Bolide

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#10

Sam returned with two dungaree-clad women. Identical twins, the 'Pottery Jones' were seriously 'Savant Syndrome', monosyllabic, their non-verbal communication nigh-telepathic. Though they did not relate well to people, they crafted wondrous, often bizarre vases, jugs and, yes, 'Toby Mugs', which all sold very well. I knew the protocol: Silently, I pointed in turn to our jack-props, 'Ryobi+' drill-drivers, pilot and auger bits, glue and dowels, long 'decking' screws, soft-faced hammers, small hand-saws. The two 'Pottery Jones' looked, looked, nodded minutely, smiled in perfect unison. They'd smiled ?? Such emotion was so far out of character that by-standers gasped, and several elderly ladies had to sit hastily.

I loaded 'totes'. By-standers collected them, props and ladders. Indoors, we landed 'bearer' pads, swiftly set two props beneath the ominously creaking nearer beam. With that stabilised, the third prop went under the other's lesser dip. Ladders deployed, I drilled several 8mm holes into the nearer beam's failure zone, squirted lots of glue. Warily winding the props, we gradually coaxed the damaged beam back to horizontal. Dowelling those first holes drove glue into hidden gaps. The slotted angle-iron was heavy duty. We splinted the distressed beam by carefully fitting a length along each of the lower edges, thankfully 'square sawn' rather than 'rough hewn'. I skew-drilled their screws' pilot holes for extra strength. Then I made a zig-zag of 8 mm holes across the damage from both sides. After squirting much glue, the 'Pottery Jones' briskly drove dowels, trimmed them level. 'Rosie the Riveter' would have been proud. Finally, we skew-screwed a flat 'diagonal brace' to the underside of the beam to act as a 'safety belt'.

After warily transferring one prop to these splints' centre, we moved the other to the second beam. With one side supported, we moved its original prop along, set to work. Seems the second beam had part-failed at an iron-hard knot. Still, the cordless drill-driver proved its equal and more. Again, complemented by ample glue and dowels, we set two edge-splints, a 'safety belt' and a central prop. Then the 'Pottery Jones' led me and our porters on a whirl-wind tour of the Village. House door lintel sagging ? Jack, auger, glue, dowel, affix mending plate. Garage lintel wonky ? We managed with one (1) length of angle. Near-by window-frame skew ? Took some 'lateral thinking' but, levelled, was soon secured. The many others were just variations of those...

Meanwhile, Pete's team used ropes to haul canvas onto roof gaps, while others nailed sheets across gaping windows. Wasn't ideal, but these would mitigate melt-downs from rain. The rest of that afternoon and early evening passed in a blur of drilling, hammering and screw-driving. Several families decided their homes were again sufficiently habitable, or arranged to bunk-in with neighbours. Pete and I agreed the Barrow could stay in the Village over-night, for the road-clearing teams to resume at dawn.

[kdahm]

Nicely told about the disaster recovery, albeit from a limited perspective. Our two main characters are seeing what's in front of them and how they are helping.

Given the competent village, I would also expect that there is someone coordinating things behind the scenes. Sending runners in vehicles to nearby villages to check on them and establish communications. Setting recovery priorities, since the type of things we see written is for after the injured have been tended, the trapped rescued, and the bodies recovered. Determining if these resources should instead be directed elsewhere, such as a village that didn't get a warning. It's just something to keep in mind, and doesn't have to actually be written.

There are also advantages to sending these kids to the jobs they are doing, rather than fatal collapses.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

Glad you're enjoying !!

Snag is the 'Pass' brought down many, many trees. The roads are blocked...

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#11
Dusk approached. While we'd enough day-light, I set up the three tripod LED work-lights, daisy-chained them to the generator, turned them on. I also connected our 'Ryobi+' chargers, began 'topping up' depleted battery packs. The generator made just enough noise that the approaching police helicopter's 'NiteSun' gave me quite a fright. After circling the Green several times, it came into land. The clearly exhausted Observer scrambled out, ducked clear of the rotor disk, looked around. He noted my Hi-Vis jacket, helmet and equipment, called, "Are you in charge ?"

"It's complicated," I replied as other Village folk converged. "Can you do MedEvac ?"

"Perhaps," he allowed. "Urgent ?"

"I don't know," I replied. Turning, I called, "Could some-one ask Docs Meredith or Nurse Jones ?"

As several nimble youngsters ran off, I said, "We've had a little news from AM radio, done what immediate repairs we could. Contingency plans to bunk some now-homeless up the Lane at our 'Cheese-Board'..."

His professional gaze and, yes, his body-cam picked out evidence of our industry. I remembered, dug that now some-what crumpled sheet of paper from its pocket. "Mum's in Bournemouth, Dad's on that tricky HS2 bridge-build near Birmingham. No news from them. But, both couples renting our holiday cottages drove out this morning before the alert, haven't made it back. Could your people keep an eye open for them ?"

He nodded, took the sheet as the younger Doc. Meredith strode up, reported, "Officer ? I've a young man with concussion. Possible hair-line skull fracture. May need more than 'First Aid' and rest. Also, an elderly man with broken arm, a woman with broken leg. Simple breaks, reduced by feel, splinted, but we don't have an X-Ray machine or much more strong pain-relief.

"In my opinion, the head-injury has priority."

"Are any heavy-weights ?"

"No, they're lean and lanky."

"A moment..." He consulted with the front seaters, nodded, "We've a partial fuel load, so could ferry all three. Will not be a comfortable ride. Cannot take 'Next of Kin'. And, yes, the hospital is very busy, 'Major Incident' declared."

"Under other circumstances, I'd be called in." Doc. Meredith shrugged. "I can do more good here."

"Understood. Fetch them."

Ten minutes later, the helo spun up, rose into the evening. Doc. Meredith turned to me, said, "Well, that's a weight lifted. Matt, I'm told you and your brother have been working ruddy miracles..."

I shrugged, said, "Dad claimed getting a 'Boot Kernel' into a disaster area *promptly* worked wonders. Seems he was right..."

"Uh-huh. Nurse Jones has been asking around. Not quite a census, but taking stock. I'm told the big 'Bridge Inn' room is not safe ?"

"I reckon those jack-props would keep it safe enough for an Evac centre," I cautioned. "But give our glue a couple of days to set, then a couple more days to be sure before warily backing off the jack-props. And Sam may need a couple of 'decorative' pillars."

"To be sure, to be sure." He nodded. "Upshot, both your aunts' homes are wrecked. Another family and two couples cannot find spare rooms, couches, even floor-space."

I blinked, asked, "Would those couples mind sharing a cottage ?"

"Ha ! Tonight, they'd happily share a leaky 'festival' tent !"

My tum grumbled, reminding me I'd eaten very little today. "What about food ?"

"Nurse Jones said Village homes with intact kitchens have no power or bottled gas. Homes with gas have wrecked kitchens. Can't risk moving cookers or bottles in the dark. Any gas leak would be very, very bad..." Doc. Meredith took a breath. "But, the 'Bridge Inn' kitchen takes mixed fuels. Their gas range has big pans of lob-stew and mild curry simmering, rice steaming, to be served and eaten outside."

"Fun 'Vittles' ! We can do much the same up at the 'Barn'," I agreed. "And most Village freezers should stay cold for another day or two. Plus, tomorrow, we can hook this little generator to each for an hour."

"Buy time."

"Uh-huh. Our aunts' and guests' perishables can go into the Barn kitchen's and the vacant cottages' fridge-freezers until they figure what to cook. Beside our 'usuals', we do have 'Snow Siege' stuff..."

[jemhouston]

Planning pays off

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#12

About an hour later, the last of the sunset weirdly coloured by dust and smoke, I turned the 'quad' and its 'pup' trailer towards home. Several youngsters sat on folded blankets atop the trailer's assortment of food, clutched a 'safety rope'. A half-dozen laden shopping bags hung from lashing points. More were carried by the rest of the group, who walked alongside or behind. The now 'Uglier Tree' raised a few eye-brows, but no-one found the energy to comment: Today, we'd had our fill of 'Unlikely Things'.

That siren's steady tone masked the generator's rumble, so the sensor-lights greeting our approach raised gasps and quiet cheers: We had power ! My first priority was to turn on the Barn Atrium's lights. Then I could better see to shut off the siren. Pete led the 'Cottage' guests to their accommodation, with instructions to wash etc then come and eat at the Barn. Our aunts, who mostly knew their way around Mum's big kitchen, soon agreed what should be cooked tonight. Our un-touched 'Chicken Korma & Rice', re-zapped, was mild enough to appeal to the hungriest youngsters, who were well past their usual meal times. The rest of us eventually got risotto, lots and lots of utterly delicious risotto.

While that welcome meal cooked, while wash-rooms and laundry machines stayed busy, our bedding and modular furniture made its way back from the cellar. The kittens were a bit surprised by the crowd, but soon realised it meant nigh-unlimited pets, pats, ear-scritches and play-mates.

Eventually, the evening ran down. Our aunts shared the 'Master Bedroom'. The girls claimed the Guest Room for a giggly 'sleep-over'. The boys got our rooms. After twice falling off suite modules, Pete and I stacked a few rugs, camped on the Atrium floor. 'Laurelle' and 'Hardy' soon decided cuddling up with Pete was an excellent notion. 'Tiger' prowled some more then, after patting me on the nose, climbed under my chin and purred himself to sleep...

[jemhouston]

This popped up in my YouTube feed just now https://youtube.com/shorts/ckuaFHeJr8g? ... ob9KD3K3yT

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

Such a no-warning, scatter-shot event would be hard to survive except by sheer dumb luck...

FWIW, something the size of a small-ish house went by yesterday.
See the, um, unsettling Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) list at...
https://spaceweather.com/ote:
quote:
HOUSE-SIZED ASTEROID BUZZES EARTH: Newly discovered asteroid 2025 KF made a close approach to Earth last night—skimming by at a distance of just 0.3 lunar distances, or approximately 72,000 miles. Australian astrophotographer Dennis Simmons captured the space rock's fleeting visit from Brisbane:

"I'd been browsing Spaceweather when I noticed the flyby alert," says Simmons. "So I set up to see if I could record this fast-moving NEO."

The 20-meter-wide asteroid was speeding across the night sky at a rate that challenged amateur tracking systems. Simmons relied on NASA JPL Horizons data rather than his mount’s native planetarium software, which was off by nearly 6 degrees. "JPL was bang on the target," he confirmed.

2025 KF was discovered only two days ago by astronomers at the MAP project in Chile's Atacama Desert. Despite its close approach, the asteroid posed no danger to Earth. One day, though, such an advance warning might save us from Armageddon.
/
Mind you, it was 'only' ~14 metres across, travelling at a mere dozen km/s:
Just another 'harmless' event.
Unlike those in 300~~400 metre range...

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#13

I don't remember much of the next few days. Stricken families salvaged what they could. We drained petrol from several badly damaged cars, played 'shuffle-board' with the small generator. We progressively triaged, emptied about half the freezers. Teams worked outwards along the access roads. We 'pollarded', re-stood what trees we could. The rest we patiently sawed, cleared.

Finally, the Southern-most team met with a road-crew heading North. Grateful for our industry, that crew fed our pruned branches to their big 'chipper', swung logs further away using their truck-mounted HiAb crane. Greeted by Villagers' cheers, they continued onwards, eventually taking over from our weary North-bound team. Nearer the Bolide's track, falling trees had brought down hill-sides and embankments, partly burying or collapsing the road in too many places. As our East/West route lay parallel to the 'Tuesday Bolide' pass, clearing that would take much, much longer.

Still, the Southern access now lay open. A convoy rolled in. Medical personnel delivered vital supplies to our Docs and Nurse Jones, reviewed some injuries. Property Surveyors began by flying a high-end camera drone, then worked their way around, collating damage reports. One drove up to our Barn, noted the shattered outer panes, but marvelled that the combined shutters' protection had spared the inner panes. He also noted the cracked TV screen. Although a few pixels were wonky, they clearly did not interfere with the youngsters' enthusiastic gaming. And, thankfully, he liked cats, as 'Tiger' climbed his left leg, sat on his shoulder...

Several 'Trade' Techs tackled Village utilities. Much to our surprise, they were able to isolate badly damaged properties, reset 'pole' breakers, restore enough power that I could retrieve our small generator. After some checking with a 'Time-Domain Reflectometer' and such, the Barn's power feed was declared 'intact', and our supply returned to 'External'. Given utility power and a full 'Re-Boot', the Village's Cable Box came 'live' again. Remarkably, both the Village fibre line and the 'run' up our Lane had endured. The 'Cable' guy attached a temporary adaptor to the Village Box for a complimentary land-line phone.

Nurse Jones triaged call urgency, rationed time. First priority was to check the status of our three MedEvacs. Being our 'Community Nurse', she was fast-tracked through the hospital's enquiry system. The two 'Simple Fractures' were reported re-set, plastered, 'Comfortable'. The head injury was indeed a 'hair-line', thankfully 'Simple' not 'Depressed', with minimal treatment required. Also, 'Comfortable'.

Eventually, our turn came around. We knew Dad had been at risk. In fact, the 'Tuesday Bolide' went almost directly over his site, albeit at significantly greater altitude than we'd endured. A 'Chelyabinsk' scale of damage ensued, with shattered glazing, toppled motorway signs and leaf-stripped trees widespread. Like us, he'd been crazy-busy, re-deploying site equipment to shift fallen trees, signs and such from the major N/S road access. Site 'Trades' helped local communities to East and West. Swinging umpteen collapsed 'Smart Lane' gantries aside using the two big site-cranes brought relief convoys three or four days sooner, re-opened the 'spinal' route to less essential traffic. He had fun tales, nice pics, but his call time was up.

Mum, safe in Bournemouth, managed to hold her act together. She'd had one (1) brief call from Dad via a borrowed sat-phone, no news of us. Yes, we were okay. Yes, so were her sisters and their families. Yes, we'd taken them and several others in. Waiting on news of those two 'cottage' couples...

The following day, a convoy of flat-bed trucks came North. They delivered single and double-wide 'mobile homes'. The convoy's 'tail-end charlie' trucks unloaded walk-ways, utility cables and such. By night-fall, the 'Instant Hamlet' beside our Village was accepting refugees.

[jemhouston]

By George, things are working.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#14
Roll on a long fortnight.

That 'Terrible Tuesday' evening, a search helicopter had spotted one of our couples beside their inverted car, half-way down a hill-side, its 'hazard' flashers blinking. The small SUV had been blown off the open track by what they first took for a whirl-wind. The couple were bruised, exhausted, but air-bags plus seat-belts had saved them. Still, they got a hospital stay 'For Observation' before a ride to their cottage. Between packing belongings and heading for a hotel, they bravely quipped, 'Wildest roller-coaster ride EVER !!'

The other couple were less fortunate. Their parked car was found with debris damage. Following the nearby, well-signed foot-path, a dog-handler discovered the two dead in a deep gulley. Whether they'd tried to shelter there but fallen, or were simply blown in was moot. At least their deaths had been quick. The PCSO volunteer who brought us the tragic news stood witness while we respectfully packed their belongings.

Dad was now home for a week, as it would take that time to rest the team, re-organise bridge site logistics, replace damaged 'PortaCabins', re-schedule deep pilings' pumped-concrete deliveries and such. One of the senior contract managers had stormed onto the site, rudely berated Dad for un-authorised re-deployment of assets. Dad simply looked to his equally weary co-workers, said, "Remove this fool." They did. The perp doubled down by complaining to the Board. Firing him, they said Dad's prompt actions had not only shown uncommon initiative, they had been 'Exactly The Right Thing To Do'. In fact, Dad had earned the company priceless kudos and good-will, far, far beyond the wettest dreams of any PR campaign...

Dad was sat on a couch module, Mum clutching his left hand lest he softly and silently vanished away. 'Laurelle' and 'Hardy' were nimbly chasing each other across the new tree-branch 'Cat Gym' we'd contrived. My very good friend Fiona's family home had been wrecked. So, her Mum, Dad and young Berwyn stayed in Aberystwyth with their kin. Fiona was living with us, sharing the 'Guest Room' with Olwyn, her sassy tom-boy 'Coastal Cousin'.

Pete's age, similarly bright, Olwyn had applied her wits unto 'Straight A' scores. And, to Pete's evident chagrin, promptly decided he had 'The Right Stuff', attached herself like a lanky Celtic remora. Now, casually clad in unisex 'Combats' and Tee, she was languidly draped across him a tad more intimately than he'd yet prefer. Fiona, snuggled beside me with 'Tiger' on her lap, found it hilarious. She whispered, "Just wait for a warmer day ! You should see her Jazz-Dance 'Cheer' set, teeny-weeny Bikinis and shameless booty-shakes !"

Mum wore a strange expression: Her 'Young Petey' had suddenly grown up, the terrible 'Bolide Pass' maturing him from boy to young man. Plus, she must now suspect I'd identified this 'Olwyn' as the model for her Victorian detective series' sassy side-kick. I hadn't yet figured our families' connection, but I was not in a hurry.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#15

The TV, on the rolling news channel, quietly muttered while we waited for coverage of King Charles' visit to the 'Cambrian Crater'. Yes, William, 'Prince of Wales', had visited the impact zone as soon as it wasn't crazy-dangerous, while Charles and Camilla toured hospitals etc. Now, Charles was back, headed for 'Ground Zero'. And, apparently scheduled to speechify at some length.

"Huh ? Dad ? That's you on TV ?" I called, turning up the sound. His hard-hat, grimy Hi-Vis jacket, two (2) walkie-talkies and evident exhaustion suggested it was recorded in those first frantic days after the 'Pass'.

"... I'd been through a couple of earth-quakes and hurricanes doing 'Disaster Relief', so had a fair idea what to expect. We lowered the tall piling rigs and the two big cranes lest they topple. Laagered vehicles. Set every stabiliser jack, cab-cage. Just had a beam-section delivered, fifty metres of pre-stressed, trapezoidal ferro-cement. Interior, about two and a half metres tall, would make a good bunker. Moved tables, chairs, water-coolers and other portables from the flimsy site office and café cabins. Just enough height for a couple of 'PortaLoos'. One of the 'Trades' brought a portable generator and power-tools from his van.

"We backed our two small dump-trucks into the beam-section ends with scant minutes to go, tilted their 'barrows' as better shields. Anna and Tony Collins, our 'Documentary Team', tossed a coin, took an end each. Managed to record the 'Pass' in stereo.

"You've watched both angles ? It-- It was worse than that. Much worse. Didn't think it possible with digital stuff, but their mikes maxed out. We sat on the floor, clung to table legs for dear life. Seemed to take a lot longer. But compared to the many hours of a hurricane...

"When wind-storm debris stopped falling, we peered out. Wasn't obvious how bad, not at first. Broken windows, yes, and site cabins wrecked. Had to be much more...

"So, Anna and Tony put their camera-drone up, sent it on a mapping spiral. We soon realised the main N/S route had been very badly affected. Route signs and land-scaping trees blown onto the road. 'Smart Lane' gantries downed or un-safe. Loaded, those gantries are big boogers. Really big boogers. They'd need equally big cranes to shift. Like the two we had...

"So, 'Join the Dots'...

"Work teams headed North and South: Road sweeper, site handler, telescopic crane. Sweep small FODs, hoik mid-size stuff, hoist and swing large. Sweep again. And on to the next. When the debris thinned out, they crossed divider gaps, worked their way back. Probably saved several vital days getting supplies and help in, re-opening that main route.

"Our few 'Trades' hiked to the traumatised neighbours, helped where they could. Locals hated the disruption around our site but, after the work those 'Trades' did, I think we're forgiven..."

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#16

The TV went back to the studio presenters for a while, then focused on the podium. To put it politely, Charlie looked old. After a formal preamble, he got down to business.

"The terrible 'Tuesday Bolide' and this 'Cambrian Crater' are unique in human history.

"The famous 'Barringer Meteor Crater' in Arizona pre-dates human settlement of what was then lush Pleistocene savannah. The 'Henbury Group' of craters in Central Australia are about five thousand years old. Enduring oral tradition vividly describes their formation. The remarkable 1790 'Fall of Stones' over Barbotan, France up-ended that era's philosophical thinking.

"Tunguska, 1908, was a monstrous 'Air-Burst'. The brilliant 1972 'Daylight Fireball' over the Pacific Coast of North America was the first tracked by Radar. After grazing the upper atmosphere for ninety seconds, it was lost back to space. It may still be out there. Several 'Events' over the vast 'Southern Ocean' were initially mistaken for covert nuclear tests. 'Chelyabinsk' was another, but lesser 'Air-Burst'...

"This 'Tuesday Bolide' was spotted by Astronomers, the hazard recognised, warnings urgently issued. Gallant 'Luftwaffe', 'Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace' and 'Royal Air Force' pilots intercepted, destroyed a dozen 'Out-Riders', each of which could have razed a town or crippled a city. Toujours de l'audace: Two French pilots paid with their lives. HMS Daring managed several missile strikes on the main object. Though not destroyed, its trajectory was sufficiently raised to miss Birmingham and Tetlow, before coming to ground here...

"There is a famous aphorism that Crisis provides both Danger and Opportunity.

"We have requested our government urgently declare this crater and surrounds a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest', apply for global 'Geo-Park' status.

"We have requested the prompt establishment of a prestigious 'Visitors Centre', with extensive facilities for education in Astronomy and Geology, such as interactive displays, theatres and planetarium, a library / archive for study of 'Pass' media, such as the remarkable 'Baxter' and 'Collins' material, and First-line research laboratories to monitor the progress of the site. A memorial garden shall honour the heroes and those lost. As on-going weathering, settlement and slumping of breccia will make public foot-traffic unsafe for many, many years, a mountain railway will be necessary to carry visitors around the crater rim, with two 'Upper Stations' at South-West and North-West serving panoramic outlooks...

"In addition, we are creating a new, three-tier award, the 'Order of the Cambrian Crater'.

"The 'Companion of the Cambrian Crater' will recognise people and institutions who have done wonders following the 'Pass'.

"The 'Order of the Cambrian Crater' will recognise those whose timely actions before, during, after the 'Pass' spared much distress, many, many lives.

"The 'Distinguished Order of the Cambrian Crater' will honour those whose actions truly went 'Above and Beyond'. I hope to personally award this to each of those gallant pilots, the two posthumous to their French families and, as a proud 'Unit Citation', to HMS Daring. Our 'Master of the King's Music' has been bid provide a striking theme for the latter..."

The rest was forgettable formalities...

"Breccia ?" Dad mused. "And there'll be over-turned strata, too ? 'Technical' ground conditions: They'll need to stand every-thing on jacking piles, like board-walks at Yellowstone, or bridges on the 'Cheshire Sags'. And they'll have to do it by working from previous piles. I wonder..."

Before he slid fully into 'Civil Engineer' mode, Mum gave his hand a squeeze, asked, "Who do you think will get awards ?"

"Oh, deserving rescue services, of course, plus the 'Usual Suspects'." Dad shook his head. "Half my [REDACTED] relatives would shun this 'gong' as less than a century old, but the rest will 'Pull Strings' and nominate each other..."

"Ick," said Mum, with remarkable restraint. "I'll put the kettle on for tea, coffee..."

[jemhouston]

For some reason, I was surprised by the obvious Government actions. I wonder when Parliament will get into the act to examine everyone's actions.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

#17

The following morning, Dad had the biggest DEWALT drill out, was making a series of slanted, foot-deep holes into the barely covered rock around the 'wrung' Shed. Pete and I were meticulously air-dusting, inserting epoxy resin 'capsules', then cubit-length anchors. When set, we'd attach strong, stainless-steel turnbuckle screws to these hard-points, then wire rigging to 'square' the frame.

We looked around as 'Mairi the Postie' trundled up the Lane in her little red van. Only 'Priority' stuff came thus. We usually collected routine mail 'in passing' from that 'Post Office' cubicle in the Village's tiny 'General Store'. Dad puzzled, "We expecting anything ? Matt ? Pete ?"

"I don't think so." I thought longer, shook my head, as did Pete. "Some-one would have said. College has declared 'Remote Study' for this Autumn's term. Probably most of next year, too."

"Like a tornado strike," warned Pete. "Anything not nailed down just blew away. My friends say parts of the roof travelled half a mile. Geoff's Dad, who keeps koi, found them flapping on his flooded lawn, an easel in the emptied pond..."

"How's the fish ?" Dad thought to ask.

"Too soon to say..."

"That's the snag with such airy, modern buildings," Dad allowed. "After the glazing and louvres fail, there's often dire internal damage. Nothing left but 'Safe Rooms'..."

"Which is why the 'Barn' has two sets of shutters ?" I confirmed.

"Exactly... Mairi !" He waved to our nimble Postie as she parked beside his SUV and Mum's MPV, clambered out. "Long time, no see !"

