After a full-on work week, I needed to get some fresh air and decided I would treat myself to a doughnut from Glamour Cake in Lyttelton. It’s pretty bad weather-wise today, with flooding happening in parts of the city, so I thought I’d have a better chance of getting the doughnuts – as they sell out very quickly most days. Sure enough, they had doughnuts, so I bought enough for friends too. The offer of doughnuts was gladly accepted by my friends living near a flood zone.

We turned up in a four wheel drive with doughnuts and sat and had tea while we discussed if they should evacuate, with offers of coming home with us. Even as I write this it sounds ridiculous – but Christchurch folk have developed a black sense of humour for these things, and we joked about emergency doughnuts. Unfortunately, they’ve got some experience with flooding – losing two cars a few years back to a flooded Heathcote River, so they are pretty well-prepared and know the drill. We are now crossing our fingers that the high tide won’t bring the water to their door.