You may think that the aftershocks would have died down three weeks after the 7.1 earthquake. You'd be wrong.
Within the space of 15 minutes tonight we had a 3.8, a 4.1, and a 4.0 -- within 5km of us. They were centred on Oxford Terrace which is smack bang in the city centre. I wonder if they did any more damage to the buildings in the CBD... They really rattled our house quite vigorously and made a couple of precariously perched items fall off their perches.
My day up until this point was extremely relaxing (an aftershock woke me up at half nine but other than that it was a fairly quiet time) and this has completely wrecked my peace. Adrenaline is still pumping more than half an hour later!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010: More than two weeks later
The earthquake was more than two weeks ago now -- 17 days, almost -- and at last I find myself thinking of other things for most of the day. We have yet to go long without detectable aftershocks, and we had a 4.6 magnitude less than 24 hours ago which left the whole house wobbling for at least 30 seconds afterwards, but they are definitely less frequent.
I am back to my normal job in my normal office building, although not at my own desk. The earthquake damaged important things like fire stairs so some areas of the building are still out of bounds. I'm currently sitting on the fourth floor mezzanine, with a huge concrete beam and cracked plasterboard directly above my head.
The city is no longer in a state of emergency, as things have been downgraded to a state of urgency. This is probably small comfort to the people who have been made homeless, or who still don't know if their house is safe enough to live in. In some cases they are hoping for a demolition order, which will at least allow them to take the insurance money and move on. The alternative is living in a damaged house on a street that nobody will ever want to buy on, but there will definitely be people stuck in that position too. Property values for houses that border on demolition zones are going to plummet, as with every subdivision built on land that we now know is prone to liquefaction. Who is going to want to buy a house there? Nobody who can afford to live elsewhere, that's for sure.
Walking around the city centre is surreal. Life is going on as normal almost everywhere, but then there are pockets where it's only a matter of time before the demolition equipment moves in. These buildings are just around the corner from my old office building (the one we only moved from a week before the earthquake). It's hard to see the damage in the second photo but up close the building is cracked and broken. There is a red placard on the door and little hope that it will be made safe for business anytime soon:
And here's my old office building itself. Poor old girl, she has seen better days, but she's still standing! I don't know what the future holds for this 1934 structure but I do hope it escapes demolition despite the current damage. It's a heritage building so worth saving if that's possible.
Although we are still getting aftershocks, the last fortnight is starting to feel like some crazy dream. It's not a dream that I ever want to experience again in my lifetime but it's starting to feel like this is almost over for me. I am one of the lucky ones, for sure.
I am back to my normal job in my normal office building, although not at my own desk. The earthquake damaged important things like fire stairs so some areas of the building are still out of bounds. I'm currently sitting on the fourth floor mezzanine, with a huge concrete beam and cracked plasterboard directly above my head.
The city is no longer in a state of emergency, as things have been downgraded to a state of urgency. This is probably small comfort to the people who have been made homeless, or who still don't know if their house is safe enough to live in. In some cases they are hoping for a demolition order, which will at least allow them to take the insurance money and move on. The alternative is living in a damaged house on a street that nobody will ever want to buy on, but there will definitely be people stuck in that position too. Property values for houses that border on demolition zones are going to plummet, as with every subdivision built on land that we now know is prone to liquefaction. Who is going to want to buy a house there? Nobody who can afford to live elsewhere, that's for sure.
Walking around the city centre is surreal. Life is going on as normal almost everywhere, but then there are pockets where it's only a matter of time before the demolition equipment moves in. These buildings are just around the corner from my old office building (the one we only moved from a week before the earthquake). It's hard to see the damage in the second photo but up close the building is cracked and broken. There is a red placard on the door and little hope that it will be made safe for business anytime soon:
And here's my old office building itself. Poor old girl, she has seen better days, but she's still standing! I don't know what the future holds for this 1934 structure but I do hope it escapes demolition despite the current damage. It's a heritage building so worth saving if that's possible.
Although we are still getting aftershocks, the last fortnight is starting to feel like some crazy dream. It's not a dream that I ever want to experience again in my lifetime but it's starting to feel like this is almost over for me. I am one of the lucky ones, for sure.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Other people's stories
I didn't compile this but I did contribute to it. It makes interesting, and occasionally distressing, reading.
