The story continues.....
That night was bad. The aftershocks never seemed to let up, we had no toilet, no water, no power. Son and I ate a sandwich for tea, but I wasn't hungry. He ate some crisps.
We spent the night on the sofa, in the sunroom extension part of the house. The roof was light tin, and we were near the door. Son had his cellphone in one hand and his wind-up torch in the other, I had a wind-up radio/torch hubby had brought me for Christmas. We played the radio all night. We wanted to know we were not alone, that other people knew what had happened, that help would come. All night the announcer said people were coming, help was on its way, just hang on, help was coming. I knew people were still trapped. I would have cried, but I think I was too shocked.
Our street was strange, one neighbour had only just been reunited with her 5 year old son. He had been officially a missing person for 9 hours. She was fine while he was missing, making calls, comforting her 3 year old, updating her husband in who was working in Australia. Once he was found she lost it. Neighbours and friends rallied round and got her and the children a flight out to join her husband the next day.
Many people were not there, having already left the city, and most of those who spent the first night left the next day.
Son and I were stranded without any transport, and waiting for hubby to get back. We dug a deeper hole in the garden for the necessary, we put blankets over the freezer to try and keep it from defrosting, we did a food and water stock take.
Water! Ever since the first quake I had been paranoid about water. I had over 100 litres saved and stored in a number of different places. It was by no means enough, as we were without water for over a month, but it got us through those first few awful days, and by then tankers and help was arriving.
Hubby got back late that night, having restored the children to their parents. The next day he managed to retrieve our car. It took 19 days for the power to be restored, thanks to the herculean efforts of the power people, the army set up a desalination plant at the beach for water, a food distribution point was set up, and neighbours and friends rallied around.
I am not going to describe this time, we had no power, no way of knowing what was going on in the city except by radio. Our lives shrank to the round of finding water, boiling water, and distributing it to neighbours who did not have gas. Keeping clean and disease free was my prime concern. With no sanitation, disease was my biggest worry.
I want to say thank you to the friends who invited us to their house for showers, food, water and internet connections. I want to say thank you to everyone who sent food and fed us during those first few awful days. I want to say thank you to the friends who helped the girls get to Dunedin. I want to say thank you to the USAR teams who came from all over the world to help us, to those who sent money, workers or just their love. Thank you, all of you.
My diet went to pot.
Monday, 9 April 2012
The Big Quake
January 2011! The start of a new diet and a whole new way of life.
I had been a homeschooling mum for many years, and this year my youngest was off to High School for the first time. I would have no children at home during the day for the first time in 22 years. Time to change my life.
I decided I would start an education programme of my own. I wanted to learn Latin, and brush up on my maths skills. I also decided to start a Great Books reading project. I wanted a puppy to walk for exercise. This was the start of my new life. Hubby and I had decided I would have a year of grace, a year to do as I wished, and then I would go back to work.
Son started at school on Feb 2nd 2011, hubby, a teacher, had started back the week before. I was on my own. I organised what we were going to eat for tea, and settled down to my own work. 2 hours later I needed a break, and went for a walk on the beach. This was great! I could get used to this way of life!
2 weeks passed, son was settling at school, I was getting into a routine at home, and best of all I was losing weight. The paleo diet obviously suited me. The reflux had gone, and I had more energy, and felt so much more alert.
I was lurking on various forums on the internet as well, and had discovered that dairy was a huge bone of contention in paleo circles. After reading and thinking it through I decided to keep dairy in my diet. The main reason was that I love a cup of Earl Grey tea with cream! This was my big treat of the day, actually many treats of the day...
I also loved not having to count things and to be able to snack if I felt hungry. I was eating quite a lot of food and still losing weight.
The 22nd of February was a Tuesday. It started early for us because hubby was off to camp with 30 ten year olds. They were not going far, just to the Banks Peninsula, where they were to camp until Friday. As we only have one car, a neighbour whose child was in the class, picked hubby up, and later I took son to school in our car. Hubby is a teacher at son's school. There was a funny little aftershock just as I dropped son off, but we were used to them by now. I went home.
The morning was routine. I actually had to go to town, and had intended to go in the morning, but I was feeling rather lazy, and decided I would go later, and combine it with picking son up from school. This decision may well have saved my life.
