Two weeks on

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So, where are things at, two weeks on?

My Dad got ‘evacuated’ (evicted?) from his Council flat in Sumner and is staying with us. He’s hopeful that he’ll be allowed to go back soon. He’s doing really well after having rocks fall all around him during the quake, followed by a heart attack soon after. He’s trying to keep busy but I can see he’s getting a little stir-crazy with nothing to do but sit and watch TV all day. Any suggestions on how to entertain a recuperating 68-year-old?

I think that next on my list is to call the Council and see what I can get done about either moving him back in his house, or re-housing him. My Dad has lived in Sumner all his life, and it’s unthinkable to him that he might live somewhere else.

He can’t live with us for much longer, because we have to be out of our place on March 30th. Our landlord is also homeless and needs to live here. If we can’t secure the house we’ve been trying to buy, we will camp out somewhere and decide what to do next (thank you Mum, that sleepout is looking pretty cosy right now!). Everything is so uncertain in this city right now.

But we are much better off than a lot of folk – who are homeless, or power-less, or water-less, or jobless. The company I work for has relocated and we are all able to keep working. Psychologically it’s been really important to be able to get back to work. It feels somewhat normal, even if it is in a 3-person portacom in a carpark of a large-scale plant nursery. We have a great team at Synapsys, and staying connected has been really important to my sanity.

And I think Stephen and I are just lucky that we have resources to keep us going amongst all the uncertainty. Not just money, although that really helps, but support from a wide family circle that we can depend on for showers and food, somewhere to chill, and of course somewhere to live in the not-too-distant-future!

Being normal

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I had a lovely day today. I’ve finally started relaxing after leaving the stress of Christchurch behind me on Wednesday.

We had a lovely lie-in this morning, and then went to Arrowtown to see my dear friend Lois for lunch. It’s such a beautiful location it’s hard to be stressed there.

We drove through Queenstown too, but didn’t stop. It’s a bit of a soulless place…

Tomorrow we return home. I’m eager to get back because we have a lot we need to sort out, but apprehensive as well. Being away for a few days has made me realise just how stressed the city feels. It almost feels like the whole city is grieving and it’s palatable.

We all need to figure out how to balance the stress and the sadness with happy moments and hope.

Why I write

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2 AM and I’m still awake, writing a song

If I get it all down on paper, it’s no longer inside of me,

Threatening the life it belongs to

And I feel like I’m naked in front of the crowd

Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud

And I know that you’ll use them, however you want to

But you can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable,

And life’s like an hourglass, glued to the table

No one can find the rewind button now

Sing it if you understand.

And breathe, just breathe.

 

— Breathe (2AM), Anna Nalick

The house

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We were due to confirm the purchase of our new house yesterday. The inspections had all been completed and all that remained was to meet with our bank manager and work out the details. All that’s changed now.

The house has been reinspected and revalued. Structurally, it’s still sound. There is some damage to the back of the house where an addition was built some years ago, and it has slumped a little. But it’s fixable and covered by an EQC claim.

More problematic is the valuation of the property. The valuer no longer believes the house is worth what we offered for it, because of the liquefaction on the property and surrounding streets and suburbs. He has revalued the place significantly lower than our original offer. So now we are in a difficult position of not being able to get finance for the amount we offered to pay for the house.

Luckily we are not bound to our offer – it was subject to valuation and the value has changed. We can offer the vendor a lower price, and we probably will. Whether they accept this lower offer is beyond our control.

If the sale falls through, we are homeless at the end of the month. We are just so very lucky that we can rely on the kindness and support of family to house us until we can figure out what to do next.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. We fell in love with our cute nana house and we really want to start our married life together in it. But what will be, will be.

The wedding

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So I got married the other day. March 1st to be exact. It’s the day Stephen and I met, two years ago. It was a blind date, we went to see Man on Wire. And held hands. It was lovely. He was lovely. He proposed to me on March 1st last year, on our first anniversary. I’ve been planning this wedding for a year.

On our long walk home through the sludge and water on earthquake day, Phil and I talked about the wedding. Should Stephen and I still go ahead with it? Could we still do it, logistically? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I had to give it a try. It wasn’t any random date, it was our day.

One of the first things I said to Stephen when we finally made it home was, “I still want to try and get married next week”. He wholeheartedly agreed. So we waited for the dust to settle, then we started the call-around. Some of the event team contacted us. They were just as concerned as we were that things go to plan. It added some normalcy to my everyday in a difficult time. Eventually everyone checked in and we were good to go.

In the end, our wedding wasn’t exactly as I planned it. Small details were forgotten, but it doesn’t matter. It was an amazing day for me. It made me cry to look out into the faces of my favourite people, smiling happily for me and Stephen. And to be able to see everyone, give them a hug, that was priceless.

