I saw evidence today that the people who live down the bottom end of our world have a unique sense of humour… even in the face of unprecedented destruction some people have the ability to laugh and to make the most of a bad situation.
I have heard the saying “every cloud has a silver lining”, but I have not, until today, seen someone turn copious amounts of silver-grey liquefied earth, (liquefaction) into their own personal playground. I was taking a tour of Christchurch City and the Sallies properties when I noticed two ‘lol’ moments:
The city looks pretty much like any war zone. As we walked through it today the smell of burning buildings still hung heavy in the air. 4 building sights still remain burial sights with undetermined numbers of dead. Street corners are manned by military personnel and hardware, police and firemen. The city - cordoned off to the public, is eerily quiet and in places has taken on an almost reverential status as machinery and men dig in silence – watching carefully, hoping, but not expecting.
Christchurch is in trouble – and they need support of just about any kind imaginable.
I have heard the saying “every cloud has a silver lining”, but I have not, until today, seen someone turn copious amounts of silver-grey liquefied earth, (liquefaction) into their own personal playground. I was taking a tour of Christchurch City and the Sallies properties when I noticed two ‘lol’ moments:
- We drove up one street, not unlike numerous others that looked like a pre-school sand pit, complete with Tonka toys. Heavy machinery worked alongside men and women with shovels and wheel barrows as they worked to clear their properties and roads of the liquefaction. It looked some spoilt brat of a giant had broken a mercury filled thermometer and the mercury had flowed freely into any available space. And in amongst this hive of activity a small boy climbed to the top of a pile of the silver-grey with a board nailed on a post and with what I imagined was the same degree of satisfaction as Neil Armstrong planting a flag on the moon – the young mountaineer planted his sign at the top. On the sign were the words: “Free Sand”.
- A few streets later, in a similar street, a pile of liquefaction was adorned with large ‘sand castles’ – evidence that some frustrated Mum may have said – “just go out and keep yourself busy”.
But in contrast to these moments of ‘joy’ there are the moments of panic and fear. As we were rocked by aftershocks at fairly regular intervals during the day the people who had lived through the ‘big ones’ grabbed hold of each other, some couldn’t help crying out, others just took a deep breath and held it until someone broke the trance – people reached out to one another and supported each other.
The city looks pretty much like any war zone. As we walked through it today the smell of burning buildings still hung heavy in the air. 4 building sights still remain burial sights with undetermined numbers of dead. Street corners are manned by military personnel and hardware, police and firemen. The city - cordoned off to the public, is eerily quiet and in places has taken on an almost reverential status as machinery and men dig in silence – watching carefully, hoping, but not expecting.
Christchurch is in trouble – and they need support of just about any kind imaginable.
