels like an impending disaster. Or be it not involving smelly goats called Hero, squirts cats or tractors towing camper vans from Joy's front drive to the car park at the ball. A temporary move that looks like it will be anything but. Back to Brad, just in his pressuring him to take on additional video work. His mum is pressuring him to focus on his studies, and Emma is pressuring him to keep it all up for it that he's doing for George. The poor lad can't win. Or be it the multi-skilled mathematician is doing his best. And with the aid of Kirsty actually sounded like he was feeling some confidence with the video production lot. Although like Fallon, the theme seems to be "don't take on too much" and you'll always need someone nearby to help you actually complete it all. On Thursday, we had the unexpected but welcome return of lovely lad. He hasn't returned just to issue Fallon with an invoice for a missing teaspoon, but rather to fix something be related for Jill and find an old bike of Josh's in the process. In the midst of tinkering noises, he and David discussed the parliamentary farmers protest before turning to cycling. Apparently, Leonard often used to cycle 60 miles on the weekends and gets all carried away when David says he can have the bike. The episode ended with the ominous line, "Just make sure you don't overdo it, alright?" "Uh-oh indeed, what a random week." That's it from me, take care all, Terara bit. Thank you for that Michelle, thank you for standing in for Sue. A great round up and yes, it was a bit of a random week, as you said. We'll see what other people made of it. So what have you been up to this week Stephen? The big news of the week from my family is that I've become a great uncle for the second time. Oh, that's nice. My nephew has used a daughter, at least his wife has produced a daughter called Amia. After what sounded like quite a tough labour, but they are all doing well, so that's good. I'm not sure when I'll meet her, but you know what I mean, this will happen. Apart from that, the other highlight of the week was, and this is going to be very boring, I suspect so I'm only going to set briefly and then I'll move on, which is I ran for 10 kilometres for the first time, probably since I was at university. Well, massive congratulations Stephen, that is fantastic. You've really gone, I've moved on, haven't you from couch to five and now ten? Yes. Brilliant, really, really well done. But I think that people talking about running is actually really quite boring, so I'm going to stop at that point and ask you how your week has been. Well, funnily enough, I've been made a great hand for the second time. My nephew has his wife, has produced a second daughter, so now we now have a pip, much to my distress, and we also have a conny. So that's very nice, congratulations to them. I know my sister listens to this occasion, it's her eldest son. Apart from that on Wednesday, I had a little English ladies around here coffee morning, just because a lot of people live in isolation and it's something I do about once a month, and you'll never guess who came. Andrea from beautiful Brittany, that was very lovely, I've known Andrea for years, and it was very good to see her in person rather than in passing at a climbing wall or in the supermarket. So I have many dampedes that meet up this week with others who were fascinated because they couldn't remember. Everybody knows I do a podcast, those think is about what's the ITV farming thing? Emmerdale. Emmerdale. The thing is about Emmerdale, which is, I don't, it is, it's the artist. The artist, Andrea was very defensive of the artist, we ended up telling everybody, and somebody even downloaded the latest omnibus onto their phone on the sounds app, but we think we might have got a convert. They say, talk to your friends about the archers, or about Dumpty Dum, and if they don't listen to the archers, maybe they'll start, so it'll be a lifelong obsession. Yeah, absolutely, it's a very good thing. We've put that in the script for quite a while, so there we are. I did it, I worked it this week, along with Andrea. What about moving on to those calls then? Okay, and the first one comes from Hatzrin. Alright, Pusca. The Fallon situation with the catering, I think if you're looking closely, that Ruth was thinking of cancelling the booking, not desperate to hold on to it, and it was Fallon who said that she could do the booking. Who has a, was it golden silver wedding anniversary, party for like 70 people? Christ, my mum's atheist was about that amount, and 80th is a much more big deal than someone's wedding anniversary. How strange. In real life, Fallon would have channels that were monetized somehow through Instagram, whatever, and then I know somebody, and she does birthday cakes, canopays, private dining type things for family meals. You've got, perhaps you'll come out and celebrate engagement, and she does three courses and delivers it and maybe serves it. Why are they making her likes? You need an industrial kitchen. Loads of these people exist who will come to your nice kind of drinks parties for somebody 70th birthday, prepare canopays and maybe even serve them in the host's own kitchen. They're making a plot line where there is one, but I do think that Ruth is being an old cowbag, and this business with Jill's kitchen, why are they so scared of Jill? Is it Jill to one with the flapjacks? Just any family would have said to stop it, that this is ridiculous. Your preciousness about your kitchen is antiquated. Apart from that, I'm loving the stories about Hilda, I love Hilda. Have a great week everyone. Thank you for that cool, Catherine. I think that you're being a little bit harsh about the whole catering stuff. They've had experience of caters who come to do parties at people's houses. And yes, they do all the finishing off in the kitchen, in the house that they are at for the party. But there's an awful lot of work that goes on to get the things ready so they can just be heated up, plated up, whatever. And I think that does tend to need some sort of properly designed and approved kitchen. There are all sorts of regulations around hygiene and food preparation and so forth that apply to almost the most basic of serving food. And I think that somebody mentioned somewhere that the WI have got guidance on that. I think that Ruth was pretty much, well Ruth was pretty horrible about all of this. I do think