Fader - The Temper Trap

There was an earthquake in Christchurch early this morning. I didn't wake up. I slept through it. While people were rolling out of second storeys, swimming in sewage and generally terrified I was asleep.  Isn't that so bizarre? A massive event in their lives barely caused a ripple in my own. I find it so uncanny. In fact I didn't even believe that there had been an earthquake of any significance. My mother had been told by my father on the telephone that there'd been a magnitude 7 Earthquake and what did I say? Bull S***. Well not actually I never swear in the presence of my mother unless she swears... She has the mouth of a trucker sometimes especially when she hurts herself. It's that almost surreal feeling. You really can't believe it. 

I'm sick and tired of blogging about myself. I feel ever so self centered for doing so. What shall I blog about instead? Something interesting, something exciting and moreover something life changing.

Life changing... The only life changing events that I can think of (in other people's lives) are ones which involve brushes with the end of life. The ones when your whole life is meant to flash before you. Like when you're in the middle of the road, a car is speeding towards you, but it doesn't speed in fact it gets slower and slower as the magnitude of your predicament comes more and more apparent to your brain so it tries to savor every last moment. We live our lives in fast forward. That's because we aren't aware of the 'car' that's zooming towards us. I finally get it. We need to realise how many ways there are that we can die and coincidentally start experiencing every single moment.

Martinborough. It's a small town with a population of less than 1000 in the South Wairarapa. It's laid out like the union jack and it's last civilisation stop before Te Awaiti Station (aka the farm on the coast and the epitome of isolation... at least we have dial up...) and it's the nearest town to where Fox lives. Fox is my thoroughbred gelding. It means that inevitably I spend a lot of time in Martinborough. Many would say far too much time... I like Martinborough. It's a cute town. Even in peak hours you can only ever see about 5 cars on any stretch of road, you can park literally 3 m away from the entrance to any store and the 4 Square has a sign in the window which says 'please leave all muddy gumboots outside'. It's very rural. It has this intrinsic feeling of unity even though most of the population of Martinborough live on the farms outside of it. Whenever I go to into town with my Granny I can feel it. She always bumps into someone or other who used to play bridge or was in her woodwork class or who goes to church. Everyone knows everyone else. It means that you really feel a part of it. That's the problem with big cities you often feel just so insignificant because of the magnitude of everything that you end up feeling lost. In Martinborough you can never feel lost. For one there are about 8 streets and the square is always in view and moreover there's always someone who would know you. Having said that the interesting thing about Martinborough which makes it so loveable is the fact that it doesn't have that inbreed feeling. You know how some small towns just feel gross the houses are rundown and you have a sneaking suspicion that there are some people who have never lived anywhere else. Martinborough is small and inbred free. That's what makes it so very cute.