I expect some of you may be wondering how things are going? Well, pretty good so far, and we are delighted with our progress, but my goodness, it’s hard work! Sometimes at the end of the day we put on the kettle for a cuppa and are zonked out in our bags before the tea has even brewed. But next morning, fortified by a bowl of steaming porridge, we are soon up and at it again.
One surprise bonus is that a half-concealed opening in the cavern wall gives access to a small underground lake teeming with blind cave fish. A useful supplement to our rations, and I found them ridiculously easy to catch (they never saw it coming).
You may question the need for a tent underground, but it gets quite cold down here, and there is some dripping from the ceiling. And of course we oldies do need to keep warm and dry.
With the main clearing operation almost complete, and the floor slabs going down tomorrow, we are increasingly confident about getting ourselves installed in good time. Fingers crossed.
Oh, this is heartening! I'm a touch giddy with delight - just thinking of those damnable carolers when they find NO ONE! Oh, the faces they will make and the sour notes they'll hit.
Just be careful - if you run into stalagmites and stalactites - you may have gone too far! Merry, ah, oh, never mind.
Just an aside - your reference to blind fish puts me in mind of a cave system nearby. The "Lost Sea" is 28 miles from us in Sweetwater, TN., and a place we have taken many guests to see. The underground caverns also have blind fish from the lack of light.
It would appear from your pic that you may legitimately call yourselves The GMT Hole In The Wall Gang. Your work ethic is impressive judging by the loaded ore cart. Your porridge and blind fish diet regimen, combined with prolonged inhalation of dank cave air should provide you with the required energy to ensure you are absolutely floored on schedule. I have sent you a package of dried turkey jerky and a CD of Boney M Christmas songs to help you celebrate the season. I recommend the repeated playing of Rah Rah Rasputin as a means of maintaining your collective energy and spirit.
What started as a retreat from Christmas involvement seems to evolved into a new lifestyle fitting for any medieval hermit, wanting to live in comfort but isolation. Will you have the ability to communicate, once in place in this subterranean location, Graeme?
What started as a retreat from Christmas involvement seems to evolved into a new lifestyle fitting for any medieval hermit, wanting to live in comfort but isolation. Will you have the ability to communicate, once in place in this subterranean location, Graeme?
Well, it would seem to defeat the purpose of the exercise, but yes, preliminary tests have shown that the porous nature of the overlying rock will allow a signal from our router to penetrate and bring messages from the outside world. Obviously I can only hope that this facility will not be abused.
The only annoying thing about this whole exercise is that the rather expensive autonomous sentry guns I installed on the front drive to dissuade seasonal well-wishers are now largely unneccessary. I may have to flog them on eBay, unless the software can be upgraded to handle automated grouse-shooting.
That's a terrific idea - I hope you CAN get those chain guns reprogrammed for grouse shooting. If you're like me, you'll enjoy your grouse well-ventilated prior to cooking!
That's a terrific idea - I hope you CAN get those chain guns reprogrammed for grouse shooting. If you're like me, you'll enjoy your grouse well-ventilated prior to cooking!
Ratatattatt....ratatatt!! Now don't you know.....that's the sound of the men....working on the chain...guuuuns.
What started as a retreat from Christmas involvement seems to evolved into a new lifestyle fitting for any medieval hermit, wanting to live in comfort but isolation. Will you have the ability to communicate, once in place in this subterranean location, Graeme?
Well, it would seem to defeat the purpose of the exercise, but yes, preliminary tests have shown that the porous nature of the overlying rock will allow a signal from our router to penetrate and bring messages from the outside world. Obviously I can only hope that this facility will not be abused.
The only annoying thing about this whole exercise is that the rather expensive autonomous sentry guns I installed on the front drive to dissuade seasonal well-wishers are now largely unneccessary. I may have to flog them on eBay, unless the software can be upgraded to handle automated grouse-shooting.
Hmmmm.....Porous overhead rock makes for unpredictable ceiling material. Perhaps you may want to issue WWI tin pot hats? On a separate note....how much will you be asking for the sentry guns and do they have a silencer attachment? I have a neighbor dispute I need to resolve.
Not being a trained geologist I may have been a bit loose with my terminology. I think I meant to say "low density rock".
On the other issue, I am increasingly confident that the Edible Wildfowl Automated Detection and Termination With Extreme Prejudice algorithm can be successfully installed, so I'll be hanging on the guns for the time being. You'll just have to use the faithful AK-47, same as the last three or four "neighbour dispute resolutions" I think you may have mentioned in passing. (Or try manual strangulation, if you're feeling the need for a bit of upper body toning exercise.)
