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My Experiences Down the Mine
For years, I've been meaning to go Pywll Mawr, aka the Big Pit - a coal-mine-turned-heritage centre, not far from Pontypool. I see the sign for it every time I drive to work in Cardiff, and my daughter even went on a school trip about 13 years ago, but I haven't had the motivation to follow in her footsteps until Monday, when I took Yuko and Moe. The main spur was Moe's wish to soak in the background to the Ghibli film, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which was partly based on Miyazaki's visit to the South Welsh coalfields in 1984, at the time of the miners' strike - which inspired the feisty spirit of the miners in his film, but also its landscape.
Anyway, partly due to the weather, but mostly the place itself, we had a great time. We started off with a visit to the nearby Blaenavon Ironworks, or what's left of them, with their furnaces, workers' cottages, balance tower and the rest.
The coal mine did not allow cameras - or indeed anything with a battery - underground. This is because it's still legally classed as a working mine, even though it's 44 years since any methane-releasing mining went on down there. But believe me when I tell you that it was quite an experience, going down long tunnels that wholly justified the necessity of helmets in terms of their height. I had a strange, Baudrillardesque sense that this must be a real mine because it so strongly resembled all the fake mines I've seen in various films and TV programmes over the years - my only point of reference.
Certainly, the landscape round about did seem quite Laputa-esque (with just a hint of Ivor the Engine). And this point-by-point comparison backs up that impression.
Anyway, partly due to the weather, but mostly the place itself, we had a great time. We started off with a visit to the nearby Blaenavon Ironworks, or what's left of them, with their furnaces, workers' cottages, balance tower and the rest.
The coal mine did not allow cameras - or indeed anything with a battery - underground. This is because it's still legally classed as a working mine, even though it's 44 years since any methane-releasing mining went on down there. But believe me when I tell you that it was quite an experience, going down long tunnels that wholly justified the necessity of helmets in terms of their height. I had a strange, Baudrillardesque sense that this must be a real mine because it so strongly resembled all the fake mines I've seen in various films and TV programmes over the years - my only point of reference.
Certainly, the landscape round about did seem quite Laputa-esque (with just a hint of Ivor the Engine). And this point-by-point comparison backs up that impression.