Turmoil
Sorry for the lack of posting on here. My mind is being compartmentalized by the events around me. Thankfully my family is currently intact. The area where we live suffered severe quakes, they were of a different kind than I have experienced before. Like the experience of being in a big quake while in a tall building. Large slow movements. These caused a minor tidal wave in the reservoir nearby and I guess all bodies of water will have been affected as severely, from the sloshing I witnessed in our garden pond to the wide pacific.
There has been no mention of damage to hydroelectric facilities as the nuclear situation is taking all our minds for a walk into hell, but I surmise that there are men in helmets with probing fingers creeping through tunnels to check the nooks and crannies under dams across the country.
Meanwhile in other mental compartments we are buying yeast to make our own bread as shortages in those kind of easily consumable food stuffs emerge here. Hopefully this is because these resources are being channeled up to where people are in need. I may have to abandon traveling to my job site in the 600cc petrol driven truck and commute on the electric bike instead as petrol shortages are becoming more severe and I want to keep a little in reserve for emergencies. The fuel oil we use for heating water is growing short also, so I may have to bring my workshop boiler that runs on firewood online for home use.
I have been getting on with the building project I have on hand at present and there too the logistics of obtaining what I need are playing through the mind while I watch the events unfold in Fukushima.
One of the lesser problems is the lack of decision making power among those with their fingers on the switches. So far we have only lost power after the initial quake, when we were blacked out for 12 hours. We have been promised rolling power cuts, but so far the scheduled time has come around and the power has remained on. So planning work around them is proving to be frustrating. For me this is not a big issue as the work will get done in the end, but if you are turning yellow waiting for your next trip to the dialysis machine it must be a cause for finger tapping at the least when you are told to stay home only to find that the power was on after all.
The last major quake to the south of us back in 1995 was very badly handled and at that time I was working on the renovation of an old house a hundred kilometers or so away from the epicenter. We saw the damage on TV and the way that people were failing to make any headway in getting to those trapped in rubble and seriously considered driving down to help out with crowbars and whatnot, but we would have had to stock up on food for ourselves and may even have been a burden. In the current emergency there is little hope of survivors as the major damage was from water and the subsequent fire. A more complete devastation it is hard to imagine, but perhaps nuclear fallout is our next fate.
The way the wind blows may give some relief and hopefully the design of the reactors will help to limit damage, indeed it may prove to be the west coast of America that suffers most in the long term , but there can be little doubt that we are in the shit when the prime minister is assuring Tokyo Electric that he will make it his mission to see them bankrupt if they withdraw their technicians from the site, which appeared to be their intention at one point. I think he was miffed that TEPCO had released information to the press before him, we are teetering on the edge of impoliteness, which is saying a lot in the land of the inscrutable.
I sincerely hope that the events here will not be labeled as only applicable to earthquake regions and the nuclear option will be crossed off the list forever. Whatever spurred the uprising in North Africa should spur all to oppose the magic cure worked by the genie in the bottle that must never be let out.
Geopolitical turmoil is as nothing to the threat from this invisible enemy. How meaningless is the exchange of national debt when one is in danger of soiling ones planet unto ashes.
The first frogs began to chirp yesterday and I can't help wondering if they had delayed their actions with some sense of premonition. They are usually out singing in February. The pestering of the pretty plum blossom by Mejiro and other small birds in search of nectar is also a source of some balm. The regular Great tit nesters are going away with empty beaks in their search for dog hair to decorate with this year after the demise of our homely hound but they are moving about in pairs in a most admirable sense of fervent optimism that we must strive to emulate.
P.S. another trial passed by the roof structure, still standing intact.
There has been no mention of damage to hydroelectric facilities as the nuclear situation is taking all our minds for a walk into hell, but I surmise that there are men in helmets with probing fingers creeping through tunnels to check the nooks and crannies under dams across the country.
Meanwhile in other mental compartments we are buying yeast to make our own bread as shortages in those kind of easily consumable food stuffs emerge here. Hopefully this is because these resources are being channeled up to where people are in need. I may have to abandon traveling to my job site in the 600cc petrol driven truck and commute on the electric bike instead as petrol shortages are becoming more severe and I want to keep a little in reserve for emergencies. The fuel oil we use for heating water is growing short also, so I may have to bring my workshop boiler that runs on firewood online for home use.
I have been getting on with the building project I have on hand at present and there too the logistics of obtaining what I need are playing through the mind while I watch the events unfold in Fukushima.
One of the lesser problems is the lack of decision making power among those with their fingers on the switches. So far we have only lost power after the initial quake, when we were blacked out for 12 hours. We have been promised rolling power cuts, but so far the scheduled time has come around and the power has remained on. So planning work around them is proving to be frustrating. For me this is not a big issue as the work will get done in the end, but if you are turning yellow waiting for your next trip to the dialysis machine it must be a cause for finger tapping at the least when you are told to stay home only to find that the power was on after all.
The last major quake to the south of us back in 1995 was very badly handled and at that time I was working on the renovation of an old house a hundred kilometers or so away from the epicenter. We saw the damage on TV and the way that people were failing to make any headway in getting to those trapped in rubble and seriously considered driving down to help out with crowbars and whatnot, but we would have had to stock up on food for ourselves and may even have been a burden. In the current emergency there is little hope of survivors as the major damage was from water and the subsequent fire. A more complete devastation it is hard to imagine, but perhaps nuclear fallout is our next fate.
The way the wind blows may give some relief and hopefully the design of the reactors will help to limit damage, indeed it may prove to be the west coast of America that suffers most in the long term , but there can be little doubt that we are in the shit when the prime minister is assuring Tokyo Electric that he will make it his mission to see them bankrupt if they withdraw their technicians from the site, which appeared to be their intention at one point. I think he was miffed that TEPCO had released information to the press before him, we are teetering on the edge of impoliteness, which is saying a lot in the land of the inscrutable.
I sincerely hope that the events here will not be labeled as only applicable to earthquake regions and the nuclear option will be crossed off the list forever. Whatever spurred the uprising in North Africa should spur all to oppose the magic cure worked by the genie in the bottle that must never be let out.
Geopolitical turmoil is as nothing to the threat from this invisible enemy. How meaningless is the exchange of national debt when one is in danger of soiling ones planet unto ashes.
The first frogs began to chirp yesterday and I can't help wondering if they had delayed their actions with some sense of premonition. They are usually out singing in February. The pestering of the pretty plum blossom by Mejiro and other small birds in search of nectar is also a source of some balm. The regular Great tit nesters are going away with empty beaks in their search for dog hair to decorate with this year after the demise of our homely hound but they are moving about in pairs in a most admirable sense of fervent optimism that we must strive to emulate.
P.S. another trial passed by the roof structure, still standing intact.
posted by Steve at 1:08 AM
<< Home