A Month of Photos #25 & 26

I missed a couple of days, so I'm posting two today. I went to the Dunkley's Great New Zealand Craft Show. We missed out on it last year because of the September earthquake. Parts of the Addington Raceway where it is held each year are damaged, but there are enough good buildings for it to go ahead. It was good to see some of the stallholders displaced from the Arts Centre, which is severely damaged.

I included this second one as it is "glass" week at Carmi's blog, here.

A Month of Photos #24

A couple of days of rain have washed away quite a bit of the snow, but there is still plenty on the hills, and on the roadside verges on this side of town. (We were on the north side of town last night and found it was quite a bit clearer).

This was taken after work, when the sun had finally come out and we had a glimpse of blue sky.

Tuesday Poem: The Snowstorm, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Snowstorm

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight; the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come, see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake or tree or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, naught cares he
for number or proportion. Mockingly

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not.
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

I had a couple of spring poems that I was considering for today's post, but then the snow arrived and neither seemed quite appropriate, so I went on a quick search for a winter poem instead.

I cleared the driveway enough last night to get my car out this morning - but more snow fell in the night, so when I got up I found I was back where I started. In the end I decided to walk to work. It usually takes me about half an hour, today it was more like fifty minutes. The first bit was the toughest, once I reached a main road I just walked in the tracks left by cars.

I was quite relieved to be given a lift home in the boss's son-in-law's four wheel drive again, as he finished work a half an hour before me. The drive way is clear again - enough to get the car out - but whether it will remain so tomorrow I don't know.

My boss is very good about paying me when I can't get in due to earthquake or snow, but there have been so many of those paid days already this year that I don't feel right taking more if I can help it. After all, if no work is being done, no money is coming in.

For more Tuesday Poems visit the main hub site.

A Month of Photos #22

More snow! Three weeks ago we had the coldest day since 1918, and now we have a "one in fifty year" snowstorm, which is actually heavier than the previous one, and predicted to last several days. It has swept the whole country, with snow in Wellington for the first time since the 1970's, and snow in Auckland where it is pretty much unprecedented. (Though I don't think it actually stayed on the ground there).

I was all geared up for a snow day with no work, when my boss rang to say that his son-in-law had turned up in his four wheel drive, and could pick me up to take me to work. Given the number of paid days off I have already had this year, what with earthquakes and the previous snowstorm, I could hardly refuse.

I photographed the pigeons from the window at work, they were on the roof of a nearby house.

A Month of Photos #21

Spotted in a garden near the Christchurch South library this afternoon. A bit of cheer for earthquake-stressed residents.

A Month of Photos #20

I guess I had better stop waiting, then...

A billboard not too far from my home that seems to have been demanding my attention lately.

A Month of Photos #19

Somewhere around this time last year I was celebrating a birthday. And, following a meme on another blog, I started a list of "x things to do before I turn x". (I am not being coy about my age - it's just that for purposes of avoiding identity theft, not revealing my exact personal details in such a public forum seems a good idea).

So - I've been looking over the list and pondering how differently my year turned out. For a start, there is nothing on the list that says "experience three major earthquakes". Or, "learn more geology than you ever expected". (Not to mention various snippets about the methods of building construction and their earthquake resistance).

There are things on the list that I just can't do at the moment. I can't walk the Crater Rim walkway, because large sections of it are closed due to rockfall hazard, and likely to remain so for some time. There is a poetry open mic series that I had intended to go to at least once, that is just not happening at the moment because the venue is unavailable.

It's not all bad though. I did order Moo postcards. I did send out six submissions of poetry (which represents about half of all the New Zealand journals accepting submissions that I am aware of). I did ride a camel (I admit, that only made it onto the list after I knew it was pretty certain to happen!)

And most importantly - I left one paid job, and one unpaid job, so now I am down to one paid job which takes four days a week, giving me a lot more free time. Leaving those two jobs was a bigger task than I expected. Sometimes it's a lot easier to keep doing something than to organise it sufficiently for someone else to take over. Now, I am hoping the coming year will be the year I actually do something with the extra time. So, over the next few days I will transfer the unachieved goals to a new list - at least, the ones that are still possible, and add a few more.

Tuesday Poem

Instead of posting a poem today, I have a link to the latest issue of the Science Fiction Poetry Association's online journal Eye to the Telescope which includes one of my poems "Radio Wave Propagation in the Roman Warm Period." (You will need to scroll down).

Another Tuesday poet Tim Jones was the editor for this issue, and a few more Tuesday poets are also featured.

And for more Tuesday poems, visit the main hub site.

A Month of Photos #18

The light reflecting off this window caught my eye on my way home this evening.

A Month of Photos #17

Our local supermarket and shopping centre - late afternoon. I'm not sure why the trolleys were left there when it was demolished - possibly they are damaged.
Rebuilding was to start in July but nothing has happened yet. Some rebuilding has been delayed because of the difficulty in getting construction insurance while there are still ongoing aftershocks.

A Month of Photos #16

I went walking by the river late afternoon and found this cherry just starting to blossom. The orange in the background is the bare branches of a willow tree caught in the late afternoon light.

A Month of Photos #15

Still on the red theme - a crocheted red heart on one of the fences which surrounds the Christchurch central business district.

A Month of Photos #14

I've been trying to find other things to photograph than earthquake damage. All the same, I do feel a need to document some of it before the buildings are pulled down for good (600 in the central city alone earmarked for demolition). Because so much is closed, my routes for doing errands such as going to the bank or Post Office have changed - and every so often I pass a building that I've never seen before, such as this church a couple of kilometres away from my home. I thought I'd post it today because it is Red week at Carmi's blog, and this building is both red brick and red stickered. (Red, yellow and green placards on buildings indicate their level of safety).

I was intrigued to see that there was still a pile of snow at the base of the building - I guess, having a steeply pitched roof, the snow that slid off last week made quite a deep pile that has taken a long time to melt.

A Month of Photos #12 & 13

I had a busy day yesterday,, so I am posting both yesterday's and today's photos together.

In a small reserve near my work, bronze eels wriggle towards the river.

Detail of foliage outside the Christchurch South library.

A Month of Photos #11

The river as I drove past on my way to work this morning. It was frosty, and the mist was rising off the water.

