Christchurch Heritage - Part 2

Following on from last weeks post, I popped into town yesterday to take photos of the remaining buildings from my earlier post documenting some of the buildings which survived the September earthquake. While I was there I also did a spot of shopping at the Tava pop-up shop and Bridget's two hour shop, both in Cathedral Junction.

This time I took printouts of the old photos with me, so I could try and line up a similar shot.

This lovely old building on the corner of Hereford and High Streets suffered a lot of damage in the February earthquake and was subsequently demolished. This photograph was quite hard to line up, with only one building from the original photo still remaining.

This is the old Post office building in the Square with Telecom behind it. I'm not sure what the fate of it is. The scene is a bit lopsided now, with both buildings on the right now gone. I think the turret from the old Regent Theatre (?) has been saved, and is sitting on a property near Linwood Ave, visible from the road and looking slightly out of place!

This photo is largely unchanged from the original. The Old Government building has been restored and reopened by the Heritage Hotel. There is a swimming pool in the basement gym which I learned to swim in at the ripe old age of 22.

New Regent Street has also been restored and reopened. You'll note a common theme among these photos - most of tall buildings in the background have gone. I don't really miss them, I don't like skyscrapers that much. Don't like being up high inside them, and don't like their behemoth presence from the outside.

I enjoy going into the city centre. It is getting it's buzz back with more people around, with things to see and places to go. I'm looking forward to seeing the new buildings and initiatives that groups like Gap Filler keep dreaming up. The Pallet Pavilion, an event space they set up is being deconstructed next month. One of the final events there is the Monster March Market, 22 March from 10am - 3pm. You'll find us there, for our first market this year. We'll be bringing all our current candles along with a selection of clearance candles.

Christchurch Heritage - Part 1

A week after the first earthquake in September 2010, I went for a walk around the city to survey the damaged buildings. I ended up taking photos of the beautiful old buildings that appeared to have survived unscathed. There had been lots of coverage in the media about the buildings that had been badly damaged, so I wanted to show the other side of the story, and wrote a post about the ones that had survived.

After the February earthquake struck, I wanted to go back and take updated photos of them showing which ones had still survived, and which ones had succumbed. This has taken a lot longer than I anticipated, due to the time it's taken to reopen the CBD, and life in general has also got in the way. I was back in there a couple of weeks ago, and took these 'after' shots of the first few buildings in that post. I will do a follow up post in a couple of weeks showing the remaining buildings featured once I get a chance to photograph them.

Our City O-Tautahi, or the former Municipal Chambers building has some significance to me as the building I did my very first market in. As you can see, a lot of work has gone into stabilising the building, so hopefully it will be restored.

The former Public Trust building is one I used to walk past every day when I worked in town. I recall it being extensively refitted, and so hoped some earthquake strengthening was done at this time. It turns out some was, but apparently that wasn't enough, as the owners are currently trying to get permission to demolish it. This hasn't met the criteria for CERA's section 38 notice, so they are now deciding what to do with it. Apparently it can be saved, so fingers crossed the money is found to make this happen.

I have noticed on my travels that a lot of the old Public Trust buildings are of a similar style, such as this one that survived the Napier earthquake. Let's hope our one in Christchurch has the same happy ending!

Shand's Emporium has always been a favourite of mine, as it appeared to defy the progress around it and remain. Unfortunately it hasn't been quite able to do this now, as a new development in the area requires the space. The owner was keen to preserve it, and last I heard, had offered it free to a good home, even willing to pay the relocation costs. While researching this post today, I found it has found a new owner, and may be relocated out to Redcliffs. It is shown here where it has been moved out of harms way until it can be taken to it's new home. I look forward to seeing it repaired and returned to it's former glory.

In a few more years time, I would love to bring you some more photos showing these buildings repaired and restored. In the meantime I will update you on the other buildings featured in my original post.