I had lunch at 12.30, some left over meat from the night before, with red and green peppers. It is funny what I remember and don't remember from that day. I had finished eating, and took my plate to the sink. I then turned to get ready to go out to town. I really didn't want to go, but there was stuff I needed to get. My mind was running through the route I would take, so as to end up at school, and I picked up my purse. My sunglasses were on the kitchen counter so I went to get them, and turned to walk to the back door of the house.
As I took a step another earthquake hit. I have lived through more than 10,000 earthquakes over the last 2 years, but none of them, even the other bad ones, felt like this. I was knocked off my feet, and my mind went blank. I had a overwhelming desire to get outside and I was trying to crawl to the backdoor. I think I make have shouted, I have no idea. Things were falling around me, hitting me, and above all the noise. The earth was literally screaming, being torn apart rock by rock, the house was shaking itself to bits and above it all I could hear people in the neighbourhood crying out.
I made it to the back door, and my neighbour C called out. "Are you OK?" I called back I was and she said to go out the front and meet up. As she said that another quake hit, and we both shouted out. Then we made it to the front street. People were coming out of their houses, crying and shaken. Another big aftershock hit.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad" I said to C. We turned to look towards the city and a cloud of dust was rising. Both my daughters, and C's daughter were in town.
I went to find my mobile phone, but it was an old fashioned one, and was in pieces on the floor. With trembling hands I tried to piece it back together. The rubber behind the numbers wouldn't go in and I couldn't get the glass to fit. As I finally got it back together a text came in from daughter 2.
"I'm OK."
I have never been so glad to see a text in my life, but it wasn't enough information. What about daughter 1? Why weren't they together?
I texted back, "I'm OK too, where is E? I am going to get J"
I was torn, do I go to town and get the girls? Do I go to school and get son? My plan was flawed but was the best I could manage. I would get son, and then we would, together, find the girls.
My daughter did not get my text for another hour. It would be 3 hours before I got another text. The system was overwhelmed, cellphone towers were down, and everybody in the city was trying to call everybody else.
The drive to school was awful, the radio in the car was giving details. The mayor came on, sounding calm. "We think it came from the Peninsula", he said, "but we don't know. We have lost contact with the Peninsula."
Lost contact! Hubby was on the Peninsula! And where was daughter 1?
The rest of this day is a nightmare blur. I made it to school, I drove through floods, Across planks leading up to broken bridges, along footpaths and through playing fields. It took almost 2 hours to drive the 15-20 minute journey, and I was lucky to be going against most of the traffic. I was going towards the city. People were leaving it. As I got closer the walkers started. Covered in dust, wet from liquefaction and floods, often bloodied, they walked down the streets, dazed and shocked. As I pulled into the school carpark a text came in. It was from a number I didn't recognise, but I opened it anyway,
"I'm OK. Its bad. E"
It was from daughter 1. She was alive.
Son met me, "The girls, were the girls in the city?"
"Both alive" I said, "both alive."
Then the head teacher, and a number of parents saw me. "Have you heard from P and class 5?"
This meant they hadn't either. Nobody knew if the camp, my hubby and 30 ten year olds were fine or not.
Son and I set off home. During the journey a text came in from daughter 2.
"E with me, things are very bad. We are leaving the city. Will ring you later"
I texted back to ask were they were going but it took a number of attempts to send, and no answer came back.
Son and I had to abandon the car and finish our journey on foot. The whole time aftershock after aftershock had been rolling through.
We got home, and rang my parents in the UK. They were frantic...they had seen the news. I said we were all OK, but we still had not heard from hubby.
An hour later the phone rang. I don't understand phones...we had nothing, no power, no water, no sewage...actually that is not true...we had lots of sewage, it was just in the streets, not in the pipes....we had no services at all, and yet our old green telephone with the curly cable still worked!
It was hubby, "The girls! I have seen the city centre on the TV. How are the girls?"
"Alive, leaving the city"
He was OK, the camp kids were all fine, and they were staying there for the night. "I have just seen it," he said. He was at a house a mile or so up the valley from the camp. They had felt the quake, but being under canvas they were fine.
