HIGH PIT WILMA

Cheers Maggie,I'll check it oot on U-Tube,cos nowt's happening here! My Son is a Recording Engineer/Record Producer with his own small but great studio,wi loads of vintage gear.[google Triangle Studio] Twenty six years ago,before computers killed the recording studios off on a massive scale[worldwide,]London was the place to be. Now,it's a struggle to find work coming in for my Son,and all the studios which are left.[in America also]. He has had more success lately with Danish,Polish,Portugese,and Spanish artists. When he comes up north,the first thing he wants to do,is take a trip to Wooler,or Hadston country Park. We went away every weekend to Wooler,right up the hills,with a 12foot Sprite Alpine touring caravan,and walked miles over the Cheviots! As kids my Sons played in the stream,fishing,building dams with stones,as laddies did....bows and arrows,and even target shooting with air weapons,[when very young],my youngest Son had an air rifle when he was nine years old,couldn't carry it,too big and heavy,but I used to have it on a mount so he could lie down to use it.[on targets] They grew up with a very healthy respect for the countryside,wildlife,and the environment generally.[country code etc..] We went to Hadston,in Druridge Bay,when it was an opencast coal mine,after the closure of Chevington colliery drift mine,quite often,and used to park our little caravan on the Dunes,as did a few other people.[in the 1970's] One day,it was very cold and cloudy,and Tuffy our Tortoise,was very lethargic,and just lying motionless,on the grass in front of the 'Van. We watched him like a hawk,but as we went in to have a cup of tea,a break in the clouds appeared. We were chatting,all four of us,[the kids and my Wife and me],when we suddenly realised it was sunny,and we all dashed outside to make sure Tuffy hadn't started to wander......too late! Tortoise's close down under the cool cloudy skies,and come to life very quickly as soon as the sun shines!!....VERY quickly! We searched the whole area all weekend...and never saw Tuffy again. Every time we went there,for weeks afterwards,we widened our searched,with no success.Maybe somebody picked him up,and now has a 40 year old veteran in their garden![his name was painted on his back with Flowmark paint from the pit,and was very durable,so it wouldn't wash off with rain or owt.]

I started giving blood as a doner,in 1962,right after my 18th birthday,and a cup of fresh nice tea and a choice of biscuits was the order of the day! ....definitly no guiness..and the Ferrous-Sulphate [iron] tablets as well..........!!.....and then away straight doon the big black hole ti work a hard shift!! They used ti advise yi not ti dae any strenuous work for a day or so.....a used ti tell the Doctor ti gaan and see me Owaman at Choppingtin High Pit,and tell HIM not ti gie me any hard wark ti dae!!!

My eldest Son has lived in North Finchley,in an upstairs Victorian,[Tudor-styled],flat,for the last twenty-six years...only cos he had to move down there with it being the hub of the music business....[or it USED to be...before computers and Simon Cowell killed it off!] He has leafy green avenues,with apple trees,laburnums,willows ,etc brushing your face as you walk down in the summer time,a nice view of green meadows in the distance,from his rear balcony,a 10-mile long walk along a tree-lined little brook,which takes you through urban areas,and out into open countryside,Green Parakeets,loads of other birds,Foxes ,etc,a tube station 200 yards away,what more could you want?........ ....Ask Him,and you'll get your answer immediately!!!!! Northumbria.....!! ....THAT'S what you want!,cos for all the lovely things he has,it is countered by the fact that it takes you a half-hour to go up the road,about half a mile!! Congestion is getting worse,nowhere to park sometimes,even in his own avenue,permits required.....ughhhh!! It's a quiet mixed race neighbourhood,with some lovely people,but gie me ..[AND him!].....our homeland!!!!

Ye forgot ti mention picket fencing,and cast iron doonpipes maggie! Gorgeous little doggie!..and clivvor as weel!

Pete,for all this discussion,and my differing views to the norm,I cringe,and I mean really cringe....when I hear people take the name of the Lord in vain. This O.M.G.channel [whatever it is!] really irritates the hell out of me,and has become the in-thing for kids as young as being able to start talking,to say. You hear young mother's with thier kids in pushchairs,in the street,and if they are not cursing and using "pit-language"[as old-timers referred to it by..],they use oh God as every other phrase. I was brought up NEVER to take the name of our Lord in vain,and despite my opinions on the Bible,and religion generally,I am indoctrinated on this point. I have faced up to bully-boys twice my size,underground,and checked them when they have uttered Christ's name in an oath,cos they might have injured themselves or whatever... I've been ridiculed thousands of times,even in factories,when I checked my marra's,usually younger lads,and told them God's done them no harm,so cut it oot...I'd rather they cursed and swore like Men used to do...before the priviledge was taken over from them by young,[and not so young!]....ladies...nowadays...disgusting!! So I am a queer one in that sense!![er....bad choice of terminology.....I forget I am in a modern,poisoned age....!] Just thought I would put that point across,for what it's worth,Pete!

