Early morning

I make time in the morning to get out and enjoy the landscape I'm privileged to be living in. I pass to the left of the tall copse of pines and then onto a quiet side ride where the Alpacas live. Yes Alpacas not Llamas as I said a couple of days ago.

I've had a busy and at times frustrating day. Just technical stuff that seemed to fill my work and personal time. I'll let my stuff go for a while and have another go at the work issues tomorrow.

The air con came on just before 4pm. It was 28 degrees outside, not sure what it was inside but we were glad. We'd all been issued our ice blocks minutes before :-)

Today I've been thinking of colleagues, a brother and sister who live on a family farm in North Canterbury with several dwellings. They did well in the 7.8 last week, but their parent's historic limestone home was red stickered in last evening's 5.8 quake centred near their farm.

For the uninitiated green, yellow or red stickers are applied to buildings after early post-quake assessments. Red isn't good. They can't enter their home again because it's too structurally unsafe. Today they were with their Mum and Dad as they work out what to do. It's so hard for them because they've had a drought for a long time too.

Last week it seemed the parents historic homestead had escaped damage because the main energy of the the 7.8 quake traveled north. This week it's a different fault. It's sobering.

Day 15 positive: Early morning was glorious and I'm glad I was part of it.