In town

We ran around Hagley Park this morning. :)

Yes, the path was pitted, bumpy, closed-off at some points and covered in chestnuts BUT it made it feel like life was a little more normal. We loved it and the kids had so much fun on their bikes. It also got me thinking how normal the abnormal seems now. And I'm not talking about the fact you still can't even brush your teeth with the tapwater, or that we have a long drop and a chemical toilet.

Everywhere in town there are buildings that are broken up. Even in the suburbs it is normal to come across a big ol' pile of bricks that was once a house or a set of shops. If we hadn't had an earthquake this would not have been tolerated for more than a day or two.

We also don't find it odd that for miles you can go without having a working traffic light, and shops are working weird (super early closing!) hours. Lots of my friends are like us, they have only one door and a couple of windows that open. No one is bothering to wash windows because of the dust swirling around.

But saying that it was a beautiful summer day today and we really enjoyed our run around the park.

Oh and if you want a tip for disaster survival - buy some extra sponges to go on your mop. And tons of paper towels. Nothing cleans up glass (especially when there is no electricity for the vacuum cleaner) better than a damp paper towel and believe me, you do not want to scrub those mucky, dusty floors on your hands and knees. Mop heads do not hold up well under earthquake cleaning for long... Just stock up on some extra mop heads (they sell out really fast, so do it now)

xx

Do you love the way someone has tried to be funny and put a green sticker on the gate outside this house. AS IF!

Some poor bloke is saying "my shed! MY SHED!"

Any vollenteers to help tidy up the garage?