From a mountain to...

... a molehill!

After yesterday's exertion both dog and I opted for a quiet day. I noticed this fresh mound of earth as I was waiting for the bus. Moles don't hibernate but they operate at a deeper level in winter where the ground is warmer and where the earthworms are. They still have to get rid of the debris from their tunnelling, and push it up through the frozen surface, usually via existing shafts which make the job a little easier.

Considering the mole led me to think of human tunnelling activities, underground mining of course being pre-eminent. The recent triumph and tragedy in Chile and New Zealand respectively is still fresh in my mind, but only yesterday something (a blip, or what?) reminded me of the massive disaster here in Wales in 1934, at the Gresford colliery in Denbighshire, when around 265 miners were lost after an explosion. Their bodies were never recovered (although with today's technology it might have been a different story.) The full details can be found here together with a link to a poignant ballad on the subject by the Albion Band.


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