Tuesday Poem: Sonnet

Sonnet

for Deborah

These grey days, I hunger for colour. I scavenge
in produce aisles, take home bags overflowing
with orange-skinned mandarins, broccoli, dark
as pines, purple grapes, tri-coloured capsicums.

I sip herbal tea and read your messages.
Mongolia’s as hot as Korea, you say, but drier,
Everywhere is dusty. The vegetable soup is greasy
with mutton fat, and not much fibre in it.

You will pass through Osaka on your way home,
visit temples with gardens of pebbles
and carefully-raked sand. By the time you return
the maples in our garden will be swelling with new buds.

The Japanese have a special name for it.
Shinryoku – the tender new green of spring.

© Catherine Fitchett

***

At the time I wrote this poem my daughter had been teaching English in Korea, and was travelling through Mongolia, Thailand and Japan before returning home. It must have been about the same time of year as it is now. I was reminded of the poem when I was in the greengrocer's at the weekend, and decided to post it for my Tuesday Poem this week.

In a sort of double-dipping, the photo is included as today's image for my month of photos.

For more Tuesday Poems, visit the main hub site.

A Month of Photos #9

I spent some time in the garden this afternoon. The bird is a waxeye. There are both blackbirds and waxeyes feeding on the crabapple tree - the waxeyes wait until the blackbird has pierced the tough skin and then it can feed on the inside.

A Month of Photos #8

Someone has been putting giant bandaids on damaged buildings around the city..

A Month of Photos #7

Once a week I go to clear a Post Office Box which is theoretically located in the Central City. But since that is still cordoned off, the box has been relocated to a temporary site, which also serves as the base for the postal rounds for a large part of the east of the city.

There are often a few bicycles lined up there, but this morning there were a large number. You can see that there is still some snow on the ground - which may be why these bikes weren't out with the posties, as they usually ride on the pavement to reach the letter boxes, and many of the pavements are still very icy.

I have a weakness for anything that makes a repetitive sort of pattern..

A Month of Photos #6

There's still quite a bit of snow about. I just had time to stop on the way home and snap this shot looking over a nearby park, before it got dark.

A Month of Photos #5

Yesterday morning was spent shovelling snow from our driveway so that I could get my car out to go to work. It wasn't helped by the fact that the road had been cleared by a digger which left big banks of snow blocking the foot of the driveway!

My muscles are still aching. But on the underside of one of the slabs of snow, I found twigs arranged to form this smiley face.

Tuesday Poem: Rapanui, by Barbara Strang

Rapanui

This year for the first time
we can walk right
up to the rock, she said.

I love this texture
the red knobbled base,
the curving basalt upstands,

see that bush
clinging on a high ledge -
amazing how plants survive.

If we could like mice
enter those crannies in the base
we'd be safe.

And do you know the true name
for this rock, she said?

Not answering
he turned away.

-Barbara Strang

*************

I have been enjoying Christchurch poet Barbara Strang's new collection, The Corrosion Zone, which is published by Headworkx.

'Rapanui' is the Māori name for Shag Rock, meaning the great stern-post. The rock was a sentinel on the way to Sumner beach, but unfortunately it fell down in the earthquake of 22nd February, 2011. Visiting Sumner a week or two ago and seeing the rock in its present state put me in mind particularly of this poem. The photo at the head of the column shows the rock as it is now.

And here is a stunningly beautiful photo of the rock as it was.

Also among this week's Tuesday poems is another of Barbara's poems, Fatigues, at Tim Jones's blog. For more poems, visit the main Tuesday Poem hub site. (Check out the links in the side bar).

A Month of Photos #3

Snow Day!

A Month of Photos #2

I had to walk round to the corner store to get milk this morning. I took some photos of the local library and shops - that is, of the demolition progress - but this caught my eye. The standard method around here of identifying which house is hosting a child's birthday party.

We can use a few smiles!

A Month of Photos: #1 Front Row Seat

One of the blogs I visit quite frequently is Susannah Conway's. For the second year, Susannah is running the "August break" in which she posts a photo a day, and encourages others to do the same, as a break from writing wordy blog posts. It's a summer thing. Except that it isn't summer here, and anyway I will be away for the last week of August with unreliable internet access. But I like the idea of posting a photo a day for a while, so I thought I would start now, which gives me just time to get a full month in before I go.

I'll try to make it a sort of daily diary, posting a photo taken that day. But since there's not much daylight left when I get home from work, I may not always keep to that.

This photo in fact was taken yesterday. I drove past this scene without a camera, and took a trip back to get the photo. The stadium in the background was upgraded at huge cost for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup. Since it was damaged in the earthquake, it has not been used, and there is speculation that in fact the ground is so badly damaged that it may never be used again.

Of course it's not the ground as such that's the problem, it is whether or not it can bear the weight of several large multi storey grandstands. I think back to the days when my Dad took me to watch the rugby, and we stood on the sideline, or ran up and down, shouting "come on blues!". I had no idea back then what the game was actually about - I'm not much more knowledgeable about it now, either.

National Poetry Day

The US gets National Poetry Month, but here in New Zealand we get one day. For some reason, Poetry Day events in Christchurch always seem to be held in the day time. If I lived in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin or a number of other places, there would be evening events to go to. But for the last few years I have always been working on a Friday and hence unable to participate.

At last I have Fridays free. Which means I was able to attend the reading held at the University Bookshop - a wonderful shop that I would frequent more if it weren't for the issue of parking, as all parking on campus is permit only. It was a treat to be in a proper bookshop, one that doesn't give prominence to cookbooks and "biographies" of sports stars. And a treat to hear readings from local poets Kerrin Sharpe, James Norcliffe and Tusiata Avia, followed by a performance by singer-songwriter Adam McGrath of The Eastern.

There were earthquake poems, of course. But not too many. Tusiata Avia read her poem describing her drive to pick up her daughter from her inner city preschool, in grid-locked traffic after February's quake. Her journey turned into a hero's epic, in which her street turned into a river (that part at least, would not be exaggerated at all). Hordes of drowned wildebeests made an appearance, and she drove for five days. It was a powerful poem, full of emotional truth if not literal truth.

