Yesterday was a horrid day. The weather was fairly perfect for this time of the year and everything looked so peaceful but under the ground, trouble lurked.
The first one came through as I was sitting at the kitchen table, and while it was disconcerting, it was only gentle rolling for a short time. Life proceeded, although I was concerned about my friends and colleagues in Christchurch. Normally the TV doesn't go on during the day unless Himself comes home but today I thought I would turn it on and see what was happening on the news. It was quite frustrating actually, as they had news items now and then, and in the meantime you had to watch Oprah or some other daytime rubbish. Twitter, which I am fairly new to, came into its own and there was useful infomation being tweeted all over the place. Then on the TV they were interviewing Aaron Gilmore, when suddenly you could hear the panic in his voice as he said there was another aftershock. About three seconds later it reached me, and the old house started to shake, creak, groan and crack. I could hear something falling up the front of the house. I ran into the office, and could see the beams in the ceiling moving - they seemed to be going different ways to the rest of the house so I ran outside onto the lawn. Just after I reached the lawn, it stopped and it took another few second for the old house to shudder and settle back into the spot its been in for the last 97 years.
The dogs were out with our wwoofers on the farm so I wasn't too worried about them. Not sure where the cats were. My main concern was what had happened in Christchurch. This one felt worse than the September one, or just as bad but probably didn't go on as long. Our power didn't falter, so that was a blessing. Himself and his work were all fine, everyone a bit shaken but no damage.
Carly came home with the dogs, and said she had been in the truck with the dogs in the back. She had thought initially it was the dogs jumping around but when she turned to look at them as the truck was shaking, they were both lying down (which is very unusual). She then proceeded to go for her walk with them, but couldn't work out why they didn't want to go anywhere. She even resorted to throwing a few sticks which Bella half heartedly chased but Milly never left her side. She gave up and came home.
In the last earthquakes, the dogs have been quite traumatised, and never left our side for some time. We had ended up those nights with dogs and cats and people on the bed - cosy but not exactly comfortable. The dogs came inside and again, just wanted to stay beside me. Bella got under the desk and was panting, quite visibly distressed for some time. They eventually calmed down, although Bella was very quiet all night and did sleep on our bed for a short time after the 3 am aftershock.
This morning they seem a lot happier. Shame the people of Christchurch will not find it so easy to bounce back. I can't blame anyone for wanting to move out of the place. All that liquifaction is just heartbreaking. People with no power, no water, no sewerage again. While we leapt into action as part of the farmy army last time, I'm not sure that I have it in me to go and help again this time. Maybe by the weekend, things might be different. It is all just so much for people to bear.
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