Things went Pear-shaped

It was Friday afternoon, all our caravans were parked up for the weekend rally, but one of our members was yet to arrive.  Ever the dutiful husband, Selwyn climbed into his car and drove off to collect Kath from her place of work in Wellington city. The trip shouldn’t have taken too long, about 45 minutes or so but…….

Selwyn was driving along quietly, minding his own business, when the car started acting funny.  “Must be a puncture”, he thought, and pulled over to the side of the road.  Strangely enough, several other cars had done the same.  Selwyn checked his tyres, and sure enough, one was flat.  The other drivers who had also pulled over were walking around checking their cars too, peering underneath, and generally trying to make sense of what had just happened.  It was 2.31pm and the big 6.6 earthquake had just occurred.  Not that they probably knew that at the time.

Changing the flattie for the spare – one of those light “Space Saver” tyres, Selwyn slowly drove on to buy a new tyre.  The ground movement had shaken the car so much that the tyre had been moved off the rim and deflated, Selwyn found out later.

Meanwhile, Kath had problems of her own.  After the big shake, workers were pouring out of office buildings into the streets and trying to make their way home.  But the trains weren’t running until all the tracks could be checked for damage.  Even with a new tyre on the car, Selwyn could not drive into the city as the streets were grid-locked with traffic going nowhere.  Everything had gone pear shaped! 

Police stopped traffic outside the Wellington train station to get drivers with empty seats in their vehicles to pick up stranded passengers, after drivers started the initiative of coming to the station to offer rides.  Police who were at the station saw the gesture and stepped in to organise the situation.  Kath finally got a ride up to Kapiti Coast in a car full of strangers all happy to be heading home and met up with Selwyn.  Thank goodness for cell phones so they were able to keep in communication.  They finally arrived safely back at camp, each with quite a tale to tell.

New Zealand Rail reported that 11 commuter trains were stuck between platforms for up to an hour after the earthquake, and thousands of commuters were left stranded in Wellington by the cancelled train services.  Buses started to arrive at the station shortly before 5pm and those commuters who hadn’t found lifts were finally on their way home.  But the mass exodus from the city caused traffic chaos in the suburbs as drivers tried to avoid the motorway and get home via back streets. It was going to be a long night for some travellers.  Although there have been a number of incidents involving broken glass in the city, there were no reports of any casualties.  What a day, it could have been so much worse.

   Selwyn’s new tyre

Yes, the Earth did move, Darling

It all started like this – what’s wrong, my legs feel really strange?  We were walking across the supermarket car park and the ground started bucking up and down.   Holding on the the trolley as our legs tried hard to hold us up, we looked in wonder as the parked cars started bouncing up and down.  Wow – that was a big earthquake! The biggest one we have felt for some time.  Let’s hope it is not “The Big One” which is well overdue in the Wellington region. 

GeoNet said the big quake stuck at 2.31pm and it was graded as a 6.6.  Its centre was 10km south east of Seddon at a depth of 8km.  Police said it appeared there was buildings were severely damaged in  Seddon, which has been the centre of seismic shaking since a magnitude 6.5 tremor struck on July 21.

Damaged house in Seddon, photo by Sam Wallace / Twitter

In Wellington, Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said at 4pm that there was no indication of severe damage in the capital, but she described the traffic system as "chaos".  Roads were gridlocked and the situation was compounded by the cancellation of all rail services. Hundreds of people were stranded at Wellington Railway Station.

Traffic in and out of Wellington centre blocked - and no trains.

We are staying at Paekakariki Holiday Park for the weekend, and everyone felt the earth move.  There have been quite a number of after shocks, in fact, while I am writing this, another earthquake is shaking the caravan.  Paekakariki is quite close to the coast line and we are relieved that there has not been a tsunami warning to worry about as well.  It may well be a restless night for us, we expect.

The first cut

Today was one of those mornings where we wanted to say to the workmen, “oh, please be careful”.  Our brand new lawn was getting it’s first mowing.  Are those tender blades of grass ready to be chewed to pieces by that rough and ready motor mower?  And what about those big heavy boots walking all over our the virgin lawn?  I’m not sure we are ready for this just yet.  “Be gentle” we wanted to say, “remember that this is the first time”.  But were the guys listening?  Nope – they both had their earmuffs on.  This was just like my toddler’s first haircut a life time ago.

It’s a big occasion, the very first lawn mowing session

Son  Michael was a year old and I took him to  a real barber, the only place where boys got their hair cut in days gone by.  He was sat up on the big scary chair and wailed the whole time while the barber snipped his baby’s locks off.  Then out came the electric cutters to trim up the back of his hair.  Michael’s little lips quivered, he sobbed, and I got all teary.  “Oh, please be gentle, this is his first time”.  Who was the most upset – him or me?  I wasn’t really ready after all to turn him into a boy, he was still my baby.

Business, Pleasure, and Horse Manure on the side

We went our separate ways this morning.  Robin had business to attend to, caravan club business, to be precise.  Our caravan club is hosting a Regional Rally in several months time, and there were a few questions to ask, points to raise, and loose ends to tie up.  The meeting went well, and the new committee now has a clearer idea of the facilities available at the site we will be using.

My meeting was for pleasure – not a bad thing to look forward to on a chilly Monday morning.  Those interested from the Probus group were attending the Canadian film “Still Mine”.  Based on true events, this is a heartfelt love story about an 89-year-old Craig who comes up against the system when he sets out to build a smaller more suitable house for his wife Irene, whose memory is starting to go. Although using the same methods his father, a shipbuilder, taught him, times and regulations have changed. With no plans to lodge, Craig quickly gets on the wrong side of an overzealous government inspector.  Having the plans all in his head is just not an acceptable option.  Nor is using the uncertified timber milled from his own trees. Stop work orders are placed on the house, and the threat of demolition hangs over the project.  As Irene becomes increasingly ill  Craig races to finish the house, stop work orders ignored.  Hauled into court and facing jail, we all wondered just how this story would end. I must admit I had to wipe a few tears away  - but then, I always do.

