Archers thread #177: Will Bridge Farm get a PassiveAggressivHaus? Discuss The Archers here.

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Over to you!

I've missed far too much of the threads to catch up but I just wanted to say what kind of bloody farmers are David and Ruth who always seem to just be hanging about at the farmhouse and have time to invite people in for cups of teas and go driving around the village on wild goose chances.

Azra and Zainab are bloody awful! There's no way Ben and Zainab are a match but it's clearly going to happen 🙄 nothing feels believable lately .

It wouldn't have been so bad if the SW had remembered that Ben started one degree then dropped out and changed to nursing.
How could he have slurped his hot chocolate and not mentioned that?

How could he have slurped his hot chocolate and not mentioned that?

Because he is a snide little git with all of his mother’s smugness and none of her charm or capacity for reflection? I do hope he goes mad again and gets squished rounding up the traffic this time.

@DeanElderberry you have become MN …

In the old century teenagers could get away with exclaiming that they didn’t ask to be born. I don’t hear it said these days - but the idea that Zainab, who’s only recently left school, should have to justify living in her family home is … hard for my head to contemplate.

I cant believe Lynda is so busy that she has to move stuff around in her diary to be able to help Mick.
Wish they wouldnt mess around with Christmas traditions, but im nearly 70 so I suppose im what you would call old fashion.
Why didnt Ben just say he was too busy to go for a hot choc, it was out of work time. Why is everyone so helpful and kind at the moment.
He got over his MH issues very fast too.
Dont like the Doctor or her kids they are so rude.

When I lived in the old century, and even in this one, everyone living in the home was expected to do some chores commensurate with their age and availability. So in school time I wasn't expected to help with the laundry (which at juniors school age mean wheeling to the launderette - great fun), in the holidays I was. From my mid teens I could sometimes cook dinner or lunch. It was part of being a member of the household.

That wasn't just in my family. We learned very early the dread words 'only boring people get bored, I'll give you something to do'.

A woman in the US sued her parents for being born because she hadn’t asked to be

funnily enough she went on to have her own kids

Mick is Pam Doove from The League of Gentlemen!

Same here.

Yes, in my family too, everyone was expected to share in housework (although very little during the school week) - but I honestly don’t think it would ever have crossed my parents’ minds (even if I’d reached my half century still living with them!) that that was the only way I could justify my presence there.

I appreciate Azra’s growing anxiety about her daughter’s future, but I’d be horrified if she started issuing ultimatums rather than offering encouragement.

yep, we all had chores, jobs and were expected to contribute to the family unit. Once we left school if we lived at home we were expected to pay "rent" and take our turn cooking and doing the washing as well as the "chores" etc.

Perfectly normal back then.

It's heresy on MN to suggest working adults living at home should pay board (as it was called in my day when my parent set the figure and expected it every month).

I appreciate Azra’s growing anxiety about her daughter’s future, but I’d be horrified if she started issuing ultimatums rather than offering encouragement.

It'd be reasonable to say she should at least be temping, trying different jobs, to have some income, see what she might or might not like doing, and to give some timeliness.

Years ago I used to have to pay rent to mum and dad and i remember I was going on holiday and dad said I stll had to pay because he said If I had my own place I would still pay rent if I went away for a week. I cant understand how some people dont charge thier adult children rent and if they do they put the money away for them. How can they afford to do this with the rising cost of everything. They must be very well off.

This. I wouldn't necessarily charge board (it would depend on whether I could afford it I suppose) but I would expect an 18 year old to be more pro-active in, at least, getting part time work. My daughter always had a job of some kind while still at school and so have my older grandsons at school and now at university.

I thought Zainab had a part-time delivery job - hence the scooter.

She does! Isn’t it for a restaurant / takeaway place somewhere Outside Ambridge?

So Azra says "just driving around all day" to describe an actual JOB.

Isn’t there a job going in terum?

oh wow. No wonder Zainab is a pita.

My DS said the same. I suggested simply doing Maths. He said “would anyone employ me with just a maths degree?” Poor lad had had drummed into him by school the idea you had to do a degree directly leading to your career choice.

Yes, she’s an adult. She should be pulling her weight. A spell working in a supermarket would do wonders for her motivation for further qualifications.

An Ex maintained that children should be sent down the mines at 9, and resume education at an age where they were able to appreciate it. I wouldn’t go that far, except on my grumpy days, but I could see where he was coming from.

Ok, I was a bit harsh up there.

She’s still a pita, as is her brother

The whole family are a bit odd and quite irritating.

I'm confident though that their personalities will radically change over the next year or so that they wind up being much nicer as the script writers work out how to use them.

I don't understand why the Brookfield lot grovel to Zainab so much. I like Azra, though.