Unsanitary water in Christchurch, whatttt? [Earthquake Update #6]

So normally our drinking water is AMAZING. We're probably the only city in the world with tap water as good as ours. It doesn't go through any sanitation process and is completely pure. i take not a single drop for granted, it tastes so good, especially to some other city's water that i've tried. But since the quake it hasn't been. We didn't have water for two days afterward. And the city literally has to sanitize our drinking water to make it safe to drink. As in, boil it for three minutes and then put it in the fridge to cool. And it's like "Woah, hold up. This is Christchurch, for Heaven's sake. Where's our clean water gone?" It's so weird. We went to a supermarket and people were actually buying bottled water. i never would've thought those 5 litre bottles of water would sell out. But there was the proof - a pile of boxes in the supermarket with only a handful of them left. The Pump Water bottles were mostly gone also. Yesterday our tap water was only dribbling out so it took ages to fill the saucepan up with water to boil. i was so thirsty and tried to save the water but i kept needing to drink at least half a drinkbottle in one go. And i kept wanting more and more and more.

The update today is that EVERY school in the city has been closed for ONE ENTIRE WEEK. That means no school until Monday - another five days. Thanks, Mother Nature. That's just great. COME ON. This is not cool. We only have one more week of school after this week before holidays anyway. So what, this term has consisted of 4.5 weeks of normal school and revision, a week of study leave and exams, half a week of exam results, a week of school, a week off, a week on, and three weeks off? It's crazy.

Aftershocks are ceasing which is good. We've got a bit of rain but all is good. After finding out that school was confirmed off for the rest of the week, my sister told me to come down to Dunedin to stay with her. [Somehow she found out before me..] So i'm off to Otago tomorrow morning at eight until either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. So this will probably be my last post before then.

Removal of the flagpole and Wrought Iron lattice work from the spire on top of the 110 year old Press building.

This is one of our most historic homesteads - Deans Homestead at Homebush.