that there's an underlying point, which is that if you're going to set up catering business of any sort, you do need proper facilities for doing it. So I think you're probably being a bit harsh on that point. But I do have to agree with you, the more Hilda stories we get, the better. Yeah, I've loved the Hilda stories this week as well, Catherine. Gee, Stephen, there's a basic problem with this whole story. They run an events barn. Who has events without food and drink? They must have fridges and food prep area in the barn. I don't, it confused me completely about this whole having to use the farmhouse. Why isn't there a kitchen area? An approved health-certificated kitchen preparation, food preparation area in the actual barn. I think there is, they talked about it. They talked about the fact that she could... Yeah, but if you want to heat things up, then you can cook where you heat, surely. There's a basic small kitchen, which is enough to do that final bit that I was talking about, but not, I think, enough to do all the food. So you need to bring prepared food, you then use the what is in the events barn to heat it up and to store your cold stuff for the day. But it isn't a prep kitchen, which is why Fallon had to use the farmhouse. All right, okay, except that. But I still think, last minute booking, another 30 people added, the day before, who's free on a Tuesday night? It's a school night, for goodness sake, to go to a party. I just, I found the whole, it was a bit contrived as far as I could see. But it gave us an opportunity to see Ruth's true colors. Yes, Ruth was pretty unpleasant about it. It was a silver wedding, so I suspect that most people at a silver wedding won't be with school-age children or young children, because by the time... Oh, they'll be working. If they're working in Borchester, then it's at the end of the working day, they can go out. I just thought it was all a very dodgy little storyline, and just an opportunity to show that Fallon is capable, but can very easily be criticized. I think Hallo was extremely calm with Ruth, because Ruth was extremely pretty about everything, even to the point of telling her to take pictures, 15 in the kitchen. It's almost as if it were a contemporary drama in a rural setting. Gracious, Steven, you're a star. Shall we hear from Glen? Hello, Dumpty Dum, it's Glen here, calling in on Thursday evening. Well, so far this week in Ambridge, I think we've meandered around rather a lot. In no particular order, we've had a dead cat, a cycling pensioner, an unsightly camper though, a lawn that was destroyed and restored in quick order, a smelly goat, and the discovery by David that inheritance tax exists. We've also had Helen being rather patronizing to Asra in the bridge farm shop. Beyond that, we've had the tale of Ruth and Fallon. Now, ultimately Ruth's message to Fallon was correct. If Fallon is going to run a successful catering business, she has got to get herself properly set up. However, did Ruth have to be so unpleasant along the way in delivering this message? I don't think so. I'll let others have their view on that as well, of course. Now, the spoilers say the Grim Reaper is going to visit Ambridge this week. Unless it was for the ginger cat, so far unnamed, I suspect that the betting must now be on Leonard having a heart attack on Friday. But time alone, we'll tell. Stay safe, everybody. Keep enjoying the archers. Thank you for the podcast and goodbye. Thank you for that, Clint. I think now we know the next time Sue has to take the week off from doing the week in Ambridge, we've got Clint who could do a good summary as well. And also, I love it when somebody says "however" because Melly Meriwether has a habit which she's talking to you, who is a quite well-known dummy dumber. And she says "however". So, I heard that in my head when she said "however". Now, the betting on Leonard, we know that didn't happen. Do you know who else I thought the Grim Reaper might be calling for this week? It was Mick because he had his lumpy old camper van on probably dodgy bricks and a, what do we call it, a jack? A jack. And I feel a crunch coming either on him or on Kenton when they were pushing around. So, the Grim Reaper was definitely a spoiler because we, apart from the cat, we didn't have any sudden deaths, did we? No, I think it probably was intended to refer to the cat and it was just to wind us all up. But I do worry that they've been saying all kinds of things about Leonard going out from these bicycle into the hills. So, I'm not sure that he is completely out of the woods. But, Clint, yes, you've touched on lots of points. It has been a meandering week, but it's these weeks that I really love. How do I help it? I like all the little facts that I built in, the little personalities that we had. We just had Jakob back this week. And I liked those scenes with Azra and Jakob because it was a contrast from the scenes with Azra and Helen because she hasn't helped. Helen was extremely condescending. She's more and more condescending every week. She's condescending to everybody, not just Azra, but yes, this week Azra was the victim of her being so self-centered. So, I'm caring about anything except for herself and her boys and even those are really just accessories for her lifestyle. Yeah, exactly. Lifestyle accessories, not children. Yeah, but it was quite interesting that Azra definitely knows her son very well because she knew right away that Kaleel was the one who was winding her up to get in some kind of a position. But she seemed quite likely to have a cat and I don't think he'll just really put her off. I think we might end up with another cat at Azra's house. Despite the mice? Oh, mice. I think Kerry Davis has been listening to me going on about mice. But, you know, when it came back from London, did I tell you about the mouse? I saw it with a Eurostar terminal. Creative handbag. Yeah, but I've got so many mice this year. I don't know. It's a year of mice. They even crept into my archers. They might seem to be taking over my life. Anyway, let's stop talking about mice. In that case, let's listen to Love Jazz or Singing. Lovely. Good morning, dumb two dumbers. It's Love Jazz or Singing here and I'm calling in to sing. They how much I'm enjoying the women's friendships at the moment in the archer. So, first of all, Helen and Kirsty, the going zone was regard to the house and how it's raising some tension