Every Picture Tells a Story, Don't it? Dudar, Veszprém County 1993
Photo: The pit has surely closed, and these miners will long be retired, as deep coal mines were under threat even when I took this scene in, I think, February, 1993.
Searching for a KesterTester photo, I came upon this image in the boxes of pics. It is surely too difficult for a tester, but I decided to post it for its own sake. I like the light, and the split focus of the miners, with two looking to the left and the middle man, with a sparkle in his face, looking at the camera.
I forget the time, but I suspect they were waiting to starte the 2.00 pm shift. Each will have his story, and this captures just 1/60 of a second of their shared existance.
Outside, I remember there was snow on the ground.
I guess few Hungarians, let alone foreigners, have ever set foot in Dudar, although the nearby small town of Zirc has some attractions, notably a Cistercian Abbey, and the Bakony Hills all around are full of natural beauty. This is about 120 km south-west of Budapest.
I was doing a story for Financial Times energy reports about the run down of coal mines in Hungary. Sad story, as everywhere, of dangerous and expensive operations, and in Hungary usually involving poor quality coal with a high sulphur content.
In other words, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, an economic basket case heading, inevitably, for closure.
And of course, the resultant unemployment must have hit the village hard, though I suspect by now most locals work in far better conditions and for far better pay in nearby Veszprém and Győr.
I'll send a link to this piccie to the local council, maybe someone will recognise these fellows. I'm pretty sure this pic has never been published before.
In the words of the pitmen, as they would greet one another in the vernacular: "Jó szerencsét!" [Good Fortune]
(Thank you, Géza for that correction.)
Oh, and nearly forgot (again) - please like the pic (if you do) - the pros insist it brings people to the post.
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