Coming Up For Air
Like the rest of the world, I'm enjoying watching the pictures of the Chilean miners being hauled to safety. So often our breaking news stories involve dreadful events - it's wonderful to see some unalloyed joy on our screens.
As an effete university graduate employed in a white collar job, my reality couldn't be further removed from the tough physical struggle which the miners have endured, not only during the last 69 days, but also during their hard working lives.
However, if I'd been born a couple of generations ago, things would have been different. My father's family moved over from Ireland in the wake of the potato famine of the nineteenth century and ended up working down the coal mines in the North East of England. My grandfather, Christopher, studied for a qualification from the Institute of Mining Engineers and became an "undermanager". In April 1916 the roof fell in at Harton Colliery, County Durham, trapping a miner called Hall under the rubble.
My grandad and a colleague, William Walker, dug out the trapped man, whilst the roof threatened to collapse on their heads. It didn't take 69 days, just one hour and five minutes, but it must have been terrifying and something I couldn't contemplate attempting (the roof collapsed thirty minutes after they got out, so if the rescue had taken one hour and thirty five minutes, there wouldn't be a Devenport Diaries).
Later both my grandad and his colleague were awarded The gallantry award, given to people who worked in industry or mining, no longer exists. In 1971 surviving recipients were invited to exchange their awards for the George Cross.
Sadly I never knew my grandad, as he died around the time when I was born. Understandably, my family remains very proud of him. When I see the pictures from Chile I think not only of him, but also of my uncles who had to get in a cage and go underground every day to earn a living. I have led a privileged existence thanks to my parents' hard work and the state funded education system which enabled me to attend university on a full grant - something which future generations may no longer be able to rely upon.
The Chilean miners have relied on the efforts of people throughout the world to pull off this great escape (with funding and technology supplied from abroad). But equally we all have to rely on so many others, ancestors, relatives, friends and strangers, to live our rather less dramatic lives. It's great to grasp a moment to celebrate our common humanity.
I'm 
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