The Archers #110: Game(keeping)'s up for Will. Game on for Lillian & Vince, Tracy & Oliver? Game over for Joe? Stay ahead of the game with all things 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. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend 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 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, 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.)

Thanks to LillianGish for the title idea. Very tempted to go with MrsGrindah's suggestion of It’s all a bit crap and boring at the moment but let's be positive, maybe things will look up in the coming days ... Also very taken with Lexi's Midnight Runners - Burpers, maybe? - from Madcats.

Not at all happy about Lily not going to university. Yet another bright Ambridge woman not fulfilling her potential. Why do they do this?

The new intern isn't A Royal, is it!?

My immediate thought was Andrew.

chemenger, not in Ambridge it ain't.

actually I think you've misunderstood, its not the Eton in Berkshire, it's the other one.
Excellently vague scriptwriting. Comparable to Dick Barton's "and with one bound he was free."

Chemanger brilliant stuff.

Brilliant stuff indeed. So much better than TA.

Joy seems to be a character that everyone tries to avoid, and is gently ridiculed behind her back.

Now who does that remind you of?

For years, that person was Lynda - but it doesn't seem to be that way any more. People seem to take her more seriously these days (and are kinder to her)

Which is lovely because I really like Lynda.

Chemenger, that was brilliant.

I've always liked Lynda (except the bits between her and Lilian over Mungo and his ridiculous parents). Joy, however, is a stupidly one-dimensional caricature. AND really annoying. She can be promoted immediately to permanent silent character and let's say no more about it.

My husband knew someone once who went to Eton College and Oxford, but actually it was Eaton College and Oxford Brookes.

I grew up in that general area. We used to go shopping in Windsor and as a child (in the 60s) I felt sorry for the Eton boys as they looked very unkempt and uncared for. My mum explained that they were at boarding school and and their mum couldn't look after them. Anyway, I'm sure there were farms and fields just outside Windsor which is just over the bridge from Eton. The other side of Eton, I think, morphs into Slough but I left a very long time ago so may be wrong.

(I’m sorry to say some do still look unkempt and uncared for, Captain no matter how much their mothers might berate them by phone or in person.)

Plenty of farming in Berkshire!

Good to hear Jazzer, Jim and Al again. I completely understand Jim’s moral dilemma.
Excellent script writing by chemenger

Eton is separated from Windsor by the river. Slough is a short walk away, with the Eton sports fields, the M4 and the Jubilee river in between.
The land around Windsor is Crown Estate.
That part of Berkshire doesn't have much farming, but it's right at the far end of the county.

In fact Windsor (or at least Old Windsor ) used to be in Buckinghamshire which confuses me when trying to search for my ancestor born in Windsor.

I doubt that MollyButton.
Eton used to be in Buckinghamshire but Windsor was in Berkshire. Old Windsor is the other side of Windsor, they're not joined, and very close to the Surrey border.

I eat my words
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckinghamshire#/media/File:Buckingham-215x334.jpg

I know Mike - I was surprised and still years later am not 100% sure if the archives are in the Berkshire or Buckinghamshire offices.

I hope the previous intern left a note for her successor directing his/her attention to MN.

I actually found myself laughing out loud at yesterday's episode.

There seem to be a lot of people burying the hatchet atm. Maybe the intern has persuaded the SWs to move away from melodrama.

I really hope Jim keeps the injured crow as a pet. There used to be a mumsnetter who had a pet crow, I remember hearing about their trials and tribulations when I first joined.

I had a friend once who had a pet crow. It used to steal his cigarette butts before he was able to put them out properly, tuck them under its wings and hop away with them.

Why it never burned itself I have no idea, but it never seemed to. And crows are known for fire-starting: they will take a stick with one red-hot end or burning end out of a fire and make off with it, then drop them while they are on the wing, and if the stick lands somewhere dry and inflammable then it will go up.

They aren't the only ones, either! www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/australian-raptors-may-be-playing-fire/

Why crows in this country do it I don't know.

I've always loved corvids, and would love one as a pet. They're such intelligent creatures.

What on earth are they doing with Joy? It's like a one woman show at the moment.

Bizarre! And normally Peggy would have had no problem getting rid of her. At least she told her to be quiet, though it didn't shut her up for long. At first l thought the lost cat was a ploy, and Hilda was in a bedroom, but Peggy seemed really worried.

Shaking the Dreamies packet was a nice touch.