And Now for the Bad News.!

Watching TV news makes me feel quite normal at times, which is at least an improvement. The usual news is awash with failure, and success is often wiped from the headlines by celebrity scandal and political fiscal gloom.

Why does news reporting in the media frequently choose to emphasise negative events? Perhaps it is still partly influenced by the old editorial adage, "If it bleeds, it leads."

In other words, if there is a film of the red stuff -- metaphorical red stuff, we hope -being spilt on the pavement (still metaphorical) this is what will be the leading news item. Which is not to say that editors aren't capable of causing real blood to be spilt during circulation wars. Bad things can happen quickly, good things can sometimes take longer than a day. Plane crashes always make the news, car crashes seldom do, despite the fact that they kill far more people. This is why so many people suffer from fear of flying, while few suffer from fear of driving, unless they have been in the passenger seat of my car.

Tornadoes -- I feel another figure of speech coming on, I think this one's a simile -- are like the celebrities of weather forecasts, they make for much more spectacular images than, say, a downpour in Manchester, where it rains on 205 days each year, now you know why that summer holiday you just booked was so cheap. TV news also promotes the fiction that (a) we are all interested in politics and (b) we like a sprinkling of depressing news about price rises at breakfast time, which makes us return half of our cornflakes to the packet.

Try to escape the bad news, and what do we see? Modern television has become more or less wall-to-wall so-called 'reality' shows, except those that take place out- doors. People chase other people in fake parodies of better-acted TV dramas with real actors instead of ungifted amateurs. Versions of dating shows must surely be exhausted soon -- I know I am, by constantly changing channels. Boy meets girl in jungle/on an island/somewhere without the contestants being able to see one another until they eventually (!) fall in love and get married. Instant food I have no objection to, but instant wedlock with an unseen person? Call me Doubting David. Couples don't ever buy the properties they view on property shows, but at least they get to see them in advance of not fancying them, without the need for a subsequent expensive divorce. Anyhow, you'll be glad to learn that I have now reached the end of this particular rant about the behaviour of news broadcasters. So at least that is some good news for you.

Writing in February, Valentine¥s Day was on the 14th. Of course, ìGod is Love and the one who lives in love lives in God and God lives in Him.î Go on ñ you sang that didn¥t you!

For those in love this is a fantastic day; for others it can be a day of untold loneliness and heartache. We thank God that He IS Love and that He never changes, is never moody, never moves the boundaries and loves us unconditionally. Our God is a constant.

Did you make Pancakes on the 21st? Are you trying to do some fasting during Lent? Next week we have St Patrick¥s Day on the 17th! This Irish person will be celebrating for sure?? Trinity Sunday is not until June but the shamrock is always a reminder of the Godhead: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 13:14 ìMay the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you allî as we prepare during this time of Lent to remember why God sent His Son to die for us - for you and for me. Goodness, by the time the April issue comes out, Easter will also have been and gone. He is Risen. Hallelujah!

Is Jesus your Lord and Saviour? He is mine ñ in this I am secure. Are you?

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: Thursdays from 12:00 ñ 13:00 Pat Jarnet, a qualified & experienced Fitness & Dance Trainer will do Movement to Music classes at PCCC for those of us who want more limber muscles & joints, to be able to breathe with more ease, to have fun and get some gentle ñ or not so gentle if you¥re fit & active ñ exercise. 5Ä per class. She will cater for mobility limitations.

PM - Pilar Christian Community Church. Calle Canalejas 3, Pilar de la Horadada. English service every Sunday at 11am. Contact by email: phil.molloypccc@gmail.com

For Movement to Music please contact: Hazel Hodges Campoverde 634 164 654

Handsome Stanis, would love a forever home.

If you are interested in this 7 year old, then please contact the numbers/email below:

Mil Palmeras bridge finished by summer

The pedestrian walkway that connects the promenades of Mil Palmeras & Torre de la Horadada was washed away by the DANA in September 2019, but finally, having been granted building permits, the work has finally begun with a budget of e290,000.

The new walkway will be made of wood, a single span of 36.66 metres and a width of 3.50 metres, resting on the existing concrete abutments.

The walkway will be built as an arch-shaped wooden truss without intermediate piers to comply with the requirement of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation and the Territorial Coastal Service to improve the river's drainage capacity.

The council confirmed it will be finished prior to summer of 2023.

With the problems of ecological damage in the Mar Menor still not resolving as quickly as environmentalists might hope, the Spanish Government has published a tender for the creation of a network of sensors to gather information in real-time in six areas of the coastal lagoon.

The 1.49-million-euro tender includes the purchase and installation of a monitoring network with buoys, sensors, seamounts, weather stations or current profilers, capable of issuing continuous and realtime information on the state of its waters.

To date, the monitoring of the Mar Menor was done with specific samplings carried out from boats that do not allow detection of live knowledge of physical-chemical and biological anomalies, related to the different symptoms of the eutrophication process, that are critical for the state of the ecosystem and its recovery, such as phytoplankton proliferations and harmful species, anoxia phenomena, light limitation, heat waves or microbial activity.

There is also a buoy located by the Smart Lagoon project, financed by the EU, and which will be integrated into the oceanographic observation infrastructure of the state of the lagoon and the dynamics of exchange with the Mediterranean Sea, carried out by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), a state body that will also manage the new network that has been put out to tender.

The new system is included in the Framework of Priority Actions to Recover the Mar Menor (MAPMM), endowed

ROJALES PANTO GROUP KEEP ON GIVING.

with 484.4 million, and which dedicates 15 million to the line of improvement of knowledge and monitoring.

The locations planned for this network will be the north and south basins, the central platform, the headquarters of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in San Pedro del Pinatar and the golas of Estacio and Marchamalo.

All monitoring platforms will send the information from the sensors in real time through the GSM/GPRS system. This will allow downloading of historical data, generate automatic reports and grant access to third parties.

The contract also includes devoting 229,000 euro to spare parts for the stations, so that, if necessary, the buoy, the weather station, the multiparameter probe, the current profiler or the seamount can be replaced.

1000E was recently donated to San Fulgencio Cáritas, proceeds from the pantomime Treasure Island. The donation will go to help the needy of the parish buy food and help with lighting and electricity.

John Fagg, the Group’s Chairman, presented the donation to José Sampere Ballester, San Fulgencio Mayor and Ramón Belda Diez, Parish Priest and Cáritas President at San Fulgencio Town Hall. The Group’s next Panto will be Snow White and The Seven Christmas Elves. Auditions are to be held at the end of March, with rehearsals starting at the end of April. Email: rojalespanto@yahoo.com