🎲 Archers thread #134: Ambridge as human board game. We’ve had Pandemic. What now - Game of Life or Trivial Pursuit? Go! 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. 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 warm to Hazel Woolley, 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/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-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.)

Thanks to @LiterallyKnowsBest for the thread title idea. I also liked @LillianGish's suggestion which was Conversions abound and it’s not just Harrison - Lily’s kitchens, Hazel’s flat, Jazzer’s finances, Bert’s bungalow...come and discuss The Archers - are you a convert or could you be converted? and that seems like a good place to kick off this thread.

Who'll get the bungalow? Pip, Josh or A. N. Other?

Will Lily leave the cold calling behind and launch a bid to run LL when Elizabeth hangs up her clipboard?

Will Jazzer become a financial whiz after mastering Tracy's state of the art budgeting techniques, viz, writing it all down in a little notebook with a kitten on the front?

Over to you!

@JanglyBeads

Phoebe has taken everyone's advice and got a new job far away from Ambridge, hasn't she?

Ooh. I've been thinking this ever since Kate gave her gushy speech about how hard it was having Noli and Sipho so far away, and how WONDERFUL it is to have Phoebe so close by...

@WhoppingBigBackside

Alice had an unplanned pregnancy and other issues so it's not her fault that she's not a good mother.

I can see a few of the characters as roughly my age but I forget how old I am.

It absolutely is her fault. Many people have unplanned pregnancies without being as pathetic as Alice.

Alice's problem is in part that she never joined in any Mother and Baby groups and doesn't have other friends with babies of a similar age. With DC1, it made a massive difference to be able to compare notes with other mothers and find out that we were all struggling along with no sleep, babies who had phases of constant crying and all the rest of it. Alice tends to assume immediately that she's a failed parent.

ever since Kate gave her gushy speech about how hard it was having Noli and Sipho so far away

Aha!

Phoebe enjoyed her stay in South Africa didn’t she? (Was Kate involved in any wrongness while she was there - I can’t recall?)

Any chance Phoebe’s uni mate’s start-up might require her to return to SA - thus providing the renewed link to Noli and Sipho that Kate has singularly failed to maintain.

Kate was having an affair while Phoebe was there which (after complications I cba to recall in detail) ended up with Phoebe having a nasty experience in a taxi and demanding to come home to Ambridge immediately.

I loved the exchange between alice and her mum.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Kate was having an affair while Phoebe was there which (after complications I cba to recall in detail) ended up with Phoebe having a nasty experience in a taxi and demanding to come home to Ambridge immediately.

So that's Debbie, Kate AND Lily all falling for a teacher/lecherer !

How many more days until Valentines at the Bull. They are doing this because we were rude about The Mysteries, aren't they.

I’ve dropped in and out of these threads for years, under a variety of names. It’s always been such a good-natured and fun bit of MN.

I’m finding @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime’s no it-picking and at times downright targeting of @Roysnewshirt’ posts is spoiling the thread. Is this a relatively recent thing? There was one post a couple of days ago that was so bad I’ll report it. Roysnewshirt, you have responded with more patience and grace than I can summon. What a shame it’s necessary.

I'm similar to you @SparklingLime and have dipped in and out of these threads for an awfully long time.

I wasn't going to post about it until I saw your comment, but the targeting of Roy and the generally abrasive tone, from that quarter, is spoiling otherwise lovely and entertaining threads.

Bower, you are a decent and rational human being.

whereas Helen has no sense of humour ...

I could be wrong though.

“I don’t know how to tell my globe-trotting trustafarian mother who has abandoned 3 children on two continents that I want to move to a different part of the UK.”
Come on Phoebe, for heaven’s sake.

@BeardieWeirdie

“I don’t know how to tell my globe-trotting trustafarian mother who has abandoned 3 children on two continents that I want to move to a different part of the UK.” Come on Phoebe, for heaven’s sake.

:o

I love it that Roy was so supportive. I imagine the noise Kate makes when she finds out will be heard on Mars (I know in space no-one can hear you scream, but Kate's capacity to whinge is her super power).