Aye Smudgie,in the mid '60s a huge beetle crawled up my leg as I was sitting on a wood chock getting me bait,about 9-0pm,in night-shift,at Bedlington A pit. I put it in my pocket-watch tin,and then put the tin in my bait-bag..sealed practically air-tight. I forgot about it,and a few days later,found it,and when I opened the tin,the beetle was still crawling around it lively as hell. I took it to the Hancock Museum,and the Curator examined it with his magnifying glass. He told me it was a Cockroach,of far-eastern origin,which probably came down the mine as a larvae,inside a pitprop,[which was imported]and then hatched out due to the warmth of the mine. When I said it had been without air for days,in the tin,he told me that these creatures were one of a very few species to have survived the ice-age,and could have lived in the tin for months,by shutting down all systems...suspended animation. They can extract nutrients from stone..wood...almost anything they come in contact with...if necessary,for survival. Truly amazing!! The beetle was mounted in the display case,with a brief story of where and how,it was found. I have since taken Giant Wood-Wasps and other insects to the museum...from underground. God created some wonderful things,even if he wasn't the God we were taught to believe in!

Smudge,it's not very far off reality what you suggest!! When I started Ashington Pit,after Bates closed,in 1986,the first thing I discovered upon getting inbye,on the first shift I did,was....Slatey beetles....not just one or two......MILLIONS! Every stone,or piece of wood you turned over,there were hundreds of them,scattering in all directions to hide from your caplamp. That was in every yard of every roadway all over the seam! The old-timers told me that they had always been down there![no other pit that I worked at had any at all!..just mice and midges!] BUT,in one very old abandoned roadway,not been entered for many years since it was closed,my Marra and Me went in to do a job. We were both startled by things dropping from the roof,and the girders,onto our helmets,and our shoulders. Thinking it was small bits of stone or whatever,we both looked up,[total darkness...just our caplamps..],and we couldn't believe what we were seeing! Again..thousands of absoloutely HUGE red gorgeous-looking Centipedes!! About four inches long,and nearly an inch across,from toe to toe![That's BIG for a Centipede!] We walked in for about three/quarters of a mile,and every yard of that roadway was crawling,roof to floor with these overgrown creatures. It would have made a great scene for a horror movie!! There were also big football-sized fronds of fungi in all colours,swinging in the gentle movement of the air,along the roadway,and we can only suppose that that was where the creatures would get there moisture for survival. My only regret was,that I didn't bring a specimen out to take to the museum..as I have in the past.

Thanks for your kind comments,merc,really appreciated,and I also love this forum,and aal it's contributers!! It's thi only forum aav found where nobody swears,or gets abusive,etc. It's also responsible for me re-kindling a long lost friendship with Vic and Doreen,[my old neighbour and school friend from aboot 5 yrs aad!! The trouble wi me is,aav [reluctantly!] acquired a trait from me tyrannical Father,that is,just coming oot and being blunt,and speaking me mind,sometimes at thi wrang times,so aav had ti really work hard at being a bit more diplomatic. The queer thing is,aav [pleasingly!]acquired me Mother's very docile and tolerant manner,but me worst fault is.....a write like a taak...oh,did a nivvor tell yi....?!!!!!!!!!!!

However much you bend light rays,you are always gonna see light somehow,so you are never gonna be blind! Noo,aboot God,Pete! After aal this taak,aav just realised,the only book prize a ever won at school,was when a was eleven years aad,and I won it for an essay I had written,with the title..."I Believe". A wrote it entirely from me heart,and beliefs,at the time,cos we were taught the Bible,from 5 yrs old starting school,and my Mother used to teach her kids as much as she could,to put us on the right road in life. It's only as the years have gone by,and,being an individual natured sort of lad,have grown to think about it and seriously question the whole aspect of the Bible story. As for Daniken Pete,He stands about third down the list of People who have become VERY well off,financially,through investing in the God story. I would say Billy Graham heads the list,for becoming a self-made "Authority",and leader of the most fraudulent religion there is.[..and I have personal proof of what my statement implies,only it IS personal,I only wish it was possible to share with you what I know.] Maybe the Vatican should be top of the charts.....hmmmmm![and not second,as I was thinking!]

