Posts by Lucy Stewart
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Perhaps the calculation was a little simpler: It's impossible to employ anyone when there isn't actually any work because there's no fucking business.
They do also seem to have missed the bit where the workers get two months' full pay and an offer of work at other Foodstuffs supermarkts if they want to commute or move, which seems like quite a reasonable provision, under the circumstances.
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Golly. I would be finding out what glass they used for the Art Gallery and installing it in all my windows.
Very foggy memories of Grand Designs suggest this would be feasible only if you wanted the glass to be, like, half the cost of the house.
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I remember how furious I was that I couldn't give blood for a year because I'd slept with a boy who'd slept with a boy. Even though we always used condoms. I wonder how many people who don't know the sexual histories of their partners and who haven't always been careful are allowed to donate blood.
Well, it's not so much a matter of 'allowed'; you sign a declaration that you meet all the standards and you're sure your blood's OK, and they have to go by that - so yes, those people probably do get through (though they do, obviously, test it as well.) I think they rely mostly on the sort of people who donate blood being the sort of people who take the restrictions and risks seriously and will call off, or call afterwards, if they remember a reason their blood shouldn't be used. Which would screen out *most* of the people they deem high-risk.
It's certainly not a perfect system, in terms of fairness - but 'fair' isn't really what they're worried about.
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How did the Dux & that Chch arts centre block fare?
A friend who works out of the old chemistry building said that was the only undamaged one - she was allowed to go grab some papers, but is still working from home. I haven't heard that any of the damage was very serious, but I expect some extensive structural checking will be needed, which is probably why it's still all cordoned off.
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I like donating blood (well, not so much like as think it is a good thing to do) but remain stymied as we were living in the UK in the 1980s, and it is feared our blood might turn everyone into mad cows. Surely this is being over-cautious!?
One suddenly wonders: what do they do about the vegetarians who lived in Britain then?
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there is conflicting advice all over - I heard an expert on Radio yesterday saying the doorway was the best place to be, and then on TV another expert saying it was a bad place as you can be thrown about and hit...
...what to do?
I expect it depends largely on circumstances. For instance, if your toom features a big sturdy solid wood table, I'd be getting under that, but if it's some cheap kitset Warewhare job, or no table at all? Under the doorway right quick.
The key things are basically a) have something to protect you from the ceiling falling in and b)get low down to avoid flying objects and glass. How you minimise those risks is largely up to luck and the furnishing choices of whoever designed the room you're in. I imagine a swinging door could give you a good smack, as this article says, but that might be the least of your worries in some buildings.
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I get dragged in as soon as the three months is up from the last time, and they're always desperate for new donors, particularly people who will consider platelet donation at the moment.
Interesting - I've never been asked to come in if I leave it longer than three months, even though I do donate quite regularly. Mind you, I do have the third-least-useful blood type - obviously there's enough of us donating it was never worth the trouble of hitting me up for some more!
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What seems interesting is that I'm not aware of a rush of Chch people just packing up and leaving the city for a week - Dunedin, Nelson, Wellington etc.
Except for this lot, who aren't being given a choice.
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We don't know when it's over. It's not that every time we relax there's another significant aftershock, it's that we're not relaxing. This is the thing that we weren't expecting, that we weren't mentally prepared for. Five days, and it hasn't stopped.
You summarise so well what I'm hearing from my Chch peeps - that what's killing them is the relentlessness of the aftershocks going on, and on, and on. I have so much admiration for all of you, honestly. If it was me I would be a total nutcase - and here you are, writing coherent and funny blog posts. Kia kaha, Emma, you and everyone else in Christchurch - you're amazing. And I hope sincerely that the tectonic plates decide to sit up and listen to yousometime very soon.
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To whom? The giver or the recipient?
Both, but only if they're a) unmarried, b) gay, c) enjoying it, or d) some combination of the above.