Another earthquake

My heart goes out to everyone in Christchurch affected by today's earthquake. The images on TV remind me of a city in wartime - crushed or badly damaged buildings, people being rescued, people wandering around in a daze, emergency accommodation set up in parks... I was brought up in NZ and have fond memories of holiday visits to this beautiful city as a child and later as an adult. My family lived in the Wellington area, and as there is an earthquake fault line through the centre of the north island earthquake drill was a regular part of my schooldays. An earthquake like the one that devastated Napier in the 1930s (hence all that city's fabulous Art Deco buildings) would have been expected in Wellington, not Christchurch - and certainly not twice in six months. So sad. This afternoon I logged onto the Google NZ site, which has an area where people can search for names, or post information that they're okay; fortunately the names of my Christchurch friends weren't listed. Fingers crossed for them, and for everyone who is missing or injured.

My Monday morning so far...

It's just after 10 am and I'm exhausted already.

Around 9.45 I raced out of the shower to answer a phone call from the guy who is going to cut down the huge alder tree in our back yard. He said he'd be there in 15 minutes - yikes! Definitely not enough notice, so I rearranged for 10 am then rushed round getting Gus and Katie, our two daft but delightful Cavaliers into the garage and opening the side gate; went inside to a phone message saying the appointment would now be at 1.30, so I reversed the process but forgot to shut the gates.

Of course Gus and Katie took full advantage of the situation and zoomed off (they run really really fast and are serial runaways whenever they get the chance). Lucky me, they hadn't gone far and actually came when I called them - phew! And yes, this time I remembered to shut the gates. Definitely time for a cuppa and a bikky.