🎲 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!

Pip really shat on herself tonight, serves her right for attempting to stymie her mother and Stella's burgeoning friendship.

Yes, well done Ruth!

Any bets on where Rex will end up? Tedious contrived "mystery" imo.

What a crashing bore Pip is. And aren't we hearing rather a lot of her at the moment?

Who was Jazzer talking to about the boiler?

I don't know who's more boring, Rex with his contrived mystery or Pip and her infantile blocking of the cottage.

What a vile piece of work Pip is.

Why is Alice hanging around with Jazzer?

What a crashing bore she is too.

Boop Ruth !

Boop for Alice diagnosing the fault on Tracey's boiler, and hopefully getting it fixed for free.

Really? I don’t embrace the prospect of our former aeronautical engineer rolling up her sleeves to become a domestic boiler grappler.

(Both useful, obviously, but, well, we know how the SWs are with professional women in Ambridge.)

Unless Alice is registered with the Gas Safe Register she shouldn't be fiddling around with a gas boiler.

Perhaps there can be a minor explosion, injuring no- one, but Alice can then be banged up for carrying out illegal work.

As she mentioned that her Price Bowman (?) colleague was registered, I guess we’re supposed to assume she wasn’t actually doing anything herself, just making an informed assessment?

Of course Alice knows all about boilers - she’s an engineer. Everyone knows engineers fix domestic appliances. No matter how many degrees we have in whatever engineering discipline ultimately we are indistinguishable from heating technicians and the person that mends your washing machine. We’re not nearly as useful in domestic situations as those people are. And PPs are correct, she should have known better than to fiddle with a gas boiler which she is unqualified to mess with.

Rant continues. Why would an aeronautical engineer know anything about a boiler? How many planes have gas central heating? Did it have a problem with its aerodynamics? That must be literally the least useful engineering discipline in that scenario. As a chemical engineer at least I can scale down from industrial furnaces to have some understanding of boilers.

I think Tracey will say no to the boiler repair - in case it lands her in trouble with the housing association. My plumber mate fixes our stuff here and we rent but I know and trust him and I don't think he'd install a part - he does wonders tho when it goes wrong.

The boiler repair scenario was just a poorly researched way of reminding us that Alice is an engineer. I must have missed the bit where a decision was made to rent out the bungalow - I thought Pip and Josh were fighting over it. Could Rex be moving into the flat when Chris moves into a holiday cottage?

I was disappointed when Rex said his new abode would be in Ambridge. I was certain he’d be moving next door to his pigs at LL.

Have I ever entioned that I don't like Pip?

No guesses as to Rex's new abode? Flat above the shop, if Chris has unrealistically got of of the tenancy agreement that he's only just signed.

Why are we being subjected to so much Pip?

But Rex is acting like it's a fun surprise- rather than something he's trying to play close to his chest. In the latter, you'd say something non committal, like you're looking at various places. Is he moving onto the campsite?

Given that Rex expects to be able to use his telescope - did he say at night or did I invent that bit? - I wonder if he's going to be the new resident caretaker at Arkwright Hall, which is in the Country Park near Grey Gables and ostensibly belongs to the Landmark Trust, which inexplicably never lists it as one of their holiday rental properties, although it allegedly is used for that purpose. The bird hide is up there overlooking the lake, which I think is in front of the Hall. I would expect dark skies, ideal for stargazing.

I too am disappointed that he isn't planning to bed down with the pigs.

Pip and Stella behaved like two silly 15-year-old last night. They are both farmers who work outside all day every day - I really don’t think they would be freaked out by three dead birds. Surely they would have just disposed of them in a practical way and buried them in the garden rather than calling a man to come and do it for them.

I would be surprised if Hazel made it easy for Chris to extricate himself from the tenancy agreement he has just signed. She’s not the sort to understand that plans change and sometimes it’s worth just being a bit flexible and giving people a break.

There's a big difference between finding a dead bird outside and finding them purposefully strung up inside a house.