It's been 4 months today
Jun. 22nd, 2011 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rumpelsnorcackI wrote this post once already and LJ ate it, which annoyed me so I suspect it won't be as full and detailed as it was before. Anyway, here it is, what's left of it.
We got a very exciting piece of paper in the mail today. As background, I'll remind you all that our drains have been dodgy for weeks now (ever since we were last told we could ditch the chemical toilet in fact) and that while our area was allowed to flush we weren't because ... well, it would have caused a huge amount of problems down the track if we had. Anyway, today the plumber came and a waterblaster and they did complex plumbing and waterblasty things with our bathroom drains and voila! We can finally use our toilet again. This was all tempered by the knowledge that after last Monday's shakes we were all supposed to still use chemical toilets anyway. Oh well, I thought. At least this time when we get the notice in our mailbox we'll be all set. Immediately after the plumber left we headed out to pick the kids up from school and this was in the mailbox when I checked it on the way past:
We're very lucky - the back of the sheet showed just how few places have been told they're okay to flush (that's the bits in green. The large swathes of red still have to use chemloos):
I got very emotional when I wrote this post out before because of a news article that showed on TV last night. I don't really want to revisit the whole thing again, but it was a real shock to the system to hear 'North New Brighton' in connection with the words 'worst hit suburbs' and to see houses on a street near my kids' school being demolished. Intellectually you know it's coming; it's obvious that a lot of these houses will be gone and the land is so dodgy that they may not be able to rebuilt in situ. But it's still disorientating to see places that you know being written off; places that you walk past in some of your wanderings, that are part of your community, that are very close to the places some families at school live in. It raises some unwelcome questions about the future of the community and the school that I don't really want to focus on right now, but the good news is that there is some information being released tomorrow on the future of some areas. Early indications are that those areas will be Bexley (with 90% of homes written off for good), Dallington, Avonside, Horseshoe Lake, Burwood, and Avondale. What will actually be said and how much choice those people will have is yet to be made clear - but here's to clarity and hopefully some good news for the people as at 1.30pm tomorrow. It sounds like our local community won't be addressed tomorrow so the fate of our school and the people who live near it won't be released but at least the people most affected for the most time during this thing (ie those who were hit with this in September and not just February) will have some information and that can only be a good thing.
We got a very exciting piece of paper in the mail today. As background, I'll remind you all that our drains have been dodgy for weeks now (ever since we were last told we could ditch the chemical toilet in fact) and that while our area was allowed to flush we weren't because ... well, it would have caused a huge amount of problems down the track if we had. Anyway, today the plumber came and a waterblaster and they did complex plumbing and waterblasty things with our bathroom drains and voila! We can finally use our toilet again. This was all tempered by the knowledge that after last Monday's shakes we were all supposed to still use chemical toilets anyway. Oh well, I thought. At least this time when we get the notice in our mailbox we'll be all set. Immediately after the plumber left we headed out to pick the kids up from school and this was in the mailbox when I checked it on the way past:
We're very lucky - the back of the sheet showed just how few places have been told they're okay to flush (that's the bits in green. The large swathes of red still have to use chemloos):
I got very emotional when I wrote this post out before because of a news article that showed on TV last night. I don't really want to revisit the whole thing again, but it was a real shock to the system to hear 'North New Brighton' in connection with the words 'worst hit suburbs' and to see houses on a street near my kids' school being demolished. Intellectually you know it's coming; it's obvious that a lot of these houses will be gone and the land is so dodgy that they may not be able to rebuilt in situ. But it's still disorientating to see places that you know being written off; places that you walk past in some of your wanderings, that are part of your community, that are very close to the places some families at school live in. It raises some unwelcome questions about the future of the community and the school that I don't really want to focus on right now, but the good news is that there is some information being released tomorrow on the future of some areas. Early indications are that those areas will be Bexley (with 90% of homes written off for good), Dallington, Avonside, Horseshoe Lake, Burwood, and Avondale. What will actually be said and how much choice those people will have is yet to be made clear - but here's to clarity and hopefully some good news for the people as at 1.30pm tomorrow. It sounds like our local community won't be addressed tomorrow so the fate of our school and the people who live near it won't be released but at least the people most affected for the most time during this thing (ie those who were hit with this in September and not just February) will have some information and that can only be a good thing.
Overall, I'm mostly positive now that we're 4 months on (and 10 months on from the original quake). I know I'd be in a better space mentally if last Monday's quakes hadn't happened but because it has been sorted out so much faster (and OMG because I now have a real person's flushing toilet!!!!) I'm not as depressed as I thought I would be if/when we got another big shake. It's hard, I won't deny that. But I was just remembering the day we came back home after February and on one of the documentary shows they were showing footage of the city in ruins and I just sat there huddled with my husband and just crying. I've come a long way since that day and no matter what else is thrown at us the one thing I do know is that I can survive this. I'm stronger now than I was in February and definitely more so than I was before the September quake. And for me, that's the one good thing that has come out of all of this. This life sucks - and it sucks much worse for many many other people - but it breeds strong people. Today was the shortest day after the longest night (and that longest night celebrated for us with some bloody impressive shakes right up to a 5.4 at 10.30 last night), but the best thing to keep in mind is that after the shortest day/longest night combination the days will get longer, nights shorter and slowly but surely spring ans summer will come. Metaphorically the same thing will happen with the city. I'm holding onto that - things will get better and brighter, even if they look a bit depressing when I walk around and look at what's become of my neighbourhood and the wider city. Things will get better.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-22 11:17 am (UTC)(I don't mind waiting, actually, have got into a routine so it's only 10 minutes a week of nuisance. But it's different for a family!)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-22 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-22 03:44 pm (UTC)Man, I remember just how mch of a relief that was. Although it was terrifying to see how much water they use!
I hope everything turns out okay regarding the school and the neighbourhood. *hug*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-22 09:45 pm (UTC)I know! The water usage is terrifying and since we're still supposed to be conserving water we are to 'flush sparingly' - but even so at least it's flushing :D
I don't expect to hear about my local community and school today, but at least this is one step forward for the most affected areas and the rest of us will hear in due time.