Sombre...........

I was going to mow the lawns this afternoon but somehow, it didn't feel right.

Sometimes it doesn't matter what's gone before - when the here and now is so overwhelming that is the only meaningful time and place.

And so it was today........

Christchurch has again been rocked by a destructive earthquake. Smaller than the September event but shallower and sharper........and worse, striking in the middle of a late summer's day when people were out and about, enjoying lunch, shopping, walking.......

Buildings collapsed like decks of cards, people trapped in collapsed buildings, cars crushed, entire walls falling off buildings, whole buildings toppling over, roads, water pipes, gas pipes, sewerage pipes rupturing, fires erupting, Cathedral spire crumbling.......

Dark has descended and rain is now [apparently] falling, people can't get home - no transport, half the city without power,.....makeshift shelters springing up in Hagley Park, the racecourse, a school.......central city residents with nowhere to go......

This is cruel...........cruel.

Just 5 months ago Christchurch escaped their first massive 'quake with just structural damage - no lives lost. Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice huh? Just when Chch residents were beginning to settle to some normality.

Boom.

My thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to all of our Christchurch blip friends whose lives have once again been set into turmoil........

Kia kaha - be strong.