Posts by Isabel Hitchings
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We're staying with relatives in Rolleston but going in to visit our house daily. Today we discovered a dribble of water coming from the tap and, even better, the missing cat hiding under furniture where she's probably been all along! We're planning to have a day or two of cleaning and then move back in. It may not be luxurious but I think I'll feel better on my own turf all the same.
The loo flushes but drains a bit slower than usual so we may resort to dunny digging to be on the safe side.
The paper has the kids' school on the "severely damaged" list which has caused the kids a large bit of distress. I have no idea what's going to happen but assume that some sort of arrangement will be made reasonably quickly - I can't see the ministry wanting kids going without schooling for too long.
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I can confirm that David tolerated a fairly vigorous hugging with great good grace.
We've checked our house and it looks OK (though with the amount of liquifaction around I fear for our piles). We saw one of our two cats (the diabetic one who I was most worried about). Out here with the Rolleston rellies and running water and flushing loos I feel a bit like I'm cheating but there's still too much water outside and not enough in to want to take small boys back there.
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We're all OK and ensconced with my in-laws in Rolleston who have power, well water and a septic tank. a brief external examination suggests that our house is still standing and dry of floor despite our street looking like a river and accesible only by 4WD or very tall gumboots.
We were all in the centre of town when the quake struck. The kids were upstairs at school (Discovery1 in the bus exchange building), I was eating lunch in The Crossing foodcourt and Jamie was walking down Columbo street to meet me. I found Jamie almost immdeiately but it took what seemed like ages for the school to evacuate (I think they were waiting for police who didn't seem to know there was a school there). Once the kids were out we made our way to the square and on to the botanic gardens. I stayed watching my friend's daughters (one who only started school three weeks ago) until my friend arrived and we walked out to their car on Bealy Ave. We are so lucky to be together and unharned but this morning I am suffering from the (shivery and spewy) effects of delayed shock. How Cantabrians will find the strength to pick ourselves up and rebuild is beyond me though I am sure we will.
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I'm in two minds about how much, if anything, I want to know about the authors I read. Once you know what a person's beliefs are you cannot help but see them reflected in their work and for every time this has given me delightful new layers of understanding there is another when I've desperately wished to go back and unknow what I have discovered so I can enjoy a story without taint.
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Until it was shut down by the boxing day aftershock I spent a lot of time in the central Christchurch branch of Whitcoulls due to it being located opposite my kids' school and beside the bus stop and therefore a useful place to use up a spare 15 minutes. There were a couple of women who worked in the children's department who were friendly and knowledgeable and who I appreciated greatly.
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My understanding (if I remember Sociology 101 from umpteen years ago) is that incest taboos generally are less to do with hereditary diseases and more to do with family relationships - if your Mum is also your Aunt or your Dad is also Grandad then the family tree (and rules of inheritance etc) rapidly becomes very complex. Given this I can see no reason to deny marriage to sibling couples who have been raised separately due to adoption or similar (though would recommend genetic testing/counselling be part of the decision to have children).
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I am somewhat pissed off the Family First went down before I had the chance to look at the survey.
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Hard News: Gaying Out, in reply to Emma Hart,
What I’d like to do is get rid of the situation we have currently where an ordained minister automatically becomes a marriage celebrant, which is a CIVIL function, not a religious one. Then as people became ministers, they could decide whether they wanted to perform a civil function, which they would have to perform in accordance with the law. If they found it unconscionable to marry same-sex couples, they wouldn’t become celebrants.
I quite like this - it neither sanctions discrimination nor requires anyone to act outside of their conscience/beliefs.
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Up Front: Say When, in reply to Lilith __,
Counterargument: Helen Mirren, topless or in red bikini, age 63! She looks great and knows she looks great.
Much as I adore Helen Mirren I have a bit of an issue with her being used as the example in this discussion. HM is slim, conventionally attractive and doesn't particularly look her age, of course she gets a "pass" for wearing skimpier clothes than the average 60 year old.
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Of two childbirths - one long with a posterior baby and one fast, furious and unmedicated - attempting to place the catheter before the epidural was far-and-away the most painful part.