Three years on

It's nice to be back in Christcurch again this year for the anniversary of the devastating earthquake that rocked our city three years ago. Although some of the details of that day are beginning to fade, it is something I will never forget. We went into the memorial service in the botanic gardens today, it was a lovely spot for it on a hot day.

Last weekend I retraced my footsteps from the moments before the earthquake for the first time since that day. This has only been possible for the last six months or so when the red zone cordon was finally taken down. There are still quite a few fences and shipping containers still up - though times are changing, and some are around new buildings.

Here are some photos I took, to document what it is like now. I couldn't retrace my exact path due to the fences and shipping containers that are still up, but this is fairly close. The phrase that come to mind afterwards was 'there but for the grace of God go I'.

I had parked in the carpark at the Crossing, and bought some sushi for lunch which I still had with me, which came in handy later on.

 Cashel mall - Glassons and the Westpac tower once stood here.

 High Street.

It was nice to see some signs of life returning to this part of High street. This heritage building has been restored to it's original beauty, and the new Strange's building next to it appears to be progressing well.

The site of the old Ruben Blades building which was badly damaged during the quake.

High and Manchester street, with the containers holding up what's left of the Excelsior facade.

The site of the old ANZ chambers building, which completely collapsed during the shaking. This one one of my favourite buildings, so it was sad to hear of its fate.

McKenzie & Willis building on Tuam street. There were wire fences in front of it on the day - I remember thinking as I walked along side them after crossing the street if you were supposed to walk right next to them... little did I know.

After popping into Harakeke, I walked back up the other side of High street.

Standing at these lights waiting to cross, I didn't realise at the time I would be one of the last people to see the old ANZ chambers building still standing.

 Majestic House on Manchester Street.

Bedford Row - after where I'd been the previous for the previous ten minutes, this wasn't a bad place to be for the quake.

As I remember the terrible events of that day, my thoughts are with those that lost loved ones, those that were injured and those whose houses and businesses were badly damaged. I don't think anyone comprehended the scale of what had happened, I couldn't. I remember thinking that it would be a lot longer than last time before we were allowed back in the central city, but I was thinking it would be months, not years. I have wanted to do an update on the buildings I showed in this post a week after the September quake ever since then. I've got some updated photos, so once I have the rest, I will do a post with them.

Three years on, I hope that those who are still struggling with insurance issues get some answers and closure soon, so they can move on with their lives.

Evolution

So my blogger dashboard tells me this is my 150th post – hopefully it lives up to that milestone!

As the saying goes, the only constant is change. My life has changed quite a lot over the last few years, and the last few months have been no exception. My wee man is growing and learning at a rapid rate, and it's definitely a fun journey to be part of. While on leave I seemed to keep stumbling upon lots of different artists, which inspired me to get back into drawing again. I haven't made a start on that yet, but I hope to find some time soon. I used to draw people quite a lot when I was a teenager, with a strong lean towards the heart throbs of the time. (I'm guessing that Dear Colleen must have gone through a similar phase herself, with her ever expanding collection of dishes tea towels!) I even managed to put a couple of drawings of Brad Pitt into my Schoot Cert art portfolio. I'm still not sure how I managed to get that past my art teacher! Since then I have mostly focussed on painting, as I thought it was a natural progression, but I would quite like to try drawing again. Here are some of the drawings I did way back then, including the School Cert specimens. Points for anyone who can identify any of the three featured at the bottom!

My workspace also keeps evolving. Last year I posted some pictures of what it looked like after I'd finished setting it up. Since then, it's been entirely redecorated, and I kept posting teasers saying I was going to put some new pictures up. Here are some I took in early May – it's changed again since then, but I still have some more plans for it, so new pictures are going to have to wait!

The room was repainted after earthquake repairs, and I had decided some form of 'duck egg blue' would be nice, and found the perfect shade. So I also painted the cabinet to match, as it needed some updating, and also it's own repairs after being knocked over from the fishtank. The busy 1970's carpet also had to go, so we found a wool carpet in a nice neutral brown, and then we had to get new curtains, as the pink ones didn't go so well!

