Thursday August 21, 2003

Greetings from Weardale:

Yesterday was a nice sunny slightly cool day here in the dale - about as good as it gets. This morning, however, it is cold, cloudy and the wind is kicking up. More like normal.

Yesterday morning Cal and I had an appointment with the Durham County Council planning department, so headed off early to brave the traffic around Durham. We dropped Joan and Kerith off to wander around the old city center and went in search of the county building, which turned out to be one of those square concrete fortress-like edifices that were so popular with both the Soviets and many western civic buildings constructed during the 1960's. It looked very out of place when contrasted with the old city center, which is dominated by the medieval cathedral and university buildings.

We actually arrived a little early and had a chance to browse a large assortment of helpful government-issued public information pamphlets available in the building lobby. Cal was particularly intrigued with the one about the evils of "dog fouling". The appointment was thankfully fairly routine and consisted mostly of going over a few questions to clarify parts of our application. Afterwards, we headed back into the city center to meet Joan and Kerith. Being a bit early for our appointed rendezvous, Cal decided he wanted to take the climb to the top of the Durham cathedral clock tower. This involves going up a steep, narrow circular stairway, which I am told has 325 steps. I didn't count but by the time we got to the top it seemed like many more. The view was spectacular, though. On the way down we found ourselves behind a young woman trying to negotiate the stairs wearing a pair of stiletto heals. I was sure she would end up with a broken ankle in the process, but she finally made it down in one piece.

After making our rendezvous in the city square we all had a nice lunch at a local pub and then headed back into the dale. Back at the Mine House, Cal decided to continue weather-proofing our new storage shed, while Joan and I headed off to the mine. Upon arriving we found Dave busy drilling the face for another round. Byron was busy digging at a section of the east tunnel opposite the Dipper cavity and had produced a pile of specimens including one very nice plate, perhaps 20 cm across and covered with gemmy twinned fluorites. In the process he had excavated a hole that was about as deep as one could reach, but that didn't seem to slow him down much. Today's photo is of Byron reaching for the next one.

After closing up for the day we headed back to the cottage only to find that Kerith had taken a fall on the stairs at their cottage and twisted her ankle. Cal and Jonina were just leaving to take her to the nearest medical clinic, which is in Bishop Aukland about 20 miles from here. I don't know the details yet, but hopefully everything will be okay. Not exactly the sort of thing one wants to have happen, especially when traveling. With everyone scattered the planned group dinner was obviously off so Joan and I went up to the Allenheads Inn and had a relaxing evening chatting with the folks behind the bar.

Today Cal has to take Kerith back to the clinic so I guess I'll be the mine helper. Jonina tells me that we have a routine visit scheduled from the local mine safety inspector.

Stay tuned for more…

Cheers,

Jesse & the crew.

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