moving

I didn’t feel last Saturdays quake all the way up here in Wellington apparently we did have a little 4.1 rumble that woke a lot of people up but not me, it turns out that it takes more than a earthquake to rock my world. Of course the story would have been very different if I had been down in the south island where they were literally shaken awake by a huge 7.1, which truly must have put the ‘Christ’ in Christchurch.

It’s not the first time I’ve felt close to a disaster I had just returned from London a few days before the 7 July London Bombings in 2005 and felt worried sick for the people I knew who lived their. I wasn’t on twitter back then, and I think it’s fair to say that twitter has some what given events like this a real voice. I have felt privileged to hear the fears, experiences and yes jokes that have been shared by the folks I tweet with. Twitter has made conventional news seem sterile and slow in comparison. Above is my favorite image posted on Saturday morning (I’m really sorry but I can’t track the source).

Sitting on my to-do list for the pass two months has been to write about my visit to A Craft Affair, which is hosted by the lovely Lucy the mastermind behind Felt. Lucy, Felt and A Craft Affair are all located in Christchurch so are very much in my thoughts right now this makes it seem like a fitting time to get my belated account uploaded.

My brief visit for the fair was a mix of a holiday and work. I made the decision to travel long haul by ferry and train. It turns out this was a great choice. I wrapped up warm and stood outside on the viewing platform, no Internet and 12 hours straight with the wind in my hair, it was bliss (until I tried to get a brush through my hair the next day, no joke it must have taken me half an hour to get the knots out). You know everyone tells you New Zealand is breatakingly beautiful, well they’re right but I’ll let the photos above do the talking. I very kindly got given a bed for a couple of nights in a friends, sisters house, a family home that was strangely reminiscent of staying with my aunt. I love the good will of people who welcome you into their family unit especially ones filled with such vibrant and beautiful girls all gossiping, giggling and happy. The eldest son of the family – who I privately call Jesus because people keep telling me about his carpentry skills – will I’m sure be getting a great deal of building work after everything that has happen to Christchurch I guess that’s the upside to a situation like this.

I’m surprised to say I had a really lovely time at the craft fair. Because I had decided that it was more holiday than work I didn’t let myself get to stressed and actually spent some time visiting other peoples stands. Being my second go I felt a lot less like a rabbit in the headlights and it really helped that I was sharing my table with the lovely threadmark and her friend. Her hand stitching is incredible, neater than a machine and her prices are insanely low. I managed to swap her a print for a couple of these lovely birdie brooches (above). I also got my hands on a necklace by Black Swan and a little horse pin by Hobby Horses. I managed to drop the pin on the train journey back and got alerted to the fact when the conductor announced on the tannoy that someone had left their horse in the dinning cart, I got a lot of funny looks when I went to pick it up. I had some great banter with the conductors on that train ride, they were lovely good-humoured old chaps that made the journey a pleasure. The train was running very late and when I asked them what I would do about the connecting ferry one of them took my hand and say ‘it’s alright love we’ve got a bikini and some water-skis for this sort of problem’ thankfully for all concerned this was a joke and I made the boat, just.

Anyway my visit to Christchurch was far to brief and I hope to return before I leave the country. I’m amazed every time I see the photos that no one was killed under the rubble. I hope the aftershocks die down and life can return to some kind of normal soon. If I take one thing from living here in New Zealand on a huge fault line it's, Carpe diem and I think that's always a good thing to remember.

If you've made it to the end of this post well done… here are a couple of real life accounts you can read because you clearly love reading:) Rose form Rose in thorns and Maddie from lil' magoolie