A word from Buckingham Palace

You may know that Queen Elizabeth II is a very busy, alert and curious lady, so no wonder why - one day - she stumbled upon my blog and has since remained a very avid reader. A few days ago, she happened to read the account of our record vertical in Deer Valley and was so impressed that a few days later I received the following email from her Majesty:

“Dear Dirk Beal and Go11,
You're hereby summoned to come to Buckingham Palace and receive the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for your remarkable achievement in Deer Valley Resort on January the 4th, 2010. Had you reached the 125,000 foot threshold you would have been knighted, but the OBE is already a good reward and one first step into the whole process. I hope to see you both very soon!
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”

Obviously, she still thinks we're part of the Commonwealth and she couldn't detect my French accent off my blog. I've not mentioned it to Dirk yet, but I think we'll go as long as the Queen put us up at Buckingham, pays for the airfare and schedule the ceremony well after the ski season...