James Norcliffe's earthquake poem referred to "The Death of Seneca". It's always hard to remember poems hear once, however the phrase "the earth shrugged" sticks with me. Jim's poems, he said, were rather dark, but the commentary that comes with them is always spiced with humour, and the audience had plenty of opportunities to laugh.

Kerrin Sharpe spent a year at the International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington. A number of her poems were set in Wellington. I particularly enjoyed "Sewing the World". Her mother, apparently, was a milliner. This poem was full of references to stitches such as feather stitch - but also to the streets of Wellington - a bonus for me as I spent the first half of my life there, and each street name triggered a visual picture in my mind. Although there is nothing in the way of straight forward fact in Kerrin's poems - she has a magical way of looking at the world.

Afterwards I browsed the bookshelves and found a small selection of "Revived Editions" i.e. second hand books. Most of the city's second hand bookshops have been casualties of the earthquake. So I was delighted to find some excellent poetry books here at very reasonable prices, and brought three home with me.

Tuesday Poem: Clock-O'-Clay, by John Clare

Clock-O'-Clay

In the cowslip pips I lie,
Hidden from the buzzing fly,
While green grass beneath me lies,
Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes,
Here I lie, a clock-o'-clay,
Waiting for the time o' day.

While the forest quakes surprise,
And the wild wind sobs and sighs,
My home rocks as like to fall,
On its pillar green and tall;
When the pattering rain drives by
Clock-o'-clay keeps warm and dry.

Day by day and night by night,
All the week I hide from sight;
In the cowslip pips I lie,
In the rain still warm and dry;
Day and night, and night and day,
Red, black-spotted clock-o'-clay.

My home shakes in wind and showers,
Pale green pillar topped with flowers,
Bending at the wild wind's breath,
Till I touch the grass beneath;
Here I live, lone clock-o'-clay,
Watching for the time of day.

John Clare (1793-1864)

**********

A year or so back I read Adam Foulds' novel The Quickening Maze - or is it a novel? It reads as one, but focuses on real people - the poets John Clare and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and the doctor who treated both John Clare and Tennyson's brother Septimus. How much is truth and how much fiction I am not sure, but it is a compelling book.

John Clare was known as "the peasant poet". He was feted for a time, but never really fit in with the literati of the day, or with the rural society into which he was born. He spent the last part of his life in an asylum, gradually losing his grasp on reality.

Somehow his poems are ones I missed out on when studying 19th century English poets at high school. Reading the novel led me to seek them out. This one rather appealed to me, even before a google search led me to the meaning of "clock o'clay" which is, apparently, 19th century Northamptonshire dialect for a ladybird.

City Farmyard

Some would-be farmers in the city keep chickens. And others...

I spotted the cow when I was out and about yesterday. Actually, it's fiberglass. But it made me smile.

Also making me smile are a couple of poetry acceptances recently. I'm a bit reticent to give the details until I see the poems in print. Earlier in the year, I had an acceptance that somehow didn't eventuate. The (online) journal appeared, my poem wasn't in it. Since it was the last issue before going into recess for a while, at least I feel that I can safely send the poem elsewhere.

I've been sending the poems out, but I haven't been writing anything new for a while. I figure that rather than waste time moping around not writing poems (which can take a lot of energy, it seems), it's better to do what takes my fancy. Walks on the beach to take photos. Home baking. Today I made it to a fabric/craft/homeware store where I bought thread and curtain tape, the first step to making some new curtains. I'm tired of the ones that threaten to disintegrate every time I grab hold to open or close them. And curtain making is one thing that doesn't need to go on hold while insurance claims are settled.

Christchurch Earthquake Photos

A collapsed building in High Street.

The Hotel Grand Chancellor or "Leaning Tower of Christchurch". Demolition will take about a year, one level at a time.

Workmen taking down the damaged dome from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

A view of High St through a statue outside the Christchurch Polytechnic. This statue was erected as part of the 6th Scape Biennial of Art in Public Spaces, which never happened due to the first quake on September 4th 2010.

Signs on the fence behind damaged buildings in High St.

While the rest of the country suffered wild weather and tornadoes, Christchurch basked in winter sunshine over the weekend. I took a break from running errands to explore a little further into the city, just to see how far I could get before coming up against the inevitable cordons.

We used to play a board game with the children called "The Amazing Labyrinth". It was a simple sort of roll the dice and navigate a pathway game, except for one feature - at each turn, the player took a loose piece of the board, and used it to shove a row of similarly loose pieces, so that the pathway changed, blocking routes that were previously open. Christchurch feels a bit like that at the moment. You never know when a tower will suddenly be declared potentially unsafe, and a street is closed off while it is inspected. Or there is flooding of low-lying riverside streets due to an exceptionally high tide. Or perhaps a street opens up once demolitions of dangerous buildings have been completed.

There are about 1000 buildings on the yet-to-be-demolished list.

Yesterday my daughter admired my shoes and asked where I bought them. I couldn't remember the exact shop, but I knew what area, and that the shop undoubtedly is not there any more.

We had visits from our insurance company and the EQC (government earthquake insurance agency) last week. No dollar figure yet, but we do have a long list of what will be fixed. The insurance company will take care of the driveway and all the walls and fences. EQC will jack up and level the front of the house, re-hang the doors that don't work, fill in all the cracks in the interior walls and ceilings, replaster the ceilings, repaper the walls, fill in the cracks in the exterior walls and repaint. And rebuild the chimney. Although there is some scheme whereby we can have a clean heat appliance instead, given that it's not actually legal to use an open fire any more. Some time within the next month we will find out their estimate for the cost. If it's less than $100,000, we go on the long list for their preferred contractor to manage the repairs. If it's more, they give us a cheque and our insurance company covers the balance.

I'm not in a hurry - if we get it fixed and there's another big aftershock, we could be back to square one. So waiting a year or so seems like a very good idea just now.

Tuesday Poem: Australian Poetry Library

I'm feeling a little lazy today - so instead of posting a poem, I have a link to offer:
The Australian Poetry Library has over 42,000 poems by more than 170 poets for you to choose from, all free to view online.

