Not too long ago, I was contacted by someone I knew in the noughties. And not much later, I received another entirely unsuspected email; this time, from my next stage in life, in Plymouth. This email came from Neil. It announced the release of a book, or maybe I should say: a trilogy, about Dartmoor tin. There was also a promotion video associated with it, and an announcement of a bigger film to follow.
So why did I get this? Back in the days, Neil had already been interested in Dartmoor tin, and he was keen on seeing if he could squeeze some out of mine waste, and that sort of thing. We had had an interesting day smelting ore. I still have some tiny tin ingots from that time! And I had no reason to assume that when I moved away and we lost contact, he would stop being interested in this topic. But that he would spend 20 years on it and produce an enormous book and a film was not something I could have predicted.
Am I going to buy the book? No. The hardcopy is thousands of pounds, and there is an e-book as well, but that is £250, and I don't like my books digital. So I will let this opportunity pass! But I loved seeing that the project had come to a glorious end, and it was lovely to hear from someone I had had such crazy adventures with more than 10 years ago. And Neil assured me that now this project is finished, he has focused on more sensible leisure time pursuits. I struggled a bit with imagining him having properly calmed down. We'll see; maybe I'll get another mail in 20 years in which he announces the culmination of another crazy project!
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| Pic from smelting session in 2011 |
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