Archers thread #174: God it's lame! But it still limps on. 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 think Ben-meets-Zainab is on a par with Elizabeth-meets-Darcy, 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 https://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 @Bruisername for the title inspiration. She said God it's lame and that seemed to strike a chord with many, for some reason.

I am terrified of wasps and live in fear of encountering a hornet, so that was a tricky episode. I hope that's the last we're going to hear of them, except for confirmation that they've been nuked. [shudder]

So what do we reckon - custodial or suspended sentence for George? Will Clarrie return from Great Yarmouth or will she realise that actually life as a carer for her (presumably disabled) sister is easier than the endless and thankless drudgery at Grange Farm? Will any more tables collapse at the Village Hall?

Over to you!

Thanks!!!

Interesting that George's hearing is on Thursday, so perhaps suspended. So what will the Friday cliffhanger be? Harrison losing it at the news?

Thanks for the new thread!

Great title, thanks for new thread.

Hmm … Hornets’ nest as metaphor in UK radio soaps of the mid-1900s to 2024 …

Thanks, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g!

Signing in!

Wow. Why do you listen to a show about a community when you clearly have no sense of community

Thanks so much @harriethoyle for your kindness and jumping in there- you’re absolutely right! And, just for the record @hotcrossbunplease having a sense of community does not necessarily mean ostentatiously participating in organised community events. There are many different ways to support others- it’s all about finding the way that works best for you.

Anyway, thanks @gasp for the new thread. Hornets scare me too!

Interesting debate - I have zero desire to live in a village and live in a community this presented. So I don’t. I listen because it’s interesting to listen to different lives etc. it is fiction after all

my mum grew up in a village in a different country and moved to a city as soon as possible but she’s always loved the archers because it kind of reminds her of her village but is also so English!

having a sense of community does not necessarily mean ostentatiously participating in organised community events.

Beatings will continue until morale improves

Thanks Gaspode for the new thread, as always.

I wondered, while sitting with a relative in hospital this morning, whether Ben's practical demonstration of nursing skills is a depiction of the young generation of enthusiastic trainee clinicians, or just unrealistic. We have several nurses in the family, and have married (above ourselves 😅 )into a family of doctors. They notoriously under-react to anything non-life-threatening: if there's no fluids leaking where they shouldn't be, you'll get a hot water bottle and some flat lucozade/coke; if there are fluids, you'll get a bucket and a plaster. I once had a wasp sting the inside of my throat: I got a couple of spoons of calpol.

😂😂

@Fink my friend's Mum was a nurse. He was sent to school with a sore leg having fallen out of a tree. Turned out it was a spiral fracture!

Observed at my horses' yard: child takes a hard fall off warmblood (tall horse) onto her wrist. Her mum (works in orthopaedics) is immediately on the spot and assesses damage, but quite unsympathetic when the wailing goes on for more than a minute or two, along the lines of "I can't help you if you don't stop the theatrics and tell me about where it hurts!" After a few minutes, sobbing child is levered back onto horse and led around for a minute (so she doesn't lose her nerve), and then sits and waits while the horse is looked after. Still tearful, child refuses chocolate (!) (father eats chocolate instead), but does pet horse, before being taken to hospital for X-rays. Next day, child is back on board, seeming fine. Quite normal for horsey folk, but no doubt seems a bit harsh to some!

does Felpersham offer pharmacy I wonder

<muses> I once became aware of a fearful buzzing noise in my living-room one night and tracked it down to a truly ENORMOUS winged thing which, I now realise, was a hornet. Not an Asian one, but massive, and really quite unnervingly so.

Edit for autocorrect deciding spelling for me

I don't know. I had a smear test this morning with a new (to the practice) nurse who told me the whole process in quite some detail. I was almost tempted to point t out I've been having smears since possibly before she was born (31 years since the first one, don't know her age.) But I've no idea if it's different training, different personality or just not jaded by decades of dealing with patients. Nor if she's at all like Ben.

Thanks Gasp0de

As a retired A&E/triage nurse, my heart sinks at the prospect of Supernurse Ben providing infomercials on every health related topic for the next several decades.

And whoever on the last thread spoke of Chelsea and Freddie being destined to fall in lurve is quite right, the 🔮 predicted this some time ago.

I, for one, am looking forward to Elizabeth's reaction to the happy news.

Whilst I would enjoy Elizabeth’s reaction, I think I would rather Chelsea be the saviour of Brookfield. She would keep pip in her place!!!

Although as they are making zainab feisty she will no doubt ‘tell it how it is’ and alienate half of Brookfield before them all falling in love with her 🙄
Although if she tells pip how it is I may forgive her

Elizabeth has inflicted Vince on her family so it would be entirely unreasonable for her to object to Chelsea as a partner for Freddie. However, I can't see it happening myself despite what the 🔮may say, but then I personally find the Elizabeth/Vince relationship so unbelievable it makes me want to tear my ears off whenever they appear together.

Thanks for new thread Gasp

I live in a village and have no community spirit but I listen to The Archers because ...erm ... I have no idea actually!

Has Freddie ever in the history of anything expressed a romantic/sexual interest in woman/man/sheep? I’ve come to think of him as asexual.

As I recall, it was reported that he’d lost his virginity at the Isle of Wight (??) festival, which he attended with Johhny. Few years back. The lucky individual concerned was female.

But yes, latterly the SWs do seem (deliberately or inadvertently) to have made him fashionably asexual.

I’m waiting for Keira to declare she’s non binary so we can hear eddies response

My mother lived in a village and loved it. She even helped with the F&P and the church flowers, but not the panto because there wasn't one.

She used to shout at TA, and her children would ask, "If it annoys you so much why do you listen to it?" Her reply would be, "Because it makes me so glad I don't have to live in Ambridge."

She particularly detested Martha Woodford and always said that if she'd had to be served by "that dreadful woman" when she went into the village shop, she would have bicycled the five miles to the next nearest shop to buy her groceries.

The silly thing was that she knew and liked Mollie Harris; she just couldn't abide not abear the character.