Impacts

I started working as miner when I was seventeen at Sainte-Barbe. In those days, in the 60s, Sainte-Barbe served as school and training mine. The normal sequence was fifteen days at school followed by thirty days down in Pontil 2, and this for two years. This sector was difficult. I remember the temperature... climbing up to fifty degrees, the ventilation was out of date, the galleries were narrow... This all made working difficult. I am sure that I would have changed my job after my graduation if I had to stay in that sector. Fortunately I was transferred to the Oules Mine. We did the thirty-eight, only our headlamps giving us light. There was also neon lighting, but that went no further than thirty meters. Only the foreman had the privilege of a security light. When there was firedamp, the flame started to fade. Lighters and matches were forbidden, and somebody caught with these could be fired. The work was very physical; we had to use the pneumatic hammer. We were paid by the meter. The foreman asked everybody how many meters he would do; depending on courage and strength the maximum length was fifteen meters. But careful: one should no be mistaken too often since the work had to be finished by the remaining shift members. Down there, we always helped each other; we had lots of fun. Since the work was hard, we couldn’t afford to be cross with each other. We had the impression of being in a different world, where there was solidarity.