All the signs are pointing to Christmas being around the corner, bar one.

For the second year running Parade has been dismayed by a lack of Christmas beetles as the long summer days arrive across the region.

There is something very endearing about the bumbling, slightly ridiculous creatures and their arrival is one of the great portents of the festive season.

Last year we got to within a week of Christmas before the beetles arrived in any great numbers and they seem to be cutting it even finer this year.

SPEAKING of Christmas, how about this as a gift for the hard-to-buy person in your family?

You can now buy a three-month, six-month or 12-month gift subscription to the Western Advocate online which will give your loved ones access to all our online news, sport and what’s on content.

The subscription includes access to the digital edition of the newspaper that allows every page of the newspaper to be read on a tablet, iPad, mobile phone or laptop.

Go to www.westernadvocate.com.au for more information.

The Western Advocate has run several stories in the past few weeks about scams, including a massive feature on the most popular scams in the region. 

One high-profile scam in Bathurst and the country involved people receiving calls from someone claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office, stating a warrant had been placed for the person’s arrest. 

That scam was enough to put a shiver through some people, but Parade has now heard reports that scammers are hitting a chilling new target – young teenagers.

One teenager faced a hostile call from a scammer claiming there were arrest s out for the their family, which understandably shook them up. 

A tearful call to mum confirmed there were no warrants, but it was understandably distressing.