Weather

Tapped the glass before work and the reading was 1025 and I thought it had shit its self considering it was at 1010 8hrs earlier now its  1018

cant help but feel  rain coming after the thick fog early mornings and when able to see,around 7.00am red mare tails. Yet Predict/Windyty showing a decent painting weekend(Saturday)

It is certainly easy to make yourself very anxious if you want to.
I've had some fairly big hang-ups in the past about preparing for natural disasters having been dropped into Chch the morning after the quake by the Airforce with zero planning, training or even warning (phone call just before dawn asking if I could get to Whenuapai within 2 hours).
I think you are pissing into the wind trying to predict a quake. The best you can do is prepare for one. And once you are prepared, just forget about it and relax.

I guess I'm fairly relaxed now I have done everything I can think of to prepare. Plenty of food in the house. My own onsite water supplies. Generator to keep the fridge and chest freezer cold (although it is on the boat at the moment). I've got 20l of petrol spare for the genny, although need to fill about 20l worth of other petrol cans (I like to turn my petrol over so put some in the car occasionally instead of going to the gas station).
Have cash hidden in the house, cause eftpos is the last thing to come back post quake. Buying stuff is very hard without a way to pay for it. I've even ended up getting 100m2 of builders polythene if I need to keep the house weather tight (kids water slide in the first instance), and have a large canvas tent in the shed if we need to de-camp from the house, as well as assorted camping gear. Wood burner for heating, 2 x 9kg gas bottles for cooking. Plenty of batteries and LED lanterns for basic living.

I still haven't tried my genny to see if it can run my waterpump. I should do that. If it can, I can run my UV lamp and water pump and have an endless supply of safe drinking water, which will save the LPG for boiling it, and a load of phaffing.
If there is the big one and I could get to my boat and back (which is possible, a long walk or short drive away, assuming slips don't block the way) I can get some solar panels and an inverter. Already have the old house batteries in the shed, so I could charge devices and an array of rechargeable batteries for lanterns and the like, and basically live perfectly happily until we started running out of food, at which point I'd probably develop a far keener interest in fishing.

Which reminds me, I've still got the odd wall unit that needs to be screwed back to the wall.

The old trueism, a high of 1036 or greater will bring trouble around the edges...

Although I wasn't thinking of a TC, that would still fit my definition of trouble when the high moves off.

Bob McDavitt saying is - over 1030, it's gonna get dirty.

I'm sure if that low does form up it'll be climate change and nothing to do with a huge blocking high pressure causing the systems behind it to intensify because they can't push through.

It doesn't seem to be going away, should make the "news" in a couple of days.
Wonder how the Brynderwyn Hill will go? 
Train supposed to be running soon too. 

What?

When?