The room changed again not long after that, to make way for the spare bed which had been in what became the baby's room. It has now gone in favour of a sofa bed, which means I no longer require the couch, which is my pride and joy. I'm not quite sure I can bear to part with it just yet, so it's future remains unknown at this stage.

World famous in Christchurch

Click here to read the article

It's not often you get a full page feature in the local newspaper, so I was quite excited this morning to go and buy a copy of the Press so I could see how it looked. A big thank you to Katy who helps keep up the profile of the local crafting community by writing articles for the Zest section of the Press.

The photo is of my stall at the Christmas Encraftment last year – thanks Emma for taking the pics!

Milestones and a Merry Christmas to you

Yesterday, I was working through my pre-Christmas to-do list. I had just sent my Christmas newsletter out to subscribers, and then moved on the the next item on my to-do list, the end of year blog post. There were a whole lot of marigolds growing in the front yard of a broken house that I had wanted to take a photo of for a while, and I thought it might be nice to use that for the post. The flowers had taken over entire front yard, on what used to be a concrete pad – you can't even see that now! I thought it was a nice symbol of how nice things can happen in the face of ruin. So I walked down to get the photo, then came back, uploaded them from the camera, found the image I wanted to use, and saved it to my blog images folder.

Then came the familiar wobble of an impending aftershock, so I got up and opened the door. It got worse, so I decided to go under the dining table, which involved getting past the chairs while everything was madly shaking, so ended up with a couple of bumps to my legs. As I live on the western edge of the eastern suburbs, the power always goes out here when there is a decent shake, so I wasn't able to make a start on the post, or do anything else on my 'work' to-do list. So I went outside to do some gardening, but after the second slightly larger jolt, decided it might be a good idea to just give up for the day!

So... this year that has already been quite interesting, just keeps on going. I remember looking back last year over a rather eventful year, having no idea how much more eventful this year would be. Who knows what next year will bring!

In that post I said I hoped to build my business into a sustainable source of income for myself. This hasn't been an easy task, but in the last two months I have managed to achieve that milestone. That is, bring in enough money to cover my costs, and pay myself my modest token salary. Now I hope to continue that and hopefully build on it in the new year. A big thank you to everyone that has supported my business this year, in any way, even if in a seemingly small way. It all counts, and I couldn't have done it without you, especially through such challenging times.

As this city has faced some major events this year, I have also had a few milestones myself. I recently turned 30, which isn't a major milestone in itself, but I do feel I have achieved quite a lot in those years. We have also recently purchased our first house, which we move into in January. This is really exciting, and even more of an achievement when one of you is self-employed – banks don't really like lending on little starting out incomes!

So over the break I will be busy sorting and packing everything up, as well as a trip to Nelson to visit my family, and a trip to Wellington for a wedding. I won't be closing my Felt shop per se, but there will be a delay on posting orders. Any orders placed between now and the end of next week will be posted on Friday 30th December, and any placed after that will be posted on the 9th January.

So wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and hoping my fellow Christchurch citizens don't get too shaken up over the holidays. See you all again next year!

Evening by candlelight

Some powercuts are better than others. The ones that occur immediately after an earthquake aren't much fun, and tend to escalate the tension already caused by the pesky ground shaking. The best kind are ones that happen for other reasons, while I am testing candles. Everything dims to lovely mood lighting.

When we had one a couple of weeks ago, it was shortly after I had blown the candles out when they had finished their test burn for the day. So I had to scramble around in the dark to find the matches and light them again. Then I proceded to plug in the vodem to the laptop to find out why the power had gone out.

It went out again on Friday (yet again, another shake free powercut), while I was testing some new candles. So this time I decided to take a more relaxed approach, and shun all technology more sophisticated than a torch. There is something very soothing about candlelight, and it is much better appreciated without any electric lights on.

As I sat there writing out this blog post – with a pen, on a piece of paper – I realised how all too often I forget to appreciate the simple things in life. Then an hour after it went out, it came back on as suddenly it went out, and everything whirred back into life. The whole experience was a great reminder that sometimes, technology just isn't that important, and powercuts aren't always a bad thing.

