Restore the dig

One of our digs has a bit of a weak spot. There is one interval of only a meter or so which has a lot of loose rock pendant above it. And once in a while, some of that loose stuff comes down. We have started putting scaffolding in to keep it in place, but it's a lot of scaffing to do, and you can't get it done in one go. And if you need more than one go, you might find you have to dig out all your scaffolding before you can go on again. A lot of work!

A small look on Thursday had revealed this had again happened. On Sunday, David and Edwyn and me would tackle that issue. The day started a bit disconcerting: we had agreed David would be at my place at 8AM, and he is always very punctual so I made sure I was ready a few minutes before then. No David. Still none at 8:10. I phoned his house. No answer. I informed Edwyn we'd be late. I was starting to worry; had he had a heart attack on the way or something? I phoned again at 8:25. There was an answer: it was David! He had just misremembered the time; he planned to be at mine at 9AM. Oh dear.

A bit late we approached the Lakeside Cafe, when we saw some familiar silhouettes. We knew Miles would be taking some relatives undergroud that day; they had picked the same time as us. That was nice! We all headed for a heavy breakfast and then went on our way. I took the opportunity as well to go in in wellies my own size; I decided to go insole-free, on purpose, this time, as doing that by accident the last time had worked so well.

We all walked up (Edwyn twice as he had forgot his knee pads) and got in. We the diggers took some scaffolding from the pile and headed for the dig.

The lugging started. We took turns. There was a lot of stuff there! We did some solid shifts. The hours passed and we only slowly got closer to clearing it all. I had a social engagement afterwards so I didn't want to stay there too long, but I also quite liked to end on a high note. When I told David we had to get out soonish he wanted to get rid of a few more loads, and I was OK with that. In the end we had made a big hole in the rubble. It still didn't look very inviting, but at least there was a passage again.

Dirty and damp we went back out. It was still daylight! And my feet were still fine. Would this be the dawning of a new era? I hope so! And let's hope as well that the passage will still be a passage the next time we'd go there. Now it was time to rush home, have a shower, rush to Gerlan for the social, looking quite unlike I'd been lying in a drippy mine all day!