Weekend Pleasures

1. Three days of beautiful sunny weather. It has been unusually warm for the middle of winter.

2. Saturday was only the second day since February 22nd that there were no aftershocks felt in Christchurch.

3. Shoes! I went to a shoe outlet sale and stocked up on sensible leather shoes at bargain prices - then added to my purchases a ridiculously frivolous pair of summer sandals in "citrus" - a sort of lemony lime colour. I think it is the first ever pair of shoes that I have bought in a non-neutral colour, but they were so cheap that I thought the smiles they give me justified the purchase.

4. I had a very long soak in a warm bath. I expected to feel a little guilty - we are supposed to be limiting water use still, and not creating too much grey water, because of drainage issues. But in fact it brought me so much pleasure that I didn't feel guilty at all. I won't be taking another one for a while, though.

5. I went to a craft fair on Saturday and enjoyed browsing among the stalls. Lovely to look at, but not so much to buy - many of the stalls seemed to be aimed at the doting grandmother market, and I don't have any rug rats to buy for. I did bring home some brochures particularly for fabric stores that sell online.

Tuesday Poem: Sea Call, by Hone Tuwhare

Sea Call

Let the radio pip and shudder
at each dawn’s news

Let the weatherman hint
a gaunt meaning to the chill
and ache of bone:
but when the new moon’s bowl
is storing rain, the pull of time
and sea will cry to me
again.

And I shall stuff my longing
in an empty pack
and hasten to the secret shore
where the land’s curve lies
clad in vermilion – and the green
wind tugging gravely.

There let the waves lave
pleasuring the body’s senses,
and the sun’s feet
shall twinkle and flex
to the sea-egg’s needling
and the paua’s stout kiss
shall drain a rock’s heart
to the sandbar’s booming.

- Hone Tuwhare
reproduced by permission of the estate of Hone Tuwhare

I was about eleven or twelve when I fell in love with John Masefield's poem, Sea Fever. It spoke to a solitary young girl who spent a great deal of time at the beach, swimming, clambering over rocks and dabbling in rock pools - elements of the poem such as "the call of the running tide"... "the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying" were very familiar to me.

Sea Fever though, speaks of a mariner, leading a "vagrant gypsy life" far from shore.

Hone Tuwhare's poem Sea Call seems to me to express something of the same longing in a more shore-bound way, closer to my childhood experience. There are some beautiful images in here - the land's curve clad in vermilion (surely a reference to the red blossom of coastal pohutukawa trees), the sun's feet which twinkle and flex, the paua's stout kiss. I was unfamiliar with this poem until I heard it read at the launch of the Phantom Billstickers Poetry Poster series. I was delighted to be able to bring home a small size version of the poster on which it appears (coming soon to a lamp post near you!) It was to be read by Hone's son Rob, but Rob's flight from Auckland was unfortunately cancelled due to volcanic ash, so another reader took his place.

My thanks to Rob for permission to reproduce the poem here.

For more Tuesday poems go to the main hub site, where there is a poem posted each week. Further poems can be found on the blogs of the participants listed in the sidebar there. Biographical details and more of Hone Tuwhare's poems can be found at the Hone Tuwhare Charitable Trust website linked to his name above.

Hurry Up and Wait

Today was the day when the government made a major announcement on the future of homes in Christchurch. The earthquake didn't just damage homes - it damaged the land beneath. There are large areas now where the land is so damaged that it can't be rebuilt on. It has become prone to flooding, and all the underground services are wrecked - "munted" is the slang term that has become very familiar lately - sewage, water and so on. To repair the land would require all the homes in the area - damaged or not - to be demolished, so the ground can be compacted, in some cases raised up to three metres, and all the underground services completely replaced. Also, in some areas it had been proposed to sink giant stone walls into the ground along the river banks to prevent lateral spreading. This is where the land moves sideways and develops huge cracks, usually towards the river as there is nothing to stop the sideways movement there. Only when the land repair is complete could the houses be rebuilt. This would mean at least three years, probably five or more, before the residents could return to their homes.

So, the city has been divided into four areas. Red zone residents - about 5000 homes - are being offered an immediate compensation package by the government so they can sell up and move on. The orange zone of another 10,000 homes requires further assessment, in particular because the June 13th aftershocks changed the situation yet again. Some of this zone will become red and some will become green. The green zone is OK to rebuild on. The white zone - mainly the hill suburbs - has not yet been assessed. The hazards in the white area are more related to rockfalls than flooding.

Our house, as expected, is in the green zone. And the landcheck website told us, earlier today, that this meant repair and rebuilding could now proceed. Yeah right, I thought, but we haven't even seen an insurance assessor yet, let alone had a payout. (300,000 insurance claims take a while to work through). Strangely, when I went to check the exact wording, I found it had been changed! It no longer says that repair and rebuilding can proceed immediately, just that we should talk with our insurer and EQC (the government earthquake insurance) about repairs. It also advises that some work should be delayed until ongoing aftershocks settle down.

I can't honestly say that if we were offered settlement today, we'd be in a hurry to begin work tomorrow. Plastering cracked walls and ceilings for instance, seems a little crazy when there is a 30% chance of another aftershock bigger than 6.0

So - for those in the red zone, a settlement offer will arrive within eight weeks, orange will have to wait several more months to be reclassified red or green, white will have to wait an indefinite time to get any sort of classification, and everyone but red will have to wait while the backlog of claims is processed and then until the ground stops shaking so that there is actually some point in fixing things up.

And while our house is zoned green, I was shocked to discover just how much of our area is zoned orange, including neighbours just three houses down the street towards the river, all the houses along the river just around the corner, and the house we lived in before we moved to our current house.

We had been planning to add on to that house to accommodate our growing family, and then spotted this one for sale, and decided it was so much easier just to move to a larger house rather than go through the problems of adding on. It was a lucky find, being large enough for a family of four children (later to be five), and only two blocks away.

I don't know whether to feel fortunate that we moved, or sad for our friends and neighbours still in limbo waiting for a final answer.

Tuesday Poem

North American Periodic Cicada

It will happen like this:
after the struggle, he will leave in haste,
return with a spade and dig
a shallow grave in the quiet woods.
The victim, who lived alone,
will not be missed until the neighbour
sees the overflowing mailbox,
knocks on the door a week later.
The assailant is long gone.