Escape from the City

***EDIT***

Due to forecast low temperatures and adverse weather conditions, this event has now been cancelled.

***EDIT***

This Sunday I will be attending Escape the City, a gala event that offers the opportunity for Christchurch residents to unwind in the beautiful Canterbury high country. Glenfalloch Station, at the head of the Rakaia river will open it's gates to the public from 11am – 3pm on the 24 July.

There will be entertainment, a farmers and artisan market and art exhibtion, a musterers luch, and plenty of opportunties to explore the rugged high country. When you arrive you will be warmly welcomed with a hot chocolate and some mulled wine. The weather forecast for the area is looking better than for the Canterbury plains, and there has been lots of snow on the mountains making the area very picturesque.

Ticket can be purchased for $15 per car from Traiteurs in Merivale, or Mercato at Fitzgerald Ave. otherwise you can pay $20 at the gate. Driving directions can be found here. Proceeds from the event will go to the Canterbury earthqauke recovery fund.

Monster May Market this Saturday

This Saturday brings a shopping event like no other to eastern Christchurch. Since the earthquake in February, both malls on this side of town have been closed, along with the shops in the central city red zone. This has left a rather large gap to fill, so the girls from The Craft Collective, who brought us a Craft Christmas market last year, decided to create an event to fill this shopping void.

There will be a great selection of craft stalls, as you have come to expect. Along side these, there will also be a selection of High Street shops and cafes to really enhance the shopping experience. It sounds like a great day out to me, so why not come and join us this Saturday 28 May from 10:30am till 3pm at North Linwood School.

Don't forget to bring along any old candles or candle stubs for me to recycle, and I will exchange them for a 10% discount off your next purchase.

Red Cross Earthquake Appeal Fundraiser

In March I decided to donate 10% of my Felt shop sales and also a portion of selected items to the Red Cross 2011 Earthquake appeal. I raised a total of $17.00, which has been donated to the Red Cross. Thank you to everyone who made a purchase during this period, and helped with the fundraiser.

Ruins, and shining gems

I watched Eat, Pray, Love for the first time on Thursday evening. There was a scene in it which struck a chord with me, when Elizabeth Gilbert was at the Augusteum.

"We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery, because we're afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins.

Then I looked around in this place, at the chaos it's endured, the way it's been adapted, burned, pillaged, then found a way to build itself back up again, and I was reassured. Maybe my life hasn't been so chaotic, it's just the world that is, and the only real trap is getting attached to any of it.

Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation."

Those words seem so fitting to what Christchurch is going through at the moment. Particularly when the following day, a list was released of buildings approved to be demolished. The problem is, I had got rather attached to having those buildings around. I moved to Christchurch when I was 18, and lived within the CBD for the first five years I lived here. Many of the buildings have memories attached, along with being lovely to look at.

There were many buildings on the list that were rather obviously going to be there, that had already suffered extensive damage, and were in no way salvagable. (*EDIT* In my original post, I wrote that the building my old work was in was published on the demolition list. It turns out this was a mistake on the list, and they meant a building a couple of doors down the street, which was the building I initially thought they were referring too. The building my old work was in is still safe, and I apologise for any confusion this may have caused.)

Last year I wrote this post, with images of some of the buildings that were still standing after the first quake. Sadly, quite a number of these have suffered much more significant damage this time. I hope to do another post in the same vein, and find the real fighters that have withstood the most recent shocks. However it will be some time before I can get back into the city and find them.

Here are two rather significant heritage buildings which appear to have survived relatively unscathed. The first being the Isaac Theatre Royal, a gorgeous old theatre in Gloucester Street. The second being McLeans Mansion in Manchester Street, a stately old home that I have always admired through the trees, which is now used by a vocational training organisation. So all is not lost, Christchurch still has some gems in it's crown.

As a final note, this footage of the February 22nd earthquake has just been released. It taken was only a block or so away from where I was at the time.

