Packing up for the Apocalypse

Stormy weather.

Twice in the last few days the Dominion Post has plastered Doomsday scenarios for Wellington across its front page. First it was a disturbing article that said the capital would basically be cut off from the outside world for four months in the event of a big quake - the inevitable "big one" that everyone here knows is coming one day. This was followed a few days later by a story that talked about parts of the city being washed away by rising water levels caused by climate change. True, they said the change would come over the next century. But if the torrential weather of this weekend is anything to go by, it could be a hell of a lot sooner. Rivers have broken their banks, landslides have closed roads and the obligatory trampers have been stuck up mountains.

Those of you who regularly read this blog know how warm and fuzzy I feel about Wellington. All was well in my mind until the 7.0 quake that rumbled through here a couple of weeks ago. It's been followed by a steady assault of little rattlers that get the mind to thinking - especially when prompted by the local newspapers and constant reminders from my conspiracy prone son that it is, after all, 2012.

While not admitting to being a feardy-cat, I will confess that the gentle ache about my imminent departure from Wellington is being somewhat dulled. After what we've been through in New Zealand with quakes and slips and weather bombs and storms roaring in, you start thinking about this stuff despite your braver nature. Where would you go? How would you get water? What would you do if certain buildings came down? These are things that just become part of your Wellington DNA once you've been here for a while - perhaps especially when you know you are leaving.

The Dom Post's uplifting, pardon the pun, graphic about rising water levels in Welly.

So, as I sit in my empty house thinking thoughts of destruction, it dawns on me that it really is time to leave. My family's gone. There are pressing problems back home in the States. And the storming, howling weather is obviously trying to tell me something.