Blood on the Rooftops

One of the very first groups that I stumbled across on the internet back in the day was uk.media.radio.archers (aka UMRA), which described itself as a group for the sort of people who might listen to the Archers. For the benefit of Nancy, The Archers is a daily, 15 minute soap opera that is, to quote the original tagline, 'an everyday story of country folk'.

I haven't listened for a while, and I've drifted away from UMRA to a certain extent (although I still keep in touch with various UMRATS through Twitter, Facebook and Livejournal - ~waves~ at Fenny, Rosie, Niles et al). Much like Al Pacino in the Godfather, just when I thought I was out tonight's special 60th anniversary double episode dragged me back in.

I still recognised the voices of Nigel, Lizzie, Ruth, David, Pat, Tony and Tom, and I followed the portentous storyline with a sense of impending doom. My Casualty-fu was in effect and I called Helen's pre-eclampsia before Amy did. We were teased with many possibilities for disaster before the final scene on the icy, windswept rooftops of Lower Loxley. In the words of Ruth - oooooh nooooh!

I'm off to iTunes to resubscribe to the podcast - Ambridge here I come!

Sunday Links

• Zoo Basel Welcomes Miniature Piglets Piggles on ZooBorns
• 25 of the Scariest Science Experiments Ever Conducted
• Ten Amazingly Rude Optical Illusions
• Civil War message opened, decoded: No help coming I studied the famously tricky Vigenere cipher as part of my last OU course. If anybody wants to know the secret, just let me know ... :-)
• Vietnam's Mammoth Cavern A cave big enough to fit in a skyscraper and a jungle. Wowzers!
• 2000 Vs. 2010: How the world has changed
• HaïkuLeaks Wikileaks contains / Unexpected poetry / Serendipity
• Achieve your New Year’s Resolutions! in 59 Seconds
• One Million Galaxies
• Detroit in ruins Urban decay in the Motor City - no wonder they picked it as the location for 'The Walking Dead'