Tuesday hard to grasp, but today's a sunny day

Here are some photos from the aftermath of the quake. This is the tram we often took when we lived there; the loop went by our front door. Be careful, some pictures in the link are pretty rough. There have been, at last count, 17 aftershocks–some quite substantial–since midnight, though we haven't noticed any more here. Of course, every time a truck rumbles by, our eyes are like saucers for a few seconds. It's a lovely sunny hot day. Jim had a long go on the zip line, and we're joining Gill at uni friends for a wine and cheese tonight. It makes a nice change from the news coverage of the recovery operations. Chch Mayor Bob Parker is absolutely amazing; there are other links to some of his eloquent conversations with the media.

Also on a happy note, Rick's presentation, "Online Learning Commuities" at the University of Otago this afternoon went very well and he had quite a number of people turn up for it.

We've been in touch with the family on the North Island; Paula's bringing the car all the way from Whitianga for us. We just learned Glen and Donna had a baby girl on the day of the earthquake, so that's happy news. We've got a motel for 3 days in Hamilton before we can get in to our house in Raglan. With typical kiwi generosity, when landlords Jed and Kay heard we had to abandon plans to stay at the Halls in Christchurch, they offered for us to come stay with them at their dairy farm in Otorohanga. Karin figures she could still pull a shift or two!