Chapter 692 – Mother and Daughter Safe

The London smog lasted for five days before the winds finally chased it away, allowing the citizens of London, the capital of the Empire, to see the sun after a long time.

Accompanied by reports of the world gathering fire, London had never been in the world’s spotlight like it was now.

The photos were shocking enough, even Alan Wilson saw some of the newspaper photos and felt a strong sense of the open-air crematorium in India, and the photos could never convey a hundred percent of the real situation.

Visible this time how tragic the smoke event, although the death figures have not been publicized, but he has guessed in his heart, just from the photos and India open-air crematorium about the same, but also can be less to where?

According to his usual personality, he should have boarded a flight to London by now. But not now, and in fact he was about to board a special flight to Perth, the capital of Western Australia, to be with his wife, who was due to give birth at any moment.

Perth is the undoubted center of Western Australia, compared to Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Perth is an up-and-coming city, a gold rush destination in its earliest days, but still a far cry from the eastern trio.

But with the discovery of Western Australia’s minerals one after another, Australia’s very barren and uninhabitable land, there are just a few candidate cities, compared to the eastern cities, the capital of Western Australia still has an advantage, and now ushered in a wave of rapid growth.

Coming out of the Perth airport, an assistant arranged by his wife was already waiting to take Alan Wilson, a mediocre colonial commissioner, to Mountbatten Mining’s headquarters building in Perth.

Perth was still very new compared to other Australian cities, and all the state revenues from iron ore were being spent by Western Australia on building Perth, and with improved hardware came the inevitable increase in population. Perth has become the main preferred destination for immigrants from the UK.

In front of the Mountbatten Mining headquarters building, side by side erected the British beige flag and the Australian flag, pick up his car stopped, Alan Wilson then entered this wife’s name of the property.

Straight to the top floor of his wife’s residence, in a group of warblers and swallows through, Allen Wilson reached his wife’s room.

“Darling!” Pamela Mountbatten moved to greet her husband.

Allen Wilson was very much on the ball, hurrying forward to fulfill the accusation of being a district flunky, and muttering under his breath, “Pamela, you can’t be too careful.”

“I’m not so fragile.” Pamela Mountbatten sat down in obedience to her husband’s hand and said, “The team of experienced doctors are ready to arrive as soon as I respond.”

“Oh?” A look of surprise flashed across Alan Wilson’s face, not embarrassed to say that he hadn’t even thought of that. Was going to ask when he was going to wait at the hospital.

It was only now that he realized with a jolt that he was thinking civilian thoughts, that his wife was perfectly capable of not going anywhere and having a team of professionals on standby ready to be called at a moment’s notice. And his own thoughts, compared to his wife’s. It just looked very awkward!

Seeing the flash of embarrassment on her husband’s face, Pamela Mountbatten immediately knew what this man was thinking, and snapped, “You can be honorable about a lot of things, how is it that you can’t turn a corner when it comes to something that involves privilege?”

“The key is that I’m not a noble either, how do I know that your group has so many preoccupations.” Alan Wilson let out a bitter smile and said, “The place where I work has even less to do with nobility. Malaya is considered good within Asia, but it’s not comparable to London either.”

Alan Wilson bent down and stroked on his wife’s stomach to listen to her side ear, while Pamela Mountbatten’s one hand was placed on her husband’s head, softly inquiring, “You’re so busy, and you still have to rush over here, if not for the fact that I’m going into labor, you’d probably be back in London by now.”

“That’s all a blind rush compared to this business of my wife giving birth.” Alan Wilson kissed his wife’s belly before getting up, “What Eisenhower’s policy prognosis after taking office, the countermeasures after the emergence of the smog, essentially it has nothing to do with me, I’m a colonial commissioner who cares for the national interest of the British Empire, and it’s fine if I don’t care. These things are not as important as you, and that is something I can still distinguish.”

This statement touched Pamela Mumbleson very much, and in spite of all her husband’s faults, it was this impeccable face, so well adapted to civil service, that left her without temper, and ate him up.

For Alan Wilson, it was just a matter of the job changing location, and anyway, there were no ladies in Kuala Lumpur right now who were on equal footing with his wife, so it didn’t matter so much where the job was to him.

The sister-in-law relationship was not far away, but it was not as important as his presence in person to make his wife happy.

It was nothing more than continuing his worrying about the British Empire in his wife’s presidential office, filling it with detailed plans about the shantytown renovation and its subsequent impact. Finding a way out on one side for Whitehall colleagues who must be burnt out by now.

Once there is a big project it means demand, which gives a boost to the exports Malaya has. At the same time the transfer of highly polluting industries is still good for Malaya, so why not do it?