between them and their different sort of backgrounds are reflected. You know, Kirsty's mum recently that reminded us of her humble beginnings and also what she's been through in that house and why she wants to, of course, move on and what that means is fragility of the sort of buyers chain and, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And then Helen, of course, with her dad in the background saying, oh, maybe, maybe we'll give her a massive farmhouse on a huge piece of land and she didn't live there for nothing or she has all these different sort of options and is deciding based on whether she wants to buy something based on an aesthetic value. Oh, I don't think I really liked this house this much. I felt very much for Kirsty trying to navigate that friendship and give a deadline to Helen. The other friendship I'm really enjoying, of course, is Emma and Fallon and this whole thing when she got offered the cooking gig, I was like, oh, God, yes, a decent catering company in a place like Borsichers. A far better thing to do than bricks and mortar cafe in the EV station when EV cars might just become a thing of the past any minute who knows I certainly know that I never charged mine in one of those public stations. Anyway, when she asked Ruth if she could use the kitchen of Ruth was so cheap, I was like, come on Ruth, give a break and then, oh, don't touch Jill's things, take the photographs so that you know where to put the spoons back. Oh my God, you know, it reminded me of the stories of Buckingham Palace when Prince Andrew had a photograph of all his teddies on the bed and how they should be arranged and the maid had to refer to the photograph and put the teddies in the right order. I said, oh, golly, it's the sort of Buckingham Palace of Ambridge. Anyway, when Emma showed up, oh my gosh, my heart broke and I just thought, yes, Emma. And when she just persisted and said, no, I'm here to help. Let's do this together. I thought, fantastic. Is this a hint of what's to come? Will they work together and have a catering business and be happy? I do hope so. Thank you for that call. Love, Jessa, singing. I just wanted to start with Kirsty and Helen and the sale of the house because there was a mention of one of my favourite characters who has long been gone from the show. I'm just wondering whether we might see Brenda Tucker back even if only briefly because she's the person that Roy asked to look after the sale of Willow Farm. Yeah, and for those people that don't know of Brenda because she certainly hasn't been in it for the last 15 years, she's Roy's sister, isn't she? She's Roy's sister. She's a former boyfriend and business partner of Tom Archer, like so many other unfortunate women have been and was always a down-to-earth sensible person and I think she ended up going off to London and marrying some rich city financier type. She featured a lot in Ambridge Extra. Yes, because she went off with Lillian and Matt and the Russians. Yeah, some very bizarre storyline. That was probably when Ambridge Extra rather jumped the shark. Yeah, indeed, indeed. As far as Emma and Fallon were concerned, I thought it was a very interesting way of getting them working back together again, Chelsea being ill and Emma understanding that Fallon had been left in the lurch. And then she was also very tentatively turning up at the farmhouse and Fallon had said to her, "You should why didn't you ring?" No, but I, and it worked out well and I think that's also a key for the future for Fallon and Emma. Because I know Emma has the tree surgery business with Ed and with Will in the background, but I still feel that she has worked so well and they've worked as a team so well at the tea room. This is shame to lose that impetus, that the skill base that they've set up together. She didn't have to say, "Will you do this?" She just said to, and said to Emma straightaway, "Can you make the feelings for the minikishes?" or whatever. And Emma knew what she was going on about. I just think it's a sign that maybe that's the future for the two of them to be working together. Emma is definitely working really hard to redeem herself for her role in George's behaviour, and I think that that may start to work, but when George comes back, that will cause all kinds of problems. Because if Emma effectively distances herself from George by redeeming herself, then when he's back she will have to either stay distant from him or at least maintain the point that she did relatively little wrong compared to what he had done. And then he's going to come back presumably deeply unpleasant if what's going on in prison is anything to go by, and that's going to reopen all kinds of wounds in the village. Yeah, indeed, I think the return of George will be a big, big storyline that will have repercussions for years to come. But Emma, as you say, is working very hard to redeem herself with those immediately affected. Still, there's the mutterings, because it wasn't Kenton in the pub this week, mistering on about Brad shouldn't be helping George, and so there will still be people in the background who will see no redeeming features whatsoever in them. But if Kenton is muttering about something, then he's almost certainly going to be in the wrong. Very true, well, very true. There is our first few calls, and there's one more to come, and we've got all those emails. If you'd like to join in by calling us yourself or dropping us a line by a message or email, Stephen is here to tell you how, and all the details are also in the show notes. The first option is to record a message or a plot prediction by going to www.speakpipe.com/dumptidum, and there you can leave a message of up to two minutes. Alternatively, you can send us a voice note or a written message via WhatsApp on 07810.01281, and if you're calling from outside the UK, start with +44 and drop that first zero. Please try to keep your calls to a maximum of two minutes, although this limit isn't enforced, like it is by Speakpipe. And finally, we have an email address you can contact us on if you'd rather write to us with your views. Please aim again for a maximum of around 250 words. The email address is dumbtidum@mail.com, and to bear in mind, you need to be at least 18 to contribute. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. At Mint Mobile, we like to do the opposite of what Big Wireless does. They charge you a lot, we charge you a little. So naturally, when they announced they'd be raising their prices due to inflation, we decided to deflate our prices due to not hating you. That's right, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. To remind you that 60% of sales on Amazon come from independent sellers, Farmer Bob of Princeton Popcorn. Howdy. We'll read 60% of this ad. Fire away, Bob. Small business owners like myself are growing their businesses faster on Amazon. By getting help with things like shipping. Shop small business on Amazon. Especially Princeton Popcorn. Amazon. Every day better. So we should have our last call, I reckon. And here it is. Y'all know how this goes. Hey baby, I hear the blues are calling to salads and scrambled eggs. Greetings, Jacqueline. Even in all the stores. It's with the spoon and Angus Haggis here, color entering prior to Friday's episode. This week appears to mark a changing of the guard with the return of the Archer Clan to the arches' broadcast. Perhaps we'll hear from the recently silent Josh, not one of my favorites, or the lower-luxly branch of the family. A big welcome back to Leonard. Who is one of my favorite residents of the village and one of the super seniors of Ambridge. I shouted, "Well, with my internal voice, hooray when I heard his voice." Now we can add cycling to his ever-growing skill set. With the discussion on air of that older woman who cycles, it became very curious as to how old are the oldest cyclists in the world. During an internet search, I found the 2017 New York Times article about Robert Marchan, a French 105-year-old who had just set a world record for his age for pedaling 14 miles in an hour on an indoor track. The classification had to be created specifically for him because no one his age had attempted this before. Mr. Marchan passed away in 2021 at the age of 109, a life well lived. I don't believe we actually know Leonard's exact age. We do know that his girlfriend Jill is 94, the same age as my mom. It ain't easy being 90 years old. And sadly, we have seen a decline in Jill's functioning, but she can still bake up a storm and clean up a kitchen to exacting standards. But that's for a call or in for someone else to make. Back to Leonard. Is he five years younger than Jill? Ten years? In any case, Lenny, please be careful on those hills of Ambridge. I'm worried. Talk to you soon. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Be careful on those hills of Ambridge. I'm worried. Talk to you soon. Yeah. Thank you for that with a spoon. I decided that when this part of the story came out that Kevin Davis is definitely bugging my emails and maybe listens to dumb to dumb because I've gone about mice and there are lots of mice in Ambridge. And I have wanged on a bit about my cycling and my granny's cycling group in the past year or so. It's been taken to the nearest town, which is 20 kilometers away. To pick up my bike, which is had a small injury and is now ready to be returned home. But I was very, very irritated with Leonard's attitude to electric bikes. We call a bike with a battery in it. VAE, a velo with assistance electric. And that's all it is, an assistant. And that's a whizzing up the hills. You still have to pedal and work very, very hard. Maybe the new generation, I don't know, my bike's six years old now. I can tell you that there is a very heavy bike and if you want to whizz up a hill, you need to use a lot of leg power. And frankly, if it helps you Leonard and you get out and about, why not have that little bit of assistance in your great age, whatever your age may be. And enjoy and do more exercise by having electrical assistance on your bike. And I hope this isn't going to turn into an argument of snobbery about people who use electric bikes and non-electric bikes. If you're over 65 and you're getting out on a bike regularly and if you need a little bit of assistance on the hills and we've got some massive hills here. All the better for it. You're getting out and you're doing some exercise. So I'd say Leonard, get off your high horse and get an electric bike like Belder. Is it Belder? I think it was Belder because it made me think of Scooby Doo. Which is Belder, yes. Belder, Belder, maybe with Belder. I agree with you about eBikes. Modern ones, I think, do make it possible to go up hills very easily without too much effort. And having a motor to assist you on the hills extends the possibilities for cycling when you're not going to be able to get around without that sort of assistance. And as you say, it's about assisting you mostly rather than doing the work for you. People who think you can sit on an assisted bike, an eBike, and that it does it all for you, living the dream. No, you can do that. It wears a battery down fairly fast. And there's a limit to how fast you can go. But most modern bikes these days you can effectively sit there and let the bike do the work. But you don't have to. And certainly if you want to use it as a bicycle, it just makes the hills feel flatter than they otherwise would be. Which I think is a positive for people who just want to cycle for fun rather than ones who want to be serious. And as you say, it's not wish about the whole process. Yeah, I mean, we're, as you know, men in Lycra, in France in general, in Brittany in particular, it's a big thing here. Middle-aged men in Lycra, old men in Lycra. I have a neighbour who's in his mid-80s. He goes to the cycling club every Tuesday afternoon. We have the BAE people and the why we all blokes in Lycra. But I'm amongst the youngest at 65. It gets old people out and about in the countryside. So whatever helps you get out and do a bit of my exercise, Leonard, is what you should be doing. But I agree with the spin. Be very careful on those funny old hills in Borsiccha. I am worried that the ominous things that people have said will mean that this is a story about Leonard getting killed or injured on his bicycle. And that would not send a good message to people about the huge benefits of cycling. No, that's why I don't think that'll happen. I'm wondering whether he will cause an accident on his bike and somebody else will be badly injured or die as a result of him being a bit wobbly, a bit worn out by not having an e-bike. It might be. We shall see. Yes, we shall. But thank you for that with a spoon, yes, some thoughts. And it was a very welcome back to Leonard because I love Leonard too. So those are the calls for this week. Thank