Being Prepared

I'm one of those people that means to get all the appropriate survival items on hand in case of emergencies, but never quite gets around to actually buying them. So when the first earthquake struck, we weren't particulary well prepared. Cellphones were used as torches, and I had to listen to the radio on my car for updates.

So I prepared a very short list of must have items that are really useful in an emergency, to get for any future emergencies. If you're like me, and you also mean to get a kit prepared, but just haven't got around to it yet, I thought this would be a good starting point. For information on everything you might need, here is the Civil Defence guide.

– Water for drinking. Really quite important when you don't have running water.

– A torch with batteries that work. Because it gets really dark at night when there is no power.

– Hand sanitiser. Rather useful for washing your hands when you don't have running water.

– A battery operated radio. Useful for finding out what's going on when you don't have usual means of information.

There is lots of discussion on the interwebs about useful things to have on hand so I won't go into detail about every single thing you need. There is one thing I found came is handy after the second earthquake was the really thick rubber/plastic coated gardening gloves used for pruning roses. If you have lots of broken glass to pick up, these are great, as cutting yourself on broken glass is not really something you want to happen at this stage.

If you're without power for a prolonged period of time, you're going to need an alternative source of lighting in the evenings. The two most common choices to use are camp lanterns and candles. Camp lanterns are good because they have a much lower fire risk, and are easy to carry. However they can produce a harsh light, and the warm glow of a candle can be much more comforting.

If you're thinking of stocking up on candles for your emergency kit, I would recommend container candles, rather than the traditional candle stick in a candle holder. This is because they are much more stable, and less likely to tip over if knocked, or there is a strong aftershock. In my Felt store, I have two kinds of candles I would recommend for emergencies above all others. These are the tin candles, and the recycled glass bottle candles. Both are made from soy wax, last for ages, have good stability and don't drip, due to being a container. Another advantage of soy is that if the container does tip and spill the wax, it does wash out in hot soapy water. The tin candles would be the safest of the two, as they are wider than they are tall, and won't break if they do fall on the ground. The glass candles are really good for light, as the light shines through the glass, all the way to the bottom of the candle.

These candles are available in scented, unscented and essential oil scented options. I have finally listed my new essential oil candles. You might like to pick a soothing scent to help calm those rattled nerves! If you would like a different scent to something I have listed, just let me know and I will tell you if I can make it up in the scent (or unscented) you are after.

Also, don't forget I am donating 10% of all sales in my Felt store till the end of the month to the Red Cross earthquake appeal. I have raised $15.50 so far through my fundraising efforts, and would love to increase this total before the end of the month.

roseinthorns

$22.00

roseinthorns

$28.00

roseinthorns

$19.50

Life in Christhurch post Quake

I started to write this blog last week, as an insight into what life here in Christchurch is like. I didn't get around to finishing it and posting it up here, and then yesterday another chapter was added to this story. Be warned, this post does have a sad ending. If you are still in an emotionally fragile state, you may not wish to read the whole post.

While the quake was violently shaking everything in the city, it seemed as if someone was actually trying to destroy the city. It wasn't something I could have imagined, and even now my brain struggles to comprehend it. To describe it, I have a picture in my head of things stacked up in the base of a boardgame box, and someone shaking it from side to side, trying to topple them over. It was horrible watching buildings shake like that, with some starting to crumble. It felt very real, but like what was happening wasn't supposed to happen. This was the worst case scenario, things like this don't actually happen. We prepare in case they do – buildings had been red-stickered and had fences and shipping containers stacked up in front of them to stop the spread of rubble if they had collapsed. These things had been done in case something like this happened, not because it would happen. We had been told after the first quake to expect a magnitude 6, but I think most of us imagined that meant it wouldn't be as bad as the first one.

