Report from Children's Bookshop, Christchurch

Mary advises:

The shop is a mess. 70-80% of the stock seems to be on the floor plus there is about 6 inches of waste water through - what type of waste who knows, although I did see the storm water drain at the back of us burst.
The only window that we have is the one the was replaced about a month ago because Boxing Day finally rendered it unsafe.
The good news is that the temporary wall stood up. The office upstairs is all on the floor. I think my desk is the only thing upright. Once again the temporary wall from September has held, but I think the temporary repair to the opposite internal wall from Boxing Day may have given way - it's possible that the men's toilet is now in our kitchen, but who knows!!
By fluke, there was only one staff member downstairs in the shop at the time of the quake and she and the customers all got out ok. The customers were shaken and Liz a bit bruised, but otherwise okay.

The rest of us were upstairs having the time of our lives. Sheila and I were in the tearoom with only a flimsy trestle table so we headed to safe spots. Mine moved as I reached it and I was tossed around with a filing cabinet and some other stuff. Sheila managed to hang on to something, she can't remember what. The other two staff made it under their desks, then we had to move stuff to get them out again. One, it was even a matter of climbing over fallen book cases to get to her.
The long and the short of it is that we got all customers and staff out safely with minimal injuries - Liz a few bruises, me bruised bones in my legs so I'm on crutches now, everyone severly shaken but alive and breathing. We have scattered and some, like me, have left town so now I can wash, flush the loo and have a consistent internet connection so I can now keep in touch with the world.
I have no pictures to send I'm afraid, we thought to take one on a phone, but really I don't think we want to be reminded what it looked like for a few days anyway.


Thank you everyone for the kind messages that we have received - if you want to contact us, I've started a new temporary email address - cbschnz@gmail.com. We at The Children's Bookshop, and all the book sellers in Christchurch really appreciate the support.

Can I offer one piece of advice. Never dance with a filing cabinet - the stupid things have no sense of rhythm - when you rock they roll! Thank goodness it never stood on my toes!!

Oh, and something else to be thankful for, our homes are all liveable.