you so much for calling in. We love hearing your views on the Week in Ambrig. So don't hesitate to call in this week. Now, what about those emails, Stephen? We've had three. And the first is from Chris in Indiana with no subject line. But it does contain a word which some people might find slightly offensive. But probably not as offensive as my attempt to say it in an American accent. And it goes like this. Stephen, Jacqueline and everyone in Dumpty Dumland, it's been so long since I've written. And the only way around that is to write a little bit earlier in the week. So here I am. I've heard people complaining about the Americanisms that have crept into the archers. But might I suggest that there is one Americanism missing? Jacqueline and Stephen, decide if you want a leap button when you read this. But the Americanism, this show, lacks is B-H-P-L-E-S. In the States, it takes care of a lot of foolish behavior. When Linda comes knocking at your door investigating who sabotaged the pie table at the flower and product show, B-H-P-L-E-S and shut the door. Then walk away. When Helen complicates the sale of your house and tries to underpay you, or tells you that you couldn't understand her life because you've never been a mother, B-H-P-L-E-S. And especially when Ruth tells you she won't be able to do business with you again because your impromptu catering job wasn't professionally enough wealth, then you have to say, B-H-P-L-E-S. It even, no, it especially works on men. George, it's because of you and Nan that I'm in prison. Neil, B-H-P-L-E-S. Tony Harrison and especially Tom can always benefit from someone turning to them and saying, B-H-P-L-E-S. Those who don't like the word "bitch" can replace it with fool or something else, but the original version I think is the best. Yours, Chris in Indiana. And don't know what's more funny. There's a content of the email or watching the concentration on the screen of Stephen's face trying to pronounce, and I can't do it either. B-H-P-L-E-S. Please. That's absolutely brilliant. I agree. That's an Americanism that is not in the arches. It's hardly likely to get into the arches. But it is very, very apt, yes. I can think of so many more situations with Adam and Ian, and when Ian is in a panic about the next thing he's been forced, or he's forced himself to do, and Adam's trying to calm him down. I think that's a very good expression that Adam should use as well. So now we can replace lots of things, can't we? Thank you for that, Chris. We've got lots of ideas of what we can do with that expression. Thank you very much for coming back to us, emailing us, and our Andrew email again. The next email comes from Gillian with the subject line, Pat and Ruth and Fallon, and it goes like this. Hello to Stephen, Jacqueline and all Dummy Dummies. There has been a lot of comment online about the way that Ruth talked with Fallon. I'm not trying to excuse her behaviour. It has made me think about household dynamics. Last week, Pat said that she doesn't want to leave her home to move into an eco-house, even though it would mean that Helen and her children would have a stable home environment. And it could be beneficial to Henry as he develops his interest in farming. Helen works in the dairy on the farm, and it may only be a few years before Henry leaves school to work full-time on the farm. Pat and Tonya are already over 70, so why aren't they thinking about succession planning given that average life expectancy in the UK is only 81? Are they actually being selfish considering that they have a big house, but their children are both bringing up their children in rental properties. This week, when Fallon asked to borrow the Brookfield kitchen, Ruth had to ask Gill's permission and then make Fallon take pictures to get everything back to Gill's chosen order. Ruth is 56 years old and still has to ask permission before allowing use of the kitchen. Can't recall when Gill moved back into the farmhouse, but this week showed to me how much this house is not Ruth's home. And I actually feel sorry for her, as it must be uncomfortable. I don't know if Fallon and Harrison's house is detached or semi-detached. I'm hoping that they build a commercial kitchen in the rear garden. Flat-pack building, the size of a single garage would be sufficient for lots of catering jobs. It's easy to buy freestanding commercial kitchen benches, ovens, etc. Looking forward to hearing this week's show Gillian. Thank you for that email Gillian. As you say, these family dynamics are very interesting. You've touched on one of my favourite topics of succession, and in this case, the succession at Bridge Farm. I think we discovered last week they actually are thinking about it and talking about the future of the farm. And I think we'll come on, probably following the next email, to talk about some of the aspects of that that have been in the news recently. But I do agree that there are some strange family dynamics within Ambridge. And I don't know whether it's because these are farms, and therefore the whole business of working together and living together and everything being in the same place makes it a bit different. And I think that would also have some impact on the relationship between Ruth and Gill, which does seem strange. I think that Ruth is just totally in awe of Gill. She's always been that matriarchal figure that has ruled that kitchen, and I think it's probably very difficult for Ruth to shrug off. The idea that this is Gill's kitchen, even though Ruth claims that she's the main cook these days, that Gill probably just turns up and bakes a lemon drizzle cakes ahead of the Clara Podge's show, and then retires back to her room subsequently. Yeah, except Ruth has always been the farmer, whereas she's never spied to take over Gill's role as the matriarch and be the centre of the home around the hearth and the auger. So I think having Gill there allows Ruth to get on and do the farming. She's always working with the milking, with the cows or on the accounts or this or that. She obviously got the events, but it is. The stress on Ruth, as I said earlier, is we're getting to show now because she's a bit. She's not too much going on. And mainly David. What fascinated me was when David said he was free to go for a drink that evening, but Ruth refused because she was too busy. Yeah, so I don't know how much work Pip has been doing, because we haven't heard from Pip for such a long time. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. And we know that Josh isn't much use for anything, and Ben is back doing his nursing. So you'd have thought there's quite a lot to do at the farm, even at this time of year when things are beginning to settle down for the winter, but they haven't yet brought the animals indoors. Not full time anyway, no. In a way, the cows have to be moved even more at this time than before. Rather than staying out all night, they're now coming in and out on a daily basis. So that's probably busier than usual, except that to the extent that they're dairy cows, they'd have to be going into milking anyway. Yeah. I think it's just probably just been a matter of opening the milking shed's doors and letting them go out again afterwards, or keeping them and going out the other doors into the barn. I'm not sure, but I think, yes, the logistics of it, but it all seems to fall onto Ruth. I'm not sure that she is. I don't think she will be worried by the fact that I don't think, I think Gillian's onto something as far as the asking permission from Jill as far as the kitchen's concerned. I feel like, oh, a better Warner. And she said that she persuaded Lennon to take her out as long as possible to keep her out of her hair. So there's obviously an issue with Jill feeling it's her kitchen, but I think Ruth makes the most of the fact that it is Jill's kitchen. Now, the other thing that Gillian suggested is a flat-pack build in the size of a single garage for the catering jobs. And we also heard about the apple tree that's gone bust, so they will have perhaps a sale of second-hand equipment. So it's all coming together, isn't it, Perfolin? Ambridge is going to be the home of second-hand kitchens after the Grey Gables, second-hand kitchen that Ian brought in after the one that was designed for the New Grey Gables was such a disaster. I do wonder, though, whether there are limits to what can be done because Ambridge is almost certainly a conservation area. I think that Fallon, Harrison, live in a detached cottage and there may be concerns about how much you can actually build onto that. Without permission. But we never know quite, do we, about what is allowed and what to do? Because they don't have the same laws in Ambridge as the rest of us. They don't go into the details about them because it might be quite boring. Yes, you never know. There we go. The last email is from Tifenanda with a subject line "Speechless" and it goes like this. Hello, Dumpty Dum. It is quite some years since I last made a contribution to this podcast. I now write in complete exasperation having listened to Thursday's episode when David finally mentioned the farmers protesting in London regarding the inheritance tax on farms. Maybe David didn't think Len has comment against the protests merited a response, but I wonder what Jill would say. I have one thing to say. Without family farms, there is no archers. It will just be a program about B.L. Huge conglomerates who put profit above everything else. David, please grow a backbone and stand up for yourself and all the tens of thousands of farms who will go under and whose livelihoods are at risk. Writer, please give this issue which will devastate rural life, the coverage it deserves. By the way, if you need my listeners credentials, I would align myself with Elizabeth Archer. I started listening in my early teens to the omnibus on a Sunday layering out from the radio in the yard as we mucked out the animals on the farm in Bedfordshire where I grew up. Tifenanda from Northamptonshire. Thank you for that, Tifenanda. Very thought-provoking. I've not really been concentrating on what's been going on in the British News with farmers because we've had farmers protesting here. Now, French farmers are known for protesting and burning things and tires and dumping stuff and having to negotiate where you travel to and what to do this time of year when things are brewing up again is quite awkward. But one of the things I did pick up from was that David said, the conversation started with David saying something like, "I've never seen so many farmers and greenwellies or whatever in Parliament Square." I was thinking back to the countryside alliance which featured quite heavily. There's an countryside alliance march, wasn't there? And they featured quite heavily in the archers. I think a lot of them went and there were a lot of greenwellies and barber jackets in those scenes. Maybe David even goes facts on there. Yes, Schuller and Brian both I think were featured marching in that countryside march and possibly Elizabeth and even Nigel. It was a very big thing. These days there's a very high threshold for topical inserts. So I'm going to defend the programme in terms of the extent to which it was mentioned. I think the fact that they mentioned it at all and had a couple of lines which must have been dropped into the beginning of the scene between David and Leonard about the bicycle was a reasonable, possibly more than we might have expected, although I agree it's certainly a big topic of conversation. Whether it will involve tens of thousands of farms who will go under and devastate rural life does clearly a lot of disagreement about the extent to which the tax changes are going to have an impact on the countryside. I have to remember that the tax arrangements which are being removed haven't been there forever. So definitely you talk about having listened to the arches in your early teens. That would probably, if you're the same age as Elizabeth, have been in the early 80s and in the early 80s there was inheritance tax on farms and farms have survived for generations up to that point. So I think the idea that this is somehow a devastating change to arrangements is a little bit overstated. I think part of the problem is that farms are valuable because the price of agricultural land has gone up is because people have been buying it up as a tax storage and we're not talking about family farms, we're talking about big investors who have been advised by their tax advisors that because agricultural land is tax-free you should go in and buy it and that has driven up the price and caused this problem. In terms of which farms will be affected, we don't know the exact values of many of the farms but most of the discussion has suggested that a farm that's under 100 hectares is likely to be worth less than the