Afterwards, it kind of felt like the end of the world. I knew it wasn't actually the end of the world, but it did have that feel about it. In a way it was – the end of the world of Christchurch as we knew it. A new chapter in Christchurch's history began that day. Everything changed from that point. It was like someone had hit the reset button, or, to use the boardgame analogy, you had gone back to go, and had to start again. You couldn't expect anything you knew about Christchurch to be like it was before. You had to relearn everything. All I knew in the moments after was that Mel and I were ok, then shortly after, Lucy. Nothing else could be taken for granted. As the day and then week wore on, I learned that my family and friends were ok.

I had parked my car in a parking building, and wasn't sure what to do about it. Should I go and get it? Was it safe to? I still have no idea what condition it is in, and it will probably be weeks before I know. (I have now registered it's whereabout and my contact details with the police, but it could still take some time before it is safe to recover cars from that particular building.)

On the walk home, I didn't know if I could actually get home until I made it there. Walking up Fitzgerald Ave, we learned the bridge was closed to cars. Would I still be able to walk across it? Would my house still be standing? What was it like inside?

You take a lot of things for granted, such as having water, power and sewage systems. Trust that the ground will stay still, trust that buildings are safe. We all lost this in September, but over time it slowly built up again. Now it has been completely shattered, and will take a lot longer to come back this time.

When I first read of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I felt slightly ill, as I had an idea what they must be going through, though to a lesser degree. As the days go by, the scale of their tragedy had put a new perspective on things happening here.

***Warning – sad bit below***

Lastly, the one thing I had hoped wouldn't happen, did happen yesterday. I was reading the list of victims names released, and one jumped out at me. The only New Zealander on the list yesterday, Adrienne Meredith was active in the local craft community. I got to know her at Crafty Business gatherings, and then saw her at various markets we both attended. She was a regular at the Lyttelton market, and a great source of knowledge on which markets were worth attending. She sold under the label Revived in NZ, making clothing and accessories for women and girls. I last saw Adrienne at the Nelson market on New Years day, and I will miss seeing her friendly face at future markets and crafty gatherings. She was working in the PGC building on the day of the earthquake, and sadly was one of those who didn't make it out.

Rest in peace Adrienne. You may be gone, but are not forgotten. xox

Helping Christchurch

It's been heartbreaking to see the devastion in my city. From those who lost their loved ones and those whose homes are ruined, right through to those who have helped out, this tragedy has touched everyone.

I feel fortunate that I still have a home, which also housed my business. A lot of others are much less fortunate, so I want to do something to help. For the rest of March, I will donate 10% of all sales in my Felt store (excluding postage costs) to the Red Cross earthquake appeal. I will also select items in which the whole sale price will be donated. After the September earthquake, I received some very pretty teacups from The China Cabinet that had suffered broken handles. As I still have these – one is made up into a candle, the other two still waiting – I think it fitting to donate the proceeds of the sale of these teacup candles to the earthquake appeal.

roseinthorns

$26.00

I have amended the listing already up on Felt, and will add the remaining two once I have made them up. However that might have to wait until next week when hopefully the aftershocks will have decreased a bit more.

Shaken to the core

When I wrote this account of the September 4th earthquake last year, I never expected to be writing one again less than six months later, about a much more devastating earthquake in the same city.

I was in the central city at the time, and due to have a meeting with Lucy from Felt at 1pm. At around 12:50pm, I was rounding the corner of Bedford Row, and walking towards her office, a lovely old two storey red-brick building. As I got nearer, Mel was just leaving the building. She saw me coming, and went back to unlock the door for me. Before I got close enough to say hello to her, everything started to shake.

Thinking it was just another aftershock, we quickly moved away from the building into the middle of the road. It soon became obvious this was not just another aftershock. The buildings around us began to shake violently, and the road was moving from side to side. Bricks started falling off buildings. Then, with horror, I watched as the top-storey of a building which had been red-stickered from the first earthquake collapsed back onto itself. This building was next door to the one that Lucy was in, which was also beginning to crumble. Bricks were falling off, and a lot of dust was coming out of the building. Eventually the shaking stopped, about ten very destructive seconds after it started.

