Sate of National Emergency
I can not blog this week without mentioning the devastating events in Christchurch. At 12.51pm on Tuesday afternoon an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale occurred. At the time of writing (Sunday evening) there have been 147 fatalities and around a thousand hospitalised with injuries, about 10% of which are very serious. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Christchurch.
I have been surprised at the emotional impact the earthquake has had on me. We have had no physical impact here in Auckland, some 500 miles north of the event, and no noticeable consequences other than the introduction of the national state of emergency which has been declared in order to manage the nation's resources in the most effective way. The only change in our daily routine has been the 24 hour news coverage on the TV.
We have been able to provide only a very small bit of help. On Friday a request started for old phones to be donated. Most people in Christchurch it would seem have these new-fangled cordless phones, whose base station needs a power supply. Old fashioned phones get their power through the phone line, so they work if the phone line is intact even when the power is out. I knew we had a box of old phones in the garage so ferreted it out. Only one was an old fashioned type so I popped it down to the Telecom shop on Saturday morning.
In case any of you are wondering why this quake has been much more destructive than the September one which was stronger, I have found this graphic which explains all:
Onto our more mundane news for the week. Nicky has had a good week, feeling well most of the time. This has been really good news because after last weekend when she didn't feel well and had to cancel going to Hamilton she was feeling quite despondent, and wondering if she would ever be "normal" again.
On Monday we saw Rachel Rhodes again, this time with her parents Helen and Martin. They had flown across from Sydney and were having 24 hours in Auckland before flying down to the South Island with Rachel. They were arriving mid-day, so I was going to collect them from the airport, take them to their hotel on Queens Street, and then go and pick them up later to bring them here for dinner. However, Lilly, our lovely little VW Polo had other plans. I went to a customer that I have not seen for awhile first thing on Monday morning to help them settle in after a weekend office move to Epsom. As I got back into the car to drive home after finishing working I turned the ignition on, started the engine, and could tell something was wrong straight away. As I maneuvered in the car park the engine stalled, something I don't think Lilly has ever done before (she has both automatic choke and gearbox). I restarted the engine and there was now a definite misfire. I drove home noticing a significant drop in power, and rang the garage. They said they might be able to fit Lilly in sometime in the afternoon, but couldn't promise anything. I thought I would try to get to the airport anyway just to greet them, but by the time I got to the motorway I started to get warning lights on the dashboard, so turned round and came home. I got Claire to text Rachel to explain the situation and say that they would have to make their own way to their hotel. Unfortunately the lovely mechanics up at Peter Bainbridge didn't have time to look at Lilly during the afternoon, so Claire caught a bus into town to meet Rachel, Helen and Martin and brought them back on the bus. We BBQ'ed kumra and carrot burgers along with steak, and served them with a vegetable curry and coleslaw, followed by a lemon yoghurt cake I had made the day before, and we had a very good evening. They returned to their hotel, safely we assume, by bus.
I had worked book in Ponsonby on Tuesday morning, and just after I got back the garage rang to say that Lilly was ready. A new set of spark plugs, and more importantly, connecting cable, had fixed the problem. However, trying to pay them proved impossible. Their EFTPOS machine wouldn't transact with my EFTPOS card or Visa card - it wasn't getting a connection to the system. The lady said "I wonder if it has anything to do with Christchurch". A few minutes later when I got home, a little after 1pm, I discovered what had happened. Later on in the afternoon while trying to communicate with Claire who was out having lunch and a cinema visit with friends, we found the cellular phone network was overloaded. Claire got home OK on the bus, which was good as I had needed to go back to Ponsonby again.
On Wednesday the effects of the earthquake were on everybody's mind. While I was out for my morning walk, and elderly lady who was on her way home from a quick shop at the dairy stopped me on the path just to talk about it. We were complete strangers to each other but she obviously felt a great need to talk.
Nicky worked Monday and Thursday, and I was back in Epsom again to complete the network set up now that Telecom had done their bit.
On Friday we had a family trip out to DressSmart in Onehunga (this is where Claire bought her three pairs of shoes recently). Nicky wanted a clutch bag for Naomi's wedding, and a long raincoat for the winter. She found a bag but not a coat. Claire made some wonderful focaccia using a recipe from an NZ Bread book she has bought. We had this for dinner with pasta and Ryan joined us.
Nicky went fabric shopping on Saturday. She had an email from one of the Ranui quilting ladies informing her that Calico Cottage was closing down and having a big sale. She got some great materials for about a third of their normal cost. In the meantime I had great fun doing the household laundry and ironing. Steve came over for Scrabble in the afternoon and he and Nicky had a good high scoring game. With Claire being at Ryan's Nicky and I had a bit of treat for dinner. I had bough some pork steak earlier in the week, so we wrapped this in bacon, grilled it and topped it with hot pineapple and served it on a bed of rice. It was very nice but there was a little bit to much for us so we worked it off by having a particularly wallowing soak at the hot pools in Parakai.
The weather has been warm and sunny again this week, especially during the weekend, so I have managed quite a bit of sunbathing. Nicky has been sewing today, and this afternoon I made hot cross buns (recipe from Claire's bread book). They were at their best when they had just come out of the oven, but I was very pleased with them. While doing this we were listening to an audio book, "Thrones, Dominations" by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Pattern-Walsh. We enjoyed it very much, and then went for a drive into town to look at a restaurant for when we see Bruce and Wendy in a couple of weeks (more info then), and then onto Tamaki Drive for a wander along a beach and and ice cream. We sat on the beach in the warming early evening sun eating our lemon curd ice creams before retuning home for tea, hot cross buns, and "Grand Designs" on the tellybox.
