rachel.blog

“Mummy and Daniel good at finding things; Daddy not good at finding things”.

Fletchers finally sent some contractors round yesterday to seal up the hole in our roof left by the fallen chimney from the first earthquake. They decided to remove all the bricks right down to the ground for safety as the entire stack had moved very slightly. Before: After: They will eventually return to replace the […]

Ben told Daniel last night that when he grows up, he might become a daddy too. He then asked Daniel whether he’d like a boy baby or a girl baby. Daniel replied “boy baby”. So Ben asked why. “Because baby girl takes my toys away”.

Heritage buildings throughout Christchurch have been badly hit by both earthquakes and on the whole, modern buildings performed quite well. But this does not hold true in all cases. The two buildings that collapsed on February 22nd and claimed lives were not heritage buildings and were fairly modern having been built in the 60s and […]

Queensland was struck by an earthquake on Saturday, a 5.2 about 20 minutes before our 5.3. The epicentre was 124km Southeast of Townsville at a depth of 10km. Earthquakes are very unusual for Queensland. I certainly never felt any in the 30 or so years of my life spent living there. I phoned my friend […]

an earthquake. When I booked our tickets, I studied the seating maps of the CBS Arena for ages and ages, searching for the seats that I thought would be the safest. I decided upon a balcony seat so as to avoid being seated beneath a balcony and a potential hazard that could collapse on top […]

It’s the sound. That’s what I hate the most. The deep rumbling, the clinking of glasses, the rattling of doors, the smashing of crockery, the screaming. Actually, I haven’t yet heard any screaming during an earthquake. I was at Daniel’s kindy on February 22nd and the children were all very calm. My hairdresser however was […]

Ben took some photos at the University today. Tent city: Inside a tent lecture theatre: The cafe tent appropriately named InTentCity6.3: Inside the cafe: And I had to take some photos of the toilets: Inside a toilet (and I’m told this is a luxury one with a flush and running water): Ben’s building. (He was […]

I’m still trying to decide whether to go to the Wiggles concert on Sunday. I have phoned the CBS arena and emailed them and no-one seems to be able to tell me what the roof is made of. They simply say the building is safe to use. So I’ve googled it and here is the […]

We sold our piano last week. I was worried a significant aftershock might topple it onto Daniel or Elizabeth. It didn’t fall on February 22nd, but friends of ours who live just around the corner from us had theirs fall over. We also sold our wardrobe, which did fall over and smash. Got $84 for […]

It takes longer to drive places since the earthquakes because of damaged or closed roads. Here is the road opposite Daniel’s kindy: It used to be flat but is now undulating with hills and depressions as well as traffic cones to navigate. Our driveway has some new cracks: The whiteish stuff is the silt left […]

Went extra early to the supermarket this morning. If we go after 9.30am, the car park is full and it takes forever to find a spot. It never used to be like this and at first I thought it must have been because some supermarkets are still closed for earthquake repairs. But if this were […]