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!

Azra's kids could have been staying with friends/family in Solihull while they did their exams (or had an auntie come to stay and keep an eye on them) and then spent the summer with their dad/visiting family - in this case in Pakistan. I know this may sound abnormal - nay, shocking! - to many, but I grew up in an army family and there was a fair bit of tinkering with living arrangements if a parent (in those days invariably dad) got posted at an awkward time, exam-wise.

<on edit> ... I think I only once started at a new school on the first day of the Autumn term!

But in this case there is no reason for khalil not to have started on day one of term. Obviously different for zainab as she’s not in school

I've got some sort of virus at the moment and will blame that for not being able to remember whose house in Beechwood Azra is renting. It's not Kirsty's because Helen lives there. It's not Joy's because Joy lives there. So whose is it? Do we know?

She is speaking in a very clipped accent atm and it doesn’t seem natural to me. I’ve never found that in the past and always thought she was a good actress

Alice always sounds to me as though she has some kind of teeth prosthetics and is trying to speak around them. Very carefully. And yes, in recent times it's been much more (annoyingly) pronounced

I don't think we have been told whose house Azra is in, just that it's rented.

I think Helen & Joy (and now Azra) + their hangers-on are the only characters we know of who live in Beechwood. I think Joy may have mentioned a neighbour once, but assuming there are more than three or four houses on the "development" then everyone else is pathologically silent, never uses the shop or the pub or says hello in the street. And who would blame them?

There was mention of a WhatsApp group where a neighbour (male) was making rude comments about Helen because of her trial for stabbing Rob. I think Joy mentioned it. Did Lee approach the neighbour or was it Helen? Can't remember now.

They don't use Nextdoor? (Neither do I, as it happens, but I've heard enough about it to wonder that it's never been mentioned or weaponised on TA.)

There's definitely been mention of a WhatsApp group for Beechwood, and passing reference to unnamed neighbours.

How big is the Beechwood development? I've got the idea from somewhere that it's 8 or 10 houses.

I don’t think Azra’s rental belonged to any named / speaking character on the Beechwood estate? It was just a house that had become vacant.

I also don’t remember how many houses there are there - though I’m sure we were told how many Damara proposed to have built, at the time Tom The Brilliant managed to persuade Justin to decrease the amount he was offering for the land. But I think I imagined it was enough for residents not to know all their neighbours.

The BBC probably didn't feel able to say WhatsApp but that's what I assumed. I don't use Nextdoor either. Is that some sort of app for people in the same street to keep in touch?

I signed up for Nextdoor and I just keep being bombarded with messages from the mayor of London and the occasional lost cats. It’s rubbish!

Just went on and the only thing posted by a local was a rant about dogs and fireworks and how you should make your dog get used to the sound

Now imagining Bruisername besieged by messages like this:

Help, I'm lost! They call me Tibbles and I live in a house somewhere.
Hello, I'm Kitty, and I'm lost too. I also live in a house somewhere, what are the chances!

The Nextdoors I've heard about are full of gossip, rants about teenagers mucking around on the rec, and alerts about strange men in vans driving slowly.

I signed up to Nextdoor with a shielded email and then couldn't log on to change notification settings, so I blocked it. That was years ago, but what I saw of it made me understand why UKIP/Reform candidates stand here, as I think quite a few of their followers must have been signed up.

The page about Ambridge residences needs updating, because Lee doesn't live there any more, but it gives

Beechwood – eighteen-house development at Bridge Farm
Owned by: various, after being built by Damara
Living there: Eustace or possibly Ebenezer; Helen Archer, Henry Archer, Jack Archer and Lee Bryce; Joy Horville; Kyle and Sara; Marylin; Wesley and Bernadette; Julian Lloyd Jones; others

The interesting thing is that it was definitely an eighteen-house development, and Azra is renting number 20.

WagnersFourthSymphony, sorry; I edited my post because it weirdly quoted a completely different post from the one you put up about pictures.

The original text I had there said that if you are about to post a picture you can get rid of it with the dustbin that appears at its top-right corner; click on that and the picture goes away.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime The interesting thing is that it was definitely an eighteen-house development, and Azra is renting number 20.

Arf! That is excellent.

No 20?!

Oh, that’s fabulous!!

Just proper laughed out loud at this @VoxPop

Is Jill unwell?

Oh - I hadn’t realised quite how behind I was in the thread when I quoted that, sorry all!

Super behind and need to listen to last weeks omnibus before starting on this week but for the first time in forever it sounds like there is actually a lot of variety and different things happening, and even some farming noises (shocked). Hopefully will join back in properly next week.

Ive mentioned this before but thanks @VoxPop and others for being considerate and careful when discussing alcoholism and Alice. There have been points when I’ve had to take a break from this thread as some of the comments about Alice have been really difficult to read and ignore - those of us with relatives who have suffered or died due to addiction can see a lot of nuance and have a deeper understanding of the challenges of what is a an awful disease, and to hear balance in discussing Alice as a character is much appreciated ❤️

There's probably no number 13, for a start.

Not many 94-year-olds are in the pink.