Earthquake Map
Earthquake Map
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010: Civil Defence
I thought last week that I wouldn't be on Civil Defence duty much as I didn't see how I had any practical skills that would be useful, but I was wrong. As part of my normal job I spend a lot of time working with people from all parts of Christchurch City Council, and I (and the other people in the same role as me) knew many of the people working at the Emergency Operations Centre. This made me a natural choice for working on the front desk, acting as an interface between the public and external organisations and the inner sanctum of the EOC. I've put in more hours there this week than I would put in at my normal job, but it's all to the good. I've been delighted to be able to help.
The first shift that I was there, I brought supplies of fruit, water, and muesli bars with me, but I quickly realised that wasn't necessary. We have proper catering! Staff at the EOC get a proper meal at lunch and dinner, and I've heard there's a proper breakfast as well but I have been doing shifts from 1pm onwards so missed that. The food has been excellent and is a vital part of the whole operation, keeping staff properly fuelled rather than relying on energy drinks and junk food.
The response from the public has been incredible, too. We have had all kinds of people coming by with offers to help, offers of free/discounted services, or heaped plates of goodies for the staff. Lots of people who don't know how else to help have been baking cakes and biscuits and scones and muffins and bringing in sweets for us. There was also a lovely lady going around giving us free shoulder and hand massages to ease the tension! It really does mean a lot to know that we are in their thoughts, and the generosity has been astounding. If I am ever on the other side in this type of situation I'll try to remember this.
The first shift that I was there, I brought supplies of fruit, water, and muesli bars with me, but I quickly realised that wasn't necessary. We have proper catering! Staff at the EOC get a proper meal at lunch and dinner, and I've heard there's a proper breakfast as well but I have been doing shifts from 1pm onwards so missed that. The food has been excellent and is a vital part of the whole operation, keeping staff properly fuelled rather than relying on energy drinks and junk food.
The response from the public has been incredible, too. We have had all kinds of people coming by with offers to help, offers of free/discounted services, or heaped plates of goodies for the staff. Lots of people who don't know how else to help have been baking cakes and biscuits and scones and muffins and bringing in sweets for us. There was also a lovely lady going around giving us free shoulder and hand massages to ease the tension! It really does mean a lot to know that we are in their thoughts, and the generosity has been astounding. If I am ever on the other side in this type of situation I'll try to remember this.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day ten
I can hardly believe it is Day 10 already. Ten days of trauma, stress, aftershocks, Civil Defence, uncertainty, and unity. We are still getting detectable aftershocks, but not as strong (nothing today has exceeded 4.1 so far) and not as frequent. I hardly dare to say it but it seems like we are getting back to normal. The scientists say there's still a risk of another 5 or 6, but with every hour that passes that risk lessens.
Today was a day off Civil Defence duties for me and Skry. We spent a few hours righting in the inside of the house (putting the bookcases back up if undamaged, throwing out the broken one, replacing things that have been on the floor for more than a week), and then enjoyed a couple of hours reading on the deck in the sunshine. It felt like summer holidays, not a state of emergency. He is off for another day but I'm back on the front desk tomorrow afternoon. I have been doing front desk duty at the Emergency Operations Centre, directing people to the right place or finding the right person for them to talk to. The army is helping me -- army reserves in camo uniform man the sign-in/sign-out desk -- and it has been quite enjoyable knowing that I am doing something genuinely useful. It can be upsetting when people come in who are facing the loss of their business or all their rental properties, but thank goodness I haven't had to deal with anybody who is losing their home. That must be horrible for everybody talking to them as well as the person themselves.
It will be a long time before Christchurch is back to normal, but for now I am just enjoying the normal feeling that we got today. I can deal with the ground shaking so long as nothing else falls down.
Today was a day off Civil Defence duties for me and Skry. We spent a few hours righting in the inside of the house (putting the bookcases back up if undamaged, throwing out the broken one, replacing things that have been on the floor for more than a week), and then enjoyed a couple of hours reading on the deck in the sunshine. It felt like summer holidays, not a state of emergency. He is off for another day but I'm back on the front desk tomorrow afternoon. I have been doing front desk duty at the Emergency Operations Centre, directing people to the right place or finding the right person for them to talk to. The army is helping me -- army reserves in camo uniform man the sign-in/sign-out desk -- and it has been quite enjoyable knowing that I am doing something genuinely useful. It can be upsetting when people come in who are facing the loss of their business or all their rental properties, but thank goodness I haven't had to deal with anybody who is losing their home. That must be horrible for everybody talking to them as well as the person themselves.
