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her wellbeing Shaken & Stirred Shaking and stirring, vineyard style OUR VINEYARD IS IN Christchurch. We are in the Cashmere area, between the centre of the city, and the Port Hills that separate the town from Lyttelton harbour, 15 minutes from Cathedral Square – when there was a Cathedral, and when you could go to the Square. We've felt all the earthquakes. Actually, from those websites that give the exact location of the epicentres, we understand that we had one between rows G3 and G4. Others were scattered around. As you read this, we are marching towards the 10,000 aftershocks mark. An unusual pattern scientists say: one major event, then the statistically predicted up and down of minor aftershocks; but instead of the tremors dying out, we get another major event, and the sequence starts all over again. In a way, we are making seismological history. In another way, our nerves have been asking, 'why me, and why in my lifetime?' Then one Footrot Flats cartoon comes to mind, where Wal, on losing many lambs to bad weather, complains to Nature and asks, "Why?", and his philosopher Dog curtly replies, "Why not!". Cantabrians are a hard lot. After living here for 16 years, having emmigrated from Italy in 1996, we identify with them. Italy suffers regularly from strong earthquakes; the last one in 2009 hit the medieval town of L'Aquila with a loss of over 300 lives. A four year residence in Tokyo in the mid 80s added to our seismic credentials. But these in Canterbury were frightening ones, and they affected our environment and our business. 80 | February/March 2012 | HER MAGAZINE From a damage point of view we were lucky: we didn't lose a single bottle – Customs couldn't believe it, as other wineries in the Canterbury area, west and south of Christchurch, had huge losses, which created the problem for them being able to keep their clients regularly supplied. However, in the February earthquake, the most violent one, a 10,000-litre stainless steel tank that was full of wine must have jumped into the air and fallen back on its feet, then caved in. Luckily there was no spillage of wine, but the tank had to be emptied and decommissioned right away. A little more than one month later it was harvest time, so a quick world-wide shopping search was undertaken, and we got two 5,000-litre tanks from Chile. That's another earthquake-prone country, so they came with very sturdy feet! Water was another problem, with the mains burst and the content polluted. You use a lot of water in a winery: tanks and appliances need to be washed, and the floor steam-cleaned regularly. We had a truck in, delivering 10,000 litres into some spare tanks. All the city was served either by the City Council, or by an amazing communal effort: farmers brought small tanks to street corners; people from the countryside washed plastic milk bottles, filled them from their taps, and delivered them anywhere in town. People whose houses had not been damaged offered showers and cooked breakfasts, or baked cakes and took them to friends. We were also asked to send wine to people in town, as a present from friends living in the North Island. Jokes started circulating such as – how do you recognise someone from Christchurch? They sleep in one place, shower in another, and eat somewhere else". We had to arrange our own accommodation, because some ceilings had collapsed in our house, and we didn't feel safe inside. We placed a tent on our front lawn, set up an office on trestle tables in the garage, and cooked on the BBQ that also has a gas knob – a you-never-know inspiration when we bought it. As soon as the phone lines were restored, I was on the phone calling our clients with a simple message