Mr and Mrs Frayle

The earthquake

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Kim and I were sitting at our purple lunch table. George, one of Synapsys’ contractors, wandered over and sat down with us. We hadn’t seen him for a while, so we were catching up. The room started to rattle, but it took us a moment to react – we’ve had so many aftershocks now they don’t really bother me. This one was different.

As the intensity increased, Kim and George slid under the table and I jumped up and braced myself in a nearby doorframe. I could see James skating around the kitchen, he was shouting something but I couldn’t hear him over the noise.

I could hear Phil shouting too, but didn’t know what he was saying either. I kept my head down, feet firmly planted and held on. It was over in about 20 seconds, and I can quite honestly say that it was the slowest 20 seconds of my life. As the shaking stopped, Phil’s shouting became comprehensible:
“GET OUT NOW” … “GET AWAY FROM THE WALL” … “DON’T STOP TO GET ANYTHING JUST GET OUT”.

I ignored him for a moment to make my way over to Kirsty’s desk. I couldn’t see her and I didn’t know she had gone out for lunch a few minutes earlier. Once I could see she wasn’t there, I grabbed my phone and ran. We got out and down and away. Phil was last out, checking that everyone exited safely. We stood together in a huddle in the middle of the street, with all the other people who streamed out.

The image I come back to in my mind over and over is looking up and around and seeing the fallen buildings. It was hard to comprehend. There were people in those buildings. What happened to them? Did they get out? Kirsty did. She picked her way through the rubble to join us.

Then my thoughts turned to making contact. I called Stephen and got through after several tries. “Hallo, that was a big one!” he said. Bit of an understatement I thought. But I knew at least that it was centred in town – it hadn’t resonated from out his way. I could tick off Grace, Arlia, Antony and Wyatt as safe then. My next thought was Megan. She could be anywhere. And yet, just as I considered this, she walked out of the rubble towards me. She had been waiting for a bus in the centre of the city. I’ve never been so happy to see her.

There is more, but I won’t write about it now – getting out of the city, the long walk home, the aftermath. Maybe later.

The one where we take a breath

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It’s 4:30am and I can’t sleep. I’m in Tekapo. I’m awake because my brain is worried about my family back in Christchurch and must have decided to wake me up so I can keep it company. On September 4th last year, I was woken up at 4:35am by a slow rolling earthquake. I was in Tekapo then too, and assumed it was the result of some movement in the Alpine Fault. It didn’t feel like much, so I went back to sleep.

Last Tuesday it really felt like we were getting back on track from that earthquake. We had a staff meeting in the morning where we talk positively about new projects and moving forward after some hard months. I mentioned that I might be a bit more stressed than usual with the wedding coming up the following Tuesday. I’d love to go back to the purple lunch table and be that stressed again.

I’m going to recount the past week’s activities in bits. There is the bit about the earthquake, the bit about the wedding, and the bit about the house. Stay tuned.

Reports

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The house passed muster – it was inspected by a structural engineer today. He reports that, other than minor mortar cracking in the brickwork in one spot, the house is sturdy and sound. Once the report is passed on to the bank and the insurers, we should be good to go.

We’re one step closer to sealing the deal 🙂

The one where it sinks in

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Stephen picked up our wedding rings last night. It’s finally sinking in that we are getting married in less than two weeks.

I am so so so looking forward to being married to Stephen, and to being a Frayle and to starting a new chapter of our amazing journey together.

Nothing has ever felt so right, and no-one has ever been so perfect for me.

Young Love

The one where we become home-owners

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Last weekend we started looking for a house to buy. It’s a really slim market at the moment – not many people are selling. Understandable, since most home-owners are going through the EQC claim process and are reluctant to sell under those circumstances.

But on Saturday we took a look at a couple of possibilities. The first one was a 1955s weatherboard bungalow. It has been completely redecorated inside, but still needed a lot of work on the outside.  It ticked a lot of boxes and we left feeling really positive.

And then we went to the second place. This ticked a lot more boxes. It’s summerhill stone – not popular, but low maintenance perfection for us. The place was built in 1972 and has been a family home since then (one careful lady owner). It looks like your grandma’s place, but we can see the potential. Yep, this was the one for us.

Since then, things have moved fast. We thought about it all day Saturday, contacted the agent on Sunday, presented an offer on Monday, and signed the contract on Tuesday. Now it’s Wednesday and we are on to engineering reports and lawyers and whatnot. And, all going well, we will own our home on the 17th of March.

What a great way to start our married life together 🙂

Front yard
Back yard