Ramsbottom has been really quiet over the last couple of weeks. I'm assuming that this is because the town's mums and dads are taking advantage of the school holidays to whisk young Janet and John off to warmer climes to enjoy clear blue skies, scorchio temperatures, and a warm sea. I only know that my son Dan and I have found Room 54,' the friendly little café we frequent on Bridge Streeet, to be a lonely place without the company of our breakfast companions Dave's wife and Bunty, whom we assumed had disappeared with the heat seeking crowd.

You'll remember these two wonderful women from my last posting, where I explained that Dan and I consider them both to be the fonts of all knowledge when it comes to local news and events. Even Jim the ladder,' the town's premier window cleaner, who occasionally shares his breakfast period and his thoughts for the day with us, has missed the girls so much that his conversation has been reduced lately to droning on about his daughters holiday home somewhere in Southern Italy. All in all it's been a trying couple of weeks.

Eventually the girls returned to the café last week with their young families in tow. Both women and children looked sun-tanned and happy, which prompted the obvious question, So where the hell have you lot been then?' Bunty was the first to reply, Anglesey,' she said, adding, We loved the place, and the weather was great.' Dave's wife, quick to take advantage of the gap in conversation followed with, Dave and I took the kids to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, it was so hot we were sunbathing in the garden at 6 o'clock in the evening. It's only a couple of hundred miles away, but it could have been abroad.' Dan and I smiled, not letting on that was where we thought they'd been.

It's nice to be back though,' said Bunty, But something strange is going on with the small privately owned car parks in Ramsbottom. I've just been with the kids to the new library in Carr Street and noticed that the car park opposite has been taken over for use by Health Centre patients only. That car park used to be for people using the library and now the Health Centre have got it, which means that they've reduced the libraries car parking area to a small stretch of land adjacent to the new library building. Given that it cost over a million pounds to build the new library they're surely expecting more people to use the place, which means more cars will be looking for somewhere to park. It's as though they're inviting people to take a chance, and park their cars on the Health Centre car park risking collecting a parking fine.

Not that I mind the car park being used by the Health Centre patients, but I do mind the fact that it's a bit heavy handed to hit people with a £60 fine for parking when they're simply using the library. It's the same with the small car park at the back of the Pet Shop in Bridge Street, park there when you're not using the Pet shop and it's another £60 fine. They've even got private security firms coming into the town early in the evening to stick parking tickets on cars.' I've noticed that,' said Dave's wife, They've done the same thing with some of the local pub car parks. Somebody's told somebody that there's money to be made out of the job. The strange thing is it's normally the council who are the ones trying to get us to pay for parking in the town. But at least they've got an excuse; they've got to ensure that all the council workers retire with a pension so good that they're able to live somewhere warmer- Spain perhaps. We live in an age when everybody's papping on about a lost sense of community,' and yet they're all doing their best to put us under so much financial pressure nobody's got the time to look out for anybody other than themselves. It's all about money these days; nobody cares what happens to ordinary people any more. We just provide the money for somebody else to have a good life.' Bunty's and Dave's wife's comments raised questions that I'll try to get answered over the coming weeks. Because it does seem to me that certain sections of society, especially Government, have a tendency to blame all social problems on the loss of this sense of community,' (Whatever it is) and yet these same people are generally the ones who do their level best to destabilise it. But I want to assure you dear reader, before you get depressed, there are lots of people out there who really do care.

On a happier note, my old pal Dennis Lynch, the former owner of Room 54, has completed his radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer and is on the mend. He's still on the orange juice and sitting awkwardly, but not for long. We also want to wish the new café owner, Alison Vinden, good luck in her new venture, and can confirm that she will have Dave's wife and Bunty perform the official opening ceremony sometime soon. Anyone got any pink ribbon, a sharp pair of scissors, and a good camera?

I'm writing this piece on yet another warm Friday evening in August, having decided that when the final full stop gets typed in both Jenny and I are off to The Casa Tapas' restaurant on Bacup Road in Rawtenstall. Karen and Joe, the restaurant's owners, are worth a mention, if only because of their genuine desire to present the best in Spanish cuisine and atmosphere. They are lovely people. The restaurant is beautiful and the food's just as good. Trust me and try the place.

Finally, my wife Jenny, my son Dan and I, will continue to report on the characters we meet during our daily travels in Ramsbottom, people like us, who live and work in this small town of ours. And so, until the next time, take care of yourselves. Taraaaaaa love.