Progress in the dig

The dig had been a bit neglected recently! But this week things got better. We would have a normal-length night in there (no malarkey of me being late or Miles having to leave early) and we used it well. I suggested to Miles that for a change, he goes up to the far end and does what he thinks is right there. I could continue my throwing-stones-down regime below him, without risking throwing anything on his head. And he agreed!

I was making lovely progress chucking things down, while he was rummaging at the coalface. It turned a bit challenging; the wall was losing structural integrity. Oh dear! But he managed to coolly sort the situation, at least for now. Then he could proceed! First he somehow managed to remove the rock I had split the time before. And he decided he wanted to take one step back and blow up a rock that probably would bring down a lot of loose stuff. He struggled a bit to drill it, as it's not a big space and it can be hard to find a position in which you can drill, but he did it. I went and got the supplies (in two goes, as the first time I had forgot the actual explosives) and he charged the shotholes.

After the resin-setting tea break we blasted. One of the shotholes had not been adequate! So the rock was damaged but not shattered. Oh well. We can do a bit more next time! Maybe we can swap places then, although the advantage of me doing the throwing is that if any rock gets stranded along the way, I'm a bit quicker at scampering down and sorting that out. But then again; I can fold better into drilling position in the far end! But at least we now have a modus operandi in which we are both inside the dig; that is a heck of a lot more efficient than me at the top, and Miles at the bottom, having to stay clear most of the time!