Or, it will happen like this:
he will dig a shallow grave.
Too shallow. A boy will walk with his dog
through these woods. The dog will sniff
the freshly dug earth, paw at it,
uncover what has been done.
The assailant, blood on his shirt,
will be stopped at a police roadblock
crossing into the next state.

No, this is what will happen.
There is a struggle in the woods.
Later that night a phenomenon that comes round
once every seventeen years -
a horde of insects crawl from the ground,
make their way around the corpse, through
the soft earth, up the trunks of trees. They split
their shells, emerge soft bodied.
Billions of creatures harden on branches
until by daytime they take to the air.
Before the boy comes by with his curious dog,
empty shells will rain honey-coloured,
covering the ground for miles.
The woods crunch underfoot. The boy
will not venture far in, the dog
will not spot the soft earth.
There will be no manhunt until
the assailant is several states away,
living a new life. And if he keeps his secret
the cicadas, deep in the earth for another seventeen years,
will not reveal it for him.

************

"North American Periodic Cicada" is one of the poems in Flap: the Chook Book 2, my small poetry group's recent collection which is reviewed on the just-updated website for Takahe magazine.

It came about like this: I had been reading the foreword to Best American Poems (the 2006 edition, if I recall correctly) for which Billy Collins was one of the editors. He was discussing elements in poems that were deal breakers for him, and one of them was the word "cicada". Apparently, if he comes across it in a poem, he finds himself unable to read on.

No explanation was given. I found myself wondering what it was that he objected to about cicadas. It seemed to me that perhaps many poets use cicadas as a sort of sentimental evocation of the sounds of summer. So I was immediately attracted to the idea of writing a non-sentimental cicada poem. And that night I watched a nature documentary on TV, which included the phenomenon of the North American Periodic Cicada, an insect which spends seventeen years underground before metamorphosing into its adult form. Furthermore, all the members of the species emerge en masse in one night. It is apparently quite spectacular when it happens. I started imagining what the dense layer of cast off exoskeletons might cover up.

The poem has been slightly edited from its original version, which first appeared at Blackmail Press online, in the Secrets issue.

For more Tuesday Poems, visit the main hub site, and the contributors listed in the sidebar at the Tuesday Poem site.

And the Number for Today Is...

4.4
That was the size of the aftershock which served as the city's alarm clock at 6.30 this morning. I did get back to sleep after that one. I got up a couple of hours later, happy that it was Friday and I had a free day to run around and work through my long list of errands, and wonder again how I ever found time to work five days a week.

Fridays will be even better once I don't have a long list of errands to do.

I came home and was relaxing when we had another couple of 4.4s - actually the second I think was 4.5. It bounced the coffee out of my coffee cup and into my lap. Just as well that it was a cold day as I had enough layers on to insulate me from the effects.

My brother and his wife arrived to do their laundry and have showers as there is still no water on in their suburb. They live very near the epicentre of Monday's two big shakes, and their area took a hammering. Fortunately their own house is still liveable.

The day ended better than it started, as I headed off to a poetry reading - the Global launch of the Phantom Billstickers' sixth series of poetry posters. It was held in a venue I've never been to before - the Addington Coffee Co-op. Addington is a former working class suburb just on the western fringe of the city. It's been seeing a lot of action recently as businesses relocate to new office parks there, along with retail and hospitality businesses displaced from the central city. There were a few traffic problems on the way - it was rush hour - but it was worth it. The selection of poets reading was generous - large numbers brought in from out of town, as well as local poets, to read one poem each - and the free catering was equally generous. I've been going to the Canterbury Poets Collective annual series of readings for quite a few years, and thought I knew all the local poets, but many tonight were unfamiliar to me. It was a pleasure to be going to any event at a time when so much has been cancelled, and rescheduled, and cancelled again. (Though a few of the invited poets didn't make it due to flights being disrupted by ash from the Chilean volcano - others read their poems for them).

Almost as exciting as going to a poetry event was seeing a table full of glasses next to a tap with a sign that read "We have a UV water purification system - our water is safe to drink".

The Phantom Billstickers main business is putting up posters on hoardings for pay - concert posters, and so on - but the poetry posters are, as far as I can tell, something that they do just for the love of poetry. The poems we heard tonight will soon be gracing lampposts, walls and hoardings all over - not just in New Zealand, but in the United States too - Boston, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were some of the places mentioned. They were also giving away free smaller sized versions of the posters, and I brought several home with me.

Earthquake Play List

My earthquake playlist has been growing slowly since shortly after the September quake when one of our local radio stations happened to be playing Carole King just as an aftershock hit. I'm sure this list would be longer if I had a better knowledge of popular music. Some of these songs may not be familiar to overseas (or younger) readers, but I'm sure a quick google search will find most of them on Youtube.

1. I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King

2. Shake, Rattle and Roll - various artists including Bill Haley, Buddy Holly and Elvis

3. Good Vibrations - the Beach Boys

4. Tumblin'Down - Maria Dallas

5. Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley again

6. The Gumboot Song - John Clarke aka Fred Dagg. This is one that our local radio played for all those digging silt off their properties, yet again, after the double quakes on Monday.

Any more suggestions welcome.

Edit: Some great suggestions in the comments, also, I intended to include "Here We Go Again" on the list, but I can't quite find the one I was thinking of - there are it seems many variants on this title - "Here We Go Again", "Here I Go Again", "There You Go Again" and so on, but none of them is quite the song that is playing in my head.

Tuesday Poem: Bubbles, by Siobhan Harvey

Bubbles

Buoyant and with breath enough
to blow out two candles, you
purse lips, expel air, create a rainbow-
coloured world for the first time. Like you,
it dances, fat bee, around spring garden
bright with early stargazers. Afloat,
it anchors you before it, a deity, so in its skin
you discover yourself turned topsy-turvy,
and the world at your back upended also.

Then it vanishes, just as you, my little atom,
will vanish in time. Suddenly,
when you’re big enough, you’ll drift away
to new worlds, spinning stories home
about pearl-diving off Isla de Coche;
night-watching the Golden Gate’s glassy lights;
hot air ballooning over an oracular el-Colossat;
lazy Sundays playing boules in les Tuileries
and sightseeing L’Orangerie and Sacre Coeur.

