I've been asked how the house is holding up...

Well... I guess I am just so thankful that we are able to live in it (Sebastien is slying licking St Hurbert gravy sauce off his plate GIVE ME STRENGTH) that I really haven't bothered to take stock of damage.

But since people are asking:
No water (a tiny trickle of cold water slowly fills the hot water cylinder in the attic so we can get water out of the hot tap, but you have to boil it and if you want to take a shower you have to be quick because there is no cold to cool it down)
No toilet (sewer pipe is broken somewhere) so we have a long-drop/out house behind the bushes at the back of the property
Big hole in the side of the house where the brick chimney wall was. It has a tarp over it, but... that will have to be fixed before winter
Cracks in every wall
Lino in kitchen and bathroom ruined (scratches, it has unstuck from the floor because of the water under the floor making the woodbeams swell and go squiffy)
Floor so wonked that doors can't open/close properly cos the piles are sticking up in the middle of the floor
Door jams off kilter so the closing mechanicsms don't work (even if we could close them)
Windows can't open
Driveway is a mess
No electricity to the living room lights
Let me mention again that the kids have to go to the toilet out in the back yard in the middle of the night
Tons of house stuff broken

And who knows what kind of unseen damage is done behind the walls/in the ceiling.

But let me repeat, we are totally fine and happy that we are not having to live with sewer-ified liquifaction silt blowing all over us night and day, while we sleep in a tent. And both Dom and I have jobs that are not in jeopardy because of the earthquake, and the kids are going to be with our lovely friends in Auckland for a week. You can't ask for more.