3rd August

Wow, we are certainly paying for our week of warm weather. It’s almost eleven and I am still shaking with cold. At least here we can be pretty sure that we’ve got a good day ahead. Lots of tourists escaping from the south now—and, I guess, the political arena. Yesterday saw the Variety Bash cars coming through town on their way north. What a fun way for enthusiasts to raise money for charity.
It’s been an interesting campaign so far. All aimed at the larger areas of population. Even the coalition is forgetting our rural areas. I see Mr. Abbott (or Mista Rabbit, as Ms Gillard calls him) intends to drop the Broadband idea. With the cable well on the way to being finished here does that mean that we will still be relying on worse than Third World communications, that the work is seen as a ‘waste of money’? Will the work that has already been done be scrapped and - again - we will have a useless cable passing our doors, with no access to the benefits of speedy internet? How far seeing is that?
Congratulations to the Fire Brigade on Saturday’s burn-off. A large area was cleared with a minimum of fuss. Conditions were perfect and residents in town suffered little effect from the smoke. Thanks guys, shows what good team work can do.
The monthly meeting of the Progress Association was cancelled due to the town burn-off. Unless notified the next meeting will be held the last Saturday in August, as usual, at 5 pm.
Odd News from France.SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRA, France (Reuters) - A team of engineers plan to venture where no man has gone before after unveiling a pedal-boat submarine on the French Riviera.Nicknamed "the Scubster," the 3.5 metre-long one-man yellow submarine has echoes of the fancy gadgets from fictional spy James Bond.Powered by twin propellers connected to a pedal belt, the mini-sub can reach speeds of 8 km an hour (5 mph) if its pilot is in good shape, and can reach depths of 6 metres (20 ft)."I've been up in the air by pedalling, underwater with my bike and now underwater with a submarine," Stephane Rousson, the man behind the invention, told Reuters.The vessel managed an hour under water in the Mediterranean waters off the Cote d'Azur this week and is entirely controlled by hand or pedal. Hermetically sealed, the passenger breathes with a mask and a bottle of oxygen.Whether it will have commercial success remains to be seen, but Rousson believes it may capture the attention of an emerging high-end market of yacht owners with "pocket submarines.""And if it doesn't take off, I'll race it," said the 40-year old from Nice, who plans to take part in the 2011 International submarine race in the United States.(Writing by John Irish; Editing by Steve Addison)