I Get Going And You Never Know Where I’ll End Up – Valerie Hall

I Get Going And You Never Know Where I’ll End Up Valerie Hall

And Kindness Lay All About

Stories from the Christchurch Earthquakes

Š

Glenn Busch

Valerie Hall

Valerie Hall. Yes, I call myself Valerie when I’m on the telephone and if I introduce myself it’s Valerie, but everybody seems to shorten it. Val

this Val that, they all do it. I have no idea why. David’s the same. But look, here’s me already off the track, we’re supposed to be talking about the earthquakes right. Okay, next question.

Middle of the night it was. I heard it first. Heard it coming. It was

all very immediate. I just leaped, jumped straight out of bed. I knew

that Jackson—that’s my grandson—was at the other end of the house so I ran for him. We had the big log fire going—pop out there you’ll

see it—that big brick wall behind it and I thought if that came down

and fire came out… anyway, when I got there he was sound asleep and I pulled him out and tucked him underneath the doorway.

‘Nana,’ he’s saying, ‘Nana, let me out.’

‘No way,’ I said, ‘no, no, no, not till the house stops shaking.’

So later one of the neighbours with her two children knocked on

the door and she said, ‘Can I have sanctuary please?’ She didn’t have a

torch and getting here she’d fallen over where the ground was uneven.

We got her in here and we had no electricity but the fire was still going we could boil up some water on top. Didn’t take long to get a cup of

tea going. We were actually fine until the daylight and then David went out and had a look at the house and we couldn’t believe what

1

had happened. Really, it was just so out of the blue. Very devastating, but you know we lived in the North Island as well and we knew what earthquakes were. I wasn’t too worried at the time because the house

was very strong. When David bought this house forty or more years ago it was weatherboard and the weatherboards were so good he was

going to plaster them. He was building on the back as well and he’d taken three months off work to do the job. But then the plaster didn’t

turn up and so he went out and bought Hardiplank and he put it all

the way around the house and that’s basically what has saved our home here, plus all the joinery inside it which was made by the man who built the house.

It was strong. The foundations were strong, but it still took the

whole front off with the force of it. Oh and there’s now a huge

sinkhole just under here as well. The rest of the house was fine though and so we thought it was fixable, that was the September one. We had

broken crockery and all that carry on but, you know, at that stage it wasn’t too much.

David and I went overseas in October of 2010 and we didn’t get

back until January of 2011. We nearly didn’t go—I nearly cancelled it—but we had to go. David’s niece was having her first baby and she’d

asked if we would come if that ever happened. That was back in 2006, and we’d said yes, we would go. It was a promise we didn’t think we

could break. David’s sister died tragically just before her daughter’s

wedding, it was all pretty awful for her. We needed to go, even though we didn’t like leaving, but I mean any earthquake we’ve ever had is just one—maybe two. Before I left I put towels around everything and

2

blocked everything up so it couldn’t fall out if there was another one.

Just to be sure.

I must say when we left last October we didn’t think for a moment

things were going to go from bad to worse. We got on the plane…. oh, I must say this—we got on the plane and the hostess said, ‘Which

part of Christchurch did you come from?’ When we said Avonside, she goes, ‘Oh noooo.’

‘Oh well,’ I said, ‘we’ll manage. It’s not that bad, it’s all right.’

‘No,’ she said, ‘that’s terrible.’

And when we got to Auckland, we found we’d been upgraded by

Air New Zealand. We got on the plane—it was fantastic—and then halfway through the trip across the Pacific we hit rough weather and the lady came down again and knelt beside me, ‘Mrs Hall,’ she said, ‘we are going to hit really rough weather here and I know that you’ve had a bad experience.’

I said to her, ‘No, no, it’s just like home. Nothing to worry about.’

‘Well,’ She said, ‘we’ll keep an eye on you.’

Ten minutes later she was back and she said, ‘The crew and I have

actually upgraded you all the way to London.’

I know! We were gob-smacked.

It happened again last year. I took the boys, our grandchildren, and

we flew up to Auckland with them to see Walking With Dinosaurs.

