I was going to write again about settling in to my new routine, except that the past 48 hours haven’t been very routine. Yesterday morning, I had no idea I’d be going to Ghana next week. Yesterday afternoon, I had my seat assignments for the flight and was scrambling to get my visa paperwork in order. This morning, well, I’m not going.

Bit of a relief, actually, regardless of how fun it would have been. But the Google team that’s going doesn’t need me there as much as they’d initially thought, and after some consultation around the room, we decided that life would just be simpler all around if I stayed home.

Where there are some interesting things afoot. The Quake Fairy has visited us from halfway around the world, and left us a gift. Lots of gifts, actually. Four big FedEx boxes of plaster dusted belongings that were left in the Grand Chancellor Hotel when it partially collapsed in the Christchurch earthquake. Demolition workers dismantling the building gathered up all the belongings they found in our room and turned them over the US Antarctic Program. USAP staff sorted and packed them, then sent everything that looked like ours via air freight, where, after a couple of days at the hands of FedEx, it landed on our doorstep this afternoon.

No point in trying to get any work done once I’d heard it had arrived.

As far as we can tell, it’s all there. Yes, my old seven-continents passport. My computer. My backup disk with all the photos. My notebook. Packages of crushed Ritz crackers and Mentos dusted with hotel plaster. Dirty laundry that has been moldering for almost nine months in an airtight nylon bag. Devon’s favorite pair of pants. The missing car keys. My razor. Crap – my razor; does that mean I need to shave? I’d told everyone I’d only grown the beard because the quake took my razor. Umm… Anyhow.

Lots of stuff we’ve already replaced. Lots of stuff we could never have replaced. Our living room looks like a yard sale, with stuff strewn all over, wherever we left it as we dug through the bags looking for – ooh ooh ooh, look, here it is!

Anyhow. Pics up at https://picasaweb.google.com/109923111311395991183/20111108ChchStuff