LIKE me, I expect lots of you can’t really remember the day we heard about a mine disaster in Chile, way back in August.

Probably we were too busy reading about Really Important Things, like how the Premiership had just started, or who was going to win the Labour leadership contest.

But don’t tell me that anyone will forget what happened this week, as the 33 Chilean miners emerged from their stinking hell-hole.

It was a moment of pure joy, the triumph of hope over despair, of light over darkness and life over death. Cry? It seemed rude not to.

Now the miners are back I do hope they and their families won’t pay too much attention to the psychiatrists, psychologists and professional doomsayers who are already predicting trouble ahead and claiming they will need mental assistance for months.

These men are miners, for goodness sake, not namby-pamby Islington Quangocrats.

So I hope the gloom-mongers will take heed of one rescuee, Mario Sepulvelda, who said: “I want you to treat me like a miner, which is what I am.”

Far from bemoaning their fate and fretting about what might happen in the future, I suspect many of these men will have already grabbed the chance to press the re-start button on their lives.

Feuds, squabbles and petty arguments will be sorted; time-wasting activities eschewed.

I bet their wives (mistresses in one case!) their homes and their children will never look more beautiful.

Will they ever take for granted a sunny day, the fresh breeze in their hair, the scent of a spring flower?

Will they ever feel bored by the chatter of their children, depressed by the rain or fail to relish the taste of a really good, fresh cup of coffee every day?

I very much doubt it. I think they’ll resolve to have more fun, spend more money, have more sex and more kids.

Right this moment, many of us are broke, fearful and rightly resentful at the way we are being traduced 24/7 by the coalition of hypocrites who now run this country.

But that shouldn’t stop us from noticing the colours of the autumn leaves, the scent of the woodsmoke in the air and the brilliant blue of the sky on these October days.

After the rescue mission was completed, President Sebastian Pinera spoke of: “A resurrection in spirit, in strength and in hope.”

He’s right. We are not part of the miners’ pain but we have all been blessed with the chance to witness their salvation and their joy and that is a gift worth celebrating.