My heart releases any pain
it feels at the thought
of ever losing you, for I see
now that we’re floating, you and I,
towards that future even as you lift
the wand again, birth and set free
more bubbles. All I need remember is:
the breath I’ve given you carries you onward,
and that breath always belongs to me.

Siobhan Harvey is an enormously busy person - among other things she is the poetry editor for Takahe magazine, the national coordinator for New Zealand Post Poetry Day, teaches creative writing at Auckland University, and is the mother of a young son. Among all this, she has found time to publish her own poetry. Lost Relatives was published this year by Steele Roberts. It explores issues of immigration, identity and family. Siobhan had planned to hold a book launch for Lost Relatives in Christchurch on March 8th. Unfortunately the February 22nd earthquake caused a cancellation of the book launch, but I was able to order a copy direct from the publisher's website. (No book shops were open in Christchurch at the time, or at least, none that stocked poetry - but the service direct from the publishers was excellent and the book arrived within a day or two).

Siobhan says about the poem:

'Bubbles' was inspired by the smallest of acts. My son, who was 18 months old, was blowing bubbles. I loved watching him do this - his sense of accomplishment; the aesthetic beauty of bubbles floating in the sun; the simple act of creating something such as bubbles which were often dazzlingly beautiful. Yet, it struck me, that each time my son blew bubbles, this simple act was framed and, in turn, acted as a frame for far deeper, universal issues which he and I, as son and mother, would have to negotiate in time - such as his growth through childhood and the experiences of motherhood this would bring to me. There was my young son with and close to me. There was I, parentally watching over him achieve a small milestone in the blowing of a bubble. Yet, like the bubble he birthed and let float out into the world, all too soon my son would drift away from me, travel overseas and explore everything the world has to show him. In this sense, the bubbles my son blew were like mirrors which unfolded his - and my - future. Once I'd perceived and considered these issues, the poem came to me. Eventually, it was selected as runner-up in the Inaugural Bernard Gadd Memorial Poetry Prize. Later, the artist Alby Yap selected it for a piece of work he did which was entered into and short-listed for the 2010 Bernard Gadd Art Award. To me, the poem plays a crucial role in the third section 'My Son and I' of my new collection, Lost Relatives.

Here We Go Again

More aftershocks, a 5.5 just on lunchtime which had me jumping under my desk - then, after lunch when I was beginning to calm down and focus on work again, a 6.0 which shut off the power to over 50,000 homes (including where I work) and stopped work for the day.

So, not quite back to square one, but there is plenty of new damage:

Our local volunteer library after September 4th - cracks in the block work, causing safety fencing to be erected around it.

After February 4th, looking distinctly the worse for wear

After this afternoon's effort - now we can see right through the building to the house on the other side.

This was taken in the main road a couple of blocks from our house. Not as bad as February 22nd, when I had to take off my socks and shoes, roll my trousers up and wade through here to get home. Nevertheless, there is enough liquefaction, along with damage to water and sewer mains, to set back the recovery effort significantly.

We were very glad to get our power back on again just as it was getting dark, although we had already got out our emergency supplies - candles in jars half filled with sand to keep them stable, a gas heater, a hand cranked torch, a transistor radio, and our emergency water. The water pressure is very low and the sewage system is damaged again (not that it had been completely repaired yet). There are still 47,000 households without power and they are not likely to get it back on tonight.

Tuesday Poem: Waterfall, by Marisa Cappetta

waterfall

It starts as
the father and his daughters,

his love for them
enough to fill a balloon
and sail over
the Colosseum over the Tiber
and onto London.
His love a warm air rising,
playful as a thermal.

His girls tumble
from the basket
he scans the land below

but his daughter's beds
are empty and smell
of earth, leaves
and the pummel of
water on wet stone.

He finds one of their
shoes behind the waterfall.

At night
his eyes are silos
filled with a warm air,
rising.

This week's offering for Tuesday Poem is another of Marisa Cappetta's lovely poems filled with lush imagery. Marisa is a Christchurch visual artist and poet, currently studying at the Hagley Writers' Institute. The poem was published in the latest issue of Takahe magazine, where Marisa says
When writing I gather ideas, text, articles and objects in the literary equivalent of a visual diary. I produce 'thumbnails' of writing in frames, mind maps, balloon diagrams and flow charts. In this format I test phrases and ideas in various configurations; the process is often playful, easily allowing me to experiment.

Changes

Back in the middle of last year I started making a list of things to do before my next birthday. Unfortunately it didn't include experiencing two major earthquakes! With just two to three months left to go, I find that much of the list remains undone.

What I did include on the list was two things to stop doing. Strangely, stopping something seems almost as difficult as doing something. But I am nearly there. One was to leave one of my two jobs, and I was hoping for extra hours at my other job to partially bridge the gap in earnings. This has worked out perfectly - an extra day at the second job was offered and accepted without my even asking for it. And yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I found myself with a free Friday. Which I spent running round catching up on all sorts of errands, and wondering how I ever found the time to work five days a week.

Among the tasks - most of the copies of Takahe issue 72 are now in the mail (the other task I am planning to give up. The AGM is in a few weeks time, then I will be done). Getting a long overdue haircut. Picking up a book that I had put on hold from the library.

I started walking to the hairdresser, got as far as the footbridge (see photo) and realised that I couldn't go that way any more. I wasn't able to capture it in a photo, but the bridge has completely broken away from the supporting pillar underneath. Only gravity is keeping it in place. It was too late to take the longer route by the road bridge so I went back home and got the car.

On the counter at the hairdresser, a petition to save our local Post Shop. Apparently NZ Post intend not to renew the franchise when the shopping centre is rebuilt. Given the distances I had to drive to get all the magazines in the post, I was very quick to sign. I really miss being able to do quick errands on the way home at 5.15 pm.

At the library, I thought I would check on the poetry books shortlisted for the NZ Book Awards. And there they were in the catalogue, listed as "available - first floor Central Library". So I went to the counter. "Books that are listed as available at the Central Library - can you actually retrieve those?" "Well, no", was the answer, "we're not allowed in at the moment". So, I can place a hold but I might have to wait six months, or who knows how long, before the Central Library is accessible again.