We were all alive, we were all OK. The girls rang later that night from a friend's farm north of Christchurch. Daughter 1 gave her story. She had been caught inside a building. Thankfully she was not alone. She, and the 3 people with her, showed such courage and resourcefulness, I am so very proud of her. She was however, trapped in the dark. She was shocked. I was so grateful she was out of the city and safe.
I am going to stop writing now. This has been cathartic to write, but I need a break. I shall write more later.
I had been a homeschooling mum for many years, and this year my youngest was off to High School for the first time. I would have no children at home during the day for the first time in 22 years. Time to change my life.
I decided I would start an education programme of my own. I wanted to learn Latin, and brush up on my maths skills. I also decided to start a Great Books reading project. I wanted a puppy to walk for exercise. This was the start of my new life. Hubby and I had decided I would have a year of grace, a year to do as I wished, and then I would go back to work.
Son started at school on Feb 2nd 2011, hubby, a teacher, had started back the week before. I was on my own. I organised what we were going to eat for tea, and settled down to my own work. 2 hours later I needed a break, and went for a walk on the beach. This was great! I could get used to this way of life!
2 weeks passed, son was settling at school, I was getting into a routine at home, and best of all I was losing weight. The paleo diet obviously suited me. The reflux had gone, and I had more energy, and felt so much more alert.
I was lurking on various forums on the internet as well, and had discovered that dairy was a huge bone of contention in paleo circles. After reading and thinking it through I decided to keep dairy in my diet. The main reason was that I love a cup of Earl Grey tea with cream! This was my big treat of the day, actually many treats of the day...
I also loved not having to count things and to be able to snack if I felt hungry. I was eating quite a lot of food and still losing weight.
The 22nd of February was a Tuesday. It started early for us because hubby was off to camp with 30 ten year olds. They were not going far, just to the Banks Peninsula, where they were to camp until Friday. As we only have one car, a neighbour whose child was in the class, picked hubby up, and later I took son to school in our car. Hubby is a teacher at son's school. There was a funny little aftershock just as I dropped son off, but we were used to them by now. I went home.
The morning was routine. I actually had to go to town, and had intended to go in the morning, but I was feeling rather lazy, and decided I would go later, and combine it with picking son up from school. This decision may well have saved my life.
I had lunch at 12.30, some left over meat from the night before, with red and green peppers. It is funny what I remember and don't remember from that day. I had finished eating, and took my plate to the sink. I then turned to get ready to go out to town. I really didn't want to go, but there was stuff I needed to get. My mind was running through the route I would take, so as to end up at school, and I picked up my purse. My sunglasses were on the kitchen counter so I went to get them, and turned to walk to the back door of the house.
As I took a step another earthquake hit. I have lived through more than 10,000 earthquakes over the last 2 years, but none of them, even the other bad ones, felt like this. I was knocked off my feet, and my mind went blank. I had a overwhelming desire to get outside and I was trying to crawl to the backdoor. I think I make have shouted, I have no idea. Things were falling around me, hitting me, and above all the noise. The earth was literally screaming, being torn apart rock by rock, the house was shaking itself to bits and above it all I could hear people in the neighbourhood crying out.
I made it to the back door, and my neighbour C called out. "Are you OK?" I called back I was and she said to go out the front and meet up. As she said that another quake hit, and we both shouted out. Then we made it to the front street. People were coming out of their houses, crying and shaken. Another big aftershock hit.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad" I said to C. We turned to look towards the city and a cloud of dust was rising. Both my daughters, and C's daughter were in town.
I went to find my mobile phone, but it was an old fashioned one, and was in pieces on the floor. With trembling hands I tried to piece it back together. The rubber behind the numbers wouldn't go in and I couldn't get the glass to fit. As I finally got it back together a text came in from daughter 2.
"I'm OK."
I have never been so glad to see a text in my life, but it wasn't enough information. What about daughter 1? Why weren't they together?
I texted back, "I'm OK too, where is E? I am going to get J"
I was torn, do I go to town and get the girls? Do I go to school and get son? My plan was flawed but was the best I could manage. I would get son, and then we would, together, find the girls.