A movie still from Still Mine (2013).

That was the morning taken care of.  So what did the horse manure have to do with anything?  Rhubarb – that’s what.  Two bags of horse manure were purchased for the grand sum of $2 and dug into the soil of the raised veggie garden where the plants have been relocated to.   Rhubarb plants are gross feeders and will thrive on that tasty horse manure which has been worked into the soil.  The plants may well sulk a little after their move, but they will soon get used to their new home.  After all, they survived being potted up for several months when we moved from our previous house, so the plants must be quite hardy.  Soon it will be rhubarb crumble for dessert – with whipped cream maybe.  Sounds pretty good to me.

Who doesn’t like rhubarb?

Out and About

It was a busy day yesterday, going out and about down to Paraparaumu with our list in hand.  We visited various shops, checking off the items on the list as we went along.  It was opening day of Smith City’s latest shop, and we joined the great multitude of customers all looking for an opening day bargain.   We could have come home with large radio controlled helicopter if we were so inclined, but no, Robin wasn’t allowed one.   After all this excitement we really needed a sit down, so opted for lunch at the adjacent shopping mall.  How about the Pensioner’s Special at the Chinese stall – that sounds like us, and quite a reasonable price it was too.

A Chinese meal for lunch

We had various stops on our way home, calling in briefly to the MIL (Robin’s Mum) and two lots of friends.  (No wonder we were so late getting back home to Levin).  We really struck the jackpot on one of our visits and came away with copious amounts of bananas.  Seems that Geoff had found a real bargain in bananas, and bought a whole box of them.  He was only too happy to pass some on to friends and family.  After eating bananas morning, noon, and night, it looks like I’ll be making a few banana cakes and a batch of banana muffins to get through them all. 

We came across a sorry looking little wax-eye on one of our visits.  It was sitting in a tree, looking rather puffed up, and didn’t move away as we approached, camera in hand.  In fact, we wondered if the poor little thing was ill, as it didn’t look at all happy.  These little native birds are usually so busy, fluttering around the trees as they look for something to eat.

.Little wax-eye, perhaps it is sick?

One of the items on our shopping list was a new camera for me. We found some which looked good, and finally decided on an Olympus.  I wanted one with a greater zoom than my current 5,  and this new one has a zooms up to 24.  No doubt it has all sorts of fancy features which will be beyond me, and we will have to sit down and watch the accompanying video together.  An easy “point and shoot” is what I was after, and small enough to pop into my pocket or handbag.  And it’s such a pretty soft burgundy colour – “take me home” it said to me.   I always have my camera on hand, you just never know when you might want to take a photo – friends doing something silly, an interesting scene or wildlife just waiting to be captured.

 

My new camera

Induction Day

Today we were inducted into (guess)  a: Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame,  b: The Military, or c: Probus?

According to Mr Google, “inducted” means, introduced as a member.

That’s right, today we were formally inducted (introduced) as new members of the Levin Combined Probus Club, and given certificates to prove it.  We had wanted to join a local Probus Club for some time, but never quite got around to it before we moved north to Levin.  The members seem very friendly and welcoming, and we are sure that we will enjoy being part of this organisation.  Probus groups are non-political and non-sectarian and their aim is to “advance intellectual and cultural interests and promote social contact and fellowship to retired people”.

The first speaker is always a club member and Pat talked about his early years growing up in Plimmerton.  Pat’s parents immigrated from Sweden to run the SKF ball bearing agency in Wellington.

Our second speaker was Peter who talked about his time as Leader of Vanda Station which was one hour’s helicopter flying time from Scott Base in Antarctica.  Prior to taking up this position, the whole team had extensive fire training, as fire was a real threat with only limited fresh water being available.  Peter was the staff member nominated to become the Medical Officer and spent some time at Timaru Hospital being coached by one of the resident doctors.  Luckily during his one year term on the ice, there were only two medical emergencies, with one of them relating to himself!  He related how he fixed his own broken tooth at Vanda Station with an application of amalgam and a small copper tube to hold his tooth together.  His dentist’s reaction to this repair when he returned home was one of amazement!

As always, going along to the Probus meeting makes for a very interesting morning, made even more special with our induction into the group.

Another dose of Man Flu

Poor Robin is feeling poorly.  With a sore red nose, watery eyes, a raised temperature and a head ache, he seems to have caught a dose of Man Flu from our friend Geoff, who got sick on our week away in the caravan.  In fact, Robin felt so poorly last night that he declined a neighbourly invitation out to dinner.   It was probably just as well that he stayed home and kept his germs to himself.  He hasn’t been sleeping well at all, poor dear.  But after a “grand-dad nap” in the afternoon, he felt bright enough to sit in front of the telly and watch a game of rugby.  I had to go out to the dinner invitation – after all, I was supplying the dessert.  But I did come home early to see how he was managing without me.  Not too bad, he said through his stuffed nose, and yes, he would be able to eat some of that dessert now, thanks.

Katherine and Dot came calling for a quick visit this morning to see how the patient was progressing.  Muffy was pleased to see our visitors and settled down on Katherine’s lap for a cuddle. 

Katherine with Muffy

I must admit that he seems a little better than the last couple of days.  Let’s just hope that the Man Flu is not a trans gender disease and jumps over to me!