Sunday night

We were just down at the fire station (getting some water so we can wash dishes, brush our teeth etc) and Dad had to go to a call... a roof has fallen on someone. It's funny but because I have become used to feeling like a drunken sailor (in the after shocks - we had one today that was 5 on the R.S. and - whoops, there goes another one - and it was no big deal at all. (wow, this is a long one...) Anyway, where was I? Oh yer, because we are now used to it I assume it is life as "normal" and then a brick wall falls on someone... or a roof is blown off in the storm we are now having. Poor Dad hasn't had any sleep since the earthquake hit. He has to be totally buggered, but because he is used to not getting much sleep you can't even tell he is sleep deprived. He came by with the truck/the lads earlier to check out my fire wall and the liquidification (those mountains of sand that appeared out of nowhere) just in case it is a Bad Sign of something that we didn't pick up and the poor guys know they will be out in the pump again all night. Our 5 minute inspection was a break for them. This bad weather is going to rip the semi-destroyed houses to bits.
Anyway our house is pretty good but I'm working on a list of damage to submit to the Earthquake Commission:
Cracks in the driveway (7cm wide, up to 75cm deep)
Concrete pathway broken up
Garage door opening system not working
Ground badly sunk in the back yard (you can tell because the grass is now 10cm below the walkways and it is all sort of pitted like rabbit holes have fallen in)
Front door won't open (due to ?? in the roof??)
Living room door can't open fully as it scrapes on the floor
Crack over the back door (in the ceiling)
Few cracks in the ceiling around the house
Firewall/chimney ummmm lifted? Seperated where the motar is (bricks not broken) and lifted about 7cm half way up
Firewall detached from the weatherboards of the house
Floor sloping oddly in the bedrooms
Roof tiles look like they are dipping in some places (but this might have already been there before... I think it just got worse)
Pipe under the floor that takes the bathwater away is totally detached
NO WATER to the house!!!
a few plates broken

So basically we got away with nothing major.
I'm a bit sad about some historic buildings that have been destroyed. I can't imagine them not being there. Because Dad lives in the CBD and Meg goes to school there, we are used to being downtown all the time. I've grown up with the old buildings in the center of the city and I know them as well as I know my school. Life without them will be weird. I can't imagine what it will be like for people that are from Christchurch that are away now, and come back someday to see it *dramatically different*.

Hopefully tomorrow there will be water back in the shops. They had a limit of 2 bottles per person but it was still all sold out when we got there. I've just boiled some water but it takes FOREVER to cool down.

Thanks for all the love and support. It means a lot to know that while we are living this people care. I don't know why it helps, but somehow it does.
xxx