A sad city

12 August 2013

Did I mention that I took 986 photos yesterday? A lot of them were my usual three bracketed photos of different exposures – the theory being that one of them must look right. And a large proportion of the rest were taken in sports mode. That is you hold down the shutter button and keep it held down until the trains out of sight or the camera’s had enough.

Want to see them all?

Today we moved motels.

You may be wondering why, but the answer is quite simple. The Tower Junction Motor Lodge was closest to the railway station. Abbey Motel is within easy walking distance of the CBD… Well, at least within walking distance. When you see all the obstacles and the way you have to keep changing sides of the road, it’s not that easy.

Breakfast was the exciting meal of a One Square Meal bar and a hot chocolate. We agreed that we’d have to find something better for tomorrow.

We used my cell phone (it was cheaper) to ring up the taxi company to pick us up at 9.30 and then I went and paid the room bill.  Then we waited outside. The taxi ride was $23.00. The bus would have only been $3.20 (except for D.C. who wouldn’t have paid anything), but we didn’t know which one to catch and the box would have been too much hassle.

We arrived at Abbey Motel just as some workmen in their hi-vis outfits were leaving. One of them kindly held the office door open for us and offered to help us with our bags. But as we hadn’t booked in yet, we declined with thanks.

We were greeted by James who promised not to request payment by liver, kidneys, etc as Ashley, the boss, was away, signed us in and gave us room two. (Fortunately it was ready for us.) This time instead of having a single king-sized bed to sleep in, we had a choice of three – two singles in one room and a king in the lounge. The toilet is separate from the bathroom area, although there isn’t a door between the two, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Still it’s nice to have a bit of space and separate beds!

And we were given free WiFi, but it’s not very good, so I’m back to using my WiFi hub.

Oh, yeah. I didn’t tell you. I felt an earthquake this morning. At least I think it was an earthquake. There were definite reports of one. What I felt, at some point after 3.15 this morning, was like a truck idling for about one or two seconds. A couple of ladies confirmed to me later that it was probably the earthquake.

From www.geonet.co.nz

• Public Id: 2013p601893
• NZST: Monday, August 12 2013 at 4:48:54 am
• Intensity: light
• Depth: 24 km
• Magnitude: 3.9
• Location: 10 km south of Christchurch
• Felt it?

Yep. I did.

After we’d got ourselves sorted we went for a wander down Manchester Street. There was so many empty sections and so much construction work going on!

That's one long drop!

All that remains of the church

This was sad. The Cancer Society building, still as it would have been after the earthquakes. Broken window, daffodils all over the floor...

I don't know the significance of the orange plastic.

This carpