text:
COWLEY is a village contiguous with the town of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. A largely suburban village with 16 listed buildings, Cowley is 15.4 miles (24.8 km) west of Charing Cross, bordered to the west by Uxbridge Moor in the Green Belt and the River Colne, forming the border with Buckinghamshire.{{#tag:ref|In the historic county of Middlesex, which is still used in the sport of cricket|group= n}} Cowley lies on a ridge above mean sea level.

History

Medieval Period

St. Laurence Church was in recorded as in the parish of Cowley in the 1086 _Domesday Book_ along with the parish land owned by Westminster Abbey, valued as worth to its lord two pounds per year in 1066 and at one pound ten shillings in 1086. Its independent male householders were two villagers{{#tag:ref|See villein (feudal)|group= n}}, one cottage-owner{{#tag:ref|See Cottar|group= n}} with one cultivated ploughland for one lord's plough team. Lord's lands (also referred to as a manorial park) took up 1.5 ploughs of land, and meadow land half a plough. The woodland was worth forty pigs (per year) and a mill was worth for five shillings per year.[1]

A lay franchise (jurisdiction) of the church was held in 1293 by Lucy Peachey, whose name is reflected in several of the roads and by the local government ward of _Cowley Peachey_.[2]

Cowley was surrounded by Hillingdon parish, of which the town of Uxbridge itself and Uxbridge Moor, which separated Cowley from Buckinghamshire on the west, formed part. Part of the Moor is now the M25 motorway.[3] Within the triangle formed where the River Pinn and Fray's River meet, Cowley parish was so intermixed with Hillingdon that parts of it were entirely detached from the rest, while other parts, some detached, lay farther east across the Pinn. For this reason most of the general history of the parish has to be dissected from that of Hillingdon. These complex parish borders were those of just one manor carved out before the Norman conquest from Hillingdon.[4] While Hillingdon parish administered to many areas now in Cowley, most of these were in one manor within Hillingdon whose name is preserved by few places in maps, Colham.[5]

In the west, along the main road between Uxbridge and West Drayton, and mostly to the north of the Iver Lane turning, lay the village formerly known as Cowley Street, mostly in Cowley parish. This hamlet and the church hamlet formed the main areas of settlement within the parish, though there were a few houses elsewhere, including some at what is now called Cowley Peachey, the southern part of Cowley. This name, however, is of recent origin as applied to the hamlet as its older name of 'Three Households' or 'Three Houses' indicates – Cowley Peachey was not a settlement in itself: part in any case lay outside the parish bounds.[6]

Post Reformation and Boundaries

[A map of Cowley in 1868] Before 1882, when the first important changes were made in its boundaries, the parish of Cowley spanned extremely irregularly shaped but mostly south of Uxbridge, between Frays River (the county boundary, part of the braided Colne) on the west and the River Pinn, which runs into it on the east.[7] A small piece () of glebe land belonged to Cowley church on the other side of Hillingdon by Long Lane.[8]

In 1796 Cowley Field was inclosed, with the statutory object of consolidating the parishes of Hillingdon and Cowley. As a result, Cowley received several blocks of land, of which the largest were connected to the part of the parish by the church and to the part at Cowley Street by roads which the Commissioners decreed were to be repaired by Cowley parish and which therefore became part of it. Four parts of the field north of the Greenway were also assigned to Cowley but remained detached (nos. 1-4 on the map), and so did two others farther south by the High Street and by Maygoods Lane (nos. 5-6). Nomansland (no. 7), across the Pinn, also remained cut off from the rest of the parish, while the little field of glebe nearly 2 miles away in Long Lane (no. 8) was unaffected by the award.[9]

In 1547 the parish contained 36 'houseling' people, in 1719 there were 109 inhabitants, and in 1801 the population was 214. The small cluster of homes at the village centre and dispersal of parishioners based on the old, medieval scope of the manor's lands meant a low sense of community and identity especially for outlying owners. Furthermore, some fields and orchards of Cowley had become additions to plots falling in Hillingdon so tithes would be the only ties left if plot holders lived in houses on Hillingdon land. The manorial court for many centuries made regulations and byelaws about fencing and grazing of the open fields, pasture meadows, and commons, particularly as to the stinting of animals.[10]

Post Industrial Revolution

During the later 19th century increasing amounts of land were given over to market- and nursery-gardens, and to brickworks. About 1800 the stretch of the Grand Junction Canal through Cowley was opened, and packet boats ran for a while in 1801 and occasionally in the next few years between Uxbridge and London. The Packet Boat Inn at Cowley Peachey, licensed in 1804, commemorates the period, and the small group of buildings had appeared around two docks there by 1825.[11]

The Uxbridge branch of the Great Western Railway was opened in 1856 and ran through Cowley, but there was no station here until 1904, and despite the spread of building from Uxbridge in the north, the beginnings of industry at Cowley Peachey, and the three large mills just outside the western boundary of the parish, Cowley remained an almost entirely rural village until after World War I In 1891, just before the parish was enlarged, the population was 322. In 1901, after the enlargement, it was 869, and this had only risen to 1,170 by 1931. During the 1930s there was a good deal of building, partly by Uxbridge council, and the population of the same area was 3,687 in 1951. Until 1965 a great many more houses were built, bringing the total provided by the council to nearly 1,000 in 1959, so that much of the area east of the main road and south of Station Road has been covered, though allotments remain between Hillingdon and Cowley.[12] The diversion of Peachey Lane in 1938 and the blocking of Maygoods Lane about 1953 have destroyed the old road plan of this part of the parish.[13]

Cowley became part of the urban district of Uxbridge in 1929 and part of Uxbridge civil parish in 1937.[14]

Geography

[Cowley Lock, one of the two conservation areas{{#tag:ref|Under creative commons licence by Julian Osley|group= n}}]

Cowley lies on a southwest-sloping ridge above mean sea level[15] and is a village{{#tag:ref|With its own ecclesiastical parish church and once a civil parish|group= n}} contiguous with Uxbridge to the north, in the west of the London Borough of Hillingdon — a largely suburban development, it is 15.4 miles (24.8 km) west of Charing Cross, bordered to the west by the Metropolitan Green Belt, the River Colne and Buckinghamshire. Between the boundaries marked by the Pinn and Colne the soil is traditionally called (fertile) brick-earth which has medium permeability whereas east of the Pinn covering most of London is London clay and gravel, a mixture of good and poor drainage. On more descriptive modern analysis the soil is “slowly permeable seasonally wet acid loamy and clayey soil”, with non-permeable loamy soil marking the lowest part.[16]

Two conservation areas are in the village: Cowley Church (St. Laurence), designated in 1988 and Cowley Lock, designated in 1975, which includes all of Old Mill Lane, Cowley Lake, wet woodland, Little Britain{{#tag:ref|Little Britain comprises a lake, historic homes and a family public house|group= n}} and Cowley bridges.[17]

Little Britain Lake

Little Britain Lake in the west of Cowley extends for about 450 metres between the Colne and a channel of it known as Frays River.[18] The lake, which is in the Colne Valley Regional Park conservation area, is roughly the shape of the British Isles and has small islands. It is noted for less common water birds, such as gadwall and great crested grebe, and for more common species including mute swan and grey heron.[19]

Landmarks

[St Laurence Church, Cowley, Grade II*] [Mary Seacole Building, Brunel University] A number of older buildings survive, forming in Cowley all but one of the 15 architecturally listed buildings, the other being the main lecture building of Brunel University.

Cowley House, and the Manor Farm are the most architecturally and historically significant.[20] In the High Street, Old Vine Cottage, _The Crown_, and Maygood's Farm date from before 1700, and there are several detached 18th-century houses there, some of which may incorporate earlier work. At Cowley Peachey are two timber-framed houses: the Old Cottage probably dates from the 15th or early 16th century and is a three-bay house of which the central bay was originally an open hall. At some later date the hall was divided into two storeys and a brick chimney was inserted. The Shovel in Iver Lane is also Grade II listed.

Church

St Laurence Church is listed higher than all of the other buildings in Cowley architecturally, at Grade II*, this building was in existence by the 12th century, stands near the Pinn on the eastern side of the manor: there is no evidence of a proper settlement of any size here, though there were probably always one or two buildings beside the Church.[21]

Brunel University

The main “Uxbridge campus” of the university is in the north east of Cowley which is in the Uxbridge post town and therefore postally referred to as Cowley, Uxbridge.[22][23]

Transport

Nearest tube station

-   Uxbridge (Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines) north of the northern boundary of Cowley[24]

Nearest railway stations

-   West Drayton south of the Cowley Peachey border[25]
-   Iver west of Packet Boat Lane in Little Britain, Cowley[26]

Uxbridge branch railway line was a two-track railway operating from 1836 to 10 September 1962 between West Drayton in Yiewsley on the Great Western Main Line and Uxbridge, with an intermediate station at Cowley. Station Road in Cowley has bridges where the tracks once were.

Notable people

-   Roger Williams (1603-1683), important early proponent of religious freedom and separation of church and state, was born in Cowley
-   Barton Booth (1681-1733), one of the most famous actors of the early 18th century, lived and is buried in Cowley
-   John Rich (1692-1761), the “father of English pantomime”, lived in Cowley
-   William Dodd (1729-1777), writer and clergyman, once royal chaplain, was buried in Cowley after being hanged at Tyburn
-   Botanist John Lightfoot (1735-1788) lived in Uxbridge from 1767 and is buried here where he was curate from 1768 to 1786.[27]
-   England footballer Jim Taylor (1917-2001), born in Cowley
-   Racing driver Robin Widdows (1942-), born in Cowley
-   Natasha Baker (born 1989), Para-equestrian and double gold medallist at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, lives in Cowley. The main postbox in Uxbridge town centre was painted gold by Royal Mail in her honour, as was done for all Team GB and Paralympics GB gold medallists.[28]

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[16] Cranfield University National Soil Resources Institute

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[23] The Church of England - Map of St Lawrence's Ecclesiastical Parish

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[25] Grid reference Finder measurement tools

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[28]

title: Cowley, London

question: Summarize the number of times Cowley was expanded and the reason(s) behind them.

answer: Cowley is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Its origin can be traced as far back as 1086. Around 1796, Cowley's boundaries were redrawn with the village receiving large blocks of land. This caused a population increase from over 100 inhabitants to 200. The parish was enlarged again after World War I, increasing the number of people living in the area to around 800. By 1930, the population of Cowley has increased to 1170.

question: Please list some of the landmarks and listed buildings in Cowley.

answer: Cowley has around 16 listed buildings and landmarks. Some of these are Cowley House, the Manor Farm, Old Vine Cottage, The Crown, and Maygood's Farm which dates around 1700. There is also The Shovel (Grade II listed) and St Laurence Church.


split: test

text:
The CITY OF LONDON SIGNALS was a Territorial Army unit of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals. It had its origins in a signal company of the Royal Engineers formed in 1908 and during World War II it provided the divisional signals for the 56th (London) Division and its duplicates as well as communications for the Royal Air Force in the Middle East. Its successors continued in the postwar Territorial Army and Army Reserve until 2016.

Origin

When the Royal Corps of Signals was created in 1920 the 56TH (1ST LONDON) DIVISIONAL SIGNALS was formed in the Territorial Army (TA). It was reformed from the former 1st London Divisional Signal Company of the Royal Engineers (RE), which had served through World War I.[1][2]

Royal Engineers

When the old Volunteer Force was subsumed into the Territorial Force after the Haldane reforms in 1908, the East London (Tower Hamlets) Engineers provided the RE components of the Territorial Force's 1st London Division, including the 1ST LONDON DIVISIONAL TELEGRAPH COMPANY, RE, with the following organisation:[3][4][5][6][7] [RE Signal Company at work on the Western Front.]* Company Headquarters (HQ) at 10 Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green

-   No 1 Section at 10 Victoria Park Square
-   No 2 (1st London) Section
-   No 3 (2nd London) Section
-   No 4 (3rd London) Section

Nos 2–4 Sections were attached to and largely manned by the three infantry brigades of the division. The Telegraph Company was redesignated a Signal Company in 1911.

The 1st London Division mobilised on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, and the 1st London Brigade, with No 2 Signal Section, was sent on 4 September to relieve the Regular Army garrison of Malta. The rest of the division's infantry and artillery was progressively sent to France to reinforce the Regulars of the British Expeditionary Force. In February 1915 HQ and No 1 Section of the Signal Company were assigned to 29th Division, newly formed from Regular units brought back from colonial garrisons. On 25 April the division landed at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and it served through the Gallipoli Campaign until the final evacuation in January 1916. It was then transferred to the Western Front, where it attacked Beaumont-Hamel on the First day on the Somme and then served through the battles of Arras, Third Ypres and Cambrai in 1917 and the German Spring Offensive and Allied Hundred Days Offensive in 1918. After the Armistice the division was sent into Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine. Following demobilisation of remaining Territorial Force elements, the signal company was converted into SOUTHERN DIVISION SIGNALS in Germany in November 1919. A Regular unit, this continued until the division disbanded in 1923[8][9][10][11][12][13]

Shortly after mobilisation in 1914, the Territorial Force raised 2nd Line units with the same titles as the parents, but with a '2/' prefix, including the 2/1ST LONDON DIVISIONAL SIGNAL COMPANY in the 58th (2/1st London) Division. This incorporated Nos 3 and 4 Sections of the 1st Line company, which had been left in England when their brigades went overseas piecemeal. In January 1916 the 1st London Division began to reform in France as the 56th (1/1st London) Division, and the whole of 2/1st London Signal Company left 58th Division and joined the reformed division on 16 February as 56TH (LONDON) SIGNAL COMPANY. The 56th Division attacked the Gommecourt Salient on the first day on the Somme, and then served through Arras, Ypres, Cambrai and the battles of 1918. After the Armistice Divisional HQ was demobilised in May 1919.[14][15][16][17][18]

Royal Corps of Signals

The new 56TH (1ST LONDON) DIVISIONAL SIGNALS was formed in 1920 as part of the new Royal Corps of Signals in the reorganised Territorial Army, based at 3 Henry Street, Gray's Inn Road, later moving a short distance to 51 Calthorpe Street.[19][20][21] By the 1930s, 56th (1st London) Signals HQ also administered two units of the Supplementary Reserve (SR) at Calthorpe St:[22]

-   No 1 (City of London) Company, Line of Communication Signals
-   No 1 (City of London) Base Signal Company, Line of Communication Signals

In the 1930s the unit was awarded the supplementary title CITY OF LONDON SIGNALS, but moved its HQ from central London to Signal House, 20 Atkins Road, Clapham Park, accompanied by the SR units, which had expanded into:[23][24]

-   HQ Line of Communication Signals
-   No 1 Company, Line of Communication Signals
-   No 4 (City of London) Company, Line of Communication Signals
-   No 21 (City of London) Cable Section
-   No 21 (City of London) Construction Section
-   No 22 (City of London) Construction Section
-   No 3 (City of London) Air Wing Signal Section

Haberdashers' Aske's Hampstead School Cadet Corps (as 1st Cadet Signal Company) and the City of London Signals Cadet Company were affiliated to the unit.[25] The unit's motorcycle despatch riders formed a display team that performed at the Royal Tournament in 1937, precursors of the Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team (the White Helmets).[26]

In 1935 47th (2nd London) Division was converted into 1st Anti-Aircraft Division and its remaining units were merged into 56th (1st London) Division, which was redesignated simply The London Division, and the signals unit as LONDON DIVISIONAL SIGNALS (CITY OF LONDON SIGNALS). The London Division was converted into a Motor Division in 1937.[27][28][29]

World War II

Mobilisation

When the Territorial Army was doubled in size after the Munich Crisis, the division was duplicated and 1st and 2nd (London) Motor Divisional Signals were formed at Clapham in 1939. Later in the same year the 1st London also formed the London Area Signal Company, which in 1940 became LONDON DISTRICT SIGNALS providing headquarters communications.[30][31][32]

Organisation

[Leyland Retriever wireless lorry, 1941.] In 1939, the organisation of an infantry divisional signal unit and the attachments of its subunits were as follows:[33]

-   HQ
    -   Q Section – quartermasters
    -   M Section – maintenance
-   1 Company – Divisional HQ
    -   A & C Sections – wireless
    -   B Section – cable
    -   D Section – despatch riders and cipher section
    -   O Section – operating
-   2 Company – divisional artillery
    -   E, F & G Sections – individual artillery regiments
    -   H Section – HQ divisional artillery
-   3 Company – infantry brigades, reconnaissance and RE
    -   R Section – reconnaissance battalion
    -   J, K & L Sections – individual infantry brigades
-   4 Company – attached army tank brigade
    -   W Section – army tank brigade
    -   X, Y & Z Sections – individual tank regiments

As the war progressed divisional signals was enlarged to cover the divisional radio telephony (R/T) and wireless telephony (W/T) nets, divisional administrative services, rear communications for brigade HQs, divisional tactical HQ, and air communications.

56th (London) Divisional Signals

[56th (London) Division's formation sign of Dick Whittington's cat, leading to its nickname of the 'Black Cats'.[34]] 1st London Division (it dropped the 'Motor' designation in June 1940) was not sent to join the new British Expeditionary Force in France but remained in the UK. After the Dunkirk evacuation the division held the critical south-east corner of England throughout the period of greatest invasion threat. It regained its traditional title as 56th (London) Infantry Division on 18 November 1940.[35][36]

From November 1940, 56th (L) Division alternated with 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, being based at Maidstone and the Medway towns until February 1941 and then again from June. In November 1941 the division drove through London to join XI Corps in East Anglia. The division was now fully equipped and undergoing intensive training and in June it came under War Office control while it mobilised for overseas service.[37][38]

Middle East and North Africa

During August 1942 the division moved to the embarkation ports of Liverpool and Glasgow, and sailed for the Middle East on 25 August. The fast troop convoy reached South Africa safely, but the slow convoy carrying guns and vehicles was heavily attacked by U-boats off the coast of West Africa and lost several ships. From South Africa most of the troops sailed to Bombay, then on to Basra in Iraq, arriving on 4 November and then by road and rail to Kirkuk. 56th Division spent the winter of 1942–43 training for mountain warfare. In March, 168th (2nd London) Brigade with accompanying units was detached to Palestine. Then the rest of the division began an overland drive to join Eighth Army in Tunisia, driving some between 18 March and 19 April.[39][40][41]

On 23 April 56th (London) Division went into action for the first time at Enfidaville. The infantry were roughly handled and suffered heavy casualties. The final attack on Tunis (Operation Strike) began on 6 May, the division meeting strong resistance before the Germans surrendered on 12 May. By the end of the month 56th (L) Division had been pulled back to Tripoli to train for the invasion of Italy.[42][43][44][45]

Operation Avalanche

56th (London) Division landed as the right hand half of X Corps at Salerno before dawn on 9 September 1943 in Operation Avalanche. There was bitter fighting for 10 days in the Salerno beachhead and support troops frequently found themselves in the firing line holding off German counter-attacks.[46][47]

On 22 September the Allies broke out and X Corps headed north towards Naples. The retreating Germans had blown every bridge across the River Sarno for inland, but 56th Division captured an intact bridge at San Mauro and continued past Naples to Capua, where the Germans were making a stand on the River Volturno. Assault crossings of rivers now became a feature of the campaign, and the signal units had to make special arrangements at assembly points, ensure waterproofing of equipment, and provide beachhead communications on the far side. Divisional HQs normally operated as Main and Rear echelons, sometimes with a small Tactical HQ. During phases of mobile warfare a Main HQ could move every day, and wireless and despatch riders had to be used until lines could be re-established.[48][49][50]

[A Royal Signals motorcycle despatch rider in Italy, 1943.] The division's attempt to cross the Volturno was repulsed, but the neighbouring divisions got across, and 56th (L) crossed by a US-built bridge. 168 Bde Group rejoined 56th (L) Division at Caserta during these operations. After the Volturno, X Corps made rapid progress up Highway 6 until it reached the Bernhardt Line in the mountains round Monte Camino. There was bitter fighting on Monte Camino itself that lasted until its capture on 9 December, when the division was rested.[51][52] The next obstacle in front of X Corps was the lower Garigliano river south of Monte Cassino. 56th (London) Division's attack on the night of 17 January launched the Battle of Monte Cassino. However, fierce counter-attacks prevented X Corps from advancing far beyond the river.[53][54]

Anzio

On 30 January, 168 Bde was about to resume the offensive on the Garigliano when it was hurriedly withdrawn to reinforce the landing further up the coast at Anzio, which had run into trouble. On 6 February the rest of 56th Division was also withdrawn from the Garigliano and landed as reinforcements at Anzio. The infantry were continually engaged in the Anzio beachhead, and by 25 February were down to less than half strength. On 9 March the exhausted division was evacuated from Anzio.[55][56][57]

56th Division was now went back to Egypt for rest. On arrival at Port Said it went into camp, leave was granted, and training resumed. On 10 July the refitted division left Port Said to return to Taranto, from where it was sent to join V Corps with Eighth Army on the Adriatic coast of Italy.[58][59][60]

Gothic Line

Massive preparations were required for Eighth Army's assault on the Gothic Line (Operation Olive). V Corps opened the attack on 25 August, and by 1 September the Gothic Line had been cracked open, but 56th (L) Division coming up from reserve still had hard fighting at Monte Capello, Montefiore Conca village and the Gemmano ridge. It finally took Gemmano village on 9 September. After a short rest, the division advanced on 16 September and fought its way to the swollen Fiumicino river by the beginning of October. On 7 October the exhausted division was withdrawn.[61][62]

Argenta Gap

In the middle of December the division returned to the line, moving via Forlì to Faenza, where it spent the winter months.[63][64] For 56th (L) Division the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy began on 5 April with an operation to clear a triangle of ground between the River Reno and the south-west corner of Comacchio Lagoon.[65][66] On the night of 10/11 April 56th Division launched Operation Impact Plain to widen the bridgehead and open the 'Argenta Gap' and on 16 April it took Bastia in Operation Impact Royal.[67][68]

On 25 April the division reached the River Po. This was a formidable obstacle, and 56th (L) Division planned to make an assault crossing that night. In the event the infantry got across by storm boat in the afternoon to occupy Crespino, and the river assault after nightfall was almost unopposed.[69][70] The division pushed on to the Adige, where it crossed near Rovigo. 56th (London) Division and 2nd New Zealand Division were given the task of capturing Venice, which they did on 28 April after a brief action. The war in Italy ended on 2 May with the Surrender of Caserta.[71][72]

3rd Air Formation Signals

2nd (London) Motor Divisional Signals was detached from its division at the end of 1939 and reorganised as 3RD ARMY SIGNALS. After Dunkirk it was redesignated NO 2 HEADQUARTERS SIGNALS, then again in October 1940 as 3RD AIR FORMATION SIGNALS.[73] Since 1938 the Royal Corps of Signals had provided land communications for Royal Air Force (RAF) HQs overseas through Air Formation Signals (AFS) units.[74] 3rd Air Formation Signals HQ was sent to Middle East Forces at the end of 1940, to be built up to strength by absorbing small units already serving with No 204 Group and other RAF HQs. It left a large cadre in England to reform 47th Divisional Signals (_see below_).[75]

With the proliferation of RAF HQs in the Middle East, 4th Air Formation Signals was formed in July from Nos 2 and 3 Companies of 3rd AFS. Of these No 2 had been raised in October 1940 and was operating in Cyrenaica, while No 3 had recently returned from the Greek Campaign. 4th AFS was later absorbed into the North Somerset Yeomanry.[76]

No 204 Group was expanded into the Western Desert Air Force in October 1941. This had to be mobile to cooperate with Eighth Army's forthcoming offensive (Operation Crusader): the two fighter wing HQs could leapfrog forwards, and they were split into several flying wings, each with its own landing ground (LG). Three LGs linked by land-line to their parent wing HQ formed a 'fighter airfields area'. As the army and air force advanced, new LGs could be rapidly established, the earlier LGs being taken over by bomber squadrons. All this imposed a heavy burden on the AFS units maintaining communications as the Western Desert Campaign ebbed and flowed in advance and retreat. In 1942, 4th (NSY) AFS was allocated to the Desert Air Force, leaving 3rd AFS to concentrate on 'area' tasks for other RAF HQs in Egypt and the Middle East.[77][78]

In 1943 a standardisation committee regularised the various HQ signal units, and AFS units were supposed to adopt the following organisation:[79]

-   2 Line Troops
-   2 Construction Troops
-   2 Terminal Equipment Troops
-   3 Telegraph Operating Troops
-   2 Despatch Rider Troops (in the Western Desert light trucks frequently replaced DR motorcycles[80])
-   1 Technical Maintenance Troop
-   5 Wing Troops

After the Second Battle of Alamein, followed by Eighth Army's advance into Tunisia and subsequently to Italy, 3rd AFS continued to serve in the Middle East. It was disbanded in September 1945.[81]

47th (London) Divisional Signals

[47th (London) Division's formation sign, referencing Bow Bells.] 2nd (London) Motor Division dropped the 'Motor' part of its title in June 1940 and was renamed 47th (London) Division on 21 November.[82] 47TH (LONDON) DIVISIONAL SIGNALS was reformed from the cadre left behind when 3rd Air Formation Signals went to the Middle East.[83] The division was in reserve behind the anti-invasion formations along the South Coast of England, with winter quarters in Hampshire and Sussex.[84][85][86]

In December 1941 the division was placed on a lower establishment, though still with an operational role in Home Forces. In January 1944 it moved from Hampshire and Dorset District to Northern Command, returning to Southern Command between March and July. After D Day (6 June) reserve units and formations in the UK were required to send large drafts to reinforce 21st Army Group fighting in Normandy. On 15 August 1944 what remained of 47th (L) Division began to disperse: divisional signals was disbanded on 18 August.[87]

Postwar

[56th (London) Armoured Divisional sign 1948–51.] When the Territorial Army was reconstituted in 1947, 56th (London) Division became an armoured division, with the requisite signal regiment (as Royal Corps of Signals units were now termed) provided by the City of London Signals. 56TH (LONDON) ARMOURED DIVISIONAL SIGNAL REGIMENT (CITY OF LONDON SIGNALS) was based along with the divisional HQ in Chelsea, London. In 1956 the division was reconverted into an infantry division, with consequent reorganisation and redesignation of the signal regiment.[88][89]

During this period a divisional signal regiment was organised as follows:[90] [56th (London) Armoured Divisional sign 1951–61: Dick Whittington's cat with St Paul's sword.]

-   Regimental HQ
-   Light Aid Detachment, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
-   Communications Section Troop
-   HQ Squadron
    -   Squadron HQ
    -   Q Troop (quartermasters)
    -   S Troop (stores)
    -   M Troop (technical maintenance)
-   1 Squadron
    -   SHQ
    -   C Troop (lines)
    -   O Troop (signal centre)
    -   R Troop (radio relay)
-   2 Squadron
    -   SHQ
    -   A Troop (radio) (Divisional Main HQ)
    -   B Troop (radio) (Divisional Rear HQ)

In addition, each brigade within the division had its own dedicated signal squadron providing Troops to the armoured and artillery regiments and rear link detachments to infantry battalions.

In 1961 the division was disbanded and 56th (London) Signal Regiment was reduced to 332 SIGNAL SQUADRON (from 167 Infantry Brigade Signals at Balham). The squadron was assigned to 54 (East Anglian) Signal Regiment, but was disbanded when the Territorial Army was reduced into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve in 1967.[91][92][93]

In 1947 London District Signals was reduced to a mixed squadron ('mixed' indicating that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the unit) and in 1949 to a troop, but in 1952 it was reformed as LONDON DISTRICT SIGNAL REGIMENT in the Army Emergency Reserve (the successors of the Supplementary Reserve). In 1959 it was redesignated 87 SIGNAL REGIMENT (DISTRICT) and in 1961 was merged into 80 Signal Regiment. This regiment, which had the Communications Zone role, was itself disbanded in 1967.[94][95][96][97]

In 1977 the City of London Signals' traditional number was revived when two troops of 44 (Cinque Ports) Signal Squadron, 858 (Corps) Signal Troop at Eastbourne and 859 Signal Troop from Ilford (which then moved to Sandgate, near Folkestone) were combined to form 56 SIGNAL SQUADRON under 36 (Eastern) Signal Regiment. Both troops had the role of reinforcing the Regular 22 Signal Regiment at Lippstadt in Germany as part of British Army of the Rhine. In 1982 this role was expanded to reinforcing 2 Infantry Division HQ and Signal Regiment; later it was re-roled as a theatre reserve squadron for British Army of the Rhine Command Communications. In 1990 56 Signal Squadron became independent and then in 1992 it reorganised as a National Communications Squadron and concentrated at Eastbourne. The squadron lost its independent status when it was regimented with 31 (City of London) Signal Regiment in November 1995.[98][99] By 2013 it was part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment but it disbanded by April 2016 under the Army 2020 plans; the Eastbourne Army Reserve centre taken was over by 3rd Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment with the signals personnel given the option to re-role as infantry.[100]

Commanders

Commanding Officers

The following served as commanding officer of the unit and its successors:[101][102]

_56th (1st London) Divisional Signals (City of London), and 1st (London) Motor Divisional Signals_

-   Maj (later Lt-Col) H. Lloyd-Howard, MC, 1921
-   Lt-Col H.F. Fox, TD, 1926
-   Lt-Col G.D. Ozanne, MC, 1931
-   Lt-Col A.C.C. Willway, 1936
-   Lt-Col T.S.A. Campbell, 1941
-   Lt-Col C.C. Danby, OBE, 1942
-   Lt-Col F.R.B. Moore, 1944
-   Lt-Col L.T. Shawcross, OBE
-   Lt-Col W.A. Tomlinson

_2nd (London) Motor Divisional Signals_

-   Lt-Col F. White, 1939
-   Lt-Col J.H. Cameron-Webb, 1939

_3rd Air Formation Signals_

-   Lt-Col J.H. Cameron-Webb, 1940
-   Lt-Col J.R. Sutcliffe, OBE, 1041
-   Lt-Col E.B. Tinney, 1943–45

_47th Divisional Signals_

-   Maj Jean Joseph Duvivier, 1939[103]
-   Lt-Col G.S.O'N. Power, 1940
-   Lt-Col F.W.S. Jourdain, 1940
-   Lt-Col R.W.C. Reeves, 1942
-   Lt-Col H.C.B. Rogers, OBE, 1943
-   Lt-Col J.R.S. Orchard, TD, 1943
-   Lt-Col A. Hill, OBE, 1944

_London District Signals_

-   Maj (later Lt-Col) B. Houghton Brown, 1939
-   Lt-Col W.J. Pearce, 1943
-   Lt-Col H.V. von S. Thorne, OBE, 1943
-   Lt-Col W.E. Pain, MC, 1944

_56th (London) Armoured Divisional Signal Regiment (City of London Signals), TA_

-   Lt-Col N.C. Pearson, OBE, TD, 1947
-   Lt-Col T.E. Dobson, 1948
-   Lt-Col F.R. Hue Williams, OBE, TD, 1951
-   Lt-Col K.C. Goldie-Morrison, TD, 1956

_London District Signal Regiment, AER_

-   Lt-Col G.H.T. Shrimpton, TD, 1952

Honorary Colonels

The following officers served as Honorary Colonel of the unit:[104]

-   Col Jacob Waley-Cohen, CMG, CBE, DSO, TD, appointed 30 June 1928; later Hon Col HQ LoC Signals (SR), appointed 17 October.[105]
-   Lt John Denison-Pender, director of Cable & Wireless, appointed 6 December 1933, created Lord Pender 1937.
-   Brig A.C.C. Willway, CB, CBE, TD, former CO, 1945–56[106]

Footnotes

Notes

[1] Lord & Watson, pp. 168–70.

[2] Nalder, Appendix 4, pp. 606–7.

[3]

[4]

[5] _Monthly Army List_, various dates.

[6] _London Gazette_, 20 March 1908.

[7] Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 141–7.

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11] Becke, Pt 1, pp. 117–24.

[12] Lord & Watson, pp. 222–3.

[13] Nalder, p. 156.

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18] Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 9–15.

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24] Lord & Watson, p. 243.

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32] Lord & Watson, p. 244.

[33] Lord & Watson, pp. 262, 314.

[34] Edwards, pp. 177, 195, 218.

[35] Joslen, pp. 37–8.

[36] Collier, p. 125, Maps 5, 6, 17, 20.

[37]

[38] Edwards, pp. 127–32.

[39]

[40] Edwards, pp. 131–3.

[41] Playfair & Molony, Vol IV, pp. 441–2, 453.

[42]

[43] Edwards, p. 134.

[44] Playfair & Molony, Vol IV, p. 453.

[45] Molony, Vol V, p. 259.

[46] Edwards, pp. 136–8.

[47] Molony, Vol V, pp. 276–7, 291–2, 296, 310, 321.

[48] Edwards, pp. 138–9.

[49] Molony, Vol V, pp. 337–42, 439–40.

[50] Nalder, pp. 406–7.

[51] Edwards, pp. 140–1.

[52] Molony, Vol V, pp. 444, 450–3, 517–8.

[53] Edwards, pp. 142–3.

[54] Molony, Vol V, pp. 606–16, 632–4.

[55]

[56] Edwards, pp. 143–4.

[57] Molony, Vol V, pp. 635–6, 744, 754–7.

[58]

[59] Edwards, p. 145.

[60] Molony, Vol V, p. 757.

[61] Edwards, pp. 146–8.

[62] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt II, pp. 225–6, 231–2, 249–52, 260–1, 267–8, 277, 353–4, 402–4.

[63] Edwards, p. 149.

[64] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt III, pp. 120–4.

[65] Edwards, pp. 149–51.

[66] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt III, pp. 215–6, 259–60.

[67] Edwards, pp. 151–2.

[68] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt III, pp. 267–8, 271–3, 281, 283.

[69] Edwards, p. 152.

[70] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt III, pp. 295, 319.

[71] Edwards, pp. 152–3.

[72] Jackson, Vol VI, Pt III, pp. 324, 326, 332.

[73]

[74] Lord & Watson, p. 310.

[75]

[76] Nalder, pp. 318, 629.

[77]

[78] Playfair, Vol III, pp. 12–3.

[79] Lord & Watson, p. 265.

[80] Nalder, p. 297.

[81]

[82] Joslen, pp. 41–2.

[83]

[84]

[85] Edwards, pp. 180–4

[86] Collier, Map 20.

[87]

[88]

[89]

[90] Lord & Watson, pp. 202–5, 280–1.

[91]

[92]

[93] Lord & Watson, pp. 166, 205.

[94]

[95]

[96] Lord & Watson, pp. 211–2.

[97] Nalder, pp. 474, 478.

[98]

[99] Lord & Watson, pp. 137, 208.

[100] Army 2020 Reserve Structure and Basing.

[101]

[102]

[103] Nalder, Appendix 3, p. 521.

[104]

[105] Nalder, Appendix 3, p. 580.

[106] Nalder, Appendix 3, p. 578.

title: City of London Signals

question: What was the City of London Signals?

answer: The City of London Signals was a Territorial Army unit of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals.

question: When was the Royal Corps of Signals created?

answer: The Royal Corps of Signals was created in 1920.

question: What was the City of London Signals reconverted into in 1956?

answer: The City of London Signals was reconverted into an infantry division in 1956.

question: Who has been providing British Army's headquarters communications during World War II?

answer: The London District Signals have been providing British Army's headquarters communications.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The City of London Signals was a Territorial Army unit of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals. It provided the divisional signals for the 56th London Division during World War II. Its successors continued in the postwar Territorial Army and Army Reserve until 2016.


text:
BIRGIT MINICHMAYR (born 3 April 1977)[1] is an Austrian actress born in Linz, Austria. She studied drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.[2] For her work in Maren Ade's film Everyone Else she won Silver Bear for Best Actress at 59th Berlin International Film Festival. She is the only Austrian actress to win this award in history of the festival and the first Austrian actress to win best actress award at a major European film festival (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) since 1956. She worked with several major European directors including Michael Haneke, Tom Tykwer and Jessica Hausner.

Career

Minichmayr had her first break with the Burgtheater in Vienna, where she appeared in numerous plays, including _Der Reigen_ by Arthur Schnitzler (staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf), _Troilus and Cressida_ by William Shakespeare (staging by Declan Donnellan) and _Der Färber und sein Zwillingsbruder_ by Johann Nestroy (staged by Karlheinz Hackl). She made her cinema debut in 2000 as Barbara Brecht in Jan Schütte's _Abschied_, playing alongside Josef Bierbichler and Monica Bleibtreu. In 2000, Minichmayr appeared in Peter Sämann's television thriller (in the _Tatort_ series), “Böses Blut”. She was awarded the Austrian Nestroy Prize for “Best Young Talent” in 2000. In 2006 she played Mizzi Kasper, one of the lovers from Crownprince Rudolf in the movie __. A year later, Minichmayr played the fool in Luc Bondy's acclaimed staging of Shakespeare's _King Lear_, always at the Burgtheater.

Minichmayr currently lives in Munich and Vienna. She speaks English and has acted in several international and English language productions. Among the directors she worked with were István Szabó, Götz Spielmann, Tom Tykwer, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Robert Dornhelm, and Doris Dörrie. She is also an accomplished vocalist, and has been recorded several times, though she has always made acting her primary focus.

At the 59th Berlin International Film Festival 2009 Minichmayr was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in Maren Ade's _Alle Anderen_ (Everyone Else).

Filmography

  ------ --------------------------------------------- --------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
  DATE   FILM                                          ROLE                  DIRECTOR                     NOTES
  2000   _Abschied_                                    Barbara Brecht        Jan Schütte
  2000   _Tatort - Böses Blut_                         Kathi                 Peter Sämann                 TV film - Awarded Nestroy Prize for _Best Young Talent_
  2001   _Taking Sides_                                Emmi Straube          István Szabó
  2001   _Spiel im Morgengrauen_                       Steffi                Götz Spielmann               TV film
  2002   _Liegen Lernen_                               Tina                  Hendrik Handloeghten
  2004   _Hotel_                                       Petra                 Jessica Hausner
  2004   _Downfall_                                    Gerda Christian       Oliver Hirschbiegel
  2004   _Spiele Leben_                                Tanja                 Antonin Svoboda
  2004   _Daniel Käfer - Die Villen der Frau Hürsch_   Mirz Schlömmer        Julian Pölsner               TV film
  2005   _Perfume: The Story of a Murderer_            Grenouille's Mother   Tom Tykwer
  2005   _Fallen_                                      Brigitte              Barbara Albert
  2006   _Krankheit der Jugend_                                              Students of Michael Haneke
  2006   __                                            Mizzi Kasper          Robert Dornhelm              TV film
  2006   _Polizeiruf 110 - Kellers Kind_               Aglaia                Titus Selge                  TV film
  2007   _Midsummer Madness_                           Maja                  Alexander Hahn
  2008   _Kirschblüten - Hanami_                       Karolin Angermeier    Doris Dörrie
  2009   _Der Knochenmann_                             Birgit                Wolfgang Murnberger
  2009   _The White Ribbon_                            Frieda                Michael Haneke
  2009   _Everyone Else_                               Gitti                 Maren Ade
  2012   _Mercy_                                       Maria                 Matthias Glasner
  2014   _Eine Liebe für den Frieden_                  Berthe Von Suttner    Urs Egger
  2015   _Jack_
  2017   _Animals_
  ------ --------------------------------------------- --------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------

Awards

-   2000: Nestroy Prize for Best Young Talent
-   2004/2009: Nestroy Prize for Best Actress[3][4]
-   2009: 59th Berlin International Film Festival, Best Actress for Everyone Else
-   2010: German Film Awards, Nomination Best Actress for Everyone Else

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

title: Birgit Minichmayr

question: Summarize Minichmayr's personal life.

answer: Minichwayr was born in Linz, Austria. She currently lives in Munich and Vienna.

question: What awards has Minichmayr won?

answer: She won the 2000 Nestroy Prize for Best Young Talent. In 2004 and 2009, she won the Nestroy Prize for Best Actress. At the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009, she won Best Actress for her role in "Everyone Else."

question: What is Minichmayr's career earnings?


text:
The Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) fraud case was a case originally brought in 2008 that involved the alleged embezzlement of 1.8 billion Dirhams (approximately US$501 million or £330 million) by a group of six bank executives and expat businessmen. The case was the largest alleged fraud case in the history of Dubai, and the ten-year jail sentences passed on the alleged perpetrators of the scheme were also the longest that Dubai authorities have ever passed in a fraud case.[1] As of 2018, four of the alleged perpetrators remain in jail after having their sentences extended by another 20 years.[2]

The loan

In 2004 the Dubai Islamic Bank extended US$500 million in credit to CCH, an investment firm, which was proposed to be invested by CCH in the Indus Refinery Project, a plan to dismantle and move an oil refinery from Canada to Pakistan, where it was to be reassembled and used to supply Pakistan with refined petroleum products.[3][4] According to the Dubai Government Financial Audit Department (FAD) the credit was offered on the recommendation of two bank executives who had been bribed by representatives of CCH, respectively receiving payments of $950,000 and $750,000.[5]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: Dubai Islamic Bank fraud case

question: What does CCH stand for?

answer: That information cannot be found.

question: According to the article, was CCH a fraudulent firm?

answer: It might be implied that they were because of their unscrupulous business dealings.

question: Was CCH sanctioned for its gross misconduct against the government?

answer: It is not stated.

question: Why were four out of the six perpetrators given twenty years jail extensions?

answer: That information is not known.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: This article highlights the fraudulent incident in Dubai in 2008 involving an investment firm called CCH. Initially, the Dubai Islamic Bank extended a $500 million credit to CCH, which they were supposed to invest in the Indus Refinery Project. The plan was to disassemble the refinery, move it from Canada to Pakistan, reassemble it, and supply Pakistan with refined petroleum products. Unfortunately, the Dubai Federal Audit Department discovered that the credit was offered on the recommendation of two bank executives that CCH representatives had already bribed. Ultimately, the six perpetrators involved bagged a ten-year jail sentence, and by 2018, the government gave four out of the six criminals a 20-year jail term extension.


text:
SAKAJIA CAVE NATURAL MONUMENT () is a karst cave located 1.5 km to the north-east from village Godogani, Terjola Municipality in Imereti region of Georgia, 204 meters above sea level.[1] It is located on the left slope of the scenic Tskaltsiteli Gorge across the river from Motsameta monastery, 1.5 km southwest. Many important archaeological, paleobotanical and paleozoic discoveries has been made in the cave.

Morphology

Sakajia karst cave formed in subcutaneous limestones. Total length of the cave is 35 m, depth 20 m, height 6 m, width 4 m. It is a dry cave on high ground with no preconditions for formation of typical cave sediments such as stalactites.[2][3][4]

Fauna

Unique conditions in the cave provide habitats for various creatures, such as _Laemostenus, Mesogastrura, Achipteria, Aleurodamaeus, Metabelbella, Minunthozetes, Oribatella, Oribatula_ and _Phauloppia_.[5]

Archaeological site

It is a multi-layered archaeological site discovered in 1914 by R. Schmidt and L. Kozlowski.[6] Sakajia was the first Paleolithic site discovered in Transcaucasia and cave was named after Rudolf Virchow, a prominent scientist. In 1936 the excavations were resumed by M. Nyoradze, numerous archaeological and paleontological materials were discovered, and the old Georgian name of the cave was restored.[7] During the excavations in 1973 headed by G. Nyoradze under the upper Paleolithic layer at depths of 1.5 m stones shaped with Levallois technique and various types of beads, sachets, knives, and other items has been found.

Bones of cave bear, rhinoceros, horse, noble deer, bison, Caucasian boar, thrush and other animal bones are found in these layers. There was also a fragment of the upper jaw and teeth of a Neanderthal man. The material is dated to the Middle and Late Masons.[8] [9]

From the Upper Paleolithic material, various types of scrapings, cutters, gravel and shuttlecone-like knives and other items made of kaji and obsidian, lamellas and apatites are mentioned, as well as bone and horns: round bones, razor-sharp bones, razor blades. Here are fragments of the Cro-Magnon human skull from Mousterian period.[10] In the same layers were found bones of the wisent, noble deer, boar, moth, horse, cave bear, brown bear, cave lion, lynx and other animals. Upper Paleolithic material is biennial and belongs to the middle (developed) stage of upper Paleolithic culture of Georgia.

Numerous paleozoic herbivorous (goats, deer, roe deer), predators (cave bears, cave lions, lynx, etc.), as well as rodents and reptiles. The number of fragments of animal teeth and bones reaches several tens of thousands. This material belongs to the Upper Paleolithic (Oriniac - Lolotre).

Collection of findings made in Sakajia cave since 1914 are preserved in the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russia and in the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia.[11]

[1] Sakajia Karst Cave in Georgia _Protected Planet_

[2]  Sakazhia Cave Natural Monument - Terjola

[3]  საკაჟიას მღვიმის ბუნების ძეგლი

[4]  თერჯოლა საკაჟიას მღვიმე

[5] Barjadze, Sh., Arabuli, T., Mumladze, L., Maghradze, E., Asanidze, Z., Kutalia, T. Sakajia Cave Cave Biodiversity of Georgia, Open Access Database, 2019. Institute of Zoology at Ilia State University

[6] Sakazhia

[7] Nioradze G., Stone Age Man in the Sacred Cave, Tbilisi, 1953

[8]  Nioradze M., New Discoveries in the Sacred Cave, Bulletin of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences, 1974, Vol. 75, № 3

[9]  Nioradze M., Археологические работы в пещере Сакажия, Bulletin of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences, 1976, Vol. 84, No. 1

[10]  Gabunia L. K., Nioradze M. G., Vekua A. K., О мустьерском человеке из Сакажия (Западная Грузия), «Вопросы антропологии», 1978, p. 59

[11] Tintilozov, Tushabramishvili D., Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia vol 8, p. 669, Tbilisi, 1984

title: Sakajia Cave Natural Monument

question: Why are so many different animal remains found in the cave?

answer: As implied by the human remains found there also, early man must have brought the remains into the cave.


text:
I stood in the doorway and wondered if the door would close. It didn’t, the hinges had come off. I guess I didn’t know my own strength. The staircase was right in front of me now so I descended into the living room. No one was there, not even the dogs. This house is empty. My family left me, took off to someplace distant. I suppose they had gotten tired of me.

I hadn’t had a job for months and my brain wasn’t working quite right. They noticed the lack of work but had no clue what was inside my head.

They had left everything inside the house, all the furniture, the tv, the food, almost all of their belongings except what was necessary. It was torture. It was like they could walk in at any moment and say they had gone to the grocery store. But this was not the case, they were gone and weren’t coming back. It had been awhile since I’d seen them, no warning was issued. They had finally surprised me.

I picked up the telephone and heard the empty space. When I tried to dial out it made animal noises instead of beeps. I got sick of it and plunked it back down. The electricity was still working but none of the objects that used it functioned correctly. The fridge was hot, the clock was lying, the lights made sounds; I flicked a switch and heard a man yell “get away!” The television only had one channel, and we had cable.

Something was terribly wrong so I walked outside. The small car my family owned was still there but it did not have any wheels. I took a walk down the street and looked around the town I had always lived. My neighbor was shoveling the sidewalk, but as far as I could tell there was no snow.

“What a storm, eh?” She huffed out as she scooped.

I gave her a puzzled look and moved on. As I walked away I heard her say under her breath “What a friggin storm”

As I moved along I walked past a small pizza place that had been on the corner forever. Only now it was not a pizza place, it was a clothing store titled ‘heaven’s little closet.” I looked in the window and all of the old employees were still there except now they had on fancy suits and were selling vintage clothing, not pizza.

WEIRD, strange…this is just not right.

A dog approached me and sniffed my boots. I scratched its ears and moved along once again. I got sick to my stomach and my eyes started to blur so I turned around and headed back towards my home. I  noticed a strong stench from outside of the house and as I walked inside it got worse. The hot fridge was melting all of the food inside into a boiling swamp of stink. I could hardly handle it. I looked inside and almost vomited, but I held my composure.

Nothing in this town was right anymore, I don’t know if I had changed or if it was the whole place itself but I had always hated living here so maybe it was a sign to get to someplace new. I packed a small bag of clothing and some food that wasn’t in the rotting fridge and walked outside.

I passed a small field of grass on my way and took the time to lie down. Grass hadn’t changed, it felt the very same. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes it had gotten somewhat darker. I grabbed my bag, which was now a different bag, blue instead of black, and headed toward the bus station. It was on the other side of the street from where I remembered it being. I got on and didn’t even look where it was going to. Goodbye.

title: Left Empty

question: What does the story say about the narrator?

answer: The narrator was just abandoned by his family in a strange town. Everything he sees seems to be a hallucination.

question: What does the story say about the narrator's town?

answer: The narrator lives in a strange town where everything seems to keep changing.

question: What does the story say about the narrator's family?

answer: The narrator's family left him.


text:
**The Explorer’s Log – Captains Report – 3122**

National Space Agency Security Memo:

Interview with Franklin Aigstar, sole survivor of Mission 239
Evidence of Intergalactic Invasion via new weapon. Tele-Transporters? Three dead Martians in ship’s cold storage lockers. Crew’s bodies stored in secure, and climate-controlled, capsules in the ship’s hold. Blood traces found in numerous locations.

**Interview Room – NSAS – Earth**
“Can I call you Frank?” the detective asked, after sipping his coffee.

“You can call me whatever you want,” Franklin grumbled.

“Is this the way it’s going to be?” the detective inquired with a sigh.

“Listen. I’ve already talked with three other guys and you know what? They all asked the same questions! I gave them all the same answers. And now, I’m supposed to sit here and be civil for the fourth time around?”

“How do you know I’m going to ask the same questions?”

Pause. “Okay. Ask away.”

“How many Martians did you kill when they attacked?”

“Really? Like I told the others, I killed one of them. Crew members killed the other two. So much for asking something new,” Franklin added with a tone of disgust.

“We’re just trying to find out everything we can. This was the first time the Martians attacked us like this. We can’t leave one stone unturned. High command is in contact with our genius pool, with orders to come up with a defense against this type of attack.”

“I understand how serious this is. I’m lucky to have survived, like I told the others.”

“Let me review my notes for a moment. Okay. You didn’t see how the other two Martians were killed. Right?”

“That’s right. When I heard someone shout my name, I turned a saw a Martian coming at me with that long blade you have on the table here. I was able to turn this blade into my attacker, gutting him in the process.

As for the other two Martians; I found one in the kitchen, surrounded by dead cooks and support staff. It was chopped up pretty good. The other was in the engine room. It’s mangled remains were also surrounded by dead crew members,” Franklin explained.

“I searched the rest of the ship and discovered I was the only survivor. That’s when I sent out the intergalactic SOS,” he testily concluded.

Ignoring Franklin’s impatience, the detective said, “You were a crew of twelve right?”

“Oh come on! You know the answer to that. Why ask me?”

“You know why Frank, the ship’s manifest lists twelve crew members. You make number thirteen. How do you explain that?”

“That’s easy. I wasn’t a crew member. I was a passenger.”

The detective’s eyes opened in surprise.

“What were you doing on a secret government mission?”

“I’m a translator, and only one of three humans on earth, able to understand and speak Martian.”

“I’m impressed Frank.”

“Can I leave now?”

“Not quite yet. I have a couple of more questions. Are you getting hungry? I can order some takeout if you’d like.”

Franklin shifted uneasily in his chair. He seemed to be wrestling for an answer.

“No. I’m fine. Just tired of sitting in here.”

“I can assure you I’ll do everything in my power to hurry this investigation up. Okay? I have a question. I just got a call in my earphone. One of my assistants has finished calculating how far the Explorer flew before turning back to earth.
“Do you know how far it is from the earth to Mars?”

“I have no idea.”

 “Well, here’s the thing; the ship’s readouts show it went to Mars, and then came back here. Did you actually make it to Mars? It’s time to tell the truth Frank!”

**In Martian…**
*“That’s enough you stupid earthling! I’m also here on a secret mission. To conquer the earth!”*

With that, Franklin jumped up, reached across the table and choked the detective to death before his body hit the ground!

**As It Stands,** secret missions make good stories to share

title: (SF) Secret Missions in Space

question: What does the text say about black holes?

question: What does the text say about Franklin Aigstar?

answer: Frank Aigstar is the sole survivor of Mission 239, a secret government mission. He wasn't part of the crew of 12 and claims to be on a translator, one of only three humans on Earth able to understand and speak Martian. According to Frank, the ship he was on was attacked by three Martians, one of which he killed in self-defense. The other two were dead in the kitchen and engine room, respectively, surrounded by dead cooks, support staff, and crew members. Frank says he is lucky to be alive. It turns out that Franklin is a Martian in disguise on a secret mission to conquer the Earth. He kills the detective interviewing him because he was about to be made.

question: Summarize the story's twist.

answer: The government's secret mission to Mars, Mission 239, was attacked by three Martians, who also ended up killing the entire crew of 12. The sole survivor, Frank Aigstar, claims he managed to kill one of the Martians. When he saw that the two other attackers and all the crew members were dead, he sent out an intergalactic SOS. As detectives from Earth investigate Frank's claims, they slowly uncover the truth about him. He claims to be a passenger on the ship because he is only one of three people on Earth who can speak Martian, but his presence on a top-secret mission raises eyebrows because he wasn't on the ship's manifest. Cornered, Frank shouts in Martian that he is also on a secret mission to conquer Earth, before quickly killing the detective.

question: What does the story say about the National Space Agency?

answer: The National Space Agency is investigating the alleged Martian attack on one of its secret missions, Mission 239. They found evidence of a new intergalactic invasion weapon called Tele-Transporters. The agency's detectives are talking to the sole survivor of Mission 239 for clues as to why the Martians attacked. High command is in contact with the genius pool, with orders to come up with a defense against this type of attack.


text:
I chose to write this story because the author of World War Z states that zombies can survive underwater for a long time, but doesn't say anything about what was done to clear them up. Yes, there are references to other famous books/movies in here too, I hope you will enjoy it :)

Deep Sea

One part of the Z war, or World War Z, as some like to call it, that rarely gets mentioned in history books is the cleanup of the seas. When the war was long won on land and humanity was mopping up the last remnants of zombified human remains, a silent war was still raging under the seas, a war that few ever heard of and whose soldiers are forgotten, relegated to the annals as "cleanup crews". Giorgio Pellizzari led one of these crews, the Poseidon #8, in charge of "disposal, removal and elimination of human remains". Now retired, the imposing Italian man still sports a fierce white beard that contours his sun-baked face. His blue eyes, specks in the midst of gnarled rough skin have a lively, unbowed look about them.

"The first thing you have to understand about our work is that the sea covers 71% of the planet, and with man being a land animal and all, it is naturally difficult to make any sort of impact on such an immense, untamed body. Think of navies in the past, of the Spanish Armada in the 16th century, not all of the king's cannon could do a thing to prevent the sea from taking them all.”

“ I think it was the first prerogative of our job, even before the heathen ones, we respected the sea itself. Whenever we submerged we were completely at it's mercy."

Sitting in his living room, by a warm fireplace, it's hard to believe that this man has come from the coldest hell on earth. Following his exploits in the Atlantic, Pellizzari became somewhat of a legend in the diving community and is credited with having paved the way for the reclaiming of the seas. With the solid education he received while in the COMSUBIN  (Italian Navy's special forces) and his technical know-how of diving equipment, Pellizzari was the ideal choice to lead the "Poseidons", as they came to be known. Something about the naval decor of the room, or maybe the set of crossed iron spears that loom over the fireplace hint that this man was something more than a mere cleanup guy. He speaks with a deep voice, accented by his Tuscan origins.

"Of course, a few divers could do little against the millions and millions of heathen ones that found themselves at the bottom of the sea. If even we fought every day for the rest of our lives we would never be able to finish off all of them, that's why we relied on the tugboats, before the divers...The tugboats were regular fishing vessels, at first we used the modern diesel-powered ones, but you see, today diesel is a luxury, and the little we got was used to operate the machinery. I've got to say, the sea offers all the propulsion you need, for free. We took to converting them to sail, or we found what sail ships we could outright.”

“Three or four tugboats would lower their nets into the ocean, preferably where the seabed was flat and sandy and start dredging the seabed, back and forth, scooping up all the heathen ones they could. When the nets were well full, they would be hoisted up by a mechanical crane and lowered directly into the firebreather, a barge with a large rectangular incinerator on top. The abominations, with their disgusting bloated bodies would tumble down into to the fire and their ashes would be thrown to the sea. We would scrub the nets and repeat, over and over until the last monster was fished out of the water. When the nets would stop bringing them up, we would send a small detachment of divers to scout the area and pick off any lucky survivors with their spears.”

“Now you will say, well, that's pretty easy! And I would say you are right! It was a joy to see those horrible creatures get consumed by the tonnage, my boys even drew a large dragon on the side of the firebreather and when we let them burn they would shout, holler and cheer."

The image of a fiery barge incinerating zombies is sure spectacular, yet I feel the urge to enquire as to the actual fighting the divers had to do. Giorgio nods, he knows what I'm about to ask.

"The thing is, not all of the seabed is flat, or sand. In fact, most areas are full of rocks, wrecks and all sorts of deathtraps for a net. Those were quite precious commodities so we avoided wasting them and only lowered them when we were sure they wouldn't snag onto anything. When they couldn't lower the nets, that's when we were truly called upon, that's when they asked to deploy us, the Poseidons."

Before trying to understand the way in which zombies were fought underwater, it is important to ascertain how they interacted with the ocean's floors. Although zombies are immune to the lack of air,  their sense of smell and hearing are mostly rendered useless at the bottom of the ocean. While on earth a Z could hear a man from half a mile away, underwater they were nothing more than bloated mobile masses, walking endlessly in a slow motion, sappy fever dream. Although this made them easier to kill, it is also a testament to their resilience, a Z could walk alone for years under the sea, marine life completely avoided them, even sharks dare not approach them.

A standard Poseidon formation as it came to be known after the war quickly became the accepted method of effectively fighting Z under the water. The formation was composed of "Heavy" and "Light" units, acting in unison to bring down the threat. The first ones to submerge would be the "heavies". These were deep sea divers completely clad in a massive bronze and aluminum diving suit with a large copper helmet enveloping their head. On each side of the helmet each heavy had a "Ulixes" torch, a model that could light up even the most deep recess of the abyss.Their weaponry consisted of a large bronze shield and an inox iron spear, resembling that of an Ancient Greek hoplite or a Roman legionnaire. For backup, every heavy was armed with a 10 inch diving knife, one edge serrated to cut through netting and obstacles, or on occasion Z himself. While the heavy was slow, he could stay submerged for up to a day thanks to his carbon-scrubbing rebreather and was almost completely immune to bites, scratches and whatever the Z's could throw at them. After having made contact with the seabed, the heavies would gather into serrated ranks, their shields held in front of them and the spears poking out, forming an impenetrable phalanx. Following the heavies, the "light" units would submerge. Unlike their invulnerable brethren, the light divers only wore a neoprene diving wetsuit, which depending on the climate could be switched out for a hermetic one. Most "lights" sported a handheld torch, which they used to find Z and signal the heavies, together with a short spear or an axe. They had GAV inflatable jackets and lead-weighed belts to enable them to sink or float at will. Under most circumstances they looked exactly like a modern scuba diver, complete with fins, air tanks and diving torches. The light divers traded armor for mobility and were therefore the skirmishes of the formation, fanning out and attacking Z at will, harassing him and retreating, luring him toward the grinder of the waiting heavies. Giorgio was one of them.

"Once the lights would gather enough Z's they would start luring them towards us". He explains;

“In an ideal scenario we would have a good visibility and we could see them approaching and prepare our phalanx to face them. Still, as I've already told you, the sea makes her own rules to the games that people play. One moment we would have visibility as clear as day, the other a current of plankton would envelop us, making them impossible to see even if they were an inch from our nose. What guided us was mostly the torches of the light ones. They would signal to us where the heathen ones were and from where they would be approaching. It was important to have our phalanx always facing them because if the demons found our unshielded side it could often spell disaster. Many men I lost to an unseen bastard who crawled into our side. If the lights did their job good though, that often wouldn't be the case and we could face all of the fiends upfront...

That's when the fighting began.

The lights would scatter, either floating up and beginning their ascent or retreating behind our ranks, most of the time they would float above us, illuminating the zombies from above with their torches. Then the wall of dead would be upon us. It felt like a train smashing head on against our shields, we would hold fast, our lead-laced boots digging into the ground, our shield protecting us from their rotten teeth. The funny thing is, this was nothing like the combat you see on land, it was all in slow motion, slow but continuous, fluid movements both ours and Z's. It was a deadly struggle and yet there were no screams, no gunfire it was silent as night down there. Once Z had been stopped in his tracks we would raise our shields and start stabbing at their head with our long spears, killing them rank after rank putting them down into the seabed where they're supposed to be. What our spears couldn't finish we did with our knives, our boots or even our bare hands. Once I saw Morotz, one of my biggest lads, crush the head of a Z in his ironclad fist."

Although the Poseidons were unrivaled fighting machines, losing only 15 of their 300-strong unit in the whole war, operating at depths of up to 2000 meters under the sea demanded quite a complicated logistics system to keep them alive at that depth and to make their fighting force effective. That's something I ask Giorgio, who indeed seems to be well-versed on the subject.

"Due to the slow nature of the fighting that took place down there, it often took days to clear an area of heathens, which is why we set up "camp" a few hundred meters under the surface. Now "camp", is nothing as you imagine it. It's intended as a pressurized hyperbaric chamber, suspended by cable to one of our tugboats. When the fighting was over for the day, we would all ascend to "camp" where we could decompress, lose the nitrogen in our system and make preparations for the following day."

Decompression is necessary to every diver, from the deep sea heavies to a recreational scuba. When a person is submerged for a certain amount of time little bubbles of nitrogen start forming in the bloodstream and if one was to emerge suddenly, these would expand owing to the reduced pressure and obstruct vessels and veins, risking to kill the person. An experienced diver knows this sickness very well.