"Ha ! Mike Baxter, 'As Seen On TV' !"

"Yeah, well, my curious knack of being in the worst possible place, at the worst possible time--"

"And making the best of it ?"

"Not sure if 'Gift' or 'Curse'," he allowed. "So, what have you for us ?"

"Truer words never spoken," she laughed, drawing three chunky buff envelopes from her pouch, handing us one each. "HMSO and a Crown post-mark ? Rare as ruddy hens' teeth, but I've just delivered six in the Village. No-one was home..."

Dad and Pete were currently work-gloved, so I opened mine first. I blinked, had to ask, "Pete ? Your scary friend Stu still on his meds ?"

"I-- I think so, Matt. Why ?" He got his envelope open, fumbled out the contents. He read much slower than I did, but his reaction was similar. "WTF ??"

"Language," Dad cautioned automatically as he opened, read his. He blinked, re-read it twice, thrice, then said, "Pete, I here-by retract that caution. Were we not in the presence of a Lady--"

Mairi dimpled.

"I would resort to industrial strength expletives...

" 'In recognition of your timely and extensive actions, before, during and after the dire Passage of the 'Tuesday Bolide', you have been nominated for the prestigious award of the 'Distinguished Order of the Cambrian Crater'.

" 'To indicate your preferred receipt option, please complete and return the enclosed form in the pre-paid envelope.' Hmm..." Dad's eyes rose to meet ours, their silent question louder than that 'Bolide Pass'.

"Uhhh..." Pete whispered. "I've 'Distinguished', too..."

"Tic-Tac-Toe," I managed, "Three in a row !!"

As Mairi stared in wordless wonder, Dad mused, "I think we'll need smarter suits..."

[jemhouston]

Yes you do.

Remember the the board on and / or questions, embrace the power of and.

[kdahm]

As expected, given their actions.

Now, I'm unsure of actual UK procedures. Would the PM have announced awards like this, or would it have come from the Monarchy? Is there a civil list of awards given through #10 and the rest of the Government, or are all of these basically Royal appointments?

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

Bolide #18 of 18

Those chunky buff 'OHMS' envelopes kept arriving in the Village. Rather than every-one take a coach to London, William, 'Prince of Wales' came to us. Both Docs Meredith and Nurse Jones got 'Distinguished, as did Dad, Pete and I. Sam the Publican and both 'Pottery Jones' got 'Orders'. Our repair and clearance crews picked up a bunch of 'Companions'. Then, in the 'Bridge Inn', where Sam duly pulled a pint of local brew for 'POW', came the unexpected 'Unit Award' of a 'Companion' plaque for the entire Village. Seems we'd become a case study in 'Community Resilience'...

Yes, Dad was supposed to get his award in Birmingham but, under the circumstances, common sense prevailed...

A little-known architect won the competition to design the Crater's Visitor Centre. Given Dad's prowess wrangling that 'Difficult Ground' for the HS2 bridge, he was picked to run the Centre and rail-way piling. Yes, on the British Geological Survey's advice, each rail-pile was deeply triple-cored to massive bed-rock to create a near-unique transect of the ravaged geology. And, given the breccia's 'scree-like' instability, each such pile was 'double-sleeved' to let the stuff creep past. Yes, Dad invited the Collins to record what became their second award-winning 'Documentary'.

Our local College, razed to twisted wreckage, had mostly gone over to 'Covid Style' remote learning. So, my very good friend Fiona and her kittens stayed with us. As Olwyn was about two years ahead of her age-group in Aberystwyth, there was scant objection to 'teaming' her with similarly bright Pete. He raised his act, became a fair foil to her wits and industry. To our considerable relief, he began collecting 'A' grades.

The 'Cambrian Crater' Visitors Centre ? Dad collected a sheaf of industry awards for bringing in that seriously technical 'Ground Work' early and under-budget. As a colleague whispered, "We don't how he did it, but I swear nothing *dared* go wrong !"

At the opening ceremony, King Charles knighted the now-famous architect.
And, to his utter astonishment, Dad...

[jemhouston]

Congratulations to Dad.

[Belushi TD]

Congratulations to Dad.

And to the "good friend" Fiona.

Lots of nice things happening to people who deserve it.

Belushi TD