It will be a long time before Christchurch is back to normal, but for now I am just enjoying the normal feeling that we got today. I can deal with the ground shaking so long as nothing else falls down.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day seven
Did I tell you about the 5.1 mag earthquake we had on Wednesday morning? We thought we'd had a terribly strong aftershock from the original quake, but it was actually a quake from a new fault only a few kilometres from here and did lots more damage around town. Buildings which survived the first quake with no damage didn't all survive this one, and it badly frightened a lot of people including me. For many of us this quake was just the last straw. The Civil Defence emergency headquarters at the Art Gallery had to be evacuated while the building was assessed (thankfully it stayed safe), and staff members were reduced to tears.
The 5.1 struck just before 8:00am when we were asleep. I dived off the side of the bed onto the floor, and Skry froze where he was to see what would happen. The whole house was rocking quite violently and making a tremendous noise, but although it was bad it was nothing like Saturday's earthquake. Nothing fell on the ground, probably helped by the fact that we haven't put anything back up that fell on Saturday. It's all just lying there, waiting for the aftershocks to stop.
My nerves were completely shattered by this and I couldn't bear to stay in the house just waiting for the next one. Skry came with me for a walk around the neighbourhood instead, where we saw many chimneys just barely keeping their balance, and some big cracks right across the road at the bottom of Linwood Avenue where it reaches the river. That is the edge of the Avonside area which has been very badly damaged this week.
By lunchtime it was obvious that I needed to get away from what was going on for the sake of my mental health. Skry and I joined the steady stream of people leaving the city (the queues at every operating petrol station were impressive) and fled to friends in Scargill, about 1.5 hours north of here. The aftershocks were barely detectable at their house, which I always love anyway because it's so relaxing in the countryside there. We had two wonderful nights of unbroken sleep and my nerves feel in a much better state now. I am so grateful to have friends in a position to give us the gift of sanity!
We are still getting aftershocks on a regular basis, of course, but I feel better equipped to deal with them. I know that many people haven't been lucky enough to get away, and the strain is definitely starting to show on those who have lost homes, businesses, or both. It must be devastating for them.
Here is a picture that I pilfered from the Stuff website. It shows the aftershocks we have endured this week. An impressive collection, isn't it?!
The 5.1 struck just before 8:00am when we were asleep. I dived off the side of the bed onto the floor, and Skry froze where he was to see what would happen. The whole house was rocking quite violently and making a tremendous noise, but although it was bad it was nothing like Saturday's earthquake. Nothing fell on the ground, probably helped by the fact that we haven't put anything back up that fell on Saturday. It's all just lying there, waiting for the aftershocks to stop.
My nerves were completely shattered by this and I couldn't bear to stay in the house just waiting for the next one. Skry came with me for a walk around the neighbourhood instead, where we saw many chimneys just barely keeping their balance, and some big cracks right across the road at the bottom of Linwood Avenue where it reaches the river. That is the edge of the Avonside area which has been very badly damaged this week.
By lunchtime it was obvious that I needed to get away from what was going on for the sake of my mental health. Skry and I joined the steady stream of people leaving the city (the queues at every operating petrol station were impressive) and fled to friends in Scargill, about 1.5 hours north of here. The aftershocks were barely detectable at their house, which I always love anyway because it's so relaxing in the countryside there. We had two wonderful nights of unbroken sleep and my nerves feel in a much better state now. I am so grateful to have friends in a position to give us the gift of sanity!
We are still getting aftershocks on a regular basis, of course, but I feel better equipped to deal with them. I know that many people haven't been lucky enough to get away, and the strain is definitely starting to show on those who have lost homes, businesses, or both. It must be devastating for them.
Here is a picture that I pilfered from the Stuff website. It shows the aftershocks we have endured this week. An impressive collection, isn't it?!
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day four
When I said yesterday that the aftershocks were smaller and further apart, I was wrong. We got slammed last night.
