Well, Friday morning we had a decent earthquake while I was at work just after 9am. It is the first time I have ever dived under my desk, as did the colleagues around me. It was a good shake.
Anyhow, I rode home and then got a call from Sally asking me around for tea. Andrew was home earlier than anticipated and I was keen to hear all about his adventures. I collected Mike from work on the way past and he was very merry indeed and we heard music very loudly on the drive over.
We also heard music loudly once we were there. Sally and Mike are partial to a bit of Jethro Tull and Mike was definitely in the mood.
Andrew had had an amazing week. I think he rode over 600km all up, through galeforce winds, heavy frosts and light snowfalls and a bit of rain! Somehow, he said yes to going skiing for the day with me on Saturday. So I dragged Mike home, found all my gear and managed 5 hours sleep before I got up early and collected Andrew.
It was so worth it. What a fabulous day for the first ski day of the season.
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| Self portrait - look at my determination! And see Mt Taranaki on the horizon... |
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| Astonished that my old ski pants look okay with my new ski jacket |
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| Moon rising behind Andrew on our last run of the day at about 4.20pm. |
Into the car at the end of the day and a drive back home via Ohakune for a chocolate eclair. Scrumptious. And a bacon and egg pie. Yum.
Andrew drove home all the way. What 600km ride? He must have legs of steel! I also had my first traffic run in with the law on the drive up. I got a speeding ticket. Yep - lack of concentration, straight road, tail-lights in the distance and my speed drifted up. Got a cheerful policeman to pull me over. Nice. Yes, I am ashamed. I haven't ever got so much as a parking ticket before.
Anyhow, home to see Mike and discover he had really worked hard tidying the house. It looks stunning.
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| New doors wide open for the lovely Sunday morning |
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| Ski gear drying on the deck |
Mike got a trailer early Sunday morning and we cleared away a lot of building material. The place looks good. Marathon effort to get our big window up to the trailer. Thanks John and Benjamin.
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| Huge heavy window gone! |
I'm going to try and keep it tidy as much as possible because we're away for a few weekends now. We did get a decent quake at about 7.05am, but Mike slept through it. I prodded him and said "Earthquake, earthquake", but he thought I was joking. And he fell asleep again in seconds.
Sunday afternoon Mike went out to see a movie with Sally, Andrew, Vivienne, John and Benjamin. I wasn't interested so I got my ironing done. I was just getting ready to head out to meet them just after 5pm when the biggest earthquake I have felt hit. I had just finished going to the toilet so I stood under our new doorway and hoped the builder knows his stuff as I watched Toby's bookcase wobble a fair bit. We've had lots of aftershocks, and many followed that one.
I drove into town and waited for Mike's movie to finish. They had dived under the seats in the Embassy cinema. Sally and Vivienne were careful to not spill any of their wine. Skills! The person next to them had no such concerns about their popcorn and apparently quite a bit flew around as they dived for the floor. Even in the car I felt two aftershocks of a decent size.
Had dinner with everyone at the Beer n Steer and felt a decent wee jolt while we were there.
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| Nice steak for me |
But Mike and I left to get to the airport to collect Toby. His flight was earmarked to divert to Palmerston North, but fortunately it delayed departure from Dunedin long enough for a landing at Wellington. Lucky for us. Thanks to Andrew for teeing up Iona for a possible Toby rescue in her town!
Got Toby, and he was excited to be home and full of news from his week away. He seemed to have enjoyed himself. I hope Mike's parents aren't too shattered.
Back home and a good sleep. I was woken by a shake at 3.15am, but rolled over and went back to sleep. None of the boys woke.
Monday morning is an odd place in Wellington. Civil Defence say to stay home if you can. No trains, no bus replacements. So I rode in to collect laptops and Sally gave me a lift home (her building was evacuated so she was heading home).
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| Earthquake damage on Mike's desk - a glass and a cup have fallen over |
So, I am working from home. All good.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela
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