My daughter did not get my text for another hour. It would be 3 hours before I got another text. The system was overwhelmed, cellphone towers were down, and everybody in the city was trying to call everybody else.
The drive to school was awful, the radio in the car was giving details. The mayor came on, sounding calm. "We think it came from the Peninsula", he said, "but we don't know. We have lost contact with the Peninsula."
Lost contact! Hubby was on the Peninsula! And where was daughter 1?
The rest of this day is a nightmare blur. I made it to school, I drove through floods, Across planks leading up to broken bridges, along footpaths and through playing fields. It took almost 2 hours to drive the 15-20 minute journey, and I was lucky to be going against most of the traffic. I was going towards the city. People were leaving it. As I got closer the walkers started. Covered in dust, wet from liquefaction and floods, often bloodied, they walked down the streets, dazed and shocked. As I pulled into the school carpark a text came in. It was from a number I didn't recognise, but I opened it anyway,
"I'm OK. Its bad. E"
It was from daughter 1. She was alive.
Son met me, "The girls, were the girls in the city?"
"Both alive" I said, "both alive."
Then the head teacher, and a number of parents saw me. "Have you heard from P and class 5?"
This meant they hadn't either. Nobody knew if the camp, my hubby and 30 ten year olds were fine or not.
Son and I set off home. During the journey a text came in from daughter 2.
"E with me, things are very bad. We are leaving the city. Will ring you later"
I texted back to ask were they were going but it took a number of attempts to send, and no answer came back.
Son and I had to abandon the car and finish our journey on foot. The whole time aftershock after aftershock had been rolling through.
We got home, and rang my parents in the UK. They were frantic...they had seen the news. I said we were all OK, but we still had not heard from hubby.
An hour later the phone rang. I don't understand phones...we had nothing, no power, no water, no sewage...actually that is not true...we had lots of sewage, it was just in the streets, not in the pipes....we had no services at all, and yet our old green telephone with the curly cable still worked!
It was hubby, "The girls! I have seen the city centre on the TV. How are the girls?"
"Alive, leaving the city"
He was OK, the camp kids were all fine, and they were staying there for the night. "I have just seen it," he said. He was at a house a mile or so up the valley from the camp. They had felt the quake, but being under canvas they were fine.
We were all alive, we were all OK. The girls rang later that night from a friend's farm north of Christchurch. Daughter 1 gave her story. She had been caught inside a building. Thankfully she was not alone. She, and the 3 people with her, showed such courage and resourcefulness, I am so very proud of her. She was however, trapped in the dark. She was shocked. I was so grateful she was out of the city and safe.
I am going to stop writing now. This has been cathartic to write, but I need a break. I shall write more later.
Things I have learnt about diets.
I am determined to finish this back story today. So I shall keep going until it is done.
Last post, I had just set off to the UK after the Christmas 2010 quakes.
My dad was recovering from surgery after his diagnosis of esophageal cancer. He had suffered from heartburn (acid reflux) for years.
I also suffered from heartburn and I did not want to get esophageal cancer.
We had a lovely holiday, and I managed to find a gap in the snow to fly in and out of the UK. I didn't diet while I was there, I was on holiday after all! Dad was getting steadily better, and it was great to escape from the aftershocks for a while. People asked me about the quakes, and I answered cheerfully. Yes, it had been quite an experience, but no-one had been killed and Christchurch had come through rather well all told. Yes, we had lost a few old buildings, but most of our heritage buildings had been strengthened and were fine.
I flew back home, and the next day hubby and son went off camping for the weekend, leaving me home alone to get over the jet-lag. I spent hours on the computer researching (yet again) diets. This was hardly the first time. I am a reader and had read just about every diet book in the library! I had tried most of them, from 'Stop the Insanity', a very low fat diet, through to Atkins original, a very high fat diet! I had counted calories, carbs, points and 'sins'. I had eaten only beans, grapefruit, salads and nothing at all (intermittent fasting!) Most had worked, at least in the short term. I learned a lot about myself though.
I learnt (in no particular order):
I get very miserable if I have to count things.
If you make a special portion of something for yourself, your family is sure to want some.
Low fat diets make me very very very grumpy.
