As Dark And Dingy
No, we are not talking about the weather, which is indeed dark and dingy and an unwelcome change from yesteryon, when it was wonderfully sunny. Today is the kind of 'Meh' day when you need to keep the lights on all day long.
No, what I wanted to look at in more detail was a group we came into contact with when getting background information about the Brewery Shaft and Nenthead Mine, since there was a shot on the BBC's Historical photographs of a most determined chap abseiling down said excavation. Art!
Not for Conrad, thanks
Ladies and gentlemen and those unsure, welcome to the Mine Explorers Society, a bunch of people who simply love love love exploring old derelict mines. Hence whilst the moors above may indeed be wild and windy - a nod to Kate Bush here - those mines below are indeed dark and dingy. Rather you than me, matey, Conrad likes his home comforts too much to go poking around old mine workings. The site admin said he'd not been underground for 18 months and was looking to ease back into it, whilst one of his compatriots had been doing COMRU work underground until that date. Whatever COMRU is - aha, 'Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit', presumably highly-trained specialists in retrieving folks safely from the lower depths. Art!
One of those jobs you hope you never get called to
Thus, back in July, they headed down the Smallcleugh Mine and along the Middlecleugh 2nd Sun Vein. Previously others exploring the mine had heard a very loud rockfall and chose not to investigate; Matey and batey had no such scruples. Art!
One rock that ain't going to roll
They also found evidence of greatly increased leakage, into a sump that had been almost dry the last time they explored, but which now had almost a yard of water in it. Dark, dingy, cold and wet. Art!
Then, too, there's abandoned kit left in mines that it just wasn't feasible or economical to take away. The MES are scrupulous in not touching or removing any of it, because one of their mottoes is 'Take nothing and leave only footprints'. As they also remark, a bit of junk in situ is a piece of history; carried outside and elsewhere it remains a piece of junk. Art!
Contemplating a cart
And this is the end of their journey - Art?
We have no caves around here, motley - how do you fancy exploring a sewer instead?
"Controlled Experiment"
The latest episode of "The Outer Limits" that I watched last night, which I was rather dubious about, because it was declared to be a comedy. Comedy and sci-fi can be done well - see "Galaxy Quest" and "Men In Black" - but it's easy to get wrong. It starred Carroll O'Connor, Barry Morse and Grace Lee Whitney - yes, that one from "Starry Trex" (sp?)* - and Caroll was quite the revelation, because the only thing I've seen him in is "Kelly's Heroes" where he played the blustering boastful braggart General Colt. Art!
"This guy is a LOSER!"
In CI he was very much the low-key, humble comic foil for Barry, and I wouldn't have recognised him but for the title credits. Dunno if I can find a picture but let's have a crack at it -
There we go.
We will probably come back to Carroll, he was an interesting character, to say the least. Next!
I Speak Of Beak
Not as in the Bertie Wooster meaning, as "In the morning I was up before the beak, for the hideous crime of stealing a policeman's helmet." where he is referring, with shocking disrespect, to a judge.
No, this refers to a post on a Youtube Reddit about HR stories. The OP's mother worked in HR, and had perforce to have a little chat with one of the organisation's employees -
DELICIOUS!
- because they were capturing pigeons on the roof of their building and taking them home to barbeque them. Luckily I was not drinking anything at the time or I'd have sprayed petrol nitromethane beer over my keyboard. Really - a genuine What On Earth moment.
Shall We? Yes Let's
Go on, time for another thrilling extract from "Tormentor", and we are up to page 15 out of 81, so don't expect a cessation anytime soon, especially as it's a great and easy way to boost the word count impress readers.
Against all expectations, he fell asleep. An uncomfortable crick in his neck forced him
to switch position, so he was half-awake when the phone rang early on Sunday
morning, to deliver the real hammerblow, nearly as bad as the night before.
‘Mister McMahon?
Detective Sergeant Oswald here.
I’m one of the detectives who interviewed you when you made your
statement.’
Shit, Louis thought, sluggishly. Are those teenaged chavs pressing charges?
‘The official confirmation won’t be in the post until
Monday, so I decided to give you a call ahead of that. You have been completely exonerated, cleared
by the DNA evidence.’
‘I didn’t kill her?’ asked Louis, which the policeman
must have taken as a statement from the prickly interviewee.
‘We know that now, Mister McMahon. I believe you had some trouble with local
hooligans?’
Oh shit again.
They must be pressing charges.
‘Are they pressing charges? I punched - ’
‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, Mister McMahon,’
broke in the detective. ‘The Chief Super
will be making a statement on local television this afternoon, which will
emphasise we’re still looking for a suspect.
That ought to keep the idiots
from your door.’
‘Oh. Ah – thank
you,’ said Louis, unused to be polite.
‘No problem.
You’ve been rather dragged through it.
You see, I looked up your records in the files and checked the newspaper
archives.’
Mercifully the man had enough tact and sense to end
the conversation there.
‘Told you so,’ came the semi-ethereal voice of the
Jennifer-thing, as it suddenly appeared from nowhere to sit next to Louis on
the settee.
More Of The Runners-Up
In the BBC's Historical Photographs selection, and this one lacks any commentary - possibly deliberately. Art!
Courtesy Wayne Budge
This is the remains of the 'Atomic Bomb Dome' at Hiroshima, where you may recall the South Canadians dropped "Little Boy", and the Dome is about the only thing left standing in the blast area. If I can bring up another photograph that demonstrates this - Art!
The building was never demolished and stands as a warning about what, exactly, would happen if Hom. Sap. got busy with it's nuclear arsenals.
Finally -
I did the weekly shop last night and purchased a remaindered pie in a brown paper bag, which has remained unsealed since then. The description is a trifle puzzling, since it bears a label with "Figit Pie" as the foodstuff in question - does it incorporate figs? - and an overlaid label that describes it as "Fidget Pie" - does it induce muscle tremors and increased adrenaline levels? Art!
I Googled and "Fidget Pie" is a genuine thing, which looks like layers of potato and meat. Maybe you'll get an update tomorrow, but not until then, which is bound to produce figits in some of you.
*
Nothing too salacious, we are, after all, SFW.
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