RESIDENTS who, from time to time, fancy cutting themselves off from the outside world had an ideal opportunity this week to test the effect, if they were ntl customers, that is. On Tuesday morning, our cables stopped working just after 9.30 in the latest major break in ntl communications. At midnight, they still had not been restored, though things were back to normal by Wednesday morning. Cable television was off the air, broadband internet connections both failed and caused Windows to crash repeatedly on PCs, and, for the first time, telephone lines were out of action. In previous breaks this year, sometimes lasting several hours, the telephone service was not affected. On Tuesday, people ringing ntl subscribers (numbers starting with 44) from a BT phone typically received the message "the number you dialled has not been recognised".

Talking to ntl subscribers in the valley, it is apparent that many are now becoming very disgruntled with the unreliability of cable services, and the inability to discover what were the causes of breaks. Dr Who fans may feel particularly miffed, as the TV service broke down just twenty minutes before the much heralded first episode of the new series and stayed off the air for around four hours.

MICHAEL EAGLETON does it again, placing Marlow Bottom pretty much at the centre world, at least in jazz terms. It will be one of the high spots of the year for Marlow Jazz Club on Tuesday when they present three international star guests together at TJ's.

On the stand, and backed by the resident Frank Toms Trio, will be three world class soloists from the very successful Frank Griffith Nonet, two from the States and one from Great Britain.

Frank Griffith, also composer and arranger, is from Oregon and plays some powerful tenor sax and clarinet; Bob Martin, from New Jersey and a former star of the Buddy Rich Orchestra, is an alto player with unique sound and style, while representing this country will be the brilliant young trumpeter Steve Fishwick. This will be a repeat of a highly acclaimed gig at TJ's a couple of years back and some more very exciting jazz is expected.

Music starts at 8.30pm with admission £1 more than normal, at £7, for this special event.

The Marlow Jazz Club's web site is proving popular. This can be found at www.marlowjazz.co.uk FRUITY Fiona Dinner Lady may not seem the most regal of titles, but get used to it. In a sense you may have the healthy eating syndrome of Jamie Oliver to blame. Fiona is actually more formally known as Phoebe Mansfield, who is eight and is this year's Rose Carnival Queen. So congratulations to her and to the Rose Princess who is six year old Jessica Lowden, masquerading as Maria the Burford Superhero.

It all started with the competition to select this year's royal family. The children had to create a superhero and associate a costume and personality with their invention. It was done at the time when there was a strong Jamie Oliver led healthy eating atmosphere a couple of months ago, hence Phoebe's character is a strawberry-haired lady with a cucumber skirt.

In the boy's competition, conventional ideas seemed to be more to the fore. Assad Ali Karim who is nine lost no time in asserting himself as Burford Man, while Matthew Crane, aged six, is Rocket Man. So it's quite a young royal delegation on the central platform on Saturday, June 18.

The first public manifestation of the Rose Carnival will be that Grand Draw tickets will be on sale from next Tuesday. At the same time you will be able to buy the programme, also with a chance to win a prize. Please be sure to buy a programme. The advertisers in it, mainly the businesses in the valley and others who give great support to the Rose Carnival, contribute a significant proportion of the overall proceeds and they deserve to have their ads read as some compensation for their loyalty to the community.

I know she will chide me for it, but I must pay tribute to Sabine Bolier of the Playing Field committee and the Friends of Burford organisers who have put so much effort into this and many previous events. Such largely unsung efforts contribute immensely to the benefits provided for our young people by the playing field and the additional facilities enjoyed by Burford School. Oh, yes, volunteers are still welcome, please.

WATCH OUT for invading ladybirds of the wrong kind. I covered the topic earlier in the year, but now is the time when ladybird populations should be high, and so a reminder is appropriate. The harlequin, known scientifically as Harmonia axyridis, a very recent intruder into this country, predates on all the usual things enjoyed by our native ladybirds, but also on those ladybirds themselves and their larvae. Cambridge university is monitoring what could be a serious horticultural and agricultural threat. Dr Mike Majerus at the Department of Genetics, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, would like to hear of any sightings and receive any suspect insects found. You can contact him by email m.majerus@gen.cam.ac.uk Although they have been discovered in a variety of colours, harlequins are generally either orange with 15-20 spots, black with two orange/red spots or black with four orange/red spots. Get useful advice on the website www.ladybird-survey.org By the way I'm concerned that one of the ladybirds featured in the title sequence of Bill Oddie's new Springwatch series may be a harlequin?

REVOLUTION might result if I were not to keep you informed on Rebellion's Open Day. Frustratingly for the brewery, just a couple of days after Valley News announced that the event would be on August 6 and 7, the date had to be changed. If you had arranged your holidays not to clash with that weekend, try negotiating with your travel agent straight away. The new dates are July 30 and 31. Tim was very apologetic about the change, particularly the timing of the announcement, but stressed that it was unavoidable. For any newcomers to the valley, previously unaware of the delights of a Rebellion Open Day, just accept local wisdom and put it in your diaries now.

CHRISTIAN AID door-to-door envelope collections, coordinated by Ken Walls in Marlow Bottom, raised £1,547.64 - an increase of over £184 (13.5%) on the previous year. Ken would like to pass on his grateful thanks to all who contributed and to the hard-working collectors.