They arrived with cheery smiles, wheelbarrows, shovels, and we had not even a cup of tea to offer.  Undeterred, they began shovelling the ghastly grey sand the earth throws up.  They were members of the "Farmy Army," which my sister misheard as "Barmy Army" so I hissed a correction in case they were offended.
As the three men and one woman trooped into my sister Marnie's Avonside back yard, I noted that one man was trailing another, clutching his mate's elbow.  Peeping out of the window while wrapping and boxing ornaments, I saw this man was plainly blind, his eyes closed. He shovelled.  With sister Mary and family having already done much shovelling on the site, the group soon moved to another property. 
I felt very sad that with no water and no power, I could not whip up a reviving drink.  As well as offering a small thanks, I would have loved to hear their stories.
Just over a week after the devastating Feb 22 earthquake, Christchurch is a city of countless stories.  Some are funny, some heartwarming, some shocking (and I'm thinking of the looters) but most are heartbreaking.  Like many Cantabrians, I know someone who didn't come home for dinner on Feb 22.  Again, I am reminded that life is so often not 'fair' and that every day it is good to smell some roses.
A friend has been smelling the roses and has set up a fan site for Jeremy, the guy that provides sign language services on TV.  Within four days the site has around 16,000 fans! Even the mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, pointed out that people think Jeremy is 'hot' and poor Jeremy had to 'sign' his own complement! Then, he had to 'sign' that something was 'buggered.'  Truly, the mind boggles.  Wish I'd seen it.
My Mum said she likes Jeremy.  I didn't want to know if she found him 'hot.' She referred to him as the deaf guy, and was surprised when I pointed out he can't be deaf, on account of him having to hear what to translate.  Sharp, Ma, sharp.

As our thoughts turn again to those heroes involved in the recovery efforts in the city, I think of these words from U2's I Will Follow.

"I was on the inside
when they pulled the four walls down,
I was looking through the window
I was lost, I am found..."