Hello Kitteh

Yesterday was an interesting day... finally allowed onto the CPIT campus for a mandatory safety briefing which included a video tour of some campus buildings with explanations on how they behaved during the earthquake. Fascinating stuff... I now have a deeper appreciation of the old ex-Ministry of Works & other industrial buildings that make up a fair amount of the polytech. Solid as, bro!

We were allowed into one of the 3 buildings that make up our part of the campus. Unfortunately the NZBS admin block & TV block are on the other side of the street and we haven't been allowed in those two buildings yet.

^^ the taller building on a lean in the background is the fabled Hotel Grand Chancellor. These shots were taken from the stairwell in P block, the one building we're allowed into for now.

At the moment, the only way into the polytech campus is a single entrance off Moorhouse Ave and everyone is required to sign in & out. The campus is surrounded by incident tape and we have been advised that we risk being arrested by the cops if we cross the boundary. The campus is currently an orange zone (limited access) that borders the red zone (no-go). Things look good for improved access soon which will be useful.

It is not only learning that this latest earthquake has disrupted... a group of graduating NZBS students met up yesterday in a Riccarton bar to celebrate their non-graduation. Although the ceremony itself had been cancelled, many of their flights and travel plans from all over the country could not be changed or refunded, so they decided to turn up and hold a reunion party anyway. I left the venue fully intending to return a little later in the evening to catch Lindon Puffin perform but when I got home, I accidentally a kitteh...

Just before I arrived home, a woman had knocked on our door and apologised to my hubby for her dog chasing our kitten up the driveway. "Not ours", he replied, and didn't think much more of it.

Sitting outside on the porch a little later having a ciggie, I heard the same squeaking noise that I've been hearing on & off for the last few days. Finally we found the source of the noise... a teeny weeny kitteh that is waaaay too young to be hanging out by itself.

Poor little thing was starving, I think it's been on its own for a few days hanging out in next door's backyard... our neighbour's old & hard of hearing and hasn't been home much lately so wouldn't have noticed it. We've checked with a few people on the street and no-one seems to know where this little bundle of fluff has come from.

We'll wait for a few days yet before trying to think of a name as someone might respond to the sign on the fencepost & claim it. A quick inspection leads us to believe it's a boy, so darling son's suggestion of "Squeakums" is definitely out. Even though it's rather appropriate at this tender age I can't imagine a grownup cat being impressed with that handle.

My large fluffy cat however, is less than impressed with the new arrival. But for now, I'm enjoying some kitteh therapy... just the thing for calming frayed post-eq nerves :)