The timing is particularly galling, coming the day after the Mercury ran a story about the hard work of the area's business people to promote the positive aspects of the shopping strip.

It is no surprise that the looming, near-complete edifice that is Ambience is the number one concern for the majority of store owners who trade in its shadow.

It is a monument to stalled progress, a source of frustration and an eyesore.

The question on everyone's lips in Fairy Meadow is: What's happening with Ambience? Well, we still don't have a definite answer but now we know what's not happening - and it's not good.

No Coles means no go for the moment. If the tenants were locked in, the complex could be open for business in time for Christmas shopping this year. That's how close Ambience is to completion. So near yet so far.

And another thing ...

How good is Lydia Lassila? Her dramatic gold medal win in the women's freestyle aerials final at the Vancouver Olympics yesterday was a corker.

We now have our biggest medal haul at a Winter Olympics, including two golds - and not one of them did a Bradbury.