It's a beautiful day

It is a beautiful day, all  those I have talked to today have said this in a lovely weather way, everyone got a good nights sleep and that's makes such a difference. Things all though terrible, don't seem so bad and I think it's becos today we are doing something, Basil and Tom looking for a way to get my car, Aj's off clearing muck with his mates.........they will be with the Uni students tomorrow doing what they can. Big thank-you for stopping in, lovely to hear from you, thanks for the thoughts, hugs and love and prays so kind and it does help too know you care. My brother is well and safe, my cousin the fireman is in the CBD, my godson the policeman( who is not meant to start as a policeman till monday) is in the CBD...........we know what a hard and horrible job it is, we are proud of them doing what they are doing. Went to the local supermarket, great people that they were they opened, only letting a few in at a time, everything but bread and of course I want toast so I'm making some, I can't make good bread so it could be interesting. Rationed milk and water but we are ok , we have water and can boil it on the hob (gas),no water to be used, toileting is ok , for some people (men) glad I had a wide bucket is all I say...........you know when the green nuts got rid of plastic bags from supermarkets dumb, dumb, dumb not good thing, a supermarket bag is very useful for some toilet jobs so to speak...............say no more. Bathed in my large salad bowl, well you know what I mean, nothing attracting me to the" lets get back to the way our ancestors lived brigade" about this yet, but we have to do it, the water waste and sewage isn't getting to Bromley the huge Sewage plant which  also took a big hit in September.The
 power and internal structure people are amazing ,  although this earthquake was smaller it was so deadly and a millions more times more frightening. My work place is a huge warehouse type building in the city, we can see the Grand Chancellor from our place with a car park for 8 cars outside. My job is to work with people with an intellectual disability, working at Aj's and providing recreation access for them also.  We have a website www.ajs.org.nz which although the newsletter is old, enalbles you can see us at work and get an idea of our work space. This is our home away from home, we are a staff of ten and a client base of about 45. We have for the most part known each other for 30 odd years as many of the staff worked with the clients (friends) at Templeton Centre, a large residential unit outside of the city, for many years and the almost 14 years AJs has been in existence. the building was wrecked by the earthquake. Tuesday while under the table I saw the 2 large cracks coming down the floor of the building, the noise was horrendous as everything fell but the roof held, when it stopped we literally pushed everyone in the dining area, please note, the staff  were playing Scattergories when it hit, (I think I was comfortably ahead don't tell the others). 15 mins later the 5.7 hit, the floor beneath us just cracked, there was already water/gunk/liquidfaction coming up through the cracks in the main room. We again pushed everyone out ( Basil is home, got my car, have to walk back and pick up his car, he got as close as possible, they looked in to AJ' and were amazed at how we got out.) But we did get out and we sat for 5 1/2 hours outside ,offering water and biscuits to those walking past with the liquidfaction which dries to a powdery dust blowing down the street. When the last clients were picked up, we hugged each other tight and went our seperate  ways to our families. So we are alive, we are the lucky ones, it is such a huge thing to take in, so many people dead,  so many buildings gone. That's it for now, not much fun to read, but I feel better  writing  it down, it makes it feel less terrible somehow..........Love Barbara.....I've decide to use my real name, you might as well know my name, I feel much closer to you during this time out there somewhere................hugs and good thoughts to you all.