"We took decompression religiously. I would have rather left one of my guys behind and have one less heavy than risk a decompression sickness on my hands. It's a horrible way to go and it would spell the end of whatever operation we were conducting, not to mention kill the morale of my guys. Sometimes, when an operation was over we had to decompress for days, these were pretty boring and most of us stashed all manners of books and magazines in the hold. It was a down time to our work, we trained to kill but all we had to kill in there was time. It did give me time to think however, as it's in here that I thought up the phalanx, the light and heavies and all that was our fighting doctrine, every time I emerged in the chamber I had ample time to learn from the mistakes we made and perfect our tactics. In the end, a ship is only as good as it's crew and I could use this time to deal with my men on a personal level. I could see who was in a good mood, who wasn't and why, I tried my best to keep their morale high, that's when they fought best."

I now move on to another topic. I feel like I've explored the past enough and I'm sure it must have been quite taxing for Pellizzari. I ask him about the future and what he sees of it. Considering the Poseidons have now been disbanded, replaced by professional Navy units.

 "I was assigned mostly ex Navy guys myself, or whatever deep sea divers had survived the Z war, cable repairmen, ship technicians, even the occasional recreational diver, they were all welcome in my crew...Now that our job is mostly done they all moved on to other pursuits, there are many damaged oil rigs out there, still broken and leaking, cables tore to pieces by the undead.They're wherever mankind needs them to be honestly, and I think it's all for the best. Today I look at my son Giorgio and I hope he grows up in a world that is more than thrusting spears at things. I hope he will develop a culture and master the arts, I hope he will find a job that has nothing to do with the heathen ones at all. Should they rise again, I warn them, while many shall kill them on land, I shall hunt them to the deepest abyss down to the pit of hell itself if necessary.

I’m about to leave, Pellizzari has given me all that I needed and a very significant piece of history, not to mention a lesson learned shall the Z’s decide to infect humanity again. Before I go I have one last question, something unrelated that has always fascinated me. I ask Pellizzari if he’s ever seen things down there, things that no one has ever seen before.

I was half expecting a sardonic remark, something sarcastic or funny, but the man gave me a look that was all the opposite. He seemed to pause on this one and then, almost by surprise gives me an answer I was not expecting.

“Once, and only once. We were at 5,000 meters down and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a hallucination caused by the nitrogen in our blood, but I’m pretty sure we all saw it. It’s eye was as big as one of our shields, tentacles, numerous and thick as a tree, they must have been longer than one of our tugboats. It came close, I think it was just curious. We poked at it with our spears and one of my guys pierced it’s eye. It left in a flurry, an abomination never to be seen again. Never forget, that to this day we know more about the surface of the moon than we do what lies at the bottom of the sea.”

title: Deep Sea (World War Z fanfic, sort of)

question: Summarize why Pellizzari became somewhat of a legend in the diving community.

answer: Pellizzari became a legend in the diving community due to his part in the cleanup of the seas. He led one of the clean up crews, the Poseidons. they were in charge of disposal, removal, and elimination of human remains. This was due to his solid education he received while in the COMSUBIN (Italian Navy's special forces) and his technical knowledge of diving equipment. He was credited for having paved the way for the reclaiming of the seas.

question: Summarize what Pellizzari is referencing when he says "abominations".

answer: Pellizzari is referencing "the heathen ones", which were zombified human remains with disgusting bloated bodies. They had rotting teeth. Millions of them found themselves at the bottom of the sea, and they were to be captured and incinerated by a crew. In the process of trying to clean the ocean of them, sometimes these abominations would fight back against the cleanup crews.

question: What does the text say about the seabed?

answer: The seabed of the ocean was mostly flat and sandy. It's where the heathen ones resided and are supposed to be. The cleanup crews would dredge the seabed to scoop up as many heathen ones as they could for incineration. The areas of the seabed that aren't flat and sandy are full of rocks, wrecks, and other deathtraps for the clean up crew's nets.

question: What does the story say about the importance of morale?

answer: Pellizzari notes that his men fought best when their morale was high. This is why he made sure his crew did lots of decompression when they dived. Without this, oxygen would enter the bloodstream and cause a certain type of sickness. When one of the guys was killed from it, it would kill the morale of the men. This would affect how the ship ran. Pellizzari would always make sure to see who was in a good mood or who wasn't in order to keep the morale going.

question: What does the text say about the narrator's wife?


text:
	I don’t think their life could be anymore sweet, only described as a husband and wife in an imaginary home. Their little house made them feel like king and queen living in a faraway castle, where the stories they read always took them. It was an old house for sure, old wooden planks with flaky paint like a birch tree’s bark. Even though they felt alone in their world, their new mother and father watched over them, their true parents died a long time ago.  It was always warm and kind in that house, no matter how cold the winters became. They spent their time in the little nook in the wall up the stairs, in the room with the bookshelf where they shared their summer afternoons and their Christmas Eves, hands intertwined and heads leaning against each other, where they knew their parents couldn’t see them.
	“Rainier?” She asked him, letting her hand slide over the weathered page, her frail hand slipping into his as he set the book read a thousand times down.
	“Aislin?” He smiled and looking into evergreen eyes with a sheen, the lamp glowing in the corner of her eye.
	“Have you ever thought it was like outside this house?” Aislin paused and took a glimpse out the window, the grey skies with the contorted trees, twisted fingers for twigs, pointing out into the cold world outside. “We’ve lived in a book for so long, I don’t know if I can imagine the world outside of our house.”  Rainer pursed his lips in thought, letting his eyes sink to the floor as if his answer was written in the soft carpet.
	“Do you really want to go out there? Just look at the window, it has cracks of ice in it, the trees are mere seconds from turning to monsters and snatching you up!” He smirked with a charming crease, putting an arm about her. “I don’t want to have you taken by those scary looking things!” She pulled away from him, letting his arm fall to his side.
	“I know we’re happy here. I know we’ve spent all this time in our head, reading the stories we could read again and again, live the same stories with the same ending…” She stopped to let her head snap slightly in certain directions, as if trying to calm herself.
	“Rainier, I love this, I love you! But there’s so much more out there! I’ve always known there was something more, like that golden sunrise. We’d watch from the castle spire in our book. Imagine seeing that with our own eyes? Imagine living something that magnificent?” She pleaded him, her frail palms pinned together.
	He paused and breathed, something jerking in his eye. “Once we go out there it would never be the same. We’d always want more; crave that actual sight of the real world. Aislin, I would be afraid something would spark in you, to go into the real world, and run away from me.” He let his head fall between his knees as he peered at the floor, with holding the over flowing dams in his eyes.
	“I’d never leave, never leave you. But just imagine that; imagine the world of the brighter than the black ink we read off?”
	Rainer picked his head up and looked into the evergreen eyes of Aislin, always provoking, but she was right, they had deprived themselves, and maybe it was time to see the world with their own eyes.
	They took their first steps out of their room. The house has gotten older since the last time he saw it, dust on the vases with the drooping plants with darkened carcasses, holes eaten in the hand rail of the stairs. They walked slowly hand in hand down the steps, creaking horribly with age.
	“My legs seem so weak.” Rainier said with his arm supporting Aislin to the best of his strength.
	“Maybe the book did cost us something.” She chortled, taking the final step off the stair with Rainer in tow. Aislin got to the door before he could stop her. The door burst open and smashed against the wall outside with a resounding thunk. For some reason the world was a lot brighter out here than from that little window. The sun was pinned in the high noon sky with excitement, it didn’t move for minutes, hours.
	Aislin loved it, for the days to come she sat on the porch and watched the sunrise. But Rainier became jealous, reading his book with the king and queen who fell in love. But Aislin began to detach from Rainier, just as he suspected would happen on that dreaded morning.
	She became restless sitting with him and reading the story, even to where their parents couldn’t calm her down. She would take long walks in the night to hear the coyotes howl and the wind whistle through the trees. She always brought a candle, of course, for good measure, just to see her foot prints in the snow back to the house she grew more and more disliking for.
	But then the one night she left, she was so tired from her travels she forgot to put out her candle, and knocked it over on top of Rainier’s book that he read another thousand times over. Their little house burned and burned with the fuel of a hundred page life: The life that Rainier and Aislin once shared. Rainier made it with his body in tact but burned. But the Dream called Aislin wasn’t so lucky, the fire swallowing her whole as if it we’re friends with the monstrous trees that Rainier told her about.
	But as he and her family laid her to rest, he shed a single tear for her, dripping into the snow below his feet, the scars in his face still visible, only leaving him a memory of the world he had, which was burned down.

He sat outside the ruins of the little house they once lived, fiddling with a small fragment of the book that manage to endure the fire. His father put a hand on his shoulder, tensing, “She was a good girl. But she wouldn’t want to see you like this.”
“She’d do the same for me, sit here, and wallow in us. Why can’t you understand that?”
“I don’t want you to waste your time reveling in the unchangeable.” Rainer let his head hand between his knees, just like he did that night a long time ago.
	“She can live in my heart, until the day I die.”
The father paused for a moment, and smirked a little and gave his son a pat on his back, looking at the small page left from the fire, “The story must go on, Rainier, you can’t keep reliving this ‘end’.” The father turned and walked away, Rainier left in shambles, crying between his legs

His compass points were washed out by his own tears, metal rusting away after her death. A year had since passed, and the boy walked into school with his over bared back and the now common statue-frown on his face, the burn scars there too.
	It was a different start than what you might think. He had his usual day walking into school, the Principle, Ms. Sentria; stood by her usual window looking at all the cars go by. The children were sitting in the lobby talking smack and school politics.
“Morning, Rainier.” The Principle said to him as he peeled through the doors.
He didn’t say anything, just wrapped in his head, sitting with the mental embers of his long-gone house.
He took his place in front of his water fountain, about to take a drink. The water tasted different to him, sweeter, as if each drop of water had a drop of honey with it too. He licked his lips of what was left and bent back upwards. A boy named Mr. Able grasped his shoulder quickly, startling Rainier.
	“Whoa, relax dude I’m not gonna kill you. Hey, come with me and meet some of my friends!” Rainier stood staring at him, eyeing him, turning his presence over and over in his head. Mr. Able stated right back at him, taking a moment to put a comforting hand on his weary shoulder, wanting to free this boy from his troubles.
	“We miss her too, more than you know. But just because she’s gone doesn’t mean you have to live as a statue.” Rainier cringed at his remarks, shrugging off his hand.
	“Able I know you care, about her, about me. But our life was torn down, burned with the book we read. I know you care, but I rather be a statue, so I could at last pretend to be frozen, and maybe forget to breathe someday.” Rainier held his tears well in his eyes as he almost got out of his arms reach.
	“But who isn’t to say that her void could be filled? Walk with me; I want you to meet some friends of mine.” Rainier paused a moment, seeing the embers of their house begin to die.
	“Go on Rainier.” Aislin’s voice said to him, somewhere cramped in a cupboard in his head. “Taste something sweet for once.”
	Rainier, let his dams break in his eyes, trickling like the waning icicles of his internal winter, lifting to the spring in which he found here—with new friends.
	The new friend he made showed him to all of those people. What brilliant folk they were too, with warm eyes and playful hair that swayed in the back draft of friendly conversation. They talked and talked for what seemed like minutes, but (only until they heard later) ended up being three hours. Their Principle still stood at the window and watched the cars go by, now brighter, quieter. My friend, the one who startled me at the water fountain, Mr. Able hushed all of the chatter to ask the question no one wanted answered.

