Christchurch earthquakes

**jim.cox** · 21st February 2012, 07:45

Originally Posted by shrub

I'm curious what people are doing about the anniversary tomorrow.

Keeping calm, carrying on.

Dont feel the need for a memorial service for an ongoing nightmare

**shrub** · 21st February 2012, 09:46

Originally Posted by CAMSec

...i will be....leaving the TV off...

You got it mate, I am doing much the same. I have no wish to see John Campbell and the like standing in front of what was once my home. I will be avoiding the formal ceremonies, and while I only managed to spend about 10 minutes helping at the CTV building before I was sent on my way, I kind of feel a need to be there.

**dangerous** · 21st February 2012, 11:48

Originally Posted by TrentNz

I'm saying the grounds shit and the houses are poorly built

well we all know that...

**Maha** · 21st February 2012, 11:52

Originally Posted by shrub

I'm curious what people are doing about the anniversary tomorrow. I was at the gym right beside the CTV building when it hit and I'm planning to ride down there. It's a place that will always have a lot of meaning to me.

..and naturally you completed your set?

**shrub** · 21st February 2012, 14:35

Originally Posted by Maha

..and naturally you comlpeted your set?

Yeah, I was on my eighth repetition of a 2 kilogram benchpress. Ahh, that's quite a lot of weight.

**helenoftroy** · 21st February 2012, 20:27

Originally Posted by shrub

I'm curious what people are doing about the anniversary tomorrow. I was at the gym right beside the CTV building when it hit and I'm planning to ride down there. It's a place that will always have a lot of meaning to me.

Will reflect on that unforgettable day, will miss my my dear neighbor who died in the CTV building....but will be hugely thankful that I have moved on,it was the best thing I could have done - no regrets

and a year later I still have no idea of the fate of my once beautiful Christchurch house,if my land can be remediated or not,if the house is a fix or rebuild....so the uncertainty and waiting goes on

**Oakie** · 21st February 2012, 21:25

Tomorrow I'll share a bit of quiet time with my workmates at 12.51. There will be a few hugs.

I'll spend a bit of quiet time by myself a little later reflecting on the circumstances that saw me leave the CTV building that day at 12.31 and not 20 minutes later. I'll also reflect upon the circumstances that let me to walk past the old Winnie Bagoes at 12.49 where a huge concrete beam crashed onto the footpath 2 minutes later. I shall reflect on how lucky I was that of the whole 4 hours I was in the CBD that morning, I was lucky enough to be walking across the wide open spaces of Latimer Square when it was unleashed.

I'll then give some thoughts to the people who weren't as lucky as me.

It won't be a happy day but it will be an important day and a big step along the way.

Did I mention how lucky I was?

**dangerous** · 22nd February 2012, 04:07

Originally Posted by Oakie

walking across the wide open spaces of Latimer Square when it was unleashed.

interested to know what you thought when you looked around and saw the city crumbling around you... and what you then did?
other than that I dont give a shit about today life goes on, sorry but i have my own issues to deal with, like this wee shit sitting on my knee.

**shrub** · 22nd February 2012, 04:39

Originally Posted by Oakie

Did I mention how lucky I was?

My luck came through when I got a text from my daughter asking if I was OK - she was in the bus exchange when it hit and still has a piece of the chunk of roof that fell on her.

**shrub** · 22nd February 2012, 04:56

Originally Posted by helenoftroy

Will reflect on that unforgettable day, will miss my my dear neighbor who died in the CTV building....but will be hugely thankful that I have moved on,it was the best thing I could have done - no regrets

and a year later I still have no idea of the fate of my once beautiful Christchurch house,if my land can be remediated or not,if the house is a fix or rebuild....so the uncertainty and waiting goes on

I am considering leaving myself. My partner is utterly sick of everything, and I don't know I can be arsed myself when there are a lot of great opportunities all around NZ. We're off to Tauranga for a week and while I'm up there I'll suss things out.

**Oakie** · 22nd February 2012, 06:59

Originally Posted by dangerous

interested to know what you thought when you looked around and saw the city crumbling around you... and what you then did?
other than that I dont give a shit about today life goes on, sorry but i have my own issues to deal with, like this wee shit sitting on my knee.

Lying on the ground I heard a noise like a wave receding back down a stoney beach. That was the CTV building coming down.
I stood up and looking around Latimer Square immediately realised that was way worse than September. There was a big cloud of dust from up near the CTV building. I walked up towards it and as I got near to Hereford St the dust thinned enough for me to see the CTV building on the ground. I still cannot adequately describe the feeling that hit me. I knew then though that people had died ... including probably my doctor and his workmates on the fourth floor.
I saw a policeman start to climb the pile of rubble.

Debated going in to help but then thought of family in the north east of the city so went to my car behind the Latimer Hotel and made my way home.

**mashman** · 22nd February 2012, 08:08

All the best to you guys down there. My thoughts will be with you today. Kia Kaha.

**Oakie** · 22nd February 2012, 20:24

I went up to the 'Sign of the Kiwi' for the two minutes silence. There were a couple of others up there when I got there and we finished up with 12 to 15 people all just quietly in their own thoughts. It was quiet and peaceful. People arrived and left without saying anything but it was strangely comfortable.

**shrub** · 1st March 2012, 10:26

I've just come back from a week in Tauranga staying with my sister, and my partner and we have decided that it's time to pack our bags and move. I have very mixed feelings about leaving Christchurch and there's a sense of abandoning ship, but I'm too old to spend the next 10 years waiting for things to come right, and it will be at least that long. I'm sick of driving on broken roads, I'm sick of seeing shattered houses and I'm sick of not having a city. Our house is fine, but at a subconscious level it wears you down seeing so much depressing stuff every day. We have a few loose ends to tidy up which will take us to the end of the year, then we're off.

We flew up and borrowed a car and did a lot of driving, damn there are some fine highways in that part of the country.