When we booked in at the motel and gave them our address they said, ‘Oh, you’re from Christchurch. Okay, we’re taking twenty per cent off your bill and then we hired a car and the guy said, ‘You’re up from

Christchurch, well we’ll throw in the car-seats and I go, ‘Thank you

3

very much.’ Then we go to Kelly Tarlton’s and they go, ‘Christchurch, okay boys in you go’. They went everywhere free. It was overwhelming, that people are just so good. Yeah, so they are the good times—when you get away from it.

Anyway, I’m off the subject again. We came home and okay, there

was a bit of extra damage from that one just after Christmas, Boxing Day, but nothing that made you think more was to come. I got to work taking all the towels out, tidying the place up and thinking well that’s it. No more earthquakes.

Wishful thinking wasn’t it. On a day we were supposed to go

shopping at Ballantynes, it happened all over again. I’d said to David, we’ll go shopping; we had to go and buy some gifts to send overseas.

But he goes, ‘Look, I’ve just got to go to… ‘ I don’t know… he had to go somewhere and do whatever it was, and he said, ‘I won’t be long,’ but

that doesn’t mean anything to David. He comes across his cobbers, the neighbours, whoever, and he talks away and by the time he came home

it’s hardly worth going to town now. But then, had he come home on time, we would have been in Ballantynes when it happened. That’s fate isn’t it. You’re either there or you’re not. Luck of the draw.

I was in my kitchen when I saw David driving down the driveway.

Then the phone rang and I walked out of the kitchen. I walked into

this room here and answered the phone, that’s when it hit. That’s when

I heard it. My pantry doors flew open and all my glass jars flew out, straight across the room to where I’d been standing not two minutes before. I wouldn’t have had the presence of mind to duck down in my

kitchen. I would have been hanging onto the bench just to stand up

4

straight. I was clinging to the walls in here as it was. I said to Dave, ‘That stuff would have killed me.’ They were like bullets. Round glass jars and they came straight out, right across the room they flew and

smashed on the other side of the kitchen. So, you can see why we feel lucky. It would have killed me easily. David was stuck in the garage

at this stage so he couldn’t have helped. So that was that day. Stuff

everywhere. Well what can you do? You’ve just got to clean it up and

get on with it. Same with the ones in June, the first one and the next one, you are clinging to the walls and thinking hells bells what next.

Christmas, we decided the grandchildren’s treat was to go and see

Puss in Boots, that’s what they wanted to do, in 3D. I actually wasn’t

excited about doing it at all but the kids were keen and we decided to go for the morning session. As we got in the car it was a very still day.

I said to David, ‘This is earthquake weather.’

‘Don’t be saying that,’ he said.

Anyway, off we go and we ask to sit in the back row because the

ceiling is not so high back there. I had Lochie this side, and David

had Connor on the other side, so we could protect them if anything happened. Jackson was in the middle and knew to get under the seat if he had to.

The movie finished and we’d just come home, I was making the kids

pancakes. They asked if they could play on my computer, ‘Yes, okay,’ I said. But remember, if anything happens you get under Nana’s desk and thank goodness they did.

Suddenly the wall was doing strange things. I couldn’t believe what

was happening to the wall. And when I looked at that light there—

5

let’s just say it was no longer hanging perpendicular with the ceiling.

Everything was falling down, it wasn’t good. I could hear myself yelling out, but then but finally it stopped and so did I. We try never to be

afraid in front of them so we put the Hall boys—that’s my son’s two boys—on what we call the safe sofa and gave them the cushion. ‘Now if we get another one we do turtles on the sofa, okay, you’ll be safe

there.’ But the oldest grandson, Jackson, went into shock. He lives in Glentunnel, not too far away, so he’s felt them before. The other two grandchildren live in Methven and they are not as affected down that

way, not like what we have been here. For them it was a bit of an

adventure and maybe it was a bit of good training, but for Jackson it may have been one too many. He just lay down on the floor and looked

at the wall glassy-eyed. I wrapped him up and he wanted to go under the table and so he did. I left him there and just kept him warm and he was fine after a while.

So that was the earthquakes, and in fact by June, after June, it was

fait accompli, we are red zoned. Nothing we can do, we have to go…. but I’ll tell you a story. After the February earthquake when they had the funerals for the people who died, I was down at my gate collecting the mail and a lady walking past says, ‘Hello.’

