Keynsham Park, it would seem, is awash in a sea of rats. They out-number everything else in the New Piddletown area by a factor of three to one.

The Councils once hired a piper to lead the rascal rodents to their watery graves in the swirling torrents of the River Chew. Unfortunately, no-one had realised that rats are perfectly able swimmers, and are quite at home in the water.

Bloated with bread and litter bin offerings, the naughty gnawers have bred like, er, um, rats, and are endangering the local bird life and lunch-hour office workers alike.

Undeterred by the failure of the pipe-playing pest-catcher, the authorities spent fifteen quid on erecting several notices in an effort to deter the fowl-feeders from throwing food so freely. What our graceful rulers didn't bargain for was that nobody ever reads signs, especially ones festooned with 'The Logo'.

Maybe the problem requires an 'adopt-a-rat' approach, where we all pay a small monthly amount to sponsor and, ultimately, destroy a rat or three. A campaign such as the one which successfully eradicated dog poo from our pavements and by-ways. Dog Wardens solved the dog issue, maybe Rat Wardens can do the same for our plague of rodent residents.

The new and updated version of Keynsham Monopoly has now been released, just in time for the Christmas market.

The Charlton Cinema and the Hospital have been removed from the board, while the Cadburys factory is now listed as 'inviting offers' following their decision to knife the town's back.

BANES still can't find a tenant for the Gas Board - 'best offer secures' seems like a desperate move, but with the staff now having to curb their enthusiasm when it comes to private expenses, they must be getting a bit pikey. Bless 'em!

One or two of the town's roads have been removed - notably the High Street and Bath Road, which have been replaced by Ashton Way and World's End Lane respectively.

The Community Chest and Chance cards have been altered to reflect the troubled times we live in - read more about that here. Oh, and it seems the Lord Mayor Of Keynsham, Mr Johnny Bodman. is banged-up in the Bath Hill slammer. Maybe it was something he said...

The new and improved version of Keynsham Monopoly is available at an Ogborns near you. Enjoy yourselves.

The summer festival season is almost upon us once again folks, a time for getting bladdered on the grass whilst wearing your t-shirt as a hat and queueing for 45 minutes to get a plastic glass of piss-warm beer, which always splits as soon as you get it back to where you were sitting. Ah, bliss!

Keynsham, like every proper town, always throws a good party. Maybe it's the Spirit Of '68, or the Nitrogen Dioxide we cut our teeth on... there's something about Keynsham that says: 'Party like it's 1899 and don't spare the horses'.

Once again, the powers that be have pulled out most of the stops for Pee In The Park '09. This years event promises to be bigger and better than ever, despite Cadburys ducking out of the event sponsorship at the eleventh hour - apparently in order to sponsor Polska Rocks '09 in Gdansk, instead. Pah!

The weather forecasters are predicting a 'barbeque summer', so there's a good chance it'll hammer down on the day. Don't be put off though, Echo Bridge™ will hopefully be there to provide cover from the rain and a dry-ish place for young lovers to get funky, or for 'heads' to bag up a joint or three.

Whatever the weather, you can be sure that everyone will have a grand old time, because that's the Spirit Of '68. Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the big day and don't forget to avoid the brown acid, man!