	“Are we late for class Ms. Sentria?” The Principle reveled the question a moment, as if swishing it around in her head, like mouth rinse.
	She replied with a relaxed tone in her breath, “Class started three hours ago—but I let school out early today.
	“But why,” All the students said collectively, beginning to haul their bags onto their shoulders and leave the lobby where the sense of home began to set in, “The sun is still shining, nobody died, what’s the problem?” She smirked at the crowd, all with the questioning look in their eyes.
	“Everyone put their bags down, stretch a little, and listen up, I have a little—observation I want to talk about.”
	This was different. For as long as Rainier or Able could remember, Ms. Sentria was a cold as stone and about as hard as one too. Even her soft side was comparable to snow, even though soft, the needle pricks of the frigid blanket. She was even having trouble collecting herself now, and it began to scare all the students. She was the perfect human replica of a robot, but now her human side began to break through her tough skin.
	“I think we all remember when Rainier and Aislin were put into the hospital after the house they stayed in was burned to the ground. Rainier, I hate to put you in the hot seat, but I’ve never seen a human being so much like a statue in my forty years of being a Principle here at this school.” Rainier sank into his seat at the thought of Aislin.
	“I lost the greatest dream in my life, even her name meant it.” Rainier mumbled just loud enough for all of them to hear.
	“You had your swings, your times when you fell on your face in the dirt and didn’t want to get up, but then you disappeared for a year. We all missed you dearly.” All the students hung their heads now in the thought of that dreaded time.
	“But—.” He tried to cut in, but the Principle
	“This morning, I’ve never seen something so—beautiful. I’ve been here long enough to know this school isn’t exactly the most accepting. But this morning, I’m pointing at you Mr. Able, where you grabbed Mr. Middle’s shoulder and helped him find his home again. You may have all thought I was staring out the window into the road, just watching the cars, but I was really listening to you all. Rainier, I’ve never seen you more alive than this…”
	“I’ve never been so alive!” Rainier collapsed, his new friends supporting him as he cried, with their own tears creeping out of the cracks in their eye sockets.
	“I was such a fool! I spent so much time outside that little place, as a statue, a monument to her death. But Now that I’m here, you all saved me, even you mutes!”
	Those hours he just lived, the ones spent on the floor in the window sunlight, talking about all of life and its actors. He had never been so warm before, even in Aislin’s arms. Ms. Sentria walked for the door, her heels clacking on the floor.
	“You can stay for as long as you want, just lock the door when you all leave.” She pushed through the door and walked outside, and I swear I saw a tear drop roll onto the concrete outside.
	“Thank you, Mr. Able.” Rainier laughed as he lightly punched Mr. Able in the arm.
	“Ha! Don’t thank me bro, I’m just glad I could help you find your Sweetwater.”
	Aislin appeared in faded pixels to Rainier’s eyes, tears in the evergreens in her head. “Nice to taste something sweet isn’t it?”

title: House with a Drop of Sweetwater

question: What does the story say about the qualities that make a good firefighter?

question: What does the story say about the relationship between Rainier and Aislin?

answer: Rainier and Aislin are siblings who were very close and sweet to one another. They loved each other wholeheartedly and would pretend to be husband and wife in an imaginary home. They lived in a little old house with their warm and loving foster parents because their biological parents died a long time ago. They would read the same fairytale book about a king and queen living in a faraway castle and they would imagine their lives in the pages of the book. The siblings would hold hands and lean their heads against one another in the nook under the stairs or in the room with the bookshelf. Aislin always wanted to see what the outside world was like and detached from Rainier once she had the opportunity to venture outdoors. Rainier took Aislin's death hard and mourned her for more than a year, turning himself into a statue and monument to her death.

question: Summarize the primary source of tension in the story.

answer: The primary source of tension in the story is Aislin's desire to explore the world outside their home, which led to the accident that burned down their house and killed her. She became detached from Rainier once she set foot outside, which made him jealous. When she died, Rainier felt lost and took it hard. He became a monument to her death.

question: What role does Mr. Able play in the story?

answer: Mr. Able comforted the weary Rainier. He cares about Rainier and Aislin and wants to help. Mr. Able invited Rainier to meet his friends. This act of kindness helped Rainier move on from the grief of losing Aislin.


text:
[Plymouth, the capital, was abandoned in 1997 following the eruption] The ECONOMY OF MONTSERRAT was severely disrupted by volcanic activity which began in July 1995. Prior to this date, the small island country of 12,000 had an export economy based on agriculture, clothing, electronic parts and plants, with a per capita gross national product of US$3,000 to 8,000.[1]

Montserrat had an international reputation as a tourist getaway, and the record producer George Martin established an important recording studio there, Associated Independent Recording. Destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the studio was never reestablished; however, Martin subsequently helped found the Montserrat Cultural Centre, which was opened in 2007.[2] Some of the funds were raised in a London concert called “Music for Montserrat” (September 15, 1997).

Collapse

A catastrophic eruption of Soufrière Hills in June 1997 closed the W. H. Bramble Airport and seaport at Plymouth, causing further economic and social dislocation. Two-thirds of the inhabitants fled the island. Some began to return in 1998, but lack of housing limited the number.

The agriculture sector continued to be affected by the lack of suitable land for farming and the destruction of crops. Prospects for the economy depend largely on developments in relation to the volcano and on public sector construction activity. The UK launched a three-year $122.8 million aid program to help reconstruct the economy. Half of the island was expected to remain uninhabitable for another decade.[3]

[Soufrière Hills continues to play a detrimental role in both agricultural and economic activity on Montserrat.]Today, Montserrat's main economic activity is in construction and government services which together accounted for about 50 percent of GDP in 2000 when it was EC$76 million. In contrast, banking and insurance together accounted for less than 10 percent of GDP. The unemployment rate in 1998 was estimated at 6 percent. Montserrat's domestic financial sector is very small and has seen a reduction in offshore finance in recent years with only 11 offshore banks remaining. Real GDP declined from EC$122 million in 1995 to about EC$60 million in 1999, with the rate of decline peaking at -21.5 percent for 1996. The decline in economic activity reflected in large part the completion of major projects in both the private and public sectors. However, the rate of decline slowed markedly since 2000 and 2001, when GDP contracted by less than 3 percent. In 2002, the GDP growth rate reverted to a positive 4.6 percent reversing the declining trend over the past six years and maybe more.

  Year   Real GDP (factor cost)[4]        % Change
  ------ -------------------------------- ----------
  1996   95.9                             -21.5
  1997   76.7                             -20.0
  1998   68.9                             -8.6
  1999   60.3                             -12.5
  2000   58.6                             -2.8
  2001   56.9                             -2.9
  2002   59.5                             -4.6
  2002   79.9 (2000 constant prices)[5]   +3.3
  2003   78.9                             -0.9
  2004   82.4                             +4.5
  2005   83.7                             +1.5

New Town

The Montserrat Development Corporation was an entity founded by the Government of Montserrat and the Department for International Development in 2008. The company's primary mandate was to help foster private sector investment and development on the island. The company had announced plans to develop the new town of Little Bay on the northwest coast of Montserrat between Brades and Davy Hill, however an internal audit of the company in 2015 led to the company's dissolution.[6] The audit revealed that the company was not being prudent with the government's funds.

Slated for completion by 2020, the new town will be the new focus of tourism, trade and housing and will also house the seat of government.[7]

[1] Sue Grabham, editor, _Circling the Globe: A young people's guide to countries and cultures of the world_, New York: Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, 1995, p. 591.

[2]

[3] “_Montserrat – Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom: Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector_” International Monetary Fund, November 2003

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] Montserrat Development Corporation, New Town Development

title: Economy of Montserrat

question: Summarize everything related to the new town.

answer: The Government of Montserrat and the Department for International Development had created the Montserrat Development Corporation in 2008. The company's aim was to foster private sector investment and development on the island. With this aim in mind, the company had announced the development of a new town named Little Bay on the northwest coast of Montserrat, however, the company was dissolved in 2015. The town was expected to be completed in 2020 and serve as the new focus of tourism and trade.

question: Summarize the history of Montserrat.

answer: After the beginning of the volcanic activity in 1995, the economy happen to be severely disrupted. The country had an economy based on agriculture, clothing, and electronic parts. The island was also well-known as a tourist gateway and as the place where an important recording studio was set up by George Martin.

question: What is Montserrat's current GDP?

question: What sectors contribute to the island's GDP currently?

answer: The island's main economic activity today is construction and government services. These two services combined form about 50 percent of the GDP while banking and insurance amount to less than 10 percent. Montserrat has witnessed a reduction in offshore financing in the recent years with only eleven banks remaining now.


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TEXAS STINGRAY is a wooden roller coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. Manufactured by Great Coasters International, it opened to the public on February 22, 2020.

History

Planning for Texas Stingray dates to 2017.[1] In April 2019, it was reported that a trademark was filed for a new theme park ride at SeaWorld San Antonio under the name “Abyss”. At around the same time land clearing and construction began at the park on a site across the pathway from the nearly finished attractions for 2019, Turtle Reef, Riptide Rescue, and Sea Swinger.[2] Texas Stingray was not publicly announced until September 2019,and the trains would be revealed at the IAAPA expo at a later date.[3][4][5] when it was reported that the coaster would open in spring 2020.[6] Texas Stingray officially opened for annual pass members on February 22, 2020,[7] but did not open to the general public until February 29.[8]

Description

When announced, Texas Stingray was advertised as the “tallest, fastest, [and] longest” wooden coaster in Texas. It features a maximum drop of and a top speed of . It also utilizes steel supports and is thus a hybrid coaster.[9][10] Texas Stingray is long.[11]

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title: Texas Stingray

question: When was the Texas Stingray opened to the public?

answer: It was opened to the public on February 22, 2020.

question: Where is the Texas Stingray located?

answer: It is located at SeaWorld San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.

question: When did planning for the Texas Stingray begin?

answer: Planning began in 2017.

question: How fast can the Texas Stingray go?

answer: Not answered.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article details the Texas Stingray, a wooden rollercoaster located at SeaWorld San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. It was opened to the public on February 22, 2020.