Very low fat diets make me put on weight.
Atkins makes me feel great.
Sugar makes my legs itch and my feet hurt.
Bread is yummy, I love diets that let you eat bread.
Bread leads to eating more bread which leads to eating more bread.....
Bean diets make you f***
ALL DIETS MAKE YOU FAT
This last was the most important. I had gone from 11 stone to 16 and a half stone since I had been dieting. Yet not dieting was also not an option. I couldn't carry on like this, it wasn't safe to be this fat. Not health wise, not earthquake wise.
So what to do?
I decided to concentrate on the reflux. After all I seriously did not want esophageal cancer, and acid reflux is a causal factor (only one of many but still....). So I did a search for diets that prevented reflux.
Consistently Atkins and low carbing and in particular, the Paleo Diet, came up, with people enthusing about how their low carb diet had cured their heartburn and reflux. So I read all I could about low carb diets. I ordered various books from the library and discovered there are 2 basic versions of low carb. Paleo which seems to be based on real foods (although there are a number of sub sects arguing WHICH real foods) and the others which count carbs but allow artificial sweeteners/low carb bars/protein powders/etc.
I decided to try paleo because it seemed more 'natural' and (and this is the real reason) a lot cheaper!
Meat is comparatively cheap in NZ, and the vast majority of it is grass fed. You can get 'grain fed' beef, but it is on the top shelf and more expensive. And Christchurch is surrounded by market gardens.
Meat and veg. Easy!
Last post, I had just set off to the UK after the Christmas 2010 quakes.
My dad was recovering from surgery after his diagnosis of esophageal cancer. He had suffered from heartburn (acid reflux) for years.
I also suffered from heartburn and I did not want to get esophageal cancer.
We had a lovely holiday, and I managed to find a gap in the snow to fly in and out of the UK. I didn't diet while I was there, I was on holiday after all! Dad was getting steadily better, and it was great to escape from the aftershocks for a while. People asked me about the quakes, and I answered cheerfully. Yes, it had been quite an experience, but no-one had been killed and Christchurch had come through rather well all told. Yes, we had lost a few old buildings, but most of our heritage buildings had been strengthened and were fine.
I flew back home, and the next day hubby and son went off camping for the weekend, leaving me home alone to get over the jet-lag. I spent hours on the computer researching (yet again) diets. This was hardly the first time. I am a reader and had read just about every diet book in the library! I had tried most of them, from 'Stop the Insanity', a very low fat diet, through to Atkins original, a very high fat diet! I had counted calories, carbs, points and 'sins'. I had eaten only beans, grapefruit, salads and nothing at all (intermittent fasting!) Most had worked, at least in the short term. I learned a lot about myself though.
I learnt (in no particular order):
I get very miserable if I have to count things.
If you make a special portion of something for yourself, your family is sure to want some.
Low fat diets make me very very very grumpy.
Very low fat diets make me put on weight.
Atkins makes me feel great.
Sugar makes my legs itch and my feet hurt.
Bread is yummy, I love diets that let you eat bread.
Bread leads to eating more bread which leads to eating more bread.....
Bean diets make you f***
ALL DIETS MAKE YOU FAT
This last was the most important. I had gone from 11 stone to 16 and a half stone since I had been dieting. Yet not dieting was also not an option. I couldn't carry on like this, it wasn't safe to be this fat. Not health wise, not earthquake wise.
So what to do?
I decided to concentrate on the reflux. After all I seriously did not want esophageal cancer, and acid reflux is a causal factor (only one of many but still....). So I did a search for diets that prevented reflux.
Consistently Atkins and low carbing and in particular, the Paleo Diet, came up, with people enthusing about how their low carb diet had cured their heartburn and reflux. So I read all I could about low carb diets. I ordered various books from the library and discovered there are 2 basic versions of low carb. Paleo which seems to be based on real foods (although there are a number of sub sects arguing WHICH real foods) and the others which count carbs but allow artificial sweeteners/low carb bars/protein powders/etc.
I decided to try paleo because it seemed more 'natural' and (and this is the real reason) a lot cheaper!
