Monday, May 26, 2003

"Mind the Gap....Mind the Gap."

It's about 9 o'clock in the morning local time and the morning commuter rush is just winding down in the London Underground. I, however, have been up for the better part of a day while being processed by the modern airline industry across eight time zones. The disorientation of emerging onto a busy thorofare on a bright sunny morning when your whole body is firmly convinced that it is really sometime around midnight and past one's bedtime is bad enough. Ad to it the polite British monotone on the public address admonishing everyone to "Mind the Gap" as people scurry about in every direction, and the whole scene begins to feel a bit surreal. You know without a doubt, however, that you are in London again.

For those of you who have ever experienced travel on the London Underground, you are familiar with this ever-present admonishment, heard without fail as you enter and exit the trains. It even has taken on a sort-of iconic status and now adorns the likes of tee shirts and coffee mugs sold to tourists and locals alike, no doubt as part of an effort to raise money to keep this massive and ancient system functioning. For those of you innocents who have not yet been victimized by the London Underground, the gap referred to is that between the train and the platform. At some stations the gap is so small as to be unnoticeable. At others it could easily swallow your foot, if not your luggage. So remember please, Mind the Gap.

Well, here we are, starting our summer mining adventure for the fifth year. Who would have ever thought that we would all be this foolish? I guess it's just a testament to the attraction of fame, fortune, and some good mineral specimens. At least we've found one of the three. As usual, I arrived in London in advance of Byron and Jonina in order to have a day to adjust to the time change before the drive north to Weardale. This year, courtesy of the chaotic airline industry, I found myself with an extra day layover because of last minute changes in everyone's flight schedules. This allowed me a day to play tourist in the Big City. One "must-do" at least for me is a visit to Denmark Street, which is a short one-block side street between Soho and Covent Garden that hosts literally dozens of new and used guitar shops. Hog Heaven as they say. Unfortunately, in our current somewhat less than stellar economy I can hardly justify one expensive habit, let alone two, so I contented myself with merely looking at the 1957 Stratocaster that cost 3500 Pounds.

Also had a chance to catch up with Mark Wrigley, a mineral enthusiast and victim of the recent telecom industry crash, who lives just outside of London. As a result of having some time now on his hands, Mark has launched himself into the glamorous business of being an internet mineral dealer. He has a very nice site up and is quickly accumulating all sorts of interesting stories about the interesting people in this business, which we shared over lunch. He is also learning quickly what the weaknesses of his various collector acquaintances are and showed up with a backpack full of fluorites. These were promptly spread out on the pub table, and a quick lesson in specimen mineralogy and English mining history was offered up to the young woman delivering our lunch.

Byron and Jonina arrived with reasonably punctuality the next morning at Heathrow, and we rendezvoused for the now ritual trip up the M1. As usual, we were greeted by torrential rains upon arriving in the North. The worst of this had past by the time we reached Weardale, and a few brave souls were even lounging about on the patio at the Mill Race. Stopped in to say hello to Mary and Denis and had our introductory "Whitby Cod" before continuing on to the Mine House. Chatted a bit with Bob and Mary, who between family illnesses and a section of the cottage roof that needed an emergency repair recently have had the month from hell. Hopefully life will settle down for them despite having a mining crew on their hands for the summer. While getting settled in Dave stopped by and we all had a chance to catch up on things and discuss strategy for the summer. About 10 pm his wife Sandra called to fetch him home, and as if on cue I could see the lights go out with Byron and Jonina, both of whom had likely been up for about 30 hours.

Today will undoubtedly be a day of chores, such as shopping and unpacking all our equipment. Being a bank holiday today, I'm not sure how much shopping will actually get done. Perhaps we'll have some time to stop by the mine and pull the water line back in. Today's photo is of an old stone cottage up hill from us, perhaps left over from when this was a mine complex during the 19th century.

Guess we're off and running for another season...

Cheers,

Jesse, Byron and Jonina

Good Morning from Weardale.

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