The Archers (Part II of our Trip Home)...

I have come to the conclusion that Ambridge actually exists, The Archers isn't just a radio play that some of us grew up listening to at breakfast on a Sunday morning. It's quite obviously based on the village where my mum lives, and where we spent the second half of our trip home.

Thankfully, second-home ownership hasn't eaten away at village life here. The community spirit is alive and kicking, and everyone gets involved in everything (and everyone knows everyone else, which can of course be both a blessing and a curse!) When we arrived, preparations were in place for Easter, and a hardcore crew of flower arrangers spent hours expertly decorating the church for Easter Sunday. Within a few hours, it rivalled Westminster Abbey for the big wedding (minus the indoor trees, but then it does have that pretty special one just outside which wins hands down in my opinion!). That evening we were just sitting down to eat when a frantic phonecall came through to say that one of the displays had toppled over! You would have thought that the actual church spire had toppled off such was the tone of urgency! The designers of said arrangement duly set off to rectify the situation. Upon their return, a new message was waiting for them. This time a long and lengthy request for a dozen eggs, to be left on the caller's doorstep on their return from holiday (on which they are not going for another three weeks)! Honestly, the drama of it all (in a rural parallel universe kind of way)was quite exhausting!

Add to this vision of rural life Small Boy's egg cartel, a little egg stall where he spent a very happy morning channelling his inner barrow-boy, yelling "sweet eggs for sale" to passing villagers! He sold the lot at lightening speed which was either because he was doing a supremely good job as vendor, or the neighbours just wanted to shut him up! The chickens then had to suffer an afternoon of mild disturbance as both S and his big sister checked them constantly to see if there were any even fresher eggs to sell!

A couple of days later as we left the village, our rental car radio was tuned to Radio 4, and I swear as we drove out of the village and headed back towards London, the first words we heard were "and it's goodbye to Ambridge" (although I am not sure they were talking about the Archers)! Yes perhaps, but just for now...!

(checking for another type of egg on Easter Sunday)...