We were very concerned for Lucy at this point. The building was still standing, but had lost a few bricks. She appeared at the door less than a minute later, surrounded by a cloud of dust. I have to say, I have never been more pleased in my life to see someone walk out of a building!

(Above photos by Mel Blowes)

People soon poured out onto the street from neighbouring buildings, and nearby acquaintances of Mel and Lucy came by to check they were ok. I looked around to survey the damage, and noticed most of the older brick buildings around me had lost at least part of their walls. Then I looked up and saw the top of the Hotel Grand Chancellor. A couple of the windows near the top were out of line, which clearly wasn’t right. At that point I realised how serious this was. I texted Josh to check he was ok, and got a reply about ten minutes later to say he was, which was a great relief.

I was tossing up whether it was worth going to retrieve my car from the parking building I had left it in. I wasn’t real keen to go and get it, and my nerves were far too frayed to drive safely anyway. Then a policeman came by and told us to leave the area, away from the CBD, so I figured walking was a good option. He had also mentioned that there had been fatalities. We had concluded this was likely, but it's not good to have those suspicions confirmed.

When we got to the end of Bedford Row, there was a lot of smoke and dust to the left of us further up Madras Street, where we were headed. Some builders standing at the corner told us not to go that way, as there was a lot of carnage. I took a very quick glance, and saw the CTV building. All I remember was that the sign was on the ground, and it didn’t look right. I quickly looked away, as I couldn’t take any more in.

On the walk home, we walked past a car that had the radio on. It was reporting that the earthquake was 6.6, and only centred 1km deep near Lyttelton. I had figured it wasn’t as high on the Richter scale as the first one, as it hadn’t lasted so long. However I had assumed it must have been centred right under the CBD as it was so violent. It later turned out to be 6.3, and 5km deep. I also thought I heard someone say that the bus exchange had collapsed in the middle, so began to wonder about the state of my car, which was parked in the Crossing carpark. I haven’t heard any similar reports since, so am now hoping my car is safe and sound, and now believe they may have been talking about the bus depot. I imagine it could be weeks before it is safe to go back and retrieve it.

The last part of my journey home proved interesting. The bridge on Fitzgerald Ave was closed to traffic due to damage. It was still walkable though, so I ran across the bridge, and then gingerly stepped over the newly formed step at the other end. It was quite an obstacle course to navigate the next part of the road that hugs the river, the road was cracked and had lots of humps and hollows.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got home. There was a bit of liquefaction in our street, when there wasn’t any at all last time. Our house looked fine from the outside, which was a good start. It was a complete mess inside, much worse than last time. Glasses had fallen out of the cupboard and smashed all over the kitchen, and the fishtank had smashed and spilled water all over the carpet.

It was sad to see the fish lying on the floor, and I wondered if I should find a container of water to put them in, just so I could feel like I had tried to give them a shot at life. Then one of them wiggled, so I raced around trying to find a suitable container, and some water to put in it. I ended up scooping it out of the toilet cistern. I picked up the two fish I could see and put them in the water. They both wiggled, so still had some signs of life left. I looked around for the other two, and found one under the ottoman. It didn’t move when I picked it up, and after leaving it in the water for five minutes, took it back out, as it was clear it was too late for this one. I looked around for the other one, but couldn’t see it anywhere, and wasn’t keen to start picking up the cabinet to look for it, with all the broken glass on the floor, and continuing aftershocks. Still, I thought it was a good effort that two had survived after being out of water for an hour.

I started to clean up the broken glass off the floor, and began to field calls and texts from concerned family and friends. I knew I could switch on the radio to find out what was happening, but still couldn’t take any more in at this stage. It was hard enough to comprehend what I had experienced.

After Josh came home, he started cleaning up the mess in an effort to locate the other fish. It still wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so we took another look, and I saw it under the couch. Josh got it out, and, after nearly three hours, it was still moving! So we now still have three out of the four fish which I think is pretty impressive.

