Friday evening with a bang

Many Embreeville-area residents were startled at about 7:30 Friday evening, Dec. 11, by a very loud boom that rattled windows. Facebook lit up with posts like "WHAT WAS THAT????" Some feared it was a pipeline explosion or a hazardous materials incident. 

Per protocol, emergency services crews from all over the area were sent to the scene at Brandywine Creek Road, near Green Valley Road, and found that the boom was due to a bonfire that had been lit "in an unorthodox manner," according to the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Co. in Unionville.

The fire company posted on Facebook, "To all Newlin Township and surrounding area residents, the recent “boom” heard throughout the area was not a pipeline explosion or hazmat incident. The situation is under control after Po-Mar-Lin units found a bonfire lit in an unorthodox manner. All units have cleared the scene."

Former State Rep. Eric Roe said he heard the "truly alarming" explosion from his home in Marshallton. He posted on Facebook later that evening, "To the over 25% of our district who may have heard a very loud “boom” around 7:30pm this evening between Newlin Township, West Bradford Township, East Bradford Township and East Marlborough Township, I’m told it was a bonfire that involved an unsafe amount of liquid fuel (perhaps gasoline). Thankfully, it appears nobody has died from the explosion."

Replacing culverts on Green Valley Road

Newark Road may be opening soon, but now Green Valley Road in Newlin Township will be closed for a state-funded construction project starting December 14 through mid-March, according to PennDOT. Workers will be replacing the 13-foot-long bridge over an unnamed tributary to the Brandywine Creek (built in 1937) and the 10-foot-long bridge over Green Valley Creek (built in 1935). The detour will take motorists on Powell Road and Brandywine Creek Road. PennDOT says the culverts carry an average of 167 vehicles a day.

Here is Uncle Meleager's cryptic puzzle

Readers, forgive me, this post has nothing whatsoever to do with Unionville. I just wanted to share a cryptic crossword with some puzzle friends.

This is from the short story by Dorothy Sayers, "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will."

Will Newark Road open soon?

A "Unionville in the News" reader reports that it looks like the road project on Newark Road just south of Toughkenamon has been completed (the intersection of Newark and Hillendale Roads was widened) and the stretch of road will be reopening any day now. He says the paving seems to be done and the lines have been painted.

The imminent reopening represents a glass-half-full/half-empty situation for me. Certainly, it has been a minor inconvenience to detour around the roadwork. But the reduced traffic coming north on Newark Road has been a godsend for those of us who have to make left turns at the challenging Toughkenamon intersection.

The project started in mid-May and was scheduled to take six months.

Great customer service at BB&T Bank

Talk about humbling! 

I'm the treasurer of a small not-for-profit group, and we're in the middle of our annual fund drive. Even in this strange fundraising climate, people are being VERY generous, and we've already received a pile of donation checks. I had a meeting set up so I could hand them over to our bookkeeper for deposit.

The day before the scheduled meeting, the bookkeeper phoned and apologetically told me he was about to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery.

"Does this mean you'll miss our meeting?!" I asked mock-petulantly, making him chuckle despite the circumstances.

So it was up to me to deposit quite a chunk of OPM (other people's money). I could not remember the last time I deposited a check actually inside a bank, much less a few dozen of them. Do you have to endorse each check? Do you need a deposit slip? If so, how do you obtain one? And given COVID, were they even open for walk-in customers? I was full of trepidation. 

Thank goodness for the professionals at the BT&T branch on West Cypress Street in New Garden. I phoned the bank explaining the situation and confessing my utter ignorance, and a reassuring employee named Kessler walked me through the process. Yes, I did need to endorse each check; no, they'd take care of completing the deposit slip; yes, their doors were open; no, I didn't need an appointment.

When I arrived at the bank, a teller named Bonnie apologized for my literally-seconds-long wait while she was helping a drive-through customer. I handed over the stack of checks and our most recent bank statement and held my breath, sure I had forgotten to bring some key information. But she congratulated me on preparing everything perfectly, printed out my receipt, and said if the "back office" found any discrepancies in my math, they'd contact me (no call yet!). 

Then, with a smile, she thanked me for my business. 

We will be sticking with BB&T.

A Scavenger Hunt via Zoom

We had an absolute hoot last night doing a Zoom scavenger hunt with a group of about 20 people.

It was well organized: The emcee would call out the item, noting if it was a "hard" or "easy" one (the "hard" ones were worth more points). Then we all went scrambling to find the item within the 30-second time limit (you got a full minute for the "hard" items). As soon as you located the item, you "raised your hand" using the Zoom tool and held it up so everyone could see.

One fellow acted as the timer, and two scorekeepers kept track of the points each player earned.

The items were both common (e.g., a take-out menu) and offbeat (e.g., a salt lamp). The "feather" item sent me rushing out to the backyard with a flashlight, checking under the bird feeders. It didn't occur to me until the next day that I could easily have retrieved a goose feather from the always-shedding down quilt!

The "empty toilet paper roll" had me rooting through a trash can full of snotty tissues and used dental floss. One participant confessed that she even ripped half a roll of toilet paper right off the roll to qualify!

There was a great deal of scrambling around, laughter, and creativity. For the "apple" item, one woman argued that her iPhone should qualify (the judges said no). One man, out of breath after repeatedly running up and down the steps to retrieve items, said that's it: he's selling his house and buying a one-story home!

We oldsters had a bit of an advantage as some of the items were a flip phone, a fire extinguisher, a box of Band-Aids and a G-rated movie (all of which we had). In the end, though, a young couple who had just put their infant to bed took the top prize: a $20 Amazon gift card.

This same group will be holding a Zoom Bingo competition later this month, and we are greatly looking forward to being part of it.