chess online
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 Please let New Zealanders reinstate timed out games!gameknot.com At the time of writing, he was last online 2 days 23 hours ago, i.e about 10pm, UK time, on Monday. Of course an earthquake his Christchurch on Tuesday afternoon. Also at the time of writing he has timed out only one game - that game was against me, which he defaulted this afternoon, having failed to move within the three days allowed. I am of course extremely concerned he may have been caught up in the earthquake. Of course I do not want to win games like this, and if he wants to re-instate this game I will let him. Please pray that he is alright, or whatever you think is appropriate, and let him re-instate any time-out loss he may suffer against you. Many thanks, Charles |
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Courtesy Postponement Just to let you know that apparently gameknot have given Ion a courtesy postponement of 10 days after hearing about the earthquake. Hopefully by the end of 10 days we will know about Ion's fate. Cheers Joanne |
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And hear that people are stealing and plundering in Christchurch. This makes me sad and mad at the same time i just do not understand why people do that.. I can imagine something like that in a less civilized country. But this is New Zeeland in a city with a name that contains Christ and Church it is just unbelievable.. |
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not that much....... there have been just a few incidents. The people are pulling together in a remarkable way. |
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What astounds me is the way the whole country has banded together. It seems that absolutely everybody is doing everything they can to help. There are so many operations that are working like clockwork - from remote kitchens bringing in thousands of hot meals in by helicopter, to farmers bringing in a ute with a water tank on the back. Kiwis have always had a real "can do" attitude, and a remarkable problem solving ability, and this is very much apparent now. And this (along with plenty of international assistance) makes the mammoth task ahead seem that much more achievable. |
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ION IS ALIVE! Just spoke to Coach Ion over the phone today. Him and his family are alive and well. They have been without power since the quake and have survived on bottled water and barbequed food. Ion will return to gameknot as soon as he can but right now he is glad to be alive. Joanne |
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:) |
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Nice and Thankful Update |
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and Ion, if you should read this, take care!! |
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Ion's report on the earthquake We were without running water for two to three days; without power for 5 (restored Sunday evening) and anticipate outages (had one already). Only source of information a radio. Long nights, as you can imagine. Karen and I were well placed, though: a little gas campstove (for wet days) and a barbeque (for fine); plenty of potable water and well stocked for food, though we were glad to have the power restored when it was. Daughter with friends in NW Christchurch, which was much less badly hit than even we were. Had to be pretty sparing about personal hygeine, and had to make arrangements in the back yard for calls of nature. The latter wasn't too pleasant in the rain, though we didn't get much precipitation, as it transpired. We put out buckets to collect rainwater, and what we got was hardly worthwhile. Fortunately there were other and better sources of water. There's a surprising number of private artesian wells in this city, some quite close by... (Christchurch is built over deep underground aquifers that are fed from the Southern Alps. This gives (gave?) us a water supply of remarkable softness and purity. Unfortunately, overuse has been depleting this supply over the years...) Now: the quake itself. That came completely without warning. It was just a huge bang and a violent shaking that lasted I don't know how long. I was in the midst of sending an email at the time, and just sat here hanging in to the desk as everything it seemed got thrown to the floor. Mind seems to go blank at moments like this. Didn't feel scared particularly, but then again, didn't feel much of anything. Didn't move, but there wasn't really anywhere for me to go. I think that had I been in any real danger of injury I might have felt and/or done something about it, but who knows for sure? Karen shot under the kitchen table (banging herself on the shoulder and leg as she did so), and gathered the dog in with her (cat had vanished). Where I was was probably safe enough if the house didn't fall down. Stuff on the filing cabinet shot onto the floor, then the cabinet itself fell onto the table beside me. The waves must have been east-west, as a whole bunch of stuff above the cupboards (i.e. against the kitchen's north wall) stayed put; but the fridge was emptied, everything shot off the benches, and the quake made us a third-world building material from sugar, cold tea, cocoa and Horlicks (Horlicks?? No one in this household uses or has bought Horlicks, ever, so far as we know. A Mystery). My wargaming stuff, stacked high against the walls fetched up on the floor; pictures off the walls; books (of which we have hundreds - getting on towards a thousand) all strewn broadcast from here to the middle of next week. A surprising amount of broken glass, dirt (from pot plants chucked hither and yon), hell of a mess. I noticed that the earthquake took time to open containers, inspect the contents, invert the the lot at a height of two feet, then drop the container. I have quite a lot of wargame figures, kits and accessories, all of which got jumbled pell-mell on the floor. The clean-up has revealed surprisingly few casualties among my Napoleonic lead figures, but haven't dared look at the plastic kitsets... At that we still got off light. The TV fetched up on the floor, but still goes after a fashion; the computer came out unscathed (the quake stopped before the CPU had worked itself out of its spot in the desk). Although we lost half the header tank (must have been 100 litres at least) of water into the ceiling, a sparky we called in confirmed the electrics weren't affected. The insulation caught most of it apparently after which it evaporated. Walking around the neighbourhood reveals front yards full of appliances and valuables that have been reduced to junk: smashed TV and entertainment appliances, furniture, building materials - all manner of wreckage. At that, just about anything brick has been demolished, a church a couple of hundred yards from here, a small shopping place a little further on, a home built slightly above the street just two or three minutes walk away. Several brick and block garden walls have fallen over (especially north-south ones); lots of roof damage (especially tiles). Cracks in the road at the top of the street - it looks as though the ground is sliding gradually into the Avon River - no very great stream anyway. One's overall feeling is that of sadness and relief intermixed. Relief that we have got through it OK; but sadness that so much has been lost: people's lives, property, livelihoods, sense of security. There's also an apprehension that after all we might not yet have seen the last of these destructive shocks. We are still experiencing aftershocks of noticeable strength (anything over 4.0 on the Richter scale, especially when shallow and close by). They certainly grab the attention... At any rate, it could be worse. Right now it is sunny and warm, and I'll go shortly and make myself some lunch... Cheers, Ion |
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I have just found this thread... We appreciate your concern on our behalf. On the whole, although we live in an area that was fairly badly hit, there are many much worse off than we. There does seem to have a degree of looting going on. A friend whose house was wrecked has had a motorbike pinched, for instance, and there have been people breaking into unattended or abandoned places to thieve stuff. Times like this can bring out the low-lifes - it's as if the quake turned over a rock and let the crawlies loose. A couple of (apparently) skinhead types got caught trying to nick generators being used to supply power for some rescue centre or other. Most of Christchurch is hoping those two get the full 7 years, and an extra one to be served consecutively for giving the court the fingers. It's puzzle to me sometimes how the minds work for some people. On the other hand, the autistic dude with a fixation for light fittings can be cut some slack... For all that, more uplifting have been the stories of courage by both rescuers and people caught up in the worst of the quake. There has developed - at least for the moment - a sense of community that does not often find expression in this day and age. You hear of and meet all kinds... As for the games on GK: I had pretty much written them off. Had other things to deal with. But I do thank GK for extending me an emergency break, and charleshiggie for offering to reinstate our game. The latter, I'll decline, though: rather start a new one. My one regret is that the R+2P ending vs valnuz had to time out. I reckon I was winning that one... My best wishes to you all - and here's hoping we don't get a repeat of 22 Feb, eh. Ion A. Dowman |
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I am glad About the "low-lifes", it is a typical phenomena when such things happen, sad, sad. And I hope too that the quake doesn't show up again... |
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Amen to that! Joanne |
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dmaestro 05-Mar-11, 17:16 |
Agreed |
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