It's so great to be back in the office and back into an almost normal routine. We are so grateful to all our wonderful clients and the lovely messages you have all sent and the blissful work you keep sending us. Contact with the outside world and knowing that things are still operating normally somewhere is so important at the moment. It's really helping us all get our lives back together as well.
Our team: We are all feeling very lucky to be able to account for all of our immediately family and most of our friends. Plus we all have our homes. YES!
Anita and Trisha's homes have suffered the most with Anita's house inside the cordon and having no power there or at her mothers house were she is currently living. They did find though that their log burner had a wetback and with the little water that is now coming into the property have hot showers that rock. It could be another couple of weeks before power is restored to their area. "Flash" camping has become another new Christchurch catch phrase.
Trisha is in Brookhaven which has been badly hit with liquefaction. Horrid stuff. We had a big dig there on Wednesday to try and get rid of most of it. But now there is wind and the dust is unbelievable. Just as well there is no water for clothes washing as it wouldn't come back inside clean.
Sarah is reacquainting herself with a port-a-loo (or as they are know in America a port-a-potty) having only just got rid of one from the September quake. But they have power which is huge.
Maria is lucky to be living in Hornby which hasn't been too badly affected. Thank goodness as she has been keeping things running for us while we all try and put our home lives back together.
Anna has power now, but no water or sewerage. She's taking a bit longer to get her head back together and will be back with us shortly.
Digging at Trisha's.
Our studio: Out here in the country as far away as we can get from the CBD is blissful. We've been really lucky this time and haven't been very badly effected. We lost power for 30 hours, but that is all. Our water is still running and our lovely septic tank is working overtime. It's great to be a haven for everyone in town to come and sit, sh*t and shower. Those small basic luxuries in life mean such a lot when you don't have them. And now with this wind, it's great to be out of the dust.
Our work: Yah, couriers are running again as of today. You should have seen the pile in the letterbox this morning! Our internet is working at 90% of it's normal speed. It is going down occassionally, but under the circumstances it's very workable. This means that our email and ftp server are up and running. So we are all feeling very lucky to still have our place of work and jobs to come back too.
Our head space: I saved this one till last as it is probably the biggest. Everyone is moving forward to put their lives back together. Our first day back involved lots of tears and many stories. The feeling of relief that we are all still able to be together is fantastic. The worry for family and friends and the stories that you hear around town are all things that will change our lives forever. On our first morning back I recorded our cup of tea and chat as everyone arrived. Zeta our wonderful cleaning lady was here to. It's in 3 parts if you want to listen (although I do apologise for some of the language :-).
part one
part two
part three
Yesterday (Tues one week on) was a biggie. We all went up to Victoria Park at the top of the Port Hills and sat in the sun looking out over our broken city. It was a lovely way to spend the two minutes of silence and reflect. For me it helped turn a corner and focus on moving forward.
Thanks so much to everyone out there who is allowing us the opportunities to pick up our lives again and for the support you are all offering. Our thoughts are with all the families who have suffered so much loss. It's great to be a kiwi and to be part of such a caring community.
All the best from the team at Book Design
Anita, Sarah, Maria, Trisha, Anna and Kim xx
THANK YOU! :)
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