The fish in their new home

We finally switched the radio on at about 5pm, and I learned why I had so quickly looked away from the CTV building. It had collapsed, along with another, the PGC building. The numbers feared dead were in the hundreds, and it was clear this was a day I will never forget.

We stayed at our house the first night. I had considered sleeping downstairs in the lounge, but with the carpet sodden from the fishtank, the upstairs options was still slightly more appealing. The next day when we still had no power or water, we decided to take up the offer from Josh's parents to go and stay at their house in Waikari for the next few days.

Abandoned buses that couldn't go any further due to the damage to the bridge and road

Events like this highlight what is truly important in life. The only thing that really matters is people, everything else are just nice little extras. Every time that afternoon I saw a familiar face, a tiny piece of order returned. This wasn't the end, and we can get through it.

It has been really humbling to hear from all the people who were thinking about me, and wanted to know that I and my family were safe. The messages came from all over the world, from former colleagues from London, to friends, family and blog/facebook/twitter followers all over the country. It means a lot to know you are all thinking of me, and I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has thought of us.

My heart goes out to all of those people who have lost or are missing family or friends, it has been a terrible time for this city.

I had planned to write a blog post on Tuesday summing up what I had achieved over the last year, as it was a year to the day that I lost my job. I never in my wildest dreams imagined how the day would unfold.

Kia Kaha. Christchurch will get through this, and be stronger than ever before.

2010 – What a ride!

The past year has been rather event-filled, to say the least! At the beginning of the year, I was hoping that 2010 would be an improvement on 2009. I'm not so sure that it was an improvement, but it has definitely been action packed. Things have had quite a shake up, both figuratively and literally.

Firstly, I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in February. This wasn't so bad, as it provided answers to why I kept getting sick last year, and I had known for a couple of months that a positive diagnosis was highly likely. I have got into the swing of things now, and am loving the fact there are so many gluten free options available in Christchurch. I have added some great recipes to my repertoire, including anzac biscuits and bread. There is also a scone recipe still to come.

Two weeks later I was made redundant from my graphic design job. This wasn't much fun, as I had got quite attached the regular income it provided. I still miss it a lot. Within the following few weeks, I realised finding another (similar) job was going to be very difficult, as the economy had given the entire industry quite a knock. I had thought about going out on my own, and after talking to a life coach about it, decided to dive in head first.

This was quite scary, and it has had it's ups and downs. I got some regular work from Felt, doing support and administration work, as well as the odd graphic design job, and I sold a few candles. I had my first Tea Party, and attended a few markets, including A Craft Affair, and the inaugural Auckland Art and Craft Fair. It was nice to meet some of the other sellers who I felt I already knew from having regularly read their blogs.

Then, early on Saturday the 4th of September, us Cantabrians were rudely awoken by a 7.1 earthquake. I was beginning to wonder what else was going to be thrown at me this year, I had thought losing my job was enough drama for one year! We had lots and lots of aftershocks, and I almost started to get used to them. They have eased off a lot in the last few weeks now, and it feels like things are getting back to normal. We were very fortunate to suffer very little damage, when only blocks away, there was somevery severe damage. Some of these houses still have portaloos now.

In October I travelled to Palmerston North, and then on to Wellington for my debut at Craft 2.0. I had another Tea Party in November, and then some great markets in December, including the Craft Collective's A Craft Christmas Market, and a fun road trip to Hokitika with Srey to the Kiwi Christmas Market. I think I might be due for a holiday now! I will be heading to Nelson on the 23rd December, so my shop will be in holiday mode. As I will be attending the Nelson Market on the 1st January, I will have some stock with me, so may be able to fill some orders.

I would like to thank everyone for all the support and encouragement I have received this year. From the shoppers and retailers who have bought candles, businesses who have offered me work, to the market organisers, attendees and other stallholders, the blog/facebook/twitter readers/followers, all those who have shared lovely encouraging comments, and to my husband, family and friends for all their support.

Next year I hope to build on what I have achieved this year, and grow my business into a sustainable source of income for myself. I would like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year.