March 18, 2011

...and on the seventh day

I have a distant, but rather amicable relationship with my upstairs neighbors.When we see each other we bow and greet each other with a polite ”こんにちは”. My neighbor loves doing laundry and I often wake up bright and early (The day is bight, not the narrator.) to the sound of her washing machine whirling and swirling the family garments with a monotonous rumble. These days the sound has been replaced with the sound of helicopters roaring overhead and the rumble of the earth that makes me think that Godzilla is out strolling in my backyard.
I would say that at this point in time We are not in a dire situation, we're waiting for one. A limbo of sorts...sitting around and waiting for the next big shake up, letting the worries and fears build until there is little left but desperation, anger and frustration at our inability to go back to a time before the earth shook us. When things were at their worst I had adrenaline to keep me goin. Now, like my van, I am running on empty. A feeling of more than just mild annoyance overcomes me when I hear people complain about what should or should not be done. It has only been a week and the trains are starting to roll, the highways are opening and relief supplies are starting to arrive. The ability and swiftness of the Japanese government to deal with not only a natural disaster of immense scale, but also to avert a nuclear catastrophe, is nothing less than astounding.
Tomorrow morning, but not too early in the day. I hope to once again hear the rumble and roar of the washing machine doing what it was built to do. It'll mean that we are getting that much closer to doing what we were meant to do too.

8 comments:

lime said...

i have to say from this distance it seems impressive the way folks have been evacuated in such an orderly fashion in the wake of a disaster no one saw coming. to contrast it to the US response in the wake of hurricane katrina which we saw coming for days and days....well, it's just damn impressive. hoping the laundry is soon waking you up again.

The Grunt said...

If anybody can overcome such a disaster it's Japan.

Megan said...

Did I mention that my dishwasher is leaking? And that we've only been in this apartment for six weeks? And that now I'm going to have to let unknown possibly unhinged maintenance people into my personal space in order to fix this problem?

xxooxxoo

dianne said...

It is really nice to read that you are OK, shaken naturally and anxious and feeling all of those other emotions you have mentioned wondering when and if the next big shake will arrive. I am pleased to hear that you are still alive after seeing all of the destruction on the news.
To think that the Japanese government has achieved so much in just seven days is amazing.
Your world will never be quite the same but you will get back to some kind of normality in time.
When something like this happens it is good to hear the sound of a washing machine, anything familiar that you heard or saw prior to this disaster, it is comforting, we appreciate the most ordinary things as it reminds you that life will go on as it is supposed to.
Thinking of you dear NYD, keep safe!
xoxoxo ♡

Grant said...

My offer to rescue any errant bunnies still stands.

Serena said...

It's never good feeling like you're in limbo. I'm glad, though, that things are starting to look up after a week that must have seemed endless.

secret agent woman said...

Limbo is a very tough place to be and I hope things return to some semblance of normalcy soon.

Mona said...

there is no resilience like Japanese resilience...

In India we had a few small ones a couple of days ago. 5.6 Richter scale