Working for a Living

Turdus philomelos

I often find broken snail shells on the path and have wondered who is responsible. Today I looked out of a window and saw a young song thrush bashing a snail against the bricks at the edge of the path. By the time I'd fetched my camera the snail was out of the shell. With my camera set to burst shooting I took over 100 shots, none of which was particularly good. The old window has a flaw in the wrong place, but mostly it was because the thrush was not still for a moment. The snail was too big to swallow so it was shaken vigorously for more than four minutes, by which time it was long and thin.


Today is the second anniversary of Christchurch's devastating earthquake. So much has changed in that time. Most of the central business area has been demolished and the rebuild has only just started. Of the 10,000 homes that were badly damaged not a lot of progress has been made. A lot are still being lived in, despite the cracks, tilts, liquefaction silt, mould and dysfunctional toilets. Most people had insurance, but two years on (two and a half for some) 73% of the claims have not been processed.

It has been a very hard time for Christchurch people. There have been more than 11,000 earthquakes (two moderate ones today). The government has ways of kicking them when they are down. They support each other and try to look to the future. They call this "the new normal."