Earthquake Report, 31 March
I haven't done one of these for a while—I have been focusing on trying to get back into some sort of everyday routine, as well as completing a very intensive Book Month tour to Wakatipu and Southland as a guest of the Dan Davin Literary Foundation (but more on that tomorrow.)
The thing about going away is that it brings everything you've been doing and—to be honest—enduring, into sharp focus. The afternoon I arrived in Queenstown I felt dislocated, lost … I dropped keys and papers and took wrong turns—not like me at all—and shied away from the cheerful, noisy flocks of people along the Lake Wakatipu waterfront.
Coming back to Christchurch was hard, too, because of course nothing had changed. The road still boasts all the dips and rises of an old river bed, as does my driveway; the sewer is still "missing in action" and I heard today that up to 1/3 of Christchurch's fulltime workfoce could be out of a job as a direct result of the quake.
One third—and this is NZ's second largest urban area. Scary stuff, indeed, particularly given the international economic situtaion.
On a more personal note, although nothing changed while I was away, something has happened this week—an EQC building team is coming tomorrow to take down our chimney and weatherproof/secure the gap it leaves (full repair will happen later.) I do think this is a good thing, on balance, one that needs to happen, but it took pretty much the whole day to clear the affected room ( I have been warned that there will be a lot of dust) and during that time my mood swung between 'grumpy' and 'down.' I am tired of packing up my life. I know the chimney needs to come down but I also know that I'm going to have to live with the 'patch' in my living room wall for a considerable time to come. It just felt tough, and very wearing—and knowing that the chimney is only the tip of the earthquake repair iceberg doesn't help.
I know we all want to return to "normal"—yet normal as we once knew it is now a foreign country. We here rumours, but so far no one has a visa to go there and return with accurate reports.