It's been a busy week. Bye for now.
Rick
I have been surprised at the emotional impact the earthquake has had on me. We have had no physical impact here in Auckland, some 500 miles north of the event, and no noticeable consequences other than the introduction of the national state of emergency which has been declared in order to manage the nation's resources in the most effective way. The only change in our daily routine has been the 24 hour news coverage on the TV.
We have been able to provide only a very small bit of help. On Friday a request started for old phones to be donated. Most people in Christchurch it would seem have these new-fangled cordless phones, whose base station needs a power supply. Old fashioned phones get their power through the phone line, so they work if the phone line is intact even when the power is out. I knew we had a box of old phones in the garage so ferreted it out. Only one was an old fashioned type so I popped it down to the Telecom shop on Saturday morning.
In case any of you are wondering why this quake has been much more destructive than the September one which was stronger, I have found this graphic which explains all:
Onto our more mundane news for the week. Nicky has had a good week, feeling well most of the time. This has been really good news because after last weekend when she didn't feel well and had to cancel going to Hamilton she was feeling quite despondent, and wondering if she would ever be "normal" again.
On Monday we saw Rachel Rhodes again, this time with her parents Helen and Martin. They had flown across from Sydney and were having 24 hours in Auckland before flying down to the South Island with Rachel. They were arriving mid-day, so I was going to collect them from the airport, take them to their hotel on Queens Street, and then go and pick them up later to bring them here for dinner. However, Lilly, our lovely little VW Polo had other plans. I went to a customer that I have not seen for awhile first thing on Monday morning to help them settle in after a weekend office move to Epsom. As I got back into the car to drive home after finishing working I turned the ignition on, started the engine, and could tell something was wrong straight away. As I maneuvered in the car park the engine stalled, something I don't think Lilly has ever done before (she has both automatic choke and gearbox). I restarted the engine and there was now a definite misfire. I drove home noticing a significant drop in power, and rang the garage. They said they might be able to fit Lilly in sometime in the afternoon, but couldn't promise anything. I thought I would try to get to the airport anyway just to greet them, but by the time I got to the motorway I started to get warning lights on the dashboard, so turned round and came home. I got Claire to text Rachel to explain the situation and say that they would have to make their own way to their hotel. Unfortunately the lovely mechanics up at Peter Bainbridge didn't have time to look at Lilly during the afternoon, so Claire caught a bus into town to meet Rachel, Helen and Martin and brought them back on the bus. We BBQ'ed kumra and carrot burgers along with steak, and served them with a vegetable curry and coleslaw, followed by a lemon yoghurt cake I had made the day before, and we had a very good evening. They returned to their hotel, safely we assume, by bus.
I had worked book in Ponsonby on Tuesday morning, and just after I got back the garage rang to say that Lilly was ready. A new set of spark plugs, and more importantly, connecting cable, had fixed the problem. However, trying to pay them proved impossible. Their EFTPOS machine wouldn't transact with my EFTPOS card or Visa card - it wasn't getting a connection to the system. The lady said "I wonder if it has anything to do with Christchurch". A few minutes later when I got home, a little after 1pm, I discovered what had happened. Later on in the afternoon while trying to communicate with Claire who was out having lunch and a cinema visit with friends, we found the cellular phone network was overloaded. Claire got home OK on the bus, which was good as I had needed to go back to Ponsonby again.
On Wednesday the effects of the earthquake were on everybody's mind. While I was out for my morning walk, and elderly lady who was on her way home from a quick shop at the dairy stopped me on the path just to talk about it. We were complete strangers to each other but she obviously felt a great need to talk.
Nicky worked Monday and Thursday, and I was back in Epsom again to complete the network set up now that Telecom had done their bit.
On Friday we had a family trip out to DressSmart in Onehunga (this is where Claire bought her three pairs of shoes recently). Nicky wanted a clutch bag for Naomi's wedding, and a long raincoat for the winter. She found a bag but not a coat. Claire made some wonderful focaccia using a recipe from an NZ Bread book she has bought. We had this for dinner with pasta and Ryan joined us.
Nicky went fabric shopping on Saturday. She had an email from one of the Ranui quilting ladies informing her that Calico Cottage was closing down and having a big sale. She got some great materials for about a third of their normal cost. In the meantime I had great fun doing the household laundry and ironing. Steve came over for Scrabble in the afternoon and he and Nicky had a good high scoring game. With Claire being at Ryan's Nicky and I had a bit of treat for dinner. I had bough some pork steak earlier in the week, so we wrapped this in bacon, grilled it and topped it with hot pineapple and served it on a bed of rice. It was very nice but there was a little bit to much for us so we worked it off by having a particularly wallowing soak at the hot pools in Parakai.
The weather has been warm and sunny again this week, especially during the weekend, so I have managed quite a bit of sunbathing. Nicky has been sewing today, and this afternoon I made hot cross buns (recipe from Claire's bread book). They were at their best when they had just come out of the oven, but I was very pleased with them. While doing this we were listening to an audio book, "Thrones, Dominations" by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Pattern-Walsh. We enjoyed it very much, and then went for a drive into town to look at a restaurant for when we see Bruce and Wendy in a couple of weeks (more info then), and then onto Tamaki Drive for a wander along a beach and and ice cream. We sat on the beach in the warming early evening sun eating our lemon curd ice creams before retuning home for tea, hot cross buns, and "Grand Designs" on the tellybox.
It's been a busy week. Bye for now.
Rick
Comments
Our thoughts and prayers are with you
Stuart