Hello and welcome to my blog. Its been an obscenely long time since I last wrote, so a thousand apologies. I've been de-cluttering the house and revamping the garden so when I say it's lovely to see you, I really do mean it.

This week I'm breaking away from the RNLI series to mention some other local issues.

In my mind, there's only really one - roadworks. Shoreham is besieged at the moment. Some of us can attempt to by-pass them by nipping across the Saltings roundabout and driving through the airport, but I feel for those who can't. I know the town will be improved once they're completed, but I can't help wondering if they'd be finished sooner if HMS Shoreham's crew hung around menacingly with bayonets fixed.

Unfortunately, I missed HMS Shoreham being granted the freedom of the town as I was off to a 50th Birthday party but there is a nice account on another blog.

On April Fool's Day, the South Downs officially became a National Park. It makes one feel proud and rather spoilt for choice on a sunny day; do we visit the airport, cycle to the Port or yomp up the South Downs? A personal favourite is parking near the Shepherd and Dog pub in Fulking, staggering up the Fulking Escarpment to the Devil's Dyke pub for a quick lemonade before breezing back down. Incidentally, don't suggest that walk to anyone with a heart condition even if they think they've done it before. Chances are they can remember it being half the height and a third the distance.

It you wanted, you could time your trip for late May or early June and combine it with a visit to Shoreham Beach for the Beach Dreams Festival. It's a time when local residents get into party mood and celebrate our community with music, entertainment, food and parades. It runs from 28th May-5th June, building up to the big festival weekend on 4th-5th June. Alternatively if military history, rather than parades, gets you fired up head off to the Second Military History Day at the Old Fort on 4th June for the cannon firing, historical reenactments, stalls and an update on the current restoration work.

I've got to dash now as I can sense that someone is re-cluttering the house, so ta-ra and see you next week when I'll return with the next in the series of features on the RNLI.

Have a good week.