11:24pm 5.2 mag
11.38pm 4.0 mag
11.40pm 5.4
11.47pm 3.7
11.54pm 4.2
00.21am 4.7
00.47am 3.5
00.51am 3.9
01.39am 3.4
02.52am 3.1
03.14am 3.7
03.24am 5.4
04.17am 3.5
05.14am 3.9
05.17am 3.3
06.22am 3.5
08.14am 3.6
As you can see, there were three aftershocks overnight of magnitude 5.2 or higher. These are big enough to qualify as earthquakes in their own right -- any one of them would be newsworthy, and we got three, along with plenty of smaller ones. These aftershocks caused more damage to the buildings that have already been damaged, and led to a refuge centre being evacuated, the airport's domestic terminal being temporarily closed when cracks appeared, and damage appearing in houses that had seemed unscathed up until now.
We are very fortunate to still have no visible damage to our house. The garage is damaged, but it was damaged already and it's hard to tell what was caused by the earthquake and what was caused by subsidence years ago. When we bought the house the garage was already cracked and broken along both long walls because one end of the building had sunk a little, but that could have happened any time since it was built. Anyway, we now have a broken window pane along the side, and I'm pretty sure the gaps around that window frame are bigger than they used to be, courtesy of either last night or Saturday morning. But honestly the garage should really be knocked down and replaced anyway, and we should be grateful that it's still standing after the battering it received this weekend.
Skry and I both ended up at work yesterday, helping at the Civil Defence headquarters based in the Art Gallery. He works in IT support and is very useful to them, but I don't have any skills that are particularly in need right now. I thought I'd end up making cups of tea for people, but even that was all in hand! It's a very well run organisation and I have great admiration for those in charge and all the volunteers doing their civic duty.
It's strange to see the Art Gallery used for this purpose, and it's not perfect because of the lack of desk space and IT equipment such as printers and network ports, but it's working so far. And for a building with so much glass in its frontage, it has held together wonderfully. There is no visible damage at all.
Skry has been rostered to do more shifts but I don't think I'll be called in again. Last night I volunteered, but I am really not the most useful person to be in there. If something comes up that I can really help with I'll go back, but right now I'm leaving it to those better qualified.
Today has mostly been aftershock-free since this morning, but it always seems worse in the evenings and overnight. There is no reason that should be, that I know of anyway, but I'm not looking forward to tonight if the pattern holds. I suppose we'll find out.
11:24pm 5.2 mag
11.38pm 4.0 mag
11.40pm 5.4
11.47pm 3.7
11.54pm 4.2
00.21am 4.7
00.47am 3.5
00.51am 3.9
01.39am 3.4
02.52am 3.1
03.14am 3.7
03.24am 5.4
04.17am 3.5
05.14am 3.9
05.17am 3.3
06.22am 3.5
08.14am 3.6
As you can see, there were three aftershocks overnight of magnitude 5.2 or higher. These are big enough to qualify as earthquakes in their own right -- any one of them would be newsworthy, and we got three, along with plenty of smaller ones. These aftershocks caused more damage to the buildings that have already been damaged, and led to a refuge centre being evacuated, the airport's domestic terminal being temporarily closed when cracks appeared, and damage appearing in houses that had seemed unscathed up until now.
We are very fortunate to still have no visible damage to our house. The garage is damaged, but it was damaged already and it's hard to tell what was caused by the earthquake and what was caused by subsidence years ago. When we bought the house the garage was already cracked and broken along both long walls because one end of the building had sunk a little, but that could have happened any time since it was built. Anyway, we now have a broken window pane along the side, and I'm pretty sure the gaps around that window frame are bigger than they used to be, courtesy of either last night or Saturday morning. But honestly the garage should really be knocked down and replaced anyway, and we should be grateful that it's still standing after the battering it received this weekend.
Skry and I both ended up at work yesterday, helping at the Civil Defence headquarters based in the Art Gallery. He works in IT support and is very useful to them, but I don't have any skills that are particularly in need right now. I thought I'd end up making cups of tea for people, but even that was all in hand! It's a very well run organisation and I have great admiration for those in charge and all the volunteers doing their civic duty.