threshold, particularly if you've got a married couple who own the farm and are going to pass it on to their children and that's exactly the situation that Bridge Farm is in. So Bridge Farm is about 60 hectares, it's owned by Pat and Tony, they are going to pass it on to Tom and Helen. People say it's not just a farm, it's also a farm machinery, it's not just the land. Bridge Farm is a very low intensity farming operation, they don't have the sort of heavy machinery that home farm has got, for instance, there's no suggestion with a giant no-till drill and the huge tractor that you need to pull that or anything like that. So the value of the farm is almost certainly well under the inheritance tax threshold, what about the separate businesses, what about the dairy, what about all the other things. They are separate businesses and for instance Summer Orchard and Tom Archer sausages are entirely separate and they're already owned by Natasha and Tom respectively. The dairy may belong to the farm and the organic shop may belong to the farm but I think you have to ask the question, is it fair that a dairy business such as owned by a farm should have a more generous tax treatment than the dairy business that isn't owned by a farm. So I think the whole situation is a lot more complicated than is being suggested, there's a lot of argument about the scale of impact but I have to say I really do not think that this is going to devastate agriculture. I think that some farms may have to sell off some land but if they make arrangements, lifetime gifts and so on, all the sorts of stuff that everybody else who has been faced with inheritance tax has found ways of doing, they will get through that. So I think that while I appreciate that it has come as a shock to people, Leonard is right, we do need the tax money to pay for things like the National Health Service which is freaking and we do need to look after old people who are not farmers as well as old people who are farmers. So I think that we all see how it all pans out and I'm sure that it will get properly covered by the arches over time and I'm also hoping that something around the impact of inheritance because as I keep on saying the succession of the farms is the topic that is going to be absolutely fascinating. I hope something of that might sharpen the academic arches conference in the spring. Yes, that'd be great, wouldn't it? I think that's all our calls and all our emails covered, they're going to talk now about Patreon. As we've mentioned a few times now, Patreon backers have dumped it down now get an ad-free early release version of the podcast around 6pm when Stephen can manage that but sometimes he has a life apart from doing dumped it down. Patrons also get a weekly email about dumped it down and the arches which this week included a feature on the early days of Helen Archer. We're in the process of updating our Patreon arrangements, this is going to involve Patreon backers being asked to move to a new Patreon feed which will come with a lower subscription rate. Watch out for some messages about what is involved in the next couple of weeks and I know we said in the next couple of weeks last time I'm afraid it's taking a little bit of time to get organised but I hope that in the new year we will have everything set up and running. It'll be good, but let's move on to Facebook and give a warm dumped it and welcome to the following people who've joined our Facebook group in the last week. Michaela Woods, Catherine Ross, Lindsay Broome and Sophie Summerfield, welcome to all of you. Don't be shy about joining in and never hesitate to start a new conversation but even better than posting in the Facebook group, why not call in with your thoughts or your plot predictions. Now let's hear what's been going on in the dumped it down Facebook group this week from Vicki. Hello everyone, as you stay key with the Facebook roundup. This week, most of the Facebook traffic has been about how mean Ruth was to foul. Lillian McCarthy asks, "Is there any need Ruth?" And Jonah Tichmarsh thinks she actually should have said, "Is there any need for Ruth?" A first time poster honourer, Hooray, who wants to say anonymous at the moment, but I do hope your post again, said, "Ruse patronised felons throughout the whole catering event." Benjamin Kevin said he has seldom disliked Ruth, but the way she belittled felon was entitled and unforgivable. Shirley Farrant-Anisty thinks that the discussion about it being Jill's domain was poorly sought out. Her opinion was that Jill would have understood that it was in the interests of Brookfield's business. Ruth Wiles did wonder if Ruth was deflecting the grief she's had from Jill over the years. Kim Funnalove thought that Ruth had forgotten that Fallon was trying to help her, not the other way round. Kate Penfold made the same point and was absolutely furious with Ruth. Joe Harder says no good turn goes unpunished. Suey and Jordan says Ruth was mean and unnecessary. Mary Finn said mean and rude. Marie Bray absolutely horrible. Millie Hart absolutely vile. Kay Goughan and then the Mariusi awful. There's a theme developing here, isn't there? Joanne Smith quoted Ruth, "You're using both burners in that judgy tone, as if one should be able to whip up a meal for 50 on a single small hot place in a toaster oven." Darcy Jollinson suggests a remake of Murder on the Orient Express starring Ruth as Ratchet. Joanne Smith again doubts that Fallon would want to work with Brookfield again, and Helen Cook predicts that Fallon will pick up the smaller EV plot and set up an event catering kitchen, which gets lots of very positive thoughts from Andrea Twelves, Pauline Pods, Natasha Sam and Rachel Watt. So as I said, the majority of opinion this week was all about Ruth, but here are a couple of other points. Stephen Wei earlier in the week wondered if he'd missed a topical insert about the budget and farm protests, which sparks and exchange views on this, including input from Andrew Jupp, who is a tax advisor. But then later in the week they did give us a topical insert. Shirley Farron-Hansdy posted appreciation of the public information round of the arches, in regard to cats having to be microchip following the sad demise of the unknown cat. Well, I think that's about it for this week. Bye-bye till next time. Thank you, Vicky. And thank you so much to everybody on the Dump to Dump Facebook group. If you'd like to join