Might I be indulged to recollect a bit of nostalgia?
When I was a young reporter, in 1969, I was thrown the annual report of the National Coal Board and told to find a story within its turgid pages. I was quite chuffed to pick out the fact that there was only one pit pony left working in Cumberland. After calls to the NCB public relations office I discovered that it was at a private colliery called Duke Pit at Forest Head, Hallbankgate near Brampton.
Myself and the photographer duly arrived and eventually found one of the miners. We told him that we wanted to do a story about the last working pit pony in the county. He was very reticent and not at all keen on the story but eventually he agreed to be photographed with the pony after we had stressed it was the end of an era.
During the interview I asked "How long has the poor old pony had been toiling underground"
"Since last month" he replied, "before that we pushed the tubs out by hand"
Great thing mechanisation!
Don't wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the damn thing yourself