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!

I didn’t like the implication that the little women are going to get ripped off with little sandwiches because they are all most likely on a diet. Goodness - that woman who won’t be able to eat dinner will be able to get that mn chicken to last a few more nights!

if it had been a men’s book group would she have done ‘cultured’ sandwiches?

Well, quite.

It was also a bit bemusing that she cares at all about Tom and Natasha getting repeat custom when she's on her way out to set up a rival business.

I can’t see cultured ladies visiting a vegan cafe at a service station

I wonder if Fallon’s statement won’t mention the miscarriage at all and that will set Harrison off again.

I doubt the terum (😖) has a push button coffee machine. It will be all singing all dancing and impossible to learn how to use in a few minutes. Almost as baffling as George thinking he can teach Brad to fly a drone in a few minutes!

An insight gained into rural mentality when doing a gig in a fairly remote village...the organisers had ordered "salad" for all the female musicians, and steak-and-ale pie for all the males. This was only a few years ago! Thankfully, the "salad" turned out to be the rural Scottish conception of the same, and thus consisted of "random-shit-that-doesn't-normally-go-on-a-plate-together", i.e. ham, turkey, chicken breast, prawn-marie-rose, a pile of shredded cheddar, bagged salad, coleslaw, crisps, and chips, so altogether, probably at least as many calories as the steak-and-kidney pie. So sexism aside, at least we females didn't starve! I was doing the heavy lifting in that particular gig, so I was especially upset at the idea of nothing but a "salad" between a 3-hour rehearsal and a 2-hour gig.

It's like the difference there used to be between men's handkerchiefs and (forgive the term but it's what they called it then) ladies'. Obvs men had more copious, manly snot.

ETA: And pockets!

I mentioned earlier that Patricia Greene is my mate's grandmother and I'd ask if she still goes to the studio. Apparently, she's recording occasionally from her v posh care home.

What a trouper! Chapeau!
I like the chuckle she developed for Jill.

Going to miss her.

Sunningdale is commuter belt rather than rural surely. I grew up not far from there.

Erm what or who is Fallon afraid of. I just dont get what she said to Adam.

It's so great that she is, it was obvious that Jill was speaking less, but it does balance the show not to have the current generation completely silent.

to be fair if i had booked Afternoon Tea I'd want dainty little things not doorstops. So i guess it depends what they ordered.

Just "sandwiches"? for sure I'd expect the usual from that café - assuming that they are local so it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that at least one of them has been there before.

Loved, loved, loved George & Brad. Especially "are you going to kiss me now?".

..the organisers had ordered "salad" for all the female musicians, and steak-and-ale pie for all the males. WTAF was the thinking behind that?

Agree with the sexism regarding handkerchiefs and pockets.

Sunningdale is commuter belt rather than rural surely. Yes, definitely. It's a village on the A30.

I get so sick of how freely accusations of racism are thrown around on MN.

Loved, loved, loved George & Brad. Especially "are you going to kiss me now?"

Me too. Really hope George gets a suspended sentence and turns his life around. Finds his vocation and escapes the Grundy curse.

i think the Lynda thing is interesting though. I'm white and have never been subject to racism.

I do, however, live in a different country to my birth country, with a different language that i speak fluently enough that people from another region will guess where I'm from and place me where i live. And have occasionally been subject to xenophobia.

I also live in a village. I see how it is with incomers and day trippers. And have also had to Have Words with non-locals for litter, leaving gates open (or closing them when open) and feeding the ponies.

So i can see from that POV that Lynda probably/maybe/definitely wasn't being racist but rather patronising due to age and suspecting City Folk.

But we have people in this thread saying "yes, I'm not white and it does come across as racist, it happens all the time and white people don't even reigister it" (because of things like above.

Key here is that we listen to the people who are calling it racist and think more about how we interact with people.

Adam’s career has taken a very funny turn. He has basically turned into a cross between George and Emma and seems to fill in wherever Tom puts him. Dairy, veg-packing and now the tearoom. Very adaptable…

Didn’t he used to be an experienced farmer? With a major interest in crop rotation and climate-resilient new crops? This is all very odd.

Or - perhaps we also need to be more sensitive to intention and understand someone is being a certain way because of age/actions rather than skin colour

however, given Lynda was so worried about how azra may perceive the incident perhaps that suggests her intentions were racist and she’s realised

Home farm had to be sold to pay Brian’s fines didn’t it? Adam must have found that so difficult,he has never been anything other than a farmer.

Home Farm house was sold, but not the farm. Adam fell out with Brian about... just about everything over the years, but it was one step too far in the end (i forget what, though,) so he went to another farm as a manager, where he clashed with the employer, so then Bridge Farm.

Lolololol @Bruisername I’d love it if the VPS was your version rather than the likely one 🤣🤣🤣

That's right. It was the Home Farm house that was sold.

I had a neighbour ask me a few questions about 'Where are you from? ... No before you lived here? .. Where are you really from?'. It amused me because he is from 'Not here' but not the same 'Not here' as me.

(As a MNer, I thought I should have been clutching my pearls and accusing him of 'hate crime'.)

Adam parted company with his employment at HF because he 'borrowed' some money from the business IIRC.

Whatever her ‘intentions’, Lynda was positively asking for a smack in the mouth. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s ageist, classist, misogynistic or just Snellist as long as it’s good and hearty and lands on target.

I thought the Brad and George bit was lovely, especially the part where Brad said do you want to kiss me now and they both laughed. In the past, George would not have seen this as funny at all. Brad has recovered remarkably well from his “on the spectrum” -ness

With any luck someone else will come along to help Brad with running George's channel. Maybe that's why Zainab has turned up?

Lynda is just plain rude and someone needs to be rude enough back to tell her this. They might also add pompous, interfering, up herself and various other characteristics to what would be quite a long list.