Southerly: Refugee Status
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P.P.S. Thanks for the many kind emails and txts that people have sent over the past few days. I've had a lot of problems with my phone and have only just started checking my email -- but I'll reply to you as soon as possible (once I've got our roof water-tight again!).
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Thrive mate, and all your whanau. No responses necesscary except the general one - We Are Alive & Well
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It's great to hear from you, David. I'm glad that you and your partner and your wee lad are fine, and glad to hear that your home is able to be saved.
"You go home," he insisted. "I want to stay here and play with Emma and Karl."
I gather that lots of people say things like that...
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Knew it couldn't be good, from what Emma had been posting. But what a horrible night. And so much to deal with afterwards. Avonside is Quake Central.
It's very odd to walk through unaffected places- and stumble into a disaster zone. Walking down-town today, I suddenly felt weepy: felt a great surge of love for this battered town, and loss for some of the buildings. Watched a family retrieve what they could from their wrecked shop, stowing it in a u-haul trailer and driving off.
It feels like folks are all wound up like clockwork, running on lack of sleep and adrenalin.
Hope you get a chance to unwind soon. -
Been thinking of you and Jen and Bob - kia kaha
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We love our life beside the river in Christchurch. And we're here to stay.
We've just had our water supply reconnected
That's the spirit David. Great to hear your escapades for the last 5 days.Dare I say, (as this could be, to some, a bit callous but truly not meant),it is only stuff that will be lost, it isn't your family and that is what really counts.
As for the water,that is the most important thing to get back on. -
Fantastic to hear from you David, and that your sense of humour seems miraculously intact!
Over here in Woolston the damage is really minor except for a few Victorian brick places (mostly commercial premises on Ferry Rd). I was appalled and horrified to see pictures of what's happened in Avonside.
I hope you soon have all utilities and comforts in your own home. Thanks for posting at a time when you must have many pressing things to do!
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There seems to be dodgy email advice doing the rounds, on the so-called "triangle of life". It's de-bunked here, but to summarise: putting yourself beside something rather than under it makes you vulnerable to falling objects and flying debris.
In the event of an entire building collapsing there are sometimes voids created by the crushing of furniture but these are unpredictable and because all objects move in a big quake they can easily crush you if you're beside them. That's why it's "duck, cover, and *hold on*".
The advice we've always been given to stand in a doorway or take cover under a table is still the best.
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thanks for the update from the trenches :)
I'd write more but the alcohol has done its thing and now I'm stumbling off to bed (and it's not 'cos the earth is moving... for once!)
good to hear you & the whanau are doin ok over there in A-side... hope the house holds up
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So happy to see the indomitable kiwi spirit shining through. Moral support and pikelets are what keep this country going. They are the mortar and bricks no earthquake can topple (to over-extend the metaphor).
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Thanks for all the kind messages, people! And good point about the pikelets, Dr Dickison.
I should've also mentioned why I haven't written earlier -- too busy fixing stuff and recuperating. No doubt if I'd been Orwell I'd have scribbled a brilliant essay while we were sheltering under the doorframe.
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First thought: Yay ... someone used sewerage correctly!
=)
Second thought: Damn, that someone misused evacuated. Oh well, can't have everything.
[Actually, my first thought was about your first thought about hoping you were the epicentre: that was very kind of you.]
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I wonder if the Bay of Plenty Times is regretting the decision to run a column in mid August arguing against emergency kits and disaster planning
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Postscript: We've just had our water supply reconnected -- hooray for the council!
The Canterbury earthquake has made me really appreciative of the luxuries I have in my life - electricity, water, sewerage, mobile phone, internet and a roof over my head.
Glad to hear you're ok, David.
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Sure, Orwell would have scribbled a brilliant essay under the doorframe while the house fell down around him, but his wife and child wouldn't have thanked him for it. Trust me on that.
But thank you for taking the time to write so coherently and beautifully when there is so much else going on. And I am so glad to hear you and Jen and dauntless Bob are basically unscathed. Now get down off the roof!
Dare I say, (as this could be, to some, a bit callous but truly not meant),it is only stuff that will be lost, it isn't your family and that is what really counts.
"People are more important than things" is our mantra, for everything from spilled milk up. Bob clearly understands this intuitively.
That said, your poor house, and poor things! The precious Christchurch snow globe you transported across the world at great expense is looking mightily poignant this week. I actually found myself stopping one of the boys from giving it a shake -- some weird over-anxious subterranean magical voodoo thinking had me briefly convinced that I had discovered the real cause of all those aftershocks...
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Your fixing skills must have come from somewhere where you probably had to improvise.....something like lack of money in reseach organisations maybe.
David's Ditty: "Oh, I'm glad I'm an engineer"
Second thought: Damn, that someone misused evacuated. Oh well, can't have everything
It reminds me of the quote from a few years back while (I think) a council meeting in North Shore was in session.
Earthquake: Shake shake shake shake........
Chairman: "Shall we evacuate?"
Counciil CEO: "What? Buildings or bowels?"At times like this muffins, scones and pikelets remind one that civilisation has crept on a bit.
Yeah. Couldn't sleep......thinking....what if...
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GNS have released this video of the fault trace across Canterbury.
Sourced off Sciblogs.....again. Great site and i love looking at the data guy!!! Oh dear.....Geeky stuff.......
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Huh. Nobody died in our Tube strike either, but I'm happy and proud to say that we didn't face it with such nauseating equanimity.
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Speak for yourself, I was quite stoic while being delayed at Clapham Junction.
On a serious note it is very good to hear that NZ's number one insect erotica author and his family are safe and well.
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NZ's number one insect erotica author
Not forgetting the otter erotica, too.
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Jolisa wrote:
Not forgetting the otter erotica, too.
... coming your way in book form this Christmas (in conjunction with the superb illustrations of artist Peter Adamson). Sample pages here.
Also available in a German translation, of course (and perhaps Māori, too).
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... coming your way in book form this Christmas
Beautiful! :-)
Consider this a pre-order! -
I want that book too. Also the piano in the illustration. You'll let us know when we can order it?
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Judi Lapsley Miller wrote:
Consider this a pre-order!
I should've mentioned: all profits donated to a great cause (rebuilding an earthquake damaged house in Avonside, and earthquake-proofing Peter Adamson's house in Wellington).
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the epicentre was a mere 40 kilometres away in the town of Darfield.
Where have I heard this name before, David?
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