Sunday evening(13/11/2016) after a busy day, I went off to bed at about 10:30 not knowing what the night would bring two hours later.
I woke up just after 12 o’clock. My bed was swaying, Trompie picked up his head. I felt the bed moving and the walls shaking. It sounded as if the house was going to collapse. Then Trompie gave a fierce bark. Earthquake! We jumped out of bed. I did not switch on the light and told Trompie to get out of the way. He kept close to me. I stood in the passage waiting for the worst.The shaking subsided. I decided to go into the bathroom because nature was calling.
It kept on rolling underneath. We went back to bed. Then my border came out of his room. He got a message from his wife near Christchurch asking how he was. He told me that it had been the worst quake he had experienced.
We went back to bed. The whole night aftershocks kept on rolling underneath. One of my pot plants had tumbled to the floor, and my books on my bookshelf moved and nearly tumbled off.
Monday morning my alarm went off. I did my usual morning rituals. My border told me that he could not go into Wellington. The news on the radio said that no trains were running and the roads into Wellington were closed down.
Just after seven I received a call that there would be no Before School Care but the school would be open. I told the secretary that I would anyway go in case some parents had not received the message.
It is about a ten minutes drive to school from my home. I arrived just before 7:30 am. At 7:45 am a board member came to check the building. He brought his two young children with him. While he checked the school, I kept an eye on the two boys. Then a parent turned up with his little girl. He had not read the message about no Before school care. I told him it would be okay; I would look after her and keep her safe.
Teachers started to arrive just before eight.
I went home at 8:15. Aftershocks kept coming and going. I went back to After School Care in the afternoon. There were twelve children till about 4.30 that afternoon.
Tuesday morning I went back for Before School care. It was wet; heavy torrential rain kept pouring down. I was so tired and did not feel up to going back for the afternoon session. Lucky for me the school called, I did not need to come because most children were picked up before lunch time. The rain caused havoc with flooding and causing slips on the roads. Wellington was cut off. In the meantime, more earthquakes kept on coming and going. Two strong quakes shook us at 1.15 and 1.30 pm.
Now it is Wednesday evening; we survived another exciting day of tremors and a bit of dry weather. I am happy to say that I am well but tired. Looking after children and keeping them all safe and happy for the last three days was very stressful.
