Cottage Chaos

On Tuesday after the quake, the outside of the Cottage looked fine as we approached.  There was some minor cracking and liquefaction on the footpath outside.

Cracking and liquefaction on Nova Place footpath

We opened the back door into the kitchen and were confronted with a mess!

Mess in the kitchen after quake

This photo is blurry – I expect I was shaking – but it should be good enough for insurance purposes.  That green box you can see contained eggs, and none of them was broken.  We had glass canisters which contained things like lentils, rice, and sultanas, and they were all smashed together on the floor.  A bottle of pomegranate molasses had also smashed making a nasty mess.  Molly’s bikky container had fallen on to the blue tray (left), and there were shards of glass among the bikkies so I thought it was safest to throw them out.  I put them into the worm farm, and hope that the worms won’t now all have slit throats. 

Stephen crunched through to get a broom, then swept enough of the debris away that we could walk into the dining room. 

Smashed china in dining room

Some of our better china is stored here.  The cupboard doors had burst open and china and glasses had fallen out.  My thirty-year-old Noritake dinner set had eight cups and saucers on Monday.  Now it has three cups and two saucers.  China that was my mother’s, grandmother’s, and great-grandmother’s was in a locked cabinet with glass doors, and though things had fallen over, nothing there was broken.

More dining room mess

Books and dvds had also spilled out everywhere here and in the lounge.  Four days later we’re still picking shards of glass out of the carpet.  Eventually we will vacuum, but we want to tidy all the rooms first.

With no power, water, or sewerage a first priority was a toilet.  We have a strong compost bucket with a lid, so we started to use that, and bury the waste in a hole in the garden.

Our emergency toilet system

We’d replaced much of our stored water since the September quake and had plenty in two litre milk containers.  I thought it was a great idea to use these for storage because they have a date on them.  A friend told me they’re not recommended as water containers because components from the plastic will leach into the water, but so far we’ve had no problem drinking the water out of them.  After yesterday’s rain we have half a dozen buckets of rainwater which we can use for washing if need be.

We always have good stocks of   food and other essentials, and we had a portable gas ring which we were able to use for cooking.  This is old and the 4kg bottle it uses can only be refilled at the gas company.  By yesterday the gas was running low so we ventured out in the car for the first time.  At Bunnings in Tower Junction we purchased a new gas ring and two full ten kg bottles, which would probably last us a month or more.  When we got home we found that electricity had been restored, but we are very glad to have the gas in case of future need.

Stephen often cooks several meals at a time and we have enough in the freezer to last for quite a while.  When the electricity was restored the freezer was starting to leak a little water, but everything in it was still frozen.  While we were out yesterday we stocked up on potatoes and onions.  So that’s how we are in our home, self sufficient for a few weeks if need be.