Sorry to hear from Deano that St John Ambulancer and Suffolk Land Rover Owners' Club marshal Ron Beadle who was awarded the MBE at the beginning of the year passed away Saturday.

House sales nearthecoast July to September depressingly few.

Blimey!  The Keeper's Daughter theatre company could rival James Brown for hard work, A Christmas Carol is out on the road all over December with four double headers, the first pair on the first weekend ... what's more it's Dracula in Stowupland village hall tonight.

We've been told the Crowfield Rose has been closed for over a year and the Great Glemham Crown has been shut for months.

nearthecoast has very pleasant countryside, often good beer and a sense of community particularly in the smaller places, a little bit too much quiet sometimes and it does occasionally feel like this ...

  Framlingham and ... normal for nearthecoast

Jolly D!  This June we were over 10,000 visitors for the fourth month in a row.

1pm this afternoon the Ipswich Hospital Band will be playing at the Theberton fete and tomorrow in Trimley St Martin it's the Blue Cross dog show ... no hospital band.

Are you finding nearthecoast that like Deano warm weather and fortnightly bin men results in maggots?

Despite having parted with over twenty quid to park and get in attendees at the Suffolk Show earlier this month still had enough tin left that the Suffolk Land Rover Owners' Club raised nearly £6,000 for the air ambulance.

Today is the second and final day of Pettafiesta at Pettaugh.

Parking at this year's Suffolk Show plus a family ticket on the gate is £48.  Just three quid more and it'll be cheaper to supply alcohol to the under aged (£50 fine) but not to wander into a bus lane in a large town near Chelmsford (£130 fine).

Rural Myth 33:  You can always tell a Londoner, they're the ones who put their wheelie bins out Sunday night for collection on Thursday.

The Apache helicopter back again last night but this time around Horham.

Well done nearthecoast!  So many of you turned out to vote that counting the parish/town polls Suffolk Coastal hit the pause button Friday night and will start up again Monday and Suffolk county chief exec Andrea Hill has gone on handbag leave.

Depressingly nearly three quarters of the parish and town councils in Suffolk Coastal will not have a contested election this 5 May.  Encouragingly 30 will have contested elections a significant increase on 2007 so maybe it's time for regime change where you live ... and we agree, there's probably a parish out there that hasn't had an election since Princess Margaret was a goer.

FREE is always popular and yesterday we reckon it attracted some 5,000 to Trinity Park for the National Police Dog Trials and impressively the Suffolk Constabulary paid for it all with sponsorship and pitch fees.  Parental shoulders were needed to see much but plenty of other stuff to do, an enormous queue for ice cream, the Surrey police pups were overwhelmed with attention and a Suffolk dog was expected to finish in the top five.

Think about it, if you're deaf you can't use a voice phone to make a 999 call ... but you can now send a 999 text though the phone does have to be registered, more info @ www.emergencysms.org.uk

Predicted warmest day this year so far nearthecoast, maybe 20+°C.

We predict that at in 2011 near the coast's great and good will continue to kindly agree, munch scrummy cake, vote the minutes a true and accurate record and relentlessly pursue niceness ... but also the Maverick festival will delight, Why The Long Face? amuse, The Outlaws will do the odd gig near the coast, and who knows?  Maybe roller derby will find its way to Suffolk ... but don't hold your breath.  Happy New Year!