With Jon, Duncan, Nick and Brockers
It was a wet and miserable morning with a cold south-easterly
wind, not a good day to spend too long on the surface, everyone underground.
Brockers digging with assistance from Duncan, Nick was at the mid-way haul
position, I was sat at the junction, Jon stacking the spoil in the entrance.
In between bags, Nick, of course, began some surreptitious
excavation, “clearing around a large stal boss” he said. I, too, bagged up some
loose stones that were lying on the floor of the south-east passage. We were
mindful not to use too many of the dry bags that had been stored below ground
or someone (Jon) would have to retrieve some wet bags from the surface. Jon reported
that the trickle down the entrance had become a small stream as the rain got
heavier, I could hear the wind blowing from where I was.
Eventually though it was time to bite the bullet and some of us
return to the surface to haul-out and empty the bags, 45 of them, the rocks
were left to accumulate at the bottom of the entrance again. Nick and I did have
a brief discussion regarding another wall extension being necessary, but that’s
a job for another [drier] day. We were all rather damp as we made out way back
down to the farm.
At the Hunter’s we met Ivan Sandford who had been clearing out his
containers and he donated some long ropes to the cause, very useful.