It's strange to see the Art Gallery used for this purpose, and it's not perfect because of the lack of desk space and IT equipment such as printers and network ports, but it's working so far. And for a building with so much glass in its frontage, it has held together wonderfully. There is no visible damage at all.
Skry has been rostered to do more shifts but I don't think I'll be called in again. Last night I volunteered, but I am really not the most useful person to be in there. If something comes up that I can really help with I'll go back, but right now I'm leaving it to those better qualified.
Today has mostly been aftershock-free since this morning, but it always seems worse in the evenings and overnight. There is no reason that should be, that I know of anyway, but I'm not looking forward to tonight if the pattern holds. I suppose we'll find out.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010, day three
We are starting to feel a bit more normal today. Aftershocks have been fewer, smaller, and further apart. But does that mean this is almost over, or are we still facing a second big quake? Nobody knows.
All we can do now is get on with life as normally as possible in a city where the central business district is closed off, businesses in Christchurch must not open until they have been assessed and deemed safe by a structural engineer, and those of us lucky enough to have running water have to boil it for three minutes before using it.
My employer has advised us not to come to work until the 13th unless we are specifically requested to come in. There are lots of people who have been called in because they are needed to help with the assessment and cleanup effort, but I can't see how my skills are helpful right now so I probably won't get called. Will wait and see.
My colleagues are all fine, at least the ones in my department, but two of them are out of their houses. One (and his wife and family) had chimneys fall through the roof, not sure about the other. Other people are without running water.
My brand-new office building has structural damage, which must be hugely disappointing for the people who worked so hard to make it perfect for us moving into it last week. But I have heard through my friend Fiona, who is at work now to do heritage assessments, that it should be okay. Let's hope her information is correct. The building I left a week ago was badly damaged and nobody is allowed back in, not even the people who hadn't moved yet and still had all their things there. It's another example of how lucky we were that this didn't happen during the day as I can't see how everybody would have lived through it.
Here is what's left of one of my favourite restaurants:
At least the owners have retained a sense of humour. Here's what it now says on their website:
All we can do now is get on with life as normally as possible in a city where the central business district is closed off, businesses in Christchurch must not open until they have been assessed and deemed safe by a structural engineer, and those of us lucky enough to have running water have to boil it for three minutes before using it.
My employer has advised us not to come to work until the 13th unless we are specifically requested to come in. There are lots of people who have been called in because they are needed to help with the assessment and cleanup effort, but I can't see how my skills are helpful right now so I probably won't get called. Will wait and see.
My colleagues are all fine, at least the ones in my department, but two of them are out of their houses. One (and his wife and family) had chimneys fall through the roof, not sure about the other. Other people are without running water.
My brand-new office building has structural damage, which must be hugely disappointing for the people who worked so hard to make it perfect for us moving into it last week. But I have heard through my friend Fiona, who is at work now to do heritage assessments, that it should be okay. Let's hope her information is correct. The building I left a week ago was badly damaged and nobody is allowed back in, not even the people who hadn't moved yet and still had all their things there. It's another example of how lucky we were that this didn't happen during the day as I can't see how everybody would have lived through it.
Here is what's left of one of my favourite restaurants:
At least the owners have retained a sense of humour. Here's what it now says on their website:
ALVARADOS IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT (and has been totally remodelled).
Was a must for authentic traditional style Mexican Cuisine.
New menu out now! (if you find it blowing around on the street, could you return it please?)
Was fully licensed and BYO (wine only).
Was open Tuesday - Saturday from 5.30pm
Alfresco dining apparently isn't an option. Something to do with the lack of access, water, power and hygiene.
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Christchurch earthquake September 2010
So, I have survived my first earthquake -- the first one I was consciously aware of, anyway. And boy was it a doozy. Christchurch was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake at 4.35a.m. today, jerking me out of a sound sleep and scaring the wits out of me too. As soon as I woke up I knew what was happening, because the signs were quite distinctive: the whole house was swaying and shaking, and things were crashing to the ground in every room. There was no way this could be mistaken for a burglary, or even a car crash outside.