‘Hello,’ I said, ‘have you been looking at the school?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I used to go to Avonside Girls High.’

The school’s right next to us and so we started chatting and her

husband came along, he was on walking sticks and there was another couple as well.

She said to me, ‘We used to live here.’

6

I said, ‘Our place? Did you?’

She said, ‘I used to live in your very house; I was bought to your

home as a baby. Do you think I might come in and have a look?’

‘By all means, of course you can.’

And so she came in and she had a look around and then she had a

wee weep and she said ‘Oh, it’s just the same.’

‘Well,’ I said, David’s one for the historical stuff, there’s no way he

was going to destroy all these walls and what have you.’

That’s when she told us it was her father who had built it.

‘He was a good joiner,’ she said, ‘but he was actually a coffin-maker.’

Hummm, I was hoping there were no parallels there.

Honestly though, I feel we are fortunate… there’s sadness too, of

course there is, but no feeling of loss yet. I think that will come later on. What I’m trying to say is that I see a lot of people who are worse off

than us. They haven’t got a home, they may have children, perhaps they

have run out of money, and they don’t have the opportunity we have to move. That’s what I mean when I say we are fortunate.

One of our choices is to investigate the possibility of moving the

house out to the country. I said to David it’s a shame. I mean the destruction we are seeing all around us, that whole lane just up the road from us. Brand new houses and they are all to go, they’ll be levelled

and where do they put all this stuff. Dumped in big piles of rubble isn’t it? All this waste. Like this very floor under us right now. It’s all this beautiful Oregon timber. Okay, to be honest, it doesn’t mean much

to me…. Ha! I’m just parroting what my husband says—David…

David…where’s he disappeared to? That’s been my question for years.

7

He’s like me, I get going and you never know where I’ll end up. Where

he’s gone now I don’t know, but yes, I would like to save this house, take it with us.

Well, it’s our home, and that means something doesn’t it. But also

the quality of it. Just look at those doors and what have you. It’s all double-glazed you know and the back part was put on by David who

is very fussy about what he does. Oh yes, believe it, he’s a very good tradesman. So that’s why we are exploring the possibility of cutting it in half and taking it to some land out of town a bit that belongs to

my daughter. She’s subdividing and it’s possible we could put it back together again out there. And perhaps we could buy a little place in

town as well. But I said to David we’re going to have to get a move on because there is such an exodus coming down off the hills and when

they get their pay-outs, you know, they’re expensive homes up there, so we need to shift ourselves. Whatever we are going to do… we have to make a decision. Making the move to the country would give us a

starting point once again. I mean I’d like to be in Christchurch, it’s where our parents are buried and where our children grew up. It’s our

place. But I would also love to think of our house safe out there. All the work that David and I have put into it… and the joinery of the man who built this home so soundly. Yeah, keeping it with us… for a time.

Same with the garden, I’ve already given a lot away and I’ve told

people to come and get things out while they can. There’s a guy wants

to come and get all of the camellias and the rhododendrons, well, please, come and help yourself because it would be a shame to just put a bulldozer through them.

8

Anyway, so there you have it, does that make a picture for you.

As far as being happy—I’m happy—Dave and I are happy together.

Right from the moment I looked into those divine dark green eyes and

thought, hmmm, might be, could be. Took him home to meet mum and that was enough—that was it. We’ve been together ever since and we get on pretty good. Not that I’m not perfectly capable of doing my

own thing. My mum was a widow; a fantastic woman from whom I

learn to be independent, which David has always allowed me to be, and

I guess there’s something in that. But we do a lot of things together.

We have two really nice kids as well as our wonderful grandchildren.

So that’s why I think we are lucky. The first thing we said after that

earthquake was that we’ve got each other. That was the first thing, standing just over there we were. We said our kids are safe and we have

each other—nothing else matters, and it didn’t. No, no. Well, there

might have been a few times when I could have rethought that—no, I’m having you on. He’s a champion, you know what I mean. ‘You’re

happily married yourself, are you? You are, well, there you go then, you’ll know what I mean.’

9