Sunday, November 05, 2006
~ 5:58 PM ~
A bit of a pointless post really...
It often surprises people when I tell them how much I love it out on site. The dirt, the remoteness (but only for awhile!!), the vast expansiveness of the red sand, the fantastic comraderie between each mine worker - i love it all, and I love being able to get away from the office and out on site.
The things I love about site however, are all limited to what we call "surface operations". Things that take place above surface , and in the bright lights (unless of course, you're on a night shift), and where that expansiveness and red dirt just go on forever.
These things however, don't exist in the underground. Dark, humid (think 30 degrees and 90% humidity), and lacking in that openness, it really is an experience that is unique by all means.
The dangers of underground are at a scale a notch above that of surface - what happens if there's a rockfall (rescue teams can't get to you quickly), what happens if there's a fire, what happens if you need to stay in that underground refuge chamber with 5 other big blokes, not knowing when the rescue team is going to come?
I don't understand why anyone would willingly *choose* to work in such an environment. Except of course, my significant other. Out of all the places in the world that he could freely choose to work, he wants to spend his time underground.
It bugs me, it frightens me, and it gives me wrinkles. But I suppose that's something I need to come to terms with, being the significant other of a mining engineer :S
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