I think tomorrow after I've had some sleep I might blog about the similarities between hockey teams and coal miners. But for now, a story about sleep.

On the first night, around 3:30 AM I was hanging out with my buddy Robin the pumpman. He had helped me with a bunch of oiler stuffs and now we were going to investigate why one of his pumps- nay, his most important pump- mysteriously stopped pumping. Such mysteries occur frequently and can have many different solutions, from pressing a reset button and everyone living happily ever after to having to replace a pump in a deep dark pit at 4 in the morning accompanied by cursings of all and sundry.
But first, coffee break. So I fell instantly asleep, and apparently was snoring. I never used to fall so deeply asleep at work but babies have that effect on you I guess. So next thing I know it's 5:45 and Robin is leaving in the coal van to pick up the coal haulers- his final duty of every shift. Groggily I slide over to the driver's seat of the pumptruck and drive away to kill off the last 45 minutes of the shift. My main concern is finding somewhere isolated to hide and try to wake up. Vaguely I wonder if Robin got that pump going or not but really, it's almost home time and I don't actually care.
Suddenly here comes the big boss, doing his morning tour in his pickup. He's making a beeline for me, thinking I'm the pumpman since I am driving the pumptruck. Oh no! I pretend I don't see him and take off. Luckily it's dark enough that I can sort of get away with that. So I drive away towards a different pit, the one with the mystery pump, and to my dismay I see Big Boss is following me. No doubt he wants to debrief about the pump but I really can't see how that conversation can possibly go well for me- I can just imagine it: Hi Homie Bear, did you get that pump going last night?
Ummm, I don't really know. Maybe?
What do you mean you don't know?
Well, I . . . am just very very tired.
So anyways I had no choice but to pretend I didn't see him. It was a little awkward when he passed me and waved but sometimes you just have to stay the course.