22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake 6.3

I had been out in the city to get my hair cut and returned to my desk at 12:45PM At 12 50PM the 6.3 earthquake struck. It was so violent. The 5 storey office building started to sway and twist. I dived beneath my desk. My computer fell off my desk, coffee went everywhere. Ceiling panels fell out, filing cabinets toppled over. When it finally stopped, I grabbed my keys and went for the emergency exits. Bits of the concrete structure had fallen into the stairwells. Outside there was broken glass everywhere.

On the pavement outside, there was an aftershock. The land was moving like it was alive. Four men carried a young girl to the hospital - she had a blue face so I fear the worse. People were crying, being hugged, desperately trying to contact loved ones on their mobile phones. We heard stories that office buildings had collapsed - later confirmed. We saw a dust cloud rise from parts of the city - it was either a fire or buildings collapsing.

After 15 minutes I left and started walking towards my car. The pavements are all buckled, kerb stones raised. The front of buildings had collapsed. You could hear sirens and car alarms. Water was coming up from the ground due to broken water mains. I crossed Mortimer Square and people were sat around supporting each other.

I eventually got to my car and drove to Jake's school. There is liquified sand and water on the road. The school chapel is missing part of its wall and roof. The bridge over the stream is all buckled. All the pupils are on the school field. I signed my son out and drove via the side streets to Harewood in search of some diesel - I didn't have enough have get home! I found a garage that was open and I fill up a happy man.

We are all home and our house is intact. Kirsty is on a school camp near to Akaroa but she is safe. What a day! The death toll is 65 souls and set to rise.

The Wood Shed

After spending too many cold Sunday afternoons chopping wood last year we decided to get our winter fuel in early and fill up our wood store during the summer. The tunnel shed holds something like 8 cubic metres and it looks like we have already used something approaching 4 cubic metres. Will we have enough to see us through until the spring?

Two Jags

My brother and my sister-in-law have been to stay for a couple of weeks on their world tour. Andy has been working as a political lobbiest for a homeless charity and often meets with senior politicians in the UK and Europe.

On our obligatory day excursion to the 'West Coast' we called in to see his mate 'Two Jags' between Reefton and Greymouth. The two Jaguars have been up-ended and have been used as gate posts.

JOTI 2008

It is hard to believe that the Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI) has come around yet again. We have again been back to Cotswold School this weekend and have been using IRC to contact scouts and guides around the world. We have had over 80 people attend the event.

A great time has been had by all and a big thank-you goes to the Bishopdale and Harewood Scouts team who have organised the event on behalf of the Torlesse scouts zone. I personally haven't laughed so much in a long time!

I have been running a seperate blog for the event which can be found here:

http://joti2008.blogspot.com/

I have a nasty feeling my colleagues are going to 'get me back' for some of my posts at the annual zone scout camp in January! I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Hokatika - green stone carving - www.stonz-n-bonz.co.nz

On the Queen's birthday weekend, I helped take over a party of scouts over to Hokitika to do some green stone (jade) carving. Hokatika is a small town on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. It was the centre of the gold rush that occurred in the late 19th century.

We did the green stone carving at Stonz 'n' Bonz (http://www.stonz-n-bonz.co.nz/)

We each picked out a design and we set about carving a piece of green stone. Steve, the owner, spent the day helping us to use the tools to work the stone into a pendent.

Steve was literally blown away by the effort and the quality of the work achieved by our scouts. It was a really enjoyable day - I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

This is a must do for any traveller who ventures to the west coast.