It felt like the initial earthquake went on for half a minute or so, although I can't be sure about that. I was in the corner of our bedroom which seemed to be a relatively safe place, so I stayed there rather than dashing for the nearest doorway. Advice about where to position oneself during an earthquake seems to be conflicting -- should it be under a doorway or towards the outside walls of the house? The doorway might be more stable, but if the whole thing comes crashing down there's a better chance of being dug out if you're near the edge. Anyway, I stayed where I was and that was fine. We don't have much in the bedroom that is likely to fall down, so at least there weren't things falling around me or on top of me. The heater fell face-down onto the carpet and my makeup danced to the edge of the dresser and plummeted to the ground, but that was all. When the quake stopped I turned on the light, grabbed my dressing gown, and went to see what damage had been done in the living room.
I could hardly get through the living room door because there was a heap of CDs lying on the other side of it, topped off by the bookcase they had been stored in.
The television was okay! I had been sure it would get smashed, but a few months ago we bought a really sturdy entertainment unit with a wide top shelf, and thankfully that was enough to keep things steady. But the DVDs and their bookshelf had both toppled over, taking the ironing board with them.
There was some other minor damage -- a pot plant upside down on the carpet, baking trays on the kitchen floor -- but we really got off very lightly.
Just as I was assessing this, another quake struck. This one was a mere 5.3, but still very frightening. I didn't know if it was a proper earthquake or just an aftershock. Anyway, it wasn't enough to send anything else flying, so I calmed myself and continued around the house. The only other real destruction was in the study, where my big heavy bookcase had fallen down, breaking the short bookcase opposite it as it fell. We were very lucky that it missed all the expensive stuff in that room and took out the crappy piece of flat-pack furniture instead!
You may detect a theme here, and you'd be right. We have far too many unstable bookcases in our house. These all need to be screwed to the wall as soon as possible; if we'd done that already the house probably wouldn't have shown any damage at all.
Structurally things appear to be fine. I'm no expert, but I took a walk around the house and couldn't see anything that looked different from how it used to. We didn't lose power or water, and the sewage lines aren't obviously damaged. There have been aftershocks regularly ever since, for the last seven hours, but I'm hoping they will tail off. They make me feel frightened and seasick, and they scare the chickens.
The rest of Christchurch didn't get off so lightly. There has been terrible damage to some of the older buildings in the city centre. You can view photos here and read the current news articles here. I haven't ventured out of our street but I'm sure I'll see plenty of damage on my way to work on Monday.
That's all for now. I will blog more on this subject over the next couple of days.
It felt like the initial earthquake went on for half a minute or so, although I can't be sure about that. I was in the corner of our bedroom which seemed to be a relatively safe place, so I stayed there rather than dashing for the nearest doorway. Advice about where to position oneself during an earthquake seems to be conflicting -- should it be under a doorway or towards the outside walls of the house? The doorway might be more stable, but if the whole thing comes crashing down there's a better chance of being dug out if you're near the edge. Anyway, I stayed where I was and that was fine. We don't have much in the bedroom that is likely to fall down, so at least there weren't things falling around me or on top of me. The heater fell face-down onto the carpet and my makeup danced to the edge of the dresser and plummeted to the ground, but that was all. When the quake stopped I turned on the light, grabbed my dressing gown, and went to see what damage had been done in the living room.
I could hardly get through the living room door because there was a heap of CDs lying on the other side of it, topped off by the bookcase they had been stored in.
The television was okay! I had been sure it would get smashed, but a few months ago we bought a really sturdy entertainment unit with a wide top shelf, and thankfully that was enough to keep things steady. But the DVDs and their bookshelf had both toppled over, taking the ironing board with them.
There was some other minor damage -- a pot plant upside down on the carpet, baking trays on the kitchen floor -- but we really got off very lightly.
Just as I was assessing this, another quake struck. This one was a mere 5.3, but still very frightening. I didn't know if it was a proper earthquake or just an aftershock. Anyway, it wasn't enough to send anything else flying, so I calmed myself and continued around the house. The only other real destruction was in the study, where my big heavy bookcase had fallen down, breaking the short bookcase opposite it as it fell. We were very lucky that it missed all the expensive stuff in that room and took out the crappy piece of flat-pack furniture instead!
You may detect a theme here, and you'd be right. We have far too many unstable bookcases in our house. These all need to be screwed to the wall as soon as possible; if we'd done that already the house probably wouldn't have shown any damage at all.
