Momentous day reminds me of a humbling experience

I bought this at the National Mining museum - it is sculpted from a piece of coal. The museum at Wakefield in West Yorkshire gives the visitor the opportunity to go 450ft down one of the oldest working mines in England and I went down in 2001 when it had just opened to visitors supported I believe by the lottery fund. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life to witness the conditions that miners still worked. The trip down the shaft was not comfortable and used the lift that miners used - with water dripping in....its probably been improved since then for the benefit of visitors but hopefully not losing the impact.

Today we have witnessed the freeing of 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped half a mile under the ground for two months which fortunately for most people is unimaginable. To hear how they organised themselves to keep going for 19 days before they were found is humbling and their lift to the surface made my experience look palatial ..I hope their strength enables them and their families to carry on their lives above ground without negative long lasting effects