Two years on

[cyphomandra]

My bank records for Monday 21st February 2011 show that I ate lunch at Vivace Café, a café with just the right balance of relaxed and hipster, good magazines, and one of only two I’d found in the city who served lapsang souchong tea. I got dinner from Chen’s Kitchen, my local Chinese place with a bunch of extremely young staff who would stop playing cards when I came in, who gave me the log-on to their private wireless, and who did an amazing hot and sour potato dish. I don’t have any transactions for the morning of the 22nd, but I walked to work, through town, and it’s very likely that I bought myself an apple Danish from the Copenhagen Bakery on the way.

All of those places were gone by the time I got home that afternoon.

My sole purchase recorded for the 22nd of February is $130 at a petrol station. I was lucky to get there – the road I was trying to get out of the city on was flooded, with silted up water over the tops of the tyres and new cracks and potholes hidden underneath, and I was in a loaner car with the petrol light on already. I pulled out of the queue of cars and drove back towards my house, only to be stopped by the army. The soldier three blocks from my house wouldn’t let me go back there, but he did check his radio and tell me there was a petrol station open on Blenheim Road. When I got there the queue wasn’t as bad as I’d feared – I think it took me about half an hour to get through – but most of the store was cleaned out. I bought petrol, a bottle of Powerade, and a couple of marshmallow Easter eggs. My dog and I finally made it to my friend’s place about an hour later.

The Copenhagen Bakery has opened again, way out of town. The man who owned the Vivace Café is keen to develop bits of the CBD again, but is locked in arguments with the council. I have had no luck in finding anything out about the staff of Chen’s Kitchen.

I left, last June. My house is still standing but still unsellable, on severely damaged land, and EQC have not yet made a decision about whether it is worth fixing or should be demolished (my house is one of 14 in a complex). It’s rented, but the rent doesn’t quite cover the mortgage. On balance, I’d rather it wasn’t demolished – I liked living there – but I just want a decision.

Photos from my walk home.

Comments

[china_shop]

*hugs*

[cyphomandra]

Thank you!! (great icon)

[rumpelsnorcack]

What I associate most with you and that quake is the Sunday before. You, T and I were all sitting upstairs in Java (the first and only time I ever went there), and you and I were teasing T because she was stressed about what she would do if a big quake struck, since in that place there was nowhere to run and nothing to really get under. We insisted there was no chance of a bigger quake so there was nothing to fear. However, we jokingly worked out a plan involving overturning furniture to keep her happy, and that was the end of it. Except that 2 days later 'the big one' hit and Java was badly damaged & has since been demolished. I wonder, often, if there were people up there that day and if so what they did when it hit. Did they overturn the couch onto the coffee table as we had considered?

[cyphomandra]

I can't find the link now, but someone posted a short video on Stuff from when they were in High Street for the February quake, and they mention Java - looks like it was still standing, but don't know about people inside.

[orannia.blogspot.com]

Thank you for sharing such a personal account. It really brings it home.

*hugs*