Thursday, February 24, 2011

22 Feb 2011

Yesterday, I was standing waiting to catch a bus home after a morning in town. I was feeling good about the computer course I'd just started, and I'd treated myself to a quilt magazine, which I was looking forward to reading. I was composing in my head a blog post about why I haven't posted lately - like how I was getting overload from having to write every single day (for NaBloPoMo), which is not easy for me as knowing I have to do something sucks all the fun out of it; or how I was getting so sick and tired of the way my computer shuts down and/or reboots itself at random times, whether I'm using it or not; or how I decided to take a break and just not use the darned thing for several days, which I thought I'd regret, but actually found rather liberating, despite the thought of all the unread emails piling up.

But just as my bus pulled up, the ground shook so bad I had to grab hold of the bus shelter to steady myself, and looked up at the two storey concrete wall beside me, wondering if I should get away from it, or just wait until this aftershock wore itself out, as so many had done already. Had I known what was happening in the centre of the city (9 km away), I would've been across the road in a shot.

But at the time, I assumed this was yet another aftershock from the 7.1 earthquake that hit us on September 4. We'd had hundreds thousands of those, and we hadn't felt a strong one in several weeks.

Long story short: the bus took me home (we live outside the city, in a satellite town), I collected my girls from school (now closed until at least Monday), and hubby arrived a few minutes later. We've been watching TV ever since, stunned at the devastation of so many familiar landmarks and historic buildings. But by far the worst of it is the fatalities - something we miraculously didn't see in September's quake. My heart goes out to those people, their families and friends.

5 comments:

  1. Oh Mez we are with you girl and so pleased that you and your family are safe. We are over in Hoki yet we felt the shake knowing it was going to have been a biggy elsewhere. DH is on stand by to go and help other officers in CHCH so we are just glued to the TV waiting for news. My family are all in Kaiapoi and we, unlike so many are lucky, each and every one of them are safe. Keep safe, stay strong.
    Miche'le

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  2. The earthquake has been a devastating blow to all those affected. It is awful to watch the latest news of it on TV. If you hear of a call for quilters to make quilts for those affected would you please let me know as i would like to help.
    Stay safe!

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  3. Thank you both for your kind thoughts.
    It just feels surreal.

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  4. Hi there, best wishes and warm thoughts from the UK. I'm a Brit married to a Christchurch bloke and we are both devastated by the TV pictures we're seeing here too. ChCh is such a graceful city I've always loved to visit and you can imagine it's heartbreaking for my husband to see so many familiar landmarks of his childhood in ruins. I'd also like to know if there's a call for quilts to be donated, I know that in September the Canterbury Quilt Guild organised a collection - I'd love to send a quilt over. It's so hard to know what to do from such a distance.
    We've been so lucky that all our family and friends are safe and accounted for - all my very best wishes to everyone there.
    xx

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  5. Oh my, I am so glad you're okay! Until today, I had no idea you're in New Zealand. Such a terrible event, and the pictures we see here in the US make my heart so sad. You are in a strong country that will survive this. My best to you and everyone there.

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