Meat is comparatively cheap in NZ, and the vast majority of it is grass fed. You can get 'grain fed' beef, but it is on the top shelf and more expensive. And Christchurch is surrounded by market gardens.
Meat and veg. Easy!
Sunday, 8 April 2012
More about earthquakes.
What happened next.
I finished the last post with me under the table and the aftershocks continuing.
After a few hours we decided to head back home. We knew by then there was no tsunami expected, and we wanted to get back to see how the house was and if the cats had turned up.
We had stuff everywhere, but the house itself seemed intact, and best of all, all 3 cats were waiting for us at the gate. The aftershocks continued, and we settled down to sort and tidy and think about sanitation. The obvious solution was a long drop so we set about digging one, and we did a check of water and food.
I had not allowed enough water, and it was obvious the 5 litres I had stored was not going to be enough. One needs water to wash hands and food, cook food and wash up as well as drink. However a neighbour had some extra water which they gave us, and we had a gas stove so we made hot drinks for all.
It took 3 days for us to get our power back and about the same for the water. We thought we were great survivors! We had come through the big quake and no-one had been killed. We had been tested and come through triumphant.
I started looking up diets. At the same time I gave up sugar and all sweeteners. I lost a few pounds, but nothing dramatic.
The aftershocks continued, and we even celebrated when we had experienced 1000 of them. We had party tea, and I ate the food. I went back to sugar free the next day though.
Then my parents rang with the news my Dad had esophageal cancer. He was going in for an operation just before Christmas, and could I come? I booked a flight for early January 2011
It was Christmas, and then I was going off to the UK. How much dieting could I do anyway? I decided I would think about it when I got back!
Christmas 2010 went well, and the Boxing Day sales opened bright and early the next day. They came to an abrupt halt at 10.30am. A 4.9 quake hit the city. I know...only a 4.9, what could be the problem? Remind me to tell you about the various earthquake scales and just how useless the Richter Scale is for predicting damage in an earthquake. This one was shallow, and right under the city.
It also split our water main...which turned out to be quite lucky in the long run. As soon as the holiday was over it was mended with a new, bright blue, bendy pipe. And I flew off to the UK.
To be continued....please check back later.
I finished the last post with me under the table and the aftershocks continuing.
After a few hours we decided to head back home. We knew by then there was no tsunami expected, and we wanted to get back to see how the house was and if the cats had turned up.
We had stuff everywhere, but the house itself seemed intact, and best of all, all 3 cats were waiting for us at the gate. The aftershocks continued, and we settled down to sort and tidy and think about sanitation. The obvious solution was a long drop so we set about digging one, and we did a check of water and food.
I had not allowed enough water, and it was obvious the 5 litres I had stored was not going to be enough. One needs water to wash hands and food, cook food and wash up as well as drink. However a neighbour had some extra water which they gave us, and we had a gas stove so we made hot drinks for all.
It took 3 days for us to get our power back and about the same for the water. We thought we were great survivors! We had come through the big quake and no-one had been killed. We had been tested and come through triumphant.
I started looking up diets. At the same time I gave up sugar and all sweeteners. I lost a few pounds, but nothing dramatic.
The aftershocks continued, and we even celebrated when we had experienced 1000 of them. We had party tea, and I ate the food. I went back to sugar free the next day though.
Then my parents rang with the news my Dad had esophageal cancer. He was going in for an operation just before Christmas, and could I come? I booked a flight for early January 2011
It was Christmas, and then I was going off to the UK. How much dieting could I do anyway? I decided I would think about it when I got back!
Christmas 2010 went well, and the Boxing Day sales opened bright and early the next day. They came to an abrupt halt at 10.30am. A 4.9 quake hit the city. I know...only a 4.9, what could be the problem? Remind me to tell you about the various earthquake scales and just how useless the Richter Scale is for predicting damage in an earthquake. This one was shallow, and right under the city.
It also split our water main...which turned out to be quite lucky in the long run. As soon as the holiday was over it was mended with a new, bright blue, bendy pipe. And I flew off to the UK.
To be continued....please check back later.
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Earthquake!!
What happened next!
Soon after I had turned off the light, everything started to move. I live in New Zealand so this was hardly the first earthquake I had ever felt. But this one was different.