I've asked my daughter, who works at the University Library, if she can get them for me. She is going to try, but much of the University Library is also inaccessible, apparently. Sigh. I could buy them, but I've already spent quite a bit on books in the last couple of weeks.

Instead, I will console myself with The Best of the Best New Zealand Poems, which is one of the books I did buy. And with the fact that it is a long weekend here (happy birthday to the Queen, even if it is not her real birthday!), so I still have two more days of weekend to look forward to.

Blue Box

Carmi is exploring blue at his blog this week. I had a bunch of photos picked out, but when I passed this portable toilet on my way to an appointment today, I knew I had to get a photo, so I stopped on the way home.

Doctor Who was nowhere to be seen - off saving the world, no doubt.

There are still 10,000 homes in areas of Christchurch where the sewage is not working properly. So we will expect to have these in the streets for a while yet. At least when you're out, you're never likely to be caught short!

Tuesday Poem: The Land of Counterpane, by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

*****

I've had a nasty cold for the last few days, and spent some time curled up in bed and on a chair under blankets with a pile of books. So, I'm posting this poem in a fit of nostalgia.

Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses was the second poetry book I ever owned. (The first was The Golden Treasury of Poetry edited by Louis Untermeyer). I can still view it in my mind, though where it went to I'm not quite sure. I had many favourites in the book and may post more on another occasion.

Stevenson came from a well known Scottish family of lighthouse engineers, but though he studied engineering for a short time, his heart wasn't in it, and he turned to literature. He was an only child, and frequently ill with a weak chest. This poem no doubt recalls his own childhood growing up in Edinburgh.

For more Tuesday Poems visit the main hub site here.

Tuesday Poem: Inversnaid, by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Inversnaid

This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

A windpuff-bonnet of fawn-froth
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew
Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.


*********

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was an English poet and Roman Catholic priest. His poetry was heavily influenced by archaic language and Old English rhythms.

I have always loved this poem, Inversnaid. It refers to a watercourse that tumbles into Loch Lomond on its eastern shores. We stayed in Scotland not so very far away, and later passed up the west side of Loch Lomond, but didn't actually get to Inversnaid. Still, every time I heard the small stream tumble down the hillside at the hotel where we were staying, on the nearby Loch Ard, I thought of this poem.

Visit the main hub site for more Tuesday Poems, and check out the sites of the other Tuesday Poem bloggers (close on thirty) linked via the side bar there.

Earthquake Update

Yesterday morning as I was about to leave for work, a courier arrived with a package. He commented that he was supposed to deliver it the previous day but contractors had refused him entry to the street, saying it was "residents only". That surprised me, since there was no evidence that contractors had been in our street - the wonderful blue water pipes are still above ground, and the street still has all its cracks, humps and dips. We live in a little cul de sac off a road that runs along the river. Later, talking to my husband, we figured that he had tried to enter the river road at the end where there is work going on to repair the broken sewer pipe under the river. All he actually had to do was drive round and come in at the other end. No problem, you would think, but apparently it was too hard.

Speaking of the blue pipes - a neighbour told me that they would be dug underground before winter comes, to avoid problems if they froze. Now I am watching anxiously, because winter is getting close - we have already had a few frosts. And there is no sign of action. I'll be making sure our emergency water supplies in the cupboard stay well-stocked.

Some heartening news: a permanent head has been appointed to CERA (the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery authority). He is Roger Sutton, head of Orion, the electricity lines company who did an amazing job of restoring power to the city after the quake - and communicating effectively what was being done. His appointment seems to have met with universal approval, as residents hope that what needs to be done will be done effectively, quickly and with a high degree of transparency. Let's hope disillusion doesn't set in as no doubt not all his decisions will meet universal approval. In particular the tension between those who say "demolish it all and open up the city" and those who want particular buildings saved at all costs will be hard to neogtiate.

I'm not so pleased with New Zealand Post who have announced that the Post Shop in Sydenham - my nearest until our local shopping centre can be rebuilt in about a year's time - will not reopen. It is undamaged, but the decision has more to do with supposed changed traffic patterns, and no doubt the fact that NZ Post is losing money and is also axing Post Shops elsewhere in the country. Still - if a dairy owner can open up in a shipping container and do good business, surely the Post Shop can reopen and also do good business in an area that is rather short of options.

I'm still travelling to the extreme north of the city to collect mail for Takahe magazine from the mail sorting centre by the airport. This is because our Post Office box is in the central city inside the cordon. We haven't been offered any good options at this stage if we want to keep the same box number. It's classed as a business account even though we make no profit - so a two months free redirection is the best they can offer, after that we would have to pay. So far, I've combined it with other trips but my business in that part of the city will be coming to an end soon.

Yesterday it shrunk from a full day's work to four hours. Which left me time after collecting the mail to check out my favourite bookshop, Scorpio Books, now relocated. The good news is that their new premises are considerably more spacious than the old shop inside the cordon - and that they have been allowed in for long enough to retrieve their stock, though some is damaged by dirt and grit blowing in the broken windows. The bad news is that their new shop is in Riccarton Road - now the busiest, most traffic-choked part of the city. They tell me there is parking out the back. That helps, but it doesn't help with the slow journey sitting in traffic on the way there.

The photo at the head of the post was taken in Merivale, where the mall is still open, despite the facade of these shops on the street side having fallen down. I've been intending for a while to stop by and take a photo of this large papier mache mushroom which I find intriguing - finally got round to it on the way to work yesterday.

Tuesday Poem: Sitting Woman With Fish Hat

Sitting Woman with Fish Hat

(after Picasso)
I'm sitting here with a turbot on my head
This is ridiculous
I hope it's finished soon
Even with the lemon on top,
This fish is starting to stink.
That fellow - Pablo something-or-other -
Calls himself an artist - Hah!
He's given me two eyes on the same side of my face
Like a flounder
Doesn't know a front view from a profile
If he's an artist, I'll eat my hat

Another one from the archives. The image that inspired this poem can be found here.

This week at the Tuesday Poem hub the guest editor, James Norcliffe introduces a poem by Christchurch poet, David Gregory. Both the poem and James's excellent commentary are well worth reading. More Tuesday poets are linked in the side bar of the Tuesday Poem hub.

