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Post by colly0410 on Oct 1, 2013 6:41:23 GMT -5
I had a very realistic dream last night: I was back down Hucknall pit, I felt the cold of the intake & the warmth & smell of the return, the hissing & ear popping when you went through air doors, the noise & exhaust smell of a Ruston diesel loco & the screech of a slipping conveyor belt. When I woke up I couldn't work out if it was real or a dream. It's one of the most realistic dreams I've had for a long time...
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Post by John on Oct 1, 2013 15:45:13 GMT -5
When I was about 19, I almost went under a shearer when the AFC started, how I cleared the pan sides, I still don't know to this day. I was a mess when I got into the M/G, shaking like a leaf and ready to rip someones head off. For weeks after that I had the same recurring nightmare of being in the same position and waking up just before going under that shearer...I never did tell my Mother, she'd have made me leave the pits. Ironically, it was the Deputy who had started the AFC up without first checking what was the problem, I think he was in a worse state of shock than I was when he learned he'd nearly lost a full production shift and would have been collecting body parts. I still shudder thinking about it...
I've gone to bed after a bad shift and dreamed I was back at work having a real bastard of a shift, woke up more tired than before I went to bed..
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Post by colly0410 on Oct 1, 2013 17:46:16 GMT -5
Dad had malaria when he was with the army in North Africa during the war, he used to have relapses every few months & he always had reccuring dreams about when he was pinned down with machine guns firing at him, he said it was the most scared he'd ever been in his life. Must be something about traumatic experiences that makes them come back in bad dreams....My dream about dahn-pit was quite pleasant, especially the smells of the return & loco exhaust..
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Post by timberlad on Oct 8, 2013 7:56:50 GMT -5
Its strange how our brain tries to sort the days trials out, i remember having a similar dream as you John when a deputy was killed by a shearer at a pit where i worked ( Nostell )on the night shift, the strange thing is when i was a young lad 12 or 13 this deputy had knocked me down on his motorbike ( my Fault )and when i heard it was him who had been killed i had this recurring dream where i was flying through the air and him shouting at me to get out of the way and i was shouting back at him NO NO NO you get out of the way, some dreams are very realistic ( and scare the crap out of you )
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Post by shropshirebloke on Oct 8, 2013 14:48:18 GMT -5
I often dream that I'm back in the pit - sometimes pleasant, others a bit scary. The one I do remember was a dream I had while I was actually working there. Having reached the lofty heights of "switchman" I was entrusted with a transfer point from a gate belt. Not the most exciting job on the planet - hit the button to restart the belt after the road belt had restarted, clean up the spillage from the box end... One night some silly bugger had sent up a piece of coal the size of one of those american fridges - jammed in the chute and by the time I'd stopped the gate belt it had diverted a couple of tons onto the floor. It didn't take long to break it up and then I spent a while on my knees shovelling the spillage back on to the belt.
I went back to my comfy seat by the switch and must have dozed off, because the next thing I can remember was being in my Gran's living room - it must have been because that was only place I knew then that smelt of coal smoke. After a while I realised that I wasn't sitting in a comfortable armchair, but on a couple of bags of stone dust in one of the worst places in the world to smell burning coal.
It wasn't that exciting - some of the spillage had jammed between rollers and the belt and the friction had got it burning - a minute or two from the water spray above the chute (held in place with det wire if I remember correctly) soon cooled everything down.
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gaz
Trainee
Posts: 15
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Post by gaz on Sept 20, 2014 10:31:45 GMT -5
I often have dreams about being back dahn pit. I am usually chewing tobacco when I wake up my mouth is dry, and I was probably looking around for my water bottle in the dream, wierd how it stays with you
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Post by smshogun on Sept 21, 2014 17:47:16 GMT -5
Colly:
Being back down Hucknall? thought that was a nightmare and not a dream.
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Post by colly0410 on Sept 22, 2014 15:23:26 GMT -5
Apart from Moorgreen TC I've only ever worked down Hucknall so don't know any other pit. Must admit there were some weird characters down that pit, one bloke didn't use the pit baths, he stunk sumat orrible, they said he kept coal in his bath, how true that was I don't know. There was a gay onsetter who the other blokes said fancied me, I tried to keep away from him, hard to do when I was on the locos. There were other weirdos down there, if/when I think of them I'll post..
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Post by John on Sept 22, 2014 16:17:20 GMT -5
Apart from Moorgreen TC I've only ever worked down Hucknall so don't know any other pit. Must admit there were some weird characters down that pit, one bloke didn't use the pit baths, he stunk sumat orrible, they said he kept coal in his bath, how true that was I don't know. There was a gay onsetter who the other blokes said fancied me, I tried to keep away from him, hard to do when I was on the locos. There were other weirdos down there, if/when I think of them I'll post.. There's oddball's at every pit Steve.....LOL There was an Irishman on the screens at Clifton, he got banned from the baths, he used to have a shower then dry himself off with newspaper, his heels were ditched in dirt, they were black even after he had a shower, so it wasn't the newspaper. There were so many complaints about his hygiene that the Bath Attendant banned him from the building.
Another young feller, about 22 ish had the nickname "Madness", we used to take great delight in winding him up.... One of the Onsetters was crosseyed, he was caught getting it off in the back of the canteen with the Manageress one day by the Manager of the pit, I think she got the sack... God he was an ugly so and so too. We noticed he used to be covered in love bites when he was showering, either that or he had bed bugs the size of poodles at his house.....LOL
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Post by smshogun on Sept 22, 2014 19:48:11 GMT -5
The gay onsetter was a joke which many fell for, he could play the camp role to perfection and did it to all apprentices and new starters at Moorgreen, he got worse in the baths.
From memory his name was George and when the Aids scares started it gave him some excellent ammunition to play the camp role even further. He was actually married with three children and to this day is still with his wife.
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Clive
Shotfirer.
Posts: 168
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Post by Clive on Oct 4, 2014 8:50:58 GMT -5
The gay onsetter was a joke which many fell for, he could play the camp role to perfection and did it to all apprentices and new starters at Moorgreen, he got worse in the baths.
From memory his name was George and when the Aids scares started it gave him some excellent ammunition to play the camp role even further. He was actually married with three children and to this day is still with his wife. My forst day at Hapton valley I was in a top locker when a bloke came next to me in the bottom locker. he rode one of those chicken chasers (honda Grot) and was a striker on the top bed faces. He introduced himself. 'my names Johney Dog and I'm a poofta'
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