It started steadily, and was quite strong. I lay still and thought "this is quite a quake" Then it started to die away. Just as I was wondering if it had woken everybody else, it picked up again.
Strongly.
By now things were flying off shelves. My hubby was shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. Son was shouting "I'm OK! The books are falling off but I'm OK!" No noise from daughter 2's room. Daughter 1 was overseas.
As soon as it stopped, I shouted for everyone to come to me. Thankfully everyone was OK. I tried to put the light on but the power had gone. Son had his cellphone, and we lit a candle.
I'm not sure who mentioned Tsunami first, but within minutes were we in the car. We live on a sand dune, right at the coast, so we headed inland. As we went over the bridge we came down into water. Remember it was night time, dark and the power was off so no streetlights. We knew there had not been a tsunami, as we had come from the coast, so we assumed it was broken water mains. We carried on through water, past broken roads, and people standing out on the street, we finally made it to some friends.
I spent the next few hours lying on my back, under their table, whilst the earth rolled beneath us. My family and the friends were out and about as soon as it got light, the water was coming up from the ground through what looked like small grey volcanoes. Grey silt was everywhere. Aftershocks rolled through continuously. As I lay under the table, in pain from my back, my family and friends kept coming to check on me.
I was very miserable. I realised that I was the big fat problem in all of this. I knew that if I was not so fat my back would have a better chance of recovery. I had had an accident about 5 years before this story starts, and that had resulted in an operation that left me walking with sticks at first. I no longer used a stick, but I limped and I was very heavy.
I always thought of myself as the person who would cope well in a difficult situation. And there we were, my family out and about helping people, checking on people, organising food, water and sanitation, and what was I doing? Lying on the floor under a table whilst people popped back to check on me.
So I made a decision there and then.
Time to lose the weight, once and for all.
Soon after I had turned off the light, everything started to move. I live in New Zealand so this was hardly the first earthquake I had ever felt. But this one was different.
It started steadily, and was quite strong. I lay still and thought "this is quite a quake" Then it started to die away. Just as I was wondering if it had woken everybody else, it picked up again.
Strongly.
By now things were flying off shelves. My hubby was shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. Son was shouting "I'm OK! The books are falling off but I'm OK!" No noise from daughter 2's room. Daughter 1 was overseas.
As soon as it stopped, I shouted for everyone to come to me. Thankfully everyone was OK. I tried to put the light on but the power had gone. Son had his cellphone, and we lit a candle.
I'm not sure who mentioned Tsunami first, but within minutes were we in the car. We live on a sand dune, right at the coast, so we headed inland. As we went over the bridge we came down into water. Remember it was night time, dark and the power was off so no streetlights. We knew there had not been a tsunami, as we had come from the coast, so we assumed it was broken water mains. We carried on through water, past broken roads, and people standing out on the street, we finally made it to some friends.
I spent the next few hours lying on my back, under their table, whilst the earth rolled beneath us. My family and the friends were out and about as soon as it got light, the water was coming up from the ground through what looked like small grey volcanoes. Grey silt was everywhere. Aftershocks rolled through continuously. As I lay under the table, in pain from my back, my family and friends kept coming to check on me.
I was very miserable. I realised that I was the big fat problem in all of this. I knew that if I was not so fat my back would have a better chance of recovery. I had had an accident about 5 years before this story starts, and that had resulted in an operation that left me walking with sticks at first. I no longer used a stick, but I limped and I was very heavy.
I always thought of myself as the person who would cope well in a difficult situation. And there we were, my family out and about helping people, checking on people, organising food, water and sanitation, and what was I doing? Lying on the floor under a table whilst people popped back to check on me.
So I made a decision there and then.
Time to lose the weight, once and for all.
Weight gain. How did I get fat?
Weight gain...the history! How did I get fat?
I was a skinny child, the sort parents and doctors worried about. I grew up thin, I did things like kayaking and hill walking. I got married and we honeymooned on Skye in Scotland, and climbed mountains.
I had a baby, and put on a bit of weight. I had another baby and put on a little more weight. Not much, just a few pounds, however it bothered me. So I joined a slimming club.....