This reminds me of Stephen Wright,a zany comedian from a few years back. One of his gags were..... "You're in a spaceship..travelling at a thousand times the speed of light......you put you're headlights on cos it's dark out there......WHAT HAPPENS"....!!!!

Aah! Pete,clever way of refracting a point!! Of course we are blind without light...don't forget I worked underground for nearly 30 years,and when your caplamp went oot....you WERE blind!! We don't need a college education to know that one!...just as we are deaf if there is no air to move our ear diapghrams...[or nodes of ranvier...or whatever!!] There is no light in Space,without an object to reflect it from,[that we can perceive!] nor is there any sound,but light photons are still present! But deep underground,there are no Photons present for the eye to detect,when none are being emitted. It is an old-fashioned belief that mice that live in the mines are blind,because they have never been in daylight,NOT true!! So "Black as the night"doesn't ring true....but"Black is Black"....does!! My road "pools" example,is a good one,because,you can't still see thi road,it appears as I said...like a pool of water,and what does water reflect?...the sky! Noo Bob Lazar states in his interview,above,that we can see stars which are at the opposite side of the sun,due to massive refraction of light rays. I've never heard that before,but,like owt on thi internet,it's checkable!!

Ti retorn bak ti thi thread title,yi CAN find owt on't internet....!!!! AAA fund a brand new burner assembly for a Carver caravan heater,which is aboot thirty years aad!! A company tuk aal the tooling from Carver,and the license to carry on producing the exact same product! A also found me long lost friends in Canada,which pleased the hell oot o' me!! Lang live thi net!!

Hi Vic! Very good way of thinking,and that's the way I think. How can God let the world collapse,yet all that we have,the way planets and stars are positioned,our environment,couldn't have just happened by accident. It had to be created,now we could have called our creator Rover,it wouldn't have a happ'ence a difference in our teaching, from being able to talk...would it? We would accept it. Anybody see why I chose Rover as an example?!!! Vic,when we reach adulthood,and we have a bit of a brain,the word "offended"[i think!]shouldn't exist in our vocabulary!! As a hardened aad pitman,nowt offends me,mebbe aggravates me,or whatever,but no offence!! It annoys me when I read of people,mostly over the other side of the world,who get "Offended"if you say the wrang thing,look thi wrang way,.....!!yi wadn't think they were grown-up folks!! Aam wi yi on ya points of view,Vic,hope aaa hevn't offended anybody by rabbiting on aboot nowt!...[as usual]

I also believe parts of the Bible Pete,I am not denouncing it,I just interpret it differently to others!

Pete,we all have our own beliefs,it's great to discuss them sensibly. I wonder who disproved Daniken?...[i know the history about him!]

Suppose it's the same as being indoctrinated,and radicalised,in believing god loves us all,then says "suffer little children...."[the best disclaimer ever written!] That gets religion off the hook,every time a tragic event occurs...doesn't have to be a massive disaster,one child killed in a road accident,or murdered or whatever....IS a disaster....but god is good and he will forgive the murderer,but he won't bring back the child.........well,he put man on earth with a fre will...didn't he?[but tornadoes,tsunami's,etc.............?] I still can't get my head around all the main characters being white,with English names.......Mary,Joe,Jesus[white],Peter,John,etc!! I bet the people in the Pacific Islands wonder why god let this happen!!

Hi Merc! When you see a dip ahead,[in the road],on a really hot day,and the "pools" appear,due to refraction,do you think that the vehicles travelling through the dip..[which you cannot see],are blind.....?[come to think on it,for those few moments...I suppose you are metaphorically "blind" to them...as you can't see them...!!!]......howld on here noo.....!,wa gaana be agreeing in principle here,afore lang!!

Brilliant video,and what is everybody gaana say aboot her?....WAS she hallucinating?...or NUTS?..... If people knew my Neice,and heard hoo hysterical SHE was THAT time,they would maybe understand a bit better that something serious happened to her. Trouble is,a few years ago,an R.A.F. Squadron Leader,on a practice sortie,reported following a UFO,[or UFO'S],and at a speed just below mach 1 the object accelerated incredibly fast,and shot straight up out of sight,making him feel as his craft was in reverse!! His whole squadron was silenced,and HE was demoted,for causing a huge stir in the media. Hoo many high-rankin' folk are waaking aroond wi taped-up gobs?,for fear of ridicule,or losing their positions,and possibly their livelyhoods? Cud the visitors be God's "disciples",just checking ti see hoo we are managing wa planet? Bet they are NOT impressed!!

