Under a grey sky that threatens hard rain, a small ferry slowly approaches a jetty and safety from the gale-force winds that have buffeted it on its journey from Shetland, some 25 miles to the northeast. Its three passengers stagger ashore: two Glaswegian visitors, complexions midway between green and grey, who lean against a van to steady themselves; then Darren Wiseman, 31, who is greeted by his wife, Angela, 35, and two younger daughters, Amber, 4, and Robyn, 3.

Darren has been separated from them for a month, but now the family is reunited on their new home: Fair Isle, Britain’s most remote inhabited island, lying almost midway between Shetland and Orkney.

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Swim Club Construction Gets Under Way in Chula Vista

The Lomas Verdes community, developed by San Diego-based Corky McMillin Cos. in Chula Vistas Otay Ranch, is adding a swimming pool as a perk for its residents.

Construction of the 1,800-square-foot Enclave Swim Club will start in October and is set for completion in June.

We need to offer more with our homes, said Rey Ross, project manager for McMillin Lomas Verdes. The swim club will cater to residents living in the Indigo, Jacaranda and Terracotta subdivisions.

In todays day and age we need to have amenities, like a swim club, that bring value to the community and complements it, Ross said.

The swim club is planned for Spanish-style architecture in a country club setting, according to Ross. The pool area will consist of a spa, a wading pool for children, a playground, an open-air party area and two barbecue areas.

SW China to strengthen water conservancy construction

Officials with southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality made pledges at an ongoing conference about drought relief that they will strengthen the water conservancy construction "at all costs" to avoid the recurrence of the abject droughts torturing the two places this summer.

In the next few years, Chongqing will invest more money in the infrastructure construction of farmland water conservancy and complete the construction of a drought monitoring and forecast system, said Liao Daiyu, vice head of the city's flood control and drought relief office.

The official added that the office will also work on how to utilize the limited water resources in a more efficient way when the area is hit by a drought again.

The neighboring Sichuan Province also promised a large scale water conservancy construction before the next summer.