I yawn in the face of danger!
Sep. 4th, 2010 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWe got back to Christchurch yesterday, late; ate fish and chips, and went to bed with intent to sleep for a million years.
I woke up around four a.m. this morning, with the bed trembling like it was rattling up a roller coaster. Sound like someone tapping on the window, and the room pitch dark - I turned on the lamp four times without it ever lighting.
Finally, blearily, I got out of bed (goose bumps riddled my legs at once) and swayed across the rattling floor to the bedroom door to inquire of the rest of the family - "Is it an earthquake?"
"Yes," said my dad.
Mystery solved, I got back into bed - nice and warm - and, as the aftershocks subsided, fell asleep again.
Yes: when the 7.1 earthquake that rumbled through Christchurch this morning, I yawned in the face of danger.
We're all okay, as is the house. The quake broke a few mugs and knocked out the power for a few hours, but no major damage. Except for the fact that we're boiling our water, there's nothing to show we're in an official State of Emergency.
I can't feel the extent of the damage. No deaths yet, and only a few serious injuries, but the center city is a wreck: buildings fallen, roads buckled, it looks like a "warzone" (quoth the papers). "Quake-ravaged city," say the headlines. Two billion dollars in damage.
All this maybe two or three miles away: a different universe. Everything here is still standing, and eerily quiet. No buses running, half the shops closed, cars sparse. I saw a few chimneys askew: bricks in the garden below, and those remaining in the chimney unstable as Jenga blocks. The houses, though, still stand - apparently sturdy - half-screened by camellias, as before.
Daffodils are everywhere. I saw the cutest batch of ducklings by the brook that cuts through the uni.
Every once in a while, the house trembles again.
I woke up around four a.m. this morning, with the bed trembling like it was rattling up a roller coaster. Sound like someone tapping on the window, and the room pitch dark - I turned on the lamp four times without it ever lighting.
Finally, blearily, I got out of bed (goose bumps riddled my legs at once) and swayed across the rattling floor to the bedroom door to inquire of the rest of the family - "Is it an earthquake?"
"Yes," said my dad.
Mystery solved, I got back into bed - nice and warm - and, as the aftershocks subsided, fell asleep again.
Yes: when the 7.1 earthquake that rumbled through Christchurch this morning, I yawned in the face of danger.
We're all okay, as is the house. The quake broke a few mugs and knocked out the power for a few hours, but no major damage. Except for the fact that we're boiling our water, there's nothing to show we're in an official State of Emergency.
I can't feel the extent of the damage. No deaths yet, and only a few serious injuries, but the center city is a wreck: buildings fallen, roads buckled, it looks like a "warzone" (quoth the papers). "Quake-ravaged city," say the headlines. Two billion dollars in damage.
All this maybe two or three miles away: a different universe. Everything here is still standing, and eerily quiet. No buses running, half the shops closed, cars sparse. I saw a few chimneys askew: bricks in the garden below, and those remaining in the chimney unstable as Jenga blocks. The houses, though, still stand - apparently sturdy - half-screened by camellias, as before.
Daffodils are everywhere. I saw the cutest batch of ducklings by the brook that cuts through the uni.
Every once in a while, the house trembles again.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 11:09 am (UTC)I'm glad you guys are okay--good on you for yawning in the face of danger. Careful of aftershocks, now!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 12:47 pm (UTC)It's just so bizarre! I was just there in Christchurch a month ago. I've been to the city centre. My good friend lives there (who is, thankfully, okay). I can't imagine the city centre in ruins. Christchurch was where I had the best mojito!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 09:53 pm (UTC)I happen to love earthquakes. But I've never been close to one that big!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 09:53 pm (UTC)What is up with the weather this year? While you were yawning through an earthquake, halfway around the world Fenella was sitting out a hurricane.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 04:07 pm (UTC)