BANG! BOOM! CRASH!
October 16, 2006
What a crazy week.
Wednesday we took a trip to one of the satellite pits so that each of our students could ride in a piece of equipment. Moolmans is a company that is responsible for actually digging. They transported us to the pit and placed each student, one by one, into; a 777 dump truck, a giant front loader, or a huge water truck. When they weren’t riding, they were playing in the dirt and having a ball.
We were supposed to see a blast as well, but that got postponed due to technical difficulties. The fellas at Moolmans picked us up the next day and took us out to watch them blow up a big chunk of ground (180,000 cubic meters). Not just one, either, but two blasts in the same day! The kids thought it was awesome.
Blasts are an incredible experience. We stood and stared at a piece of ground; it’s marked by cones. If you look closely, you can see holes drilled where the explosives are. We were standing on top of several containers which house conference rooms, overlooking the main pit. There is a siren that is turned on when it’s time to clear the pit. The whine continues throughout the blast. It is a grating noise; before the blast was over, I wanted only for that sound to stop. Hennie was the man in charge of the blasting. We stood next to him as he counted down from ten. After a slight delay, the ground erupted into plumes of dust. It rippled towards us until it had exhausted the explosives. Then we felt the ground move and heard the noise. It’s over almost before it has begun.
Two afternoons of school shot, just like that. They were experiences that none of us will soon forget.
MJR
What a crazy week.
Wednesday we took a trip to one of the satellite pits so that each of our students could ride in a piece of equipment. Moolmans is a company that is responsible for actually digging. They transported us to the pit and placed each student, one by one, into; a 777 dump truck, a giant front loader, or a huge water truck. When they weren’t riding, they were playing in the dirt and having a ball.
We were supposed to see a blast as well, but that got postponed due to technical difficulties. The fellas at Moolmans picked us up the next day and took us out to watch them blow up a big chunk of ground (180,000 cubic meters). Not just one, either, but two blasts in the same day! The kids thought it was awesome.
Blasts are an incredible experience. We stood and stared at a piece of ground; it’s marked by cones. If you look closely, you can see holes drilled where the explosives are. We were standing on top of several containers which house conference rooms, overlooking the main pit. There is a siren that is turned on when it’s time to clear the pit. The whine continues throughout the blast. It is a grating noise; before the blast was over, I wanted only for that sound to stop. Hennie was the man in charge of the blasting. We stood next to him as he counted down from ten. After a slight delay, the ground erupted into plumes of dust. It rippled towards us until it had exhausted the explosives. Then we felt the ground move and heard the noise. It’s over almost before it has begun.
Two afternoons of school shot, just like that. They were experiences that none of us will soon forget.MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 7:53 PM
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