It seems my emotions are easily joggled up or down at the moment. This is probably quite normal given the circumstances. I arrived home from work to find that the chimney had disappeared from our driveway, and progress was being made on fixing the hole in the roof. This is the three day emergency repairs that we were promised, and it has only been nine days since we were promised them. Which I think is actually pretty good given the number of people who are likely to be on the three day emergency repair list. Also, despite being told that the roof wasn't weathertight, I checked inside the roof space on Sunday when it was raining hard, and there didn't seem to be much getting into the roof at all.
So- repairs were happening, the sun was shining and I was feeling very happy. Until I checked my e-mail and found one reporting a Problem which I now have to sort out (administrative stuff for a volunteer job I do) and I became very grumpy again. There are a few other things I have to do for said administrative job, which were decided on two days before the earthquake, and then they didn't happen due to lack of open banks and my being generally distracted. So I have various errands queued up which rely on finding an open bank, which there isn't anywhere near my home at the moment.
Tomorrow on the way to work I have to go to the physio, collect mail from the out of the way Mail Centre, because the post office box is still cordoned off, find any cheques in said mail and bank them, probably in my lunch break. Hoping that the traffic is not too gridlocked as everything takes a little longer these days.
I did manage to get a few things done this evening, in between relieving my stress by playing way too many computer games. In fact I am getting things done, like mending, that have been waiting in the cupboard for several years. I think this is because there are so many broken things around me (china, the roof, the sewage system, the central city....) that I am desperate to fix something.
Most of the time I am very grateful that we are a lot better off than many others in the city. And in Japan. And then every so often the inconvenience of things gets to me.
I only have to hold on for one more month and then I will have a whole free day a week to do errands at my leisure. It was planned before the earthquake, but it couldn't have come at a better time.
To all those people who comment on news websites that we should just get over the earthquake and move on:
How about we move on to your houses, your jobs, your nice undamaged neighbourhoods?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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4 comments:
Oh what a time you are having. It seems to me you are doing amazingly well under the circumstances. I cannot begin to imagine how it must be to have it all go on so long. I think you have every right to feel a little grumpy now. Arohanui.
Sorry you are feeling so grumpy. You are right about those people who make such ignorant comments, Whats the saying. Don't judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes.
Wishing you the best as you and those around you rebuild your life
Dear Catherine, I SO empathise. It's incredibly hard to get simple things done. My hair needs cutting and my usual hairdresser is in the 'no access' zone near my workplace. I used to just pop in and if there was a queue I'd pop back later. Now I have to make an actual appointment and drive somewhere. I too relax with computer games (especially as I'm under curfew). I'm grateful to all my Wordscraper friends for keeping me e-company.
Catherine--and to those folk who think we should just get over the earthquake and move on, may I add "and flushing loos" to your reply of: "How about we move on to your houses, your jobs, your nice undamaged neighbourhoods."
I would challenge them, too, to look into the faces of those who have lost family and friends, or who have loved ones still on the missing list and tell them to 'get over it and move on.'
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