Worst Astro Memory of 2024 !

Oscar:

Thomas:
I had a scare when my remote observatory got stuck open and the roof wasn't responding. The weather was clear all night but rain was forecasted to come in just before lunch. Frantically got some local support to go out and sort things out.

if it was a real nightmare, this is how your situation would end:

(calling local support)

You: "hello?"

Local support: yas?

You: "uhh, could you fix the roof on the observatory? it's not closing"

LS: "no rush"

You: "no, there is a rush, the rain will come soon!"

LS: "wat rain? I'm hungry, I need to eat lunch first"

You: "NO, the rain will come before lunch!"

LS: "just, chillllll"

(LS hangs up)

(you frantically try to dial the number again, but you cannot remember what the number was, you don't have the number saved anywhere, and you don't remember what was the name of the observatory, so you can't look for a phone number online either)

(5 hours pass, but it feels like 50 seconds; lunchtime is over)

(LS calls back)

LS: "Something has happened to the telescopes, somethin' about rain, I dunno exactly, we just could not fix the roof in time because lunch was just too good, it was lamb with gravy sauce and rice, and biscuits and Swiss cheese, and... (licks lips loudly on phone)"

You: "What disaster?"

LS: "ohh, nothing worth mentioning, just, Nature gave your telescope a good ol' wash"

You: "What?! Wash? Was the dust cap on the telescope?"

LS: "Oh no, don't worry, we made sure to leave it off; I know you wanted the telescope to get washed by us, because that's why you called before, but, the rain did that just as good! Strangely, some phenomena has occurred: after the astro rigs were washed, they stopped working properly, but that's not a big deal, we can fix them up with some of our sledgehammers."

(LS suddenly hangs up again)