Christchurch Quake February 2011 - Week 4

Week 4

It is nearly a month since the earthquake. Each week brings new experiences.

Something in the water

This morning as I turned on the shower I smelled chlorine. The unthinkable has happened and Christchurch water has been treated. I guess chlorine is preferable to live bacteria from the broken sewerage system. The authorities assure us that they will stop treating as soon as possible, and we may be able to stop boiling our drinking water soon. Happily there has not been an outbreak of gastro-enteritis. We filled up our 20 litre water containers in Rangiora last Sunday so we use that for drinking. I think we will continue to do that as it is more pleasant to drink.

Airport
We went to the airport yesterday to see William off to the US to meet his future in-laws. He had tried to get presents, but all the souvenir stores are in the Red Zone in the centre of town, so he had to try at the airport. The atmosphere at the airport was nearer to normal, with people smiling, and a happy bustle. It made me more aware of the marked contrast with the 23rd February when I met Rosemary. It may be a reflection of my own sleep deprivation at the time, and feeling shocked and rather disconnected, but I remember it all seemed very sombre and subdued.

Central City
On Friday was a public holiday and a memorial service in Hagley Park. I needed a day off, so we watched it on television. There was a video shown at the start of some of the damage in the Red Zone, which was rather eerie and sad. Today Mark and I went for a drive and walk around the edge of the cordon. We saw a wrecking ball being dropped on St Elmo’s court, and quite a few police and army types. There was a lot of damage, and I’m sure there was more damage that wasn’t apparent. However, the bones of the city are still good. The river and bridges and trees and flora are as beautiful as ever. There are many ugly buildings that will come down, as well as nice ones. I feel much better for having seen in. Before there was an emptiness in how I pictured it all, and now I can picture it better. It will be a LONG time before the centre city approaches normal, but it will be beautiful again. There is certainly a will.

Tennis
Later on Friday Mark and I had a game of tennis at Rugby St court. It was wonderful. I had felt all mushy in my head beforehand, but much better after. I even got the score to 2-2, which has never happened before. It was a sunny day, and a lovely setting.

University
We had a week at Uni, with just the first years there. Only it didn’t seem as if many were there really. There are marquees set up in the carparks to use as lecture theatres. Fortunately there are some operational computer labs, which we have been using. The big lecture theatres are having their heavy ceiling panels replaced with light ceiling panels, and then the classes will be allowed back in.

I had to teach a graduate class that had been relocated out to Lincoln on Wednesday afternoon, and on Wednesday morning I still had not come to grips with what I was going to do with the course. I have never felt so lost in all my teaching career. I sat and stared at the computer screen with my mind a blank. It felt as if I had enough emotional and intellectual resources to cope with one course, but not a second. However I had some vague idea of what to do and got Mark to drive me to Lincoln so that I wouldn’t have the added stress of working out how to get there. (Sounds pathetic I know, but earthquakes do funny things to people.) It also meant I had company. When I got there, the class was fine, and once I warmed up it all went okay. I’d rather not go through that again though.

Stag night
A step back to normal life was our outing to Chats Bar for the Tuesday quiz night with Nick. Everything was a little gritty, with the silt that had been blowing around the area. But the bar had power, water and sewerage so it went ahead. There was no “post mix” due to the drinking water problems so the barmaid had to go next door to the dairy to buy soda water for our cranberry and soda. It was the closest thing William will have to a stag night, (with his mother there?!)  and we had a good time. We drank two jugs of cranberry and soda! We came third equal and lost on the tie-breaker.

Slow
Things are still slow. My brain is still slow, and I am able to get less than half a day’s work done in a day. The traffic is slow, due to the poor roads, and you need to allow at least twice the normal time to get anywhere. Not only is my brain slow, it is more forgetful. I left my iPhone in the computer lab, which to me is akin to leaving a baby on a bus! Fortunately a nice student handed it over to a lecturer when it rang.

Church community
We had church today for the first time since the earthquake. Various groups of women had met up in the interim and we had been keeping track of each other. It was interesting though that there were three units meeting together today, and half an hour after the meeting ended there were only people from our unit (Ward) still standing around and talking. We feel very close to each other, having been the worst hit in the city. A speaker who had come from Hamilton commented that he felt honoured to be addressing people for whom thousands of people had been praying. It was a lovely thought. He emphasised God’s love for us, and that having afflictions does not mean that we are not favoured of God. (1Nephi1:1).

And now...
One more week to get all my University teaching sorted out, and then we fly out to Utah for Willam’s wedding. Jonathan is pretty excited and it will be nice to get away, but I think my thoughts will still be with our wounded city.