This bygone

For Dewi Joshua, a collier's boy, life underground at Pencaer colliery is central to his whole being. When he and other men from the Four Deep are laid off, he feels sickened, disintegrated. More than anything he missed the togetherness of men underground, the bonding, walking the main, old blokes on the double-parting discussing Moel Exchange events and all the wireless and newspaper world like gods talking. Sanguine commentaries between hewing coal far, far away from all sky. Butties and mates settling down for grub at 11 o'clock, blokes queuing to the lamproom, collier-boys chin-wagging outside the pay hatch on Fridays.This lyrical and unsettling portrayal of the individual's ability to survive, love, adapt and above all, thrive makes compelling reading.