a practice run

wednesday morning me and calix dragged our weary heads off the pillow and trundled into the lounge. i was supposed to have organised a picnic for some kids but the weather was looking like we'd have to cancel, again. i turned on the internet to check my mail.
nothing much in my inbox, i flicked to the weather. as i thought- rain.
while i was waiting for the kettle to boil i clicked on stuff- a kiwi news website. the headline reads:
TSUNAMI WARNING
almost similtaneously the phone rings. it's my girlfriend lina. she also lives at the beach, on the beach front. she knows we don't have a telly and so potentially, i don't know the news. -check it out, she says.
an enormous earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit samoa that morning. the wave would arrive on my beach in 2 1/2 hours. enough time for coffee....
i searched further.
they were predicting the wave to be 1m high.
at low tide, this would just be a surge.
at high tide, this would mean a lot of extra water.
i searched further.
the civil defence website suggests staying away from the beach, estuaries and rivermouths. like, pretty much where we live.
i tuned into the radio to try and get some updates. there was an idiot going on about it 'only being 1m, why wasn't anyone out surfing'. obviously this guy didn't live at the beach! i tuned out.
second coffee and time for action. but what do i take? i know pascal and i had spend a whole evening talking about this, but now, well, there was a wave on the way....
i made a pile of clothes for calix; nappies, toiletries and other essentials. i packed the cameras, computer and hard drive into a box. i went to the garage to get my old back pack out of retirement- one more adventure ahead...
i looked around: 1m of water wouldn't destroy our house, necessarily. but a metre of seawater and debri in the garage where all our books are stored would be devastating... and then i looked at the garden: wow, 1m of saltwater would completely take out the vege garden, and leave it that way for some time too. and the chickens? do i take them? and if i take the chickens, do i take the cat????
so in my demi-panic i settled on taking just our digital memories and enough stuff to keep capt c sorted. i shoved it all in the car and headed to my folks', inland two-storey house.
they'd not even seen the news and were quite surprised with my call
-hi, can we come to yours?
-yes, of course. what's up?
-there's a tsunami warning. i'll be there in a bit...

but no one else was preparing themselves.

the wave had arrived in the north island and while they evacuated some low-lying shore front areas the wave was little more than an unexpected hightide. for us.
for the poor folk in samoa it's another story.

strange, though. the things i thought important. obviously we were under no real threat. we weren't expecting a 3m wall of water like in samoa. but the prospect of leaving my home, of having to decide what i would take... well, i'm pleased i've had a good practice now. i know that we're (mostly) prepared.

xx
mama b