How many more days until Valentines at the Bull. They are doing this because we were rude about The Mysteries, aren't they

Yes, but we moan about the Christmas play every year and they inflict Valentine's day on us every year too.

@Tulipomania

Bower, you are a decent and rational human being.

whereas Helen has no sense of humour ...

I could be wrong though.

What a kind thing to say!

Go Phoebe go go go

Yes, but we moan about the Christmas play every year and they inflict Valentine's day on us every year too.

There always seemed to be a storyline about Lent, what people were giving up, Alan trying to think of community lenten responses etc. But AFAIR this has waned in recent years?

Jennifer was brilliant with Alice. I love her.

Phoebe’s job is “In the Highlands, North of Glasgow”. What an odd way to describe the location. I mean, technically, yes, Highland (the region) is to the North of Glasgow but you’ve got the whole of Argyll and Bute to go through before you get to Highland. Which stretches across the whole country. I wonder if she’ll run into Charlie there?

(Also wish they could have found her a job somewhere a bit more exciting, like London. Or even just Glasgow! Do you really have to be physically next to the algae to develop the algae business?).

Yes I thought the Highlands was an odd way to describe it too. Surely if they’re after seaweed they want to be on the coast anyway?

Agree that Jennifer was lovely with Alice and Roy brilliant with Phoebe. Some nice interactions there. Of course, it’s not too late for Alice to find a playgroup or similar for Martha. Surely Ambridge and its surrounds would be overflowing with baby massage classes and music with mummy (daddy) and suchlike. In fact, if Kenton and Jolene had half a brain between them they’d make The Bull Upstairs a bit less pub-y in the daytime and hire it out and do coffees etc. Then they could stop inflicting Valentine’s day nonsense on us every year in an effort to boost trade. Don’t forget we’ll have pancakes to come sooner after this, folks 😬

I do wonder if the SW have ever set foot inside a pub.

@Prestissimo

Yes I thought the Highlands was an odd way to describe it too. Surely if they’re after seaweed they want to be on the coast anyway?

Agree that Jennifer was lovely with Alice and Roy brilliant with Phoebe. Some nice interactions there. Of course, it’s not too late for Alice to find a playgroup or similar for Martha. Surely Ambridge and its surrounds would be overflowing with baby massage classes and music with mummy (daddy) and suchlike. In fact, if Kenton and Jolene had half a brain between them they’d make The Bull Upstairs a bit less pub-y in the daytime and hire it out and do coffees etc. Then they could stop inflicting Valentine’s day nonsense on us every year in an effort to boost trade. Don’t forget we’ll have pancakes to come sooner after this, folks 😬

Yes, good point, I went to a lot of pubs with my son when he was a baby- very popular daytime venue for classes and groups. Mostly in a function room rather than the main pub. And plenty were upstairs, we just parked the buggies downstairs and carried the babies up.

The Highlands start at the Highland Boundary Fault. That runs through Loch Lomond, which is just north of Glasgow. The Highlands cover more than just Highland Council does. There’s lots is sea coast in the Highlands not very far north of Glasgow as well. Somewhere like Arrochar, which is on the sea (with a stinky, seaweed covered beach) and the Arrochar Alps mountains is only about 40 miles from Glasgow and definitely the Highlands.

Wouldn't Pheobe say the place name of where the job is, thensay it's in the Highlands?

Do you think Adam is going to join the rewilders?

I want Kirsty to. Fed up of the Archer nepotism (I know, I know).

I second Kirsty - it's the perfect role for her.

If I were Peggy, I would be a bit cross about the fly-by-night approach of Pip and now Phoebe to my legacy-project. After making such a fuss about their commitment to a scheme that by its very nature takes a long time to come to fruition, they are now leaving it in the hands of poor Rex. I would be wanting a very clear succession plan/exit strategy from Phoebe before releasing her from her contractual duties.

I am, however, very pleased that Phoebe is leaving Ambridge- for her sake as well as my own. I didn’t mind her saying the place is ‘north of Glasgow’. For someone like me, with minimal knowledge of Scotland’s geography, that was information enough to indicate it’s a long way far north and probably quite remote. I can see it would be unhelpful to many though.