It took me quite a while to convince myself that it was okay to spend a whole day on the 7th floor of a building in Wellington. I’ve been up that high a few times in the last four years, but not often and not usually for long.

It didn’t really reassure me that someone was putting together the earthquake survival kit while I was there. It’s a wheelie bin full of bottled water and food and first aid stuff. I couldn’t help but think that the wheelie bin ain’t gonna help them if Wellington has an earthquake bad enough that they need a week of supplies.

I joked about it with one of the women in the office. She pointed out that at least they’d be safe from tsunamis up that high. Ha! It reminded me that it’s silly to worry about these things. I was still glad to leave though.

I went to a meeting on a building site in the city today. It was across the road from a building site, and beside a building site, with a few more building sites behind it. Afterwards a jumped in my car and drove down Colombo Street, flanked by building sites.

It feels like it’s taken forever, but it’s finally happening. Building is everywhere.

I remember a few weeks after the quake driving down Barbadoes St when they finally opened it. It was nighttime and the city was completely dark – no power means no city lights. Each intersection I drove through I could see the black, and eventually I had to pull over because I was crying so hard I couldn’t see properly.

I missed the city so much and I still do. But then driving through the middle of it today and listening to the sound of construction made me so happy.

They are giant steel-framed things, built zillions of percent above code, green and all that. The bus exchange looks spectacular. It’s been a tough four years, but days like today make me feel excited for our future.