20 years and another baby later I was about 16 and a half stone, 105 kg, about 230 pounds or so. I don't know my top weight, I wasn't weighing!
Then it dawned on me, (I know...it took 20 years....) every diet I did I got fatter. So I stopped dieting, and stopped putting on weight, but sadly I didn't lose any either.
So there I was heavy but reasonably happy. I wore the big shirts, and anyway I wasn't really all that big, was I? Just a little plump. Anyway, I'm quite tall, I carry it well. You all know how it goes I'm sure....
Then in July 2010 my son and I went to the UK to visit my parents. Son had not seen his grandparents for 7 years. We had a wonderful time, visiting Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, London, and so on. It was also my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Obviously we took a lot of photos.
And in them all was this big fat woman who looked a bit like me! I wasn't that fat, surely?
Photo, son and me at Stonehenge.
We arrived back in New Zealand on the 31st of August 2010. I spent the next few days being awake at night and dozing through the day.
On the 3rd September we had a load of logs delivered. I helped stack them, but then I tweaked my back. As I had had a back operation several years ago, I took it seriously and went and lay down. That evening the back was sore, so I took pain killers and went to bed. I woke at about 2am wide awake and with a sore back. So I got up and made a cup of tea. After I had drunk it, I settled on the living room sofa, under a rug. I put the light out.
Almost as soon as I had done this, my world changed forever.
I was a skinny child, the sort parents and doctors worried about. I grew up thin, I did things like kayaking and hill walking. I got married and we honeymooned on Skye in Scotland, and climbed mountains.
I had a baby, and put on a bit of weight. I had another baby and put on a little more weight. Not much, just a few pounds, however it bothered me. So I joined a slimming club.....
20 years and another baby later I was about 16 and a half stone, 105 kg, about 230 pounds or so. I don't know my top weight, I wasn't weighing!
Then it dawned on me, (I know...it took 20 years....) every diet I did I got fatter. So I stopped dieting, and stopped putting on weight, but sadly I didn't lose any either.
So there I was heavy but reasonably happy. I wore the big shirts, and anyway I wasn't really all that big, was I? Just a little plump. Anyway, I'm quite tall, I carry it well. You all know how it goes I'm sure....
Then in July 2010 my son and I went to the UK to visit my parents. Son had not seen his grandparents for 7 years. We had a wonderful time, visiting Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, London, and so on. It was also my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Obviously we took a lot of photos.
And in them all was this big fat woman who looked a bit like me! I wasn't that fat, surely?
Photo, son and me at Stonehenge.
We arrived back in New Zealand on the 31st of August 2010. I spent the next few days being awake at night and dozing through the day.
On the 3rd September we had a load of logs delivered. I helped stack them, but then I tweaked my back. As I had had a back operation several years ago, I took it seriously and went and lay down. That evening the back was sore, so I took pain killers and went to bed. I woke at about 2am wide awake and with a sore back. So I got up and made a cup of tea. After I had drunk it, I settled on the living room sofa, under a rug. I put the light out.
Almost as soon as I had done this, my world changed forever.
Friday, 6 April 2012
First Post. Welcome.
Hello!
Every weight loss blog I have ever read has started by saying "I wish I had started blogging earlier" or something similar.
I want to say the same!
How do we know that this time it will be different, this time we will have success to report? We don't, of course. And so many of us are so destroyed by the yo yo life of the yo yo dieter that we often don't even tell our nearest and dearest that we are going to try and lose weight.
Again.
But this time, for me, it was different. Why? There are many reason why, but this time all those reasons came together in a pattern that allowed me to lose weight. My journey is far from over, but, surprisingly, it has become fun! Please join me, and let us journey on together.
Every weight loss blog I have ever read has started by saying "I wish I had started blogging earlier" or something similar.
I want to say the same!
How do we know that this time it will be different, this time we will have success to report? We don't, of course. And so many of us are so destroyed by the yo yo life of the yo yo dieter that we often don't even tell our nearest and dearest that we are going to try and lose weight.
Again.
But this time, for me, it was different. Why? There are many reason why, but this time all those reasons came together in a pattern that allowed me to lose weight. My journey is far from over, but, surprisingly, it has become fun! Please join me, and let us journey on together.
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