Slide Show + -

We had to take down two chimneys at the vicarage. One we covered with a tarpaulin the other with spare roof tiles from the church. You can see an old playground slide we used as a chute for the bricks. The church shots show that the gap between the buildings has moved about 1 centimetre apart. The old part has a wooden floor the newer part a concrete slab. The wooden floor near the creek has also dropped half a metre while the concrete slab has cracks in it under the vinyl.

I hope that an engineer will be satisfied that the structural integrity remains and give us a green sticker even if the floor surface resembles that of a Wellington flat.

Every day seems to present itself with a new set of challenges. Thanks to the help of Dave Jefferson, Rosemary Fraser and Mark George, we managed to get the vicarage chimneys down without incident (well, one broken window!). I certainly feel a lot more secure now during the after-shocks.

Thanks to those who have returned my email and let me know that you are alright. I have made contact with most of the parish now (but still a number that I would very much like to find time to talk with) and are thankful that you are all safe despite being caught up in the events in so many ways. But I know there is also sadness from those of you who have dear friends trapped in collapsed buildings in the CBD.

I can be reached at anytime on my cell phone (027 651 4931) and I am regularly checking my emails, if you would like to make contact or talk. For me, tomorrow’s task will be to help my mother in law, Sue’s mum. We need to remove furniture etc from her ruined house before it experiences further water damage. She lives in Dallington and her house narrowly avoided damage in September – but not this time! I think the technical term is, kaput.

Sunday will be interesting and different, to say the least! Neville and I had a closer look at the church buildings and have come to the conclusion that they can not be used for public services or meetings – at least until an engineer has made an inspection (we are on the waiting list). So I propose that this Sunday we gather for our Services out on the front lawn of the Church under the old oak tree. It’s forecasted to be a nice day – so bring your picnic blankets and deck chairs (church chairs might sink into the grass). I’m quite happy to run both the 8am and the10am Service outside in the sun.

Mal