Welcome to the Beach Blog!

It's been almost two years since the demise of our newsletter The Beach Bulletin and still we don't have anyone willing to take on the roll of editor/publisher.  And who can blame you for that.  It was  becoming a daunting task for me to compile ten to twelve pages each month and keep it informative and vibrant, yet still I am asked on a regular basis "when will the Bulletin start up again"?  To which I have had no answer.

Lew and I took a long winter break this year and travelled east by road.  During this trip my daughter began a blog for me and it was then that it occurred to me a blog might just work for Preston Beach.  I believe there are several people out there who actually followed my holiday blog and this gives me great hope.

We're home, refreshed and ready to attack things with a whole new zest so I hope you like this new initiative and embrace it by becoming a 'follower', commenting often, suggesting material and contributing whenever you have something to say.

No sooner had we returned home that I was told of the work going on around town.  Western Power have been back again, replacing power poles around town.  To do this they need to turn off power to the whole town for the whole day.  The only way to deal with it and retain your sanity is to plan a day out, but for those unable or unwilling to hike it out of town on a winters day, it's very frustrating.  The immediate impact is disruption to daily life and frustration because we all know how much we can get done when the power is off - diddly squat!

The more long term and hidden impact, especially for holiday home owners is the effect constant power outages has on timers and automatic devices like reticulation controllers.  Our retic was out of sync when we got home as was the outdoor lighting.  We turned on the television to find most channels weren't working.  This turned out to be the booster which the antenna guy said was most likely burnt out due to power surges. i.e. the constant cutting off and turning on of the main power supply.  I'm trying to stay positive, telling myself it's important to maintain the integrity of infrastructure but I've been told the upgrade of power poles is still incomplete and we have more interruptions to come.  In future I will be able to post Western Power notices on this blog which might be helpful to absent owners.

Other maintenance was carried out recently on the water tank at the top of Beachcast Close.  A team of contractors were employed to scour the bottom of the tank (so I'm told).  It appears that during this process they failed to ensure the water they discharged was running off safely down the hill.  The result of this was massive erosion of the north bank of the hill.  Workers have been busy for the last week filling the wash away with truckloads of gravel.  The estimate at this stage is they have used six truckloads the job is not finished.

On a personal note, some of you may have noticed the old Landy has gone from out the front of our place.  It was a sad day when we saw her being towed away, but we find comfort in the knowledge she has gone to a greater purpose.  The people who collected her run workshops for disadvantaged teenagers.  Their job will be to strip and rebuild the Landy.  The younger ones are also taught to drive. In future you will see us bopping about the place in a white Suzuki Vitara that once belonged to Alf Barker.

Well, I'm off now as the Woolies delivery van has just arrived with my shopping.  Yes, they deliver to Preston Beach for just $5.00!  More about that late.