Hheh heh! Hi Spider,and a big welcome to the forum,I guess I know you just a wee bit better than anybody else around here!! Thanks for ya support,it's an interestin' topic gaanin on! The ship theory,Merc,seems to be misconstrued in your way of thinkin'! Ye knaa it's light rays being refracted,and it's oot at sea,wi nowt but waata and sky,aal aroond it. So why should ye be able ti see "through" it,when ya bending images of the surroundings aroond it....a bit like cloning in Photoshop.......aal ye wud see is either mair waata,or mair skylight!! When aa was aboot thirteen years aad,[at Westridge Schyuuul],Mr Johnson,me science teacher,telt the class aboot an experience he had when he was on holiday with his young family,at Flamborough Head,just doon thi coast.... a wee bit,from here.....! Aal the people on the beach started ti run doon ti thi waata,low tide,and were staring oot ti sea. It was red hot,and on thi horizon,ships could be seen sailing past,high above the waata line,effectively,in thi sky,so ti speak.[they were well over the horizon in reality!] Refraction!,which was the subject we were discussing at the time he related this story to us,as we were using prisms,and strong,focused light beams to illustrate clearly,how light rays are bent by natural means. Noo aal tell yi wat meks MY heed hurt.......when yi start taakin aboot "String theory"....and "Alternative Universe's".....!!!!!

Merc,I get an error server code,not found ,on trying to open that link. But just as there are conspiracy theorists,there are as many hoax-theorists!! Methinks governments have good reason to cook up these theories to hide the truth from us lot....as always..! You look at the stars at night......some aren't even there,as you well know,you look at the old analogue telly screen....you are watching a single dot flying across the screen millions of times a second..........you believe what your eye is seeing,not what is actually happening!! We all know,[don't we?],that Aluminium is not magnetic........is it not?! what turns the disc inside the elecricity meter? Go and visit Sita waste processing plant in West Sleekburn,and watch in amazement,as beer cans etc,[Aluminium!],fly off a conveyor belt to be separated from the other waste,to land on another conveyor,carrying all the aluminium to another place. What makes them fly up into the air,for a few feet,then suddenly crash down onto the conveyor belt?[like an invisible brush...] R.F.! [Radio Frequency Magnetic Fields,so strong that it bends the cathode ray beam,inside the old analogue video camera -8mm tape,and presents a distorted picture!!] Magnetism doesn't affect your eyesight,does it,?,unless you think the minerals in our bodies,however miniscule,down to molecular levels,WOULD be affected by ultra powerful fields....did Teslar blind anyone? Just trying,in my very limited way of example,to impress the power of the forces of nature,and how much we still don't know,or even understand!! If a spacehip landed in the middle of the golf course,and burnt the turf,in front of loads of people,then took off,those people would be laughed at,and accused of having a few too many in the club-house! That's the way life is!!

Just heard that the disabled bays at the Freeman Hospital will fall under the same rules as any other bay and drivers displaying a blue badge will have to pay,same as everybody else. This is to happen very soon,in the spring of 2015.

.......................but he didn't get any....!!!!

A bit late noo,but just for the record,the opencast WAS owned by the National Coal Board Opencast Executive,and operated by Richard Costain Mining Co.. The big yellow American Brutes never worked Acorn Bank,Butterwell was first to get those. Acorn Bank had the 44-ton articulated Coal-haulers. Noo THEY used to make the river bridge bend and bounce up and down like a yo-yo!! WE didn't need authorisation for visits,or group parties...etc!!.....we just casually went reet doon into the cut,and played all over the dragline!![running alang the feet etc! This was always on a Sunday afternoon,when work had ceased...and we,[my friends and me..] were only aboot ten years old onwards!!![H n S..?....!!!!!!!!] I have the video which had been rescued from a skip,in old 8mm cinefilm,and transferred to disc.

Tullybrone,naebody's thought ti say hoo much respect and admiration your relations,as well all the other young lads,deserve,for the ultimate sacrifice they gave,so we cud be sitting here in comfort reading about it. Probably the houses were owned by the "Bedlington Coal Company",not sure,but probably were. Anybody got any positive info on this matter?

Methinks that wud be o.k.! Noo.......!....if it was thi uthawayroondamightabeenthinkingabootcorrectingitincaseitcaasedabitobothaknaawatamean?.!! It doesn't tek much imagination ti guess wat thi Minah was sayin' either!!