Un Techo Para Chile

Chilean slumI struggled to find somewhere to eat this evening, and in the end decided that some more bad food would have to do.  I have at least found a source of decent fruit at the market, so I’m getting vitamins and fibre now.  Woo!

The smells of Telepizza were calling me in, and I succumbed.  I went in.  I watched them making a pizza… and lo, it looked like pizza!  And verily, I ordered.

While I was waiting for it to be made I sat down and combined reading and watching a telethon for Un Techo Para Chile which has been fundraising like mad lately around here.  I’d thrown a few coins into a collection box without really knowing what it was about.

A wino kept wandering in and out, watching the TV for a bit, and then ambling out.  He’d just stand there, near the door.  I studiously avoiding catching his gaze.

The program then showed a short film about a young family moving from what was essentially a corrugated board shack into a newly built, if somewhat spartan, apartment.  That’s when I heard the blubbing.  I looked and saw the wino, just standing there, mouth turned down, tears streaming down his cheeks, and blubbing like a three year old that’s been denied another sweet.

It was heartbraking.

If you have a moment, consider making a small donation by following the link above.  Since the strong earthquake recently a lot of families and individuals here have lost their homes.  Others are just living in absolute poverty.  They need your help, and once they have decent living conditions they can do more with their lives, educate their children better, and bring themselves a better future.

Earthquake in Liverpool

When my bed shakes enthusiastically I tend to assume that something’s going well… but this time I was woken by the clatter of a radio wobbling on the sideboard at 1am this morning.

When you wake up to an earthquake you don’t really understand what’s happening at first. There’s a bit of noise as things move, and it’s rather odd to feel that all has gone wobbly. It lasted for about ten seconds, but there were no alarms going off, nothing crashing to the ground… as the tremors slowed I realised all was well. I went back to sleep before waking at around 3am. Curious, I ended up whipping out the phone and checking BBC News. Sure enough, the North East of England had been hit by a substantial quake measuring 4.3 (or 4.6 depending on the report at the moment) on the Richter scale.

This morning I wandered around the house checking for damage but there’s nothing visible – not even any new cracks in the plaster.

Would have been great to have been up St John’s tower though – bet the DJ’s had something to say!