them, please do. But don't forget to answer all the membership questions so that we know that you're a real person. And if anybody out there would like to write us a review, just do. There's a link to instructions on how to do this in the show notes. If you can't leave a review, or if you already have, talk to your friends and family about us, and about the arches. Don't be shy. The love of all things Ambridge is not something to hide from those around you, as Andrea and I proved this week. Now we're going to move on to Blue Sky, where you will find us at stumptidum.bluesky.social. Make sure you include the arches hashtag using capital T and A, so the visually impaired who use screen readers can also enjoy any arches-based skis. As well as at stumptidum, I can be found at jberto.besky.social. And I am @wenlock.besky.social. And we're also on Twitter @stumptidum. And I can occasionally be found there at Wenlock House, but not for much longer. So let's find out who's won the skitting and tweeting medals this week with the app. Tweet Tweet Tiger. Hello Jacqueline, Steven and Dumptidum was everywhere. It's purple pumpkin here with Tweets of the Week, and my thanks as ever to everyone who tags @dumptidum on whichever platform to make sure we see all the best ones. This week on Twitter, Blue Sky and Threads, there are still lots of good images and jokes about beavers. There's also a lot of advice and erudition on the subject of kitchens used to prep food for outside events. Was Pickwick the Dodo at LeslieHustler.besky.social? Right to worry about Fallon cooking at Brookfield, given the rules and regulations about kitchens used for catering. Buggy Swires.besky.social thought that this was the very issue that came up before, and Fallon couldn't use her own kitchen, and that's why she fitted out the Tea Room kitchen for catering. Serena Blanchefau at all Serene.besky.social wondered whether Brookfield might have been checked out and certified for B&B breakfasts. But Brenda Selwyn at Brenda Selwyn.besky.social wondered whether even so, Fallon's insurance wouldn't cover the use of the Brookfield kitchen. Reg Tubby at Reg Tubby.besky.social noted that the W.I. gives guidance to their members on baking in their own home. Once again, the breadth of knowledge and focus among the listenership is quite the sight to see. Newly arrived at Blue Sky, Ninesy at Ninesy.besky.social felt the need to baptise the #TheArchers tweet along with a three-part questionnaire. Which character would you, A, like to spend time with, B, forced to live with Pip and babysit Rosie forever, or C, curse and with which curse? There are so many great answers that it feels a bit invidious to choose among them, but as a taster, how about Amelie Calamity at ameliecalamity.besky.social, who suggested spending time with Jim or Joy, forcing Helen to live with Pip and babysit Rosie forever, and cursing Kenton with never being able to run a competition again. Or, more controversially, Trudy at Trudyearms.besky.social suggested she'd like to spend more time with Shula. Yes, really, now that Jenny is no more. She would make Jill move in with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter, they deserve each other, and would doom Helen to eat her own cheese for eternity. Another source of interest for me this week was how often exactly the same thought was captured by two posters at exactly the same time. For example, when Ruth was berating Fallon, "scouse lakes at scouse lakes.besky.social posted, properly shut up, properly resourced, Ruth, your wedding barn business is a tin pot affair that hasn't even got a kick in." While Jen Steven at AmbridgePony Club.besky.social said, properly resourced, says the woman with an events barn that has no kitchen. Well, quite. Or, when there was discussion of cycling, Sarah Carrow Hill, at Sarah Carrow Hill, said, "Oh, Leonard, enjoy the same size, then." While Les Archers, at Leasley, too, said Joy and Leonard, the same size. I'm just highlighting these as one way to apologize to the people in recent weeks who've pointed out that I've selected a treat of the week that more or less mirrored something they posted. Maybe we're all just so witty and quick to respond that many great lines are thought of by more than one person. So now, with the hope that I've found some unique ones, we pass over to my medals. The blue sky skates, threads, and expos, all of which we continue to refer to using the nonspecific name, Tweets of the Week. In bronze position, it's Lord Edward at TommyTuck39, who says, "When George comes out of prison, he's going to crash his drone into Leonard on his bike, who will then die. I'm calling it early." The silver medalist is Jan @janbarker.bsky.social. I want Jolene to steal mixed camp van, just so he can say, "I'm begging of you, please don't take my van." And the gold medal goes to Ian @roothery.bsky.social. Kirsty should agree to sell the house to Tom, and on the day they're due to exchange, change her mind. Touche. Well, that's it for this week. I hope to see you all on #TheArchers on Twitter, threads, or blue sky next week. Thank you for that, Theo, and I have to express complete admiration of you. We have to get your head around all three of those platforms, and managing to keep us amused. I laughed out loud when I heard your bronze silver and gold this week's out brilliant, and congratulations to everyone who is mentioned in this week's round up. Now, don't forget we are on Instagram @dampededam. Please send any of the archers or podcast relevant photos to the #dampededam email, and we'll publish some of the credits to you. We will be recording next week at the normal time, which at this time of year is well before dawn on a Saturday morning. So please get your calls in by midnight on Friday, UK time as usual. And as we come to the end of this episode, we need to say thanks to all our wonderful contributors, and to the team of #dampededam as behind the scenes. And we need to say a great big thanks to all of you who are listening to us too. We love making this podcast and sharing our love of the archers around the world. And we must say thank you to Kim Durham and Sonny Almond for their voices and pay our respects to the creators of this podcast. Thank you so much for listening and joining us today. We're now off to support the subframe, so it's goodbye from me. And it's Arughwa from me. 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