Dream a Little Dream
Seeing as we're not spending our money on a new house just yet we're planning a holiday. While getting away somewhere warm during a Christchurch winter is going to be wonderful the main point of the exercise is to have something to plan. Looking into the future at the moment is like peering into a great, grey mist so I really need to have something in the future that I can actually see happening.
It is actually a relief to decide we are not moving just yet. It makes financial and logistical sense not to be trying to sell or rent this house until our EQC claim is settled and we've got it into better (or at least more certain) condition than it is currently. Knowing we're staying put for a least a few more months also means I can get on with some of the things I've been putting off - like buying the perpetually necessary Moar Bookshelves and replacing our ten-year-old mattress.
I'm slowly getting my head around the length of time it's going to take to rebuild the things I love. Today the kids' school moved from borrowed premises to their long-term, temporary home on the same, inconvenient site. With no word on a permanent location and a long time until there's any possibility of even starting building I'm having to accept that this is going to be our "new normal" and we're going to have to find ways to make it work. I very nearly lost it when someone speculated that my nine-year-old might well see out his primary schooling in Halswell though so the road to acceptance is not going to be a smooth one.
There are lots of inconveniences that are serving to get me down as well. We've been using a chemical toilet since the start of April with still no word as to when we'll be able to flush again. Most of our neighbourhood can go now but our little street obviously needs more fixing and there's no word on when that will happen. Somehow it was OK when it was everyone but knowing those bastards round the corner can flush gives me a horrible case of "why me" (while guiltily acknowledging that we are way better off than many).
I've had a few glum moments lately as it's hit me again and again how long we're going to have to cope with make-shift arrangements and that there is no guarantee that the "new" Christchurch will live up to my hopes and I'm trying not to get sucked into swirly vertices of scary, scary rumours (I have my angry-submission pen ready for if they try to mess up the bus service though).
So these shiny brochures and swish websites showing me palm trees and waterfalls and smiling locals are doing me a power of good. it's a dream I can dream and a choice I can control.
It is actually a relief to decide we are not moving just yet. It makes financial and logistical sense not to be trying to sell or rent this house until our EQC claim is settled and we've got it into better (or at least more certain) condition than it is currently. Knowing we're staying put for a least a few more months also means I can get on with some of the things I've been putting off - like buying the perpetually necessary Moar Bookshelves and replacing our ten-year-old mattress.
I'm slowly getting my head around the length of time it's going to take to rebuild the things I love. Today the kids' school moved from borrowed premises to their long-term, temporary home on the same, inconvenient site. With no word on a permanent location and a long time until there's any possibility of even starting building I'm having to accept that this is going to be our "new normal" and we're going to have to find ways to make it work. I very nearly lost it when someone speculated that my nine-year-old might well see out his primary schooling in Halswell though so the road to acceptance is not going to be a smooth one.
There are lots of inconveniences that are serving to get me down as well. We've been using a chemical toilet since the start of April with still no word as to when we'll be able to flush again. Most of our neighbourhood can go now but our little street obviously needs more fixing and there's no word on when that will happen. Somehow it was OK when it was everyone but knowing those bastards round the corner can flush gives me a horrible case of "why me" (while guiltily acknowledging that we are way better off than many).
I've had a few glum moments lately as it's hit me again and again how long we're going to have to cope with make-shift arrangements and that there is no guarantee that the "new" Christchurch will live up to my hopes and I'm trying not to get sucked into swirly vertices of scary, scary rumours (I have my angry-submission pen ready for if they try to mess up the bus service though).
So these shiny brochures and swish websites showing me palm trees and waterfalls and smiling locals are doing me a power of good. it's a dream I can dream and a choice I can control.