Friday Excursions

I'm in the process of reorganising several commitments in my life. Last Friday was my last day at one of my two jobs - my last permanent day, that is. Due to various circumstances, I said when I resigned that I would be available on Fridays for a few weeks to help out if necessary, which proved to be the case today. I think I will be fully done with this job by the end of May, and then I will have Fridays free. The Wednesdays that I was also working there have been taken up by my other job which will now be four days a week.

I'm really looking forward to free Fridays. Today, though, I was able to get away before three, in time for a physio appointment. The roads were already crowded with traffic. After my appointment I went in search of clothes - a plain long-sleeved red top is what I was after. I didn't want to head back into the crazy post-earthquake traffic so I checked out some areas that were on my way home, and have only recently reopened. Unfortunately the shops I wanted hadn't reopened. So I will be shopping again at the weekend.

Sydenham has whole blocks of old shops that have been completely demolished. In the midst of it all, this dairy (convenience store) was trading out of a converted shipping container (see photo above). I hope the owner does well, he deserves to.

Not so some of the other businesses which have perfectly good green-stickered buildings, and yet remain closed. The Post Office clearly has not been entered since the quake - all the mess still lies on the floor. And yet the placard says "no restrictions on use or occupancy". I fear that it is one of the victims of government cost-cutting, and may remain closed. Don't they realise how few options people have on this side of town? Not everyone has reliable transport to travel several suburbs away to do their errands. The WINZ office (government agency for income support such as unemployment and sickness benefits) was also shut, with no indication of a likely reopening, despite its green placard.

My optometrist, on the other hand, has reopened. As has Spotlight, a large fabric, craft and homewares store, which is really good news, as I no longer have to travel across town to buy a reel of thread or a few buttons.

Tuesday Poem: Z

Time for something light. I seem to be quite good at starting series of poems and less good at finishing them. At one stage, after playing with lists of words I liked, I started a series based on letters of the alphabet, but didn't get very far. As I recall, I managed "Z", "O" and "X", but the one I liked best was "Z". This was first published in the Christchurch Press, and also in "The Chook Book" - now out of print, but I have a few spare copies.

Z

points both east and west
a Byzantine ziggurat
a jazz riff, Dizzy Gillespie on a trombone
it's a double puzzle
a blazing breeze
a horizon zigzagging to the zenith
an awkward couple
a figure 2 sharpened
catching z's in a double bed
all knees and elbows.

copyright Catherine Fitchett

For more Tuesday Poems visit the main hub site.

Around the Neighbourhood

This is the carpark of our local shopping centre - now scheduled for demolition. This rather large slump in the ground has filled with rainwater, and the gulls were enjoying themselves when I went past. They also have a rather large sandbank nearby, so it is quite beachlike!

Businesses have had various approaches to the earthquake, some more useful than others. This I felt was one of the better responses - offering those who don't have transport, particularly the elderly, the chance to get their shopping done, while helping provide customers to a supermarket that is in an area now rather short of traffic due to the inner city restrictions.

The fence on the riverbank near us was constructed of about thirty foot long steel girders. It was interesting watching them being put in place. The river bank was slumping bit by bit, endangering not only the road but also the water and sewer pipes beneath the road. It was a practical response but I hope, not a permanent one as it's a bit ugly.

The footbridge damage is not obvious in this photo, but it has completely broken off its supporting pillar at one end. Pedestrians were going back and forth over it without incident for a week or two before it was fenced off. I imagine it is quite low in the queue to be fixed, cars coming before pedestrians.

I've been asked by a few people about our chimney. The roof has been made watertight by workmen sent by EQC (the government earthquake insurance agency). The gap where the chimney was has had replacement steel tiles put in place, which almost but not quite match the existing tiles. The gap in the eaves where the chimney came crashing through has also been mended, with replacement panelling in the soffit, replacement spouting and replacement roof tiles (there may also have been a beam or two that needed patching at the end). Any further repairs are waiting on a full assessment.

There is a priority system for repairing chimneys for those for whom it was their main heat source - especially the sick or elderly. We don't really qualify for the priority queue as we have other heating although not in the same room - an electric heat pump in our dining/living area and another in the room my husband uses as an office. In the living room where the fireplace is, we will have to use a portable electric heater or in an emergency, a portable gas heater. (Power cuts are likely this winter, as the whole electricity system is "cobbled together with extension leads" at the moment). Technically, open fires are no longer allowed to be used in Christchurch anyway. So the replacement programme allows for an alternative heat system to be installed - a heat pump or approved log burner, for instance.

Despite the bylaw banning open fires (due to clean air regulations) no one is to be prosecuted this winter for using them. Presumably because of the overload on the electricty system. However, the public are strongly advised to get their chimneys checked before use, even if apparently undamaged. I saw the consequences of not doing so today. On my way to work, I passed a house with a gaping hole in the roof around the chimney, exposing charred roof beams. Presumably, they ignored or hadn't heard the advice. A hard lesson to learn.

Progress

Driving to work this week, I realised that I am now able to take exactly my normal route, that is the route I took before the earthquake. The cordons are shrinking a little, however I gather it could be many more months before they are gone completely.

My favourite bookshop has reopened in new premises. That's the good news, the bad news is twofold: firstly, that they haven't been able to access any of their stock from their old shop. I think that's because the tower block over the road is unstable and until it can be made safe no-one is allowed near. The second part of the bad news is that they have relocated in Riccarton, which tends to be congested at the best of times, and since the earthquake is like Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and school holidays all rolled into one as shoppers from all the parts of town where the malls are closed head there instead.

Supposedly all roads are now passable. The road workers have done a fantastic job. However "passable" seems to have a slightly flexible meaning - apart from the fact that the inner city is still cordoned off (the roads may be OK but there are many unsafe buildings) there are streets like ours where we can get in at one end only.

This is the other end, only pedestrians can get through. There is a broken sewer pipe under the river, this is quite complicated to fix and in the meantime there are temporary pipes, pumps etc all over the place.

There are 38,000 damaged sections of road, although they have been patched up they won't have permanent repairs done until the water and sewage systems have been fully repaired.