I had actual alone time. Alone!
Apr. 19th, 2011 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rumpelsnorcackAt Hagley park with pepper. Joggers golfers dogs ducks sunshine autumn leaves. You are still beautiful my city and #ilovechch #eqnzpositives -- Sue Wells, Christchurch City Councillor.
This tweet really affected me today for some reason. I think it's because, unlike a lot of our politicians, she has been very 'real' on twitter and on her blog. Over the last 8 months I've got a really good sense of who she is as a person and she has no fear about showing her vulnerability, her passions and her compassion. As far as I can tell she operates on the opposite side of politics to me (I could be wrong on that, but that was the sense I got from her) but I really respect her and I don't know, there's something beautiful in the simplicity of appreciating what we still have that just got to me. There is a lot that is still beautiful in the city, and Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens in the autumn really are wonderful. I must make the effort to go in there one day soon.
Anyway, yes. Today I got to be alone! By myself! Next week we're going to go with my parents on a boat for a few days and they thought it might be wise to get the kids some lifejackets - an idea I'm right at home with. So they grabbed them this morning to do that and have lunch, leaving me alone for several blissful hours. I didn't do much with the time: read a bit, had silence in the house etc etc. It was just so nice to be alone again. When they arrived home, complete with noise, it was a little sad. Still ... only 1.5 weeks before I get lots and lots of mornings to myself again.
It's been quite a lovely day actually. The kids had some free vouchers for a local restaurant from last year's various sporting activities so we took them down there this evening. They had agreat time and it was nice to be out of the house and not cooking for once. Then after that I went over to a friend's house to watch some TV the hubby doesn't really care too much for. This involved driving into the city, something I haven't personally done since the quake though I have been there. It was odd and a little disorientating to drive such familiar streets that are still so familiar and yet so unfamiliar as well. The road cones and new road markings do keep you on your toes, I must say. Some works they keep til after dark, so I ran into a complicated road cone system that meant we ended up driving in bus lanes while they broke up and removed the seal on the other side of the road. It had been fairly spectacularly wavey so I can see why they were taking it off and relaying it. I need to sit down and memorise the 30k streets, though. It was very confusing to know what speed to do at what points in the journey. It's easy enough when there are broken roads etc because in a lot of cases you wouldn't want to go faster than 30, but there are parts that I'm sure are part of the zone where it feels like it would be fine to be at 50 and 30 is so hard to stick to that your foot just kind of automatically goes 50 if it seems okay to do so. It requires lots of concentration, at least for me, to keep the speed down. It doesn't help that most people don't seem aware of the restrictions and sit on your tail if you try to go at the slower speed. The good thing is, people over on my side of town do seem to have got the message and around most of the local roads they do 30, or something that gets reasonably near to it.
The other good thing today is that CTV is back on air. They actually started broadcasting yesterday but our TV hates them so wouldn't show us the channel so I had to watch it on the computer today. It was still fascinating, relevant, informative and kind of sad to see them again. I got used to one of the other presenters, who died in the CTV building in the quake, so it was weird to see the same credit sequence and not see him fronting it. All kudos to them, though, for getting up and getting back to it. They lost 16 staff members, their building, all their equipment other than what was in use on the streets on the day and yet they haven't given up. Less than 8 weeks later and they were back up and running at least partially. They will return properly on May 2nd. If anyone in the city is an inspiration, it's these guys.
This tweet really affected me today for some reason. I think it's because, unlike a lot of our politicians, she has been very 'real' on twitter and on her blog. Over the last 8 months I've got a really good sense of who she is as a person and she has no fear about showing her vulnerability, her passions and her compassion. As far as I can tell she operates on the opposite side of politics to me (I could be wrong on that, but that was the sense I got from her) but I really respect her and I don't know, there's something beautiful in the simplicity of appreciating what we still have that just got to me. There is a lot that is still beautiful in the city, and Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens in the autumn really are wonderful. I must make the effort to go in there one day soon.
Anyway, yes. Today I got to be alone! By myself! Next week we're going to go with my parents on a boat for a few days and they thought it might be wise to get the kids some lifejackets - an idea I'm right at home with. So they grabbed them this morning to do that and have lunch, leaving me alone for several blissful hours. I didn't do much with the time: read a bit, had silence in the house etc etc. It was just so nice to be alone again. When they arrived home, complete with noise, it was a little sad. Still ... only 1.5 weeks before I get lots and lots of mornings to myself again.
It's been quite a lovely day actually. The kids had some free vouchers for a local restaurant from last year's various sporting activities so we took them down there this evening. They had agreat time and it was nice to be out of the house and not cooking for once. Then after that I went over to a friend's house to watch some TV the hubby doesn't really care too much for. This involved driving into the city, something I haven't personally done since the quake though I have been there. It was odd and a little disorientating to drive such familiar streets that are still so familiar and yet so unfamiliar as well. The road cones and new road markings do keep you on your toes, I must say. Some works they keep til after dark, so I ran into a complicated road cone system that meant we ended up driving in bus lanes while they broke up and removed the seal on the other side of the road. It had been fairly spectacularly wavey so I can see why they were taking it off and relaying it. I need to sit down and memorise the 30k streets, though. It was very confusing to know what speed to do at what points in the journey. It's easy enough when there are broken roads etc because in a lot of cases you wouldn't want to go faster than 30, but there are parts that I'm sure are part of the zone where it feels like it would be fine to be at 50 and 30 is so hard to stick to that your foot just kind of automatically goes 50 if it seems okay to do so. It requires lots of concentration, at least for me, to keep the speed down. It doesn't help that most people don't seem aware of the restrictions and sit on your tail if you try to go at the slower speed. The good thing is, people over on my side of town do seem to have got the message and around most of the local roads they do 30, or something that gets reasonably near to it.
The other good thing today is that CTV is back on air. They actually started broadcasting yesterday but our TV hates them so wouldn't show us the channel so I had to watch it on the computer today. It was still fascinating, relevant, informative and kind of sad to see them again. I got used to one of the other presenters, who died in the CTV building in the quake, so it was weird to see the same credit sequence and not see him fronting it. All kudos to them, though, for getting up and getting back to it. They lost 16 staff members, their building, all their equipment other than what was in use on the streets on the day and yet they haven't given up. Less than 8 weeks later and they were back up and running at least partially. They will return properly on May 2nd. If anyone in the city is an inspiration, it's these guys.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-20 12:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-20 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-20 01:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-20 08:31 pm (UTC)The CTV thing is just wonderful. It's great that they picked up and got going again and it's particularly great that it's all about the city - which of course means that unlike the other news channels they are focused on where we're at and where we're going. We need that right now.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-23 02:29 am (UTC)\o/ \o/ \o/ Here's to much more!!!
Next week we're going to go with my parents on a boat for a few days
Oh, I hope that's a good break for you!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-23 03:35 am (UTC)I'll drink to that! One more week and life will be almost normalish again, yay!
Oh, I hope that's a good break for you!
Me too. Though I'm not particularly fond of boats and there is a sad lack of access to technology ...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-23 05:06 am (UTC)Sadness . . . Ugh, I know I end up feeling pretty pathetic myself, though, when I have to go somewhere without internet access and get anxious/grumpy about it. It's like, I used to be able to do so well without internet, what has happened to me!?!?
Hope the boat-y-ness is at least tolerable, then :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-23 06:12 am (UTC)