Enjoying the pleasures of the rich while continuing to benefit the public, Alan Wilson did both at the same time and didn’t feel anything was wrong.

His princess sister-in-law, on the contrary, had to bow her head under the eaves of the house, and slightly converged. Temporarily free from the state of love-brain, the last two days is to take a telegram of Elizabeth’s blessing, and brother-in-law slightly more so.

“Every year is a million things!” Alan Wilson peeled a banana for his wife and fed her, “It should be right away, the Crown Prince will be officially crowned as Queen. It’s sure to be an event by then.”

“Then the battleship formation docked in Malaya will have to make a trip back if a parade is held?” Pamela Mountbatten said vaguely as she took a bite of the banana her husband handed her.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to finish a banana, one bite at a time, and Pamela Mountbatten said that it was enough. It was only then that Alan Wilson said, “That’s a must, fleets that can still hold up the face of the Empire will show up. Canada and Australia, New Zealand, and the invited colonial powers should all be present.”

Britain’s battleship fleet, the home front, no longer existed, and the battleships that weren’t decommissioned as well as re-commissioned now were concentrated in two places, the Mediterranean Fleet, which took care of the Middle East, and the Pacific Fleet, which radiated Southeast Asia.

These old fashioned against the powerful countries have been unusable, in front of the vast number of third world countries, is still the existence of can show off, how to say that the tonnage in that there. You say battleships aren’t advanced? You’re not in a position to say that if you’re not in the US Navy.

The reason the current ones aren’t set on when they will be crowned also has to do with when the second heavy carrier will leave the factory. The two Malta class carriers, which have been dragging on since 1945, were thankfully off the chopping block.

Now with the coronation to be held, and the accompanying parade of ships, the work has finally been sort of accelerated. I believe it will add a lot of color to the Queen’s accession to the throne this time.

In the Cabinet Secretary’s office in Whitehall, Norman Brooke receives a telegram from Australia, where Alan Wilson has indicated that his wife is preparing to give birth, and so has traveled to Australia to be with her.

“This shocking event has been heard of by those of us who are officials in Malaya. Colleagues are greatly grieved. My experience in British India has given me some insight into similar air pollution, the topography of London has something to do with it, and most importantly, the industrial layout is too concentrated, and it is time for some industries to be abandoned, and I have plans in several areas to see if Sir feels it is appropriate.”

Pollution levels in British India have always been high, and that’s not talking about twenty-first century India, it’s talking about now. Head on over and don’t think that the appearance of pollution is necessarily closely related to industry. In fact pollution from agricultural production is enough to cause similar smog.

India in the twenty-first century is also a pollution-prone country, and like British India of old, the terrain can’t be changed. The monsoon winds of the subcontinent, as strong as they are, are blocked when they hit the roof of the world. The rainy season then creates torrential rains in the Ganges basin, and when the burning is severe, it creates smog pollution in the Ganges basin.

Alan Wilson’s telegram at this time was just the right time for Norman Brooke, and the biggest issue facing the Cabinet at the moment is that of the damage and casualties caused by this smog event. This is something that is very much dropping support!

The Adderley Cabinet is discussing what policies to put in place and at the same time getting Whitehall to bring out a draft to give citizens a response.

This one, involving a telegram on industry shifts, housing estate renovation and energy, is exactly what Norman Brooke needs at the moment.

“An excellent subordinate, even when not in London, is able to come up with very constructive opinions.” Norman Brooke could not help but nod his head, and then asked his private secretary to send a telegram in his own name to give encouragement to the overseas commissioner who was not doing his job to accompany his wife in labor.

The day came when Pamela Mountbatten responded, and the aide on standby immediately greeted the waiting team. It was a thunderous display that made even Alan Wilson, who was otherwise not so much on edge, tense up.

Soon he was isolated outside the room, through a door, guessing what was going on inside.

“Brother-in-law, you don’t have to worry, these medics are professionals.” Princess Margaret also reassured in a very soft voice, lest she upset Alan Wilson at this time.

“Say so!” Alan Wilson swallowed a mouthful of spit and nodded, patiently waiting for the good news to come.

With one cigarette after another, soon he was on the verge of turning the air within a one meter radius into the London of before.

When Princess Margaret wanted to take one as well, Alan Wilson sternly chided, “Women can’t smoke.”

The reprimand was so effective that Margaret obediently said she would not touch tobacco.

After a while, the door to the room was pushed open and the masked doctor came out to offer his congratulations, “Mother and daughter are safe, it’s sort of going well.”