Structurally things appear to be fine. I'm no expert, but I took a walk around the house and couldn't see anything that looked different from how it used to. We didn't lose power or water, and the sewage lines aren't obviously damaged. There have been aftershocks regularly ever since, for the last seven hours, but I'm hoping they will tail off. They make me feel frightened and seasick, and they scare the chickens.
The rest of Christchurch didn't get off so lightly. There has been terrible damage to some of the older buildings in the city centre. You can view photos here and read the current news articles here. I haven't ventured out of our street but I'm sure I'll see plenty of damage on my way to work on Monday.
That's all for now. I will blog more on this subject over the next couple of days.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Musings on handkerchiefs
Handkerchiefs -- or is it handkerchieves? -- are something that I have never used. That may partly explain why I don't know how to spell the word in the plural, so I shall just call them hankies from now on. My dad is the only person I can think of who always carried one and probably still does. I remember a few times when I was a little kid and was trapped in church with a runny nose. Dad would pass me his hanky, I would blow my nose heartily in it, and he would put it back into his pocket. The things fathers will do for their children obviously includes carrying their snot around for them. Nice.
For my whole adult life I have used paper tissues whenever I've had a runny nose or needed to quickly wipe my hands. I wonder how many tissues have gone into landfill purely on my account. Lots, I'm sure -- my nose is almost constantly wet, like a puppy, any time that the weather is cold outside and I'm moving between outside and inside. Temperature changes set it off every time! And most of the time it just needs a quick wipe and I'm good, but that's a whole tissue gone.
Now I'm thinking that it might be time to obtain a supply of cloth hankies and see how those work out for me. Some people think that it's disgusting to carry a used hanky around, and I totally agree with that if it's been used during the throes of a bad cold, but most of time there won't be very much actually going onto the cloth. Just grab a couple of clean ones every day, or more often if necessary, shove them in a handbag or pocket, and that should be it.
Now I just need to find somewhere that sells them. I know the Warehouse does, but they might not be the best quality. I want something soft, durable, and that washes well. Cotton or maybe linen. Actually I have no idea if linen would be soft or not. More research may be required!
For my whole adult life I have used paper tissues whenever I've had a runny nose or needed to quickly wipe my hands. I wonder how many tissues have gone into landfill purely on my account. Lots, I'm sure -- my nose is almost constantly wet, like a puppy, any time that the weather is cold outside and I'm moving between outside and inside. Temperature changes set it off every time! And most of the time it just needs a quick wipe and I'm good, but that's a whole tissue gone.
Now I'm thinking that it might be time to obtain a supply of cloth hankies and see how those work out for me. Some people think that it's disgusting to carry a used hanky around, and I totally agree with that if it's been used during the throes of a bad cold, but most of time there won't be very much actually going onto the cloth. Just grab a couple of clean ones every day, or more often if necessary, shove them in a handbag or pocket, and that should be it.
Now I just need to find somewhere that sells them. I know the Warehouse does, but they might not be the best quality. I want something soft, durable, and that washes well. Cotton or maybe linen. Actually I have no idea if linen would be soft or not. More research may be required!
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Spring is in the air
It has been a long, wet winter, but things are starting to look up at last. The mountains are still covered in snow and we are forecast some icy wind and rain for the next few days, but at least today was warm and sunny. The daffodils are showing themselves, the cherry trees are in full bloom, and the weeds are growing like crazy.
We have what I believe is a greengage tree in our garden. It is attracting bees at the moment, which I love to see. Bees are great.
We also have some variation of box tree which smells like cocoa butter when it's in bloom. Yum.
This chocolate-smelling-tree (as I call it in my head) is a real indication for me that summer isn't too far away, and if I get the chance to sit out on our deck in the sunshine and smell it wafting over me then I'm going to do just that. I've managed it for the last two years so let's hope I manage it this year as well. I can hardly wait!
We have what I believe is a greengage tree in our garden. It is attracting bees at the moment, which I love to see. Bees are great.
We also have some variation of box tree which smells like cocoa butter when it's in bloom. Yum.
This chocolate-smelling-tree (as I call it in my head) is a real indication for me that summer isn't too far away, and if I get the chance to sit out on our deck in the sunshine and smell it wafting over me then I'm going to do just that. I've managed it for the last two years so let's hope I manage it this year as well. I can hardly wait!
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