Archers thread #146: They did fall apart. Can they put themselves together again? 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'd like to donate your time as a guide at Lower Loxley to save the Pargetters paying someone else a living wage, 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/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-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.)

Thanks to @Impostersyndrome for the thread title suggestion Buses and trains are sorely lacking, canals might be nearby, but all roads lead to Ambridge, picking up on transport discussions in the last thread. In the end I didn't use it, having in mind the character limit. @TottersBlankly contributed an early draft title Wreathes, wrath, writhing (Jennifer, Lilian, Ruairi). Both good starting points for the new thread, which I hope will last till Jennifer's funeral, surely not too far off now. So, over to you - whither the Aldridges? Also, does anyone care if Lee goes to the US? Is anyone even slightly interested in the Brookfield B&B venture?

Lower Loxley has a church in which Pargetters have their funerals, so it isn't technically a hamlet...

@Tulipomania The charging thing has been mentioned.

It's the land that Brookfield were selling to pay off Vince that was supposedly for a horse paddock.
It was discussed between someone and Kirsty and the someone was surprised Kirsty was in favour - she thought supporting electric car use was more important than losing the land I think.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , I imagined it as somewhere like Eccleston, which is the size of a hamlet but has a church. I don't envisage LL as being similar to the stately home near Eccleston.
not stalking him, honest

Gosh, that makes LoLo sound like Brideshead!

Didn't Brideshead have it's own chapel?

Some of the happiest days of my younger life were spent gazing in awe, midway through a driving lesson, at St Catherine’s Court and its private chapel, at the top of a hill in the environs of Bath. Must be a lovely thing to possess.

Yes it did. I was confusing Lower Loxley the house with Lower Loxley the apparent village/hamlet/whatever, which I didn't know existed. I failed O-level geography, though. In my defence, we all failed as a consequence of the teacher using the wrong syllabus. There's nothing quite like spending 2 years on the coalfields of Yorkshire, only to turn over the paper and discover the questions are all about Canadian lakes and Australian mountains. 😂

@Gonners ,I think we might have attended the same school. I started doing O-level Geography, and during the first lesson decided that it wasn't for me and upped and left to do a different subject. It was a combined-syllabus and the O-level pass rate was about 5%. There were rumours that the teacher taught what he was interested in, not what was required. I studied something taught by engaging teachers and enjoyed it.

I had some brilliant teachers at school and some dreadful ones. The ones who had done well academically were usually the worst.

The diversity in Ambridge doesn't extend to schoolteachers.

Go Chelsea!

Funniest thing in the world!

They’re burying Jennifer at last. I hope we dont have the same palaver when Peggy finally goes. I wonder if the SWs have decided she’s going to make it to 100?

I really enjoyed Chelsea's home truths. Go Chelsea!

Here's the recipe for the pies, btw.

Thank you @TeenDivided

The interview was odd. When I was interviewed for guide training I had to being along an object and talk about it without notes for two minutes. The purpose was to see if my voice was OK and I could handle facts and relate a relevant bit of back story with a hook. And not go over time.

The history of LL is for later training, though I suppose the purpose of the SL was to show Chelsea could do all the important stuff but chose not to. She was fab.

Chelsea's choice of topic was inspired! Anyone (Neil, I'm looking at you) can read up a bit of history and drone on about it, but bringing the family history so much more up to date and telling such a human story was fun.

Remind me, did Nigel have a sister and if so, was she older or younger than him? Or have I dreamed her? I don't remember the Frilly twins having any cousins on the Pargetter side.

I have a vague memory of an unpleasant Pargetter Aunt.

It could have been a Great Aunt

Nigel's sister is called Camilla. That's about all I can remember about her. Julia's sister was fun, not that Julia thought so.

Yes it was Camilla I remember.

Oh well done, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - Camilla, that's the chap-ess! I don't remember anything about her either. I just wondered if she had a son who might inherit LoLo through some bizarre entail nonsense, if Freddie doesn't come up to scratch. I'm not for a moment suggesting that this is possible in law - I'm way out of date on that stuff and looking it up would waste valuable minutes of my life! But it might happen, I suppose, assuming the SWs take the same attitude. 😉

Julia's sister was great fun, with her insistence on calling her "Joan".

Had to allow myself a quiet chortle at Neil's earnest insistence that the LoLo gardens had been laid out by 'Perspicacity Taylor' 😂

Me too! I wonder Perspicacity was heavily influenced by Perseverance Green?

Dont really fancy lamb, leek and prune pie. Whats wrong with mince and onion or steak and kidney they have to go over the top with Jennys cooking abilities. Chelsea was great im glad she told them how boring LL is.

I haven't heard of Perseverance Green, and assumed it was a/an homage to Capability Brown.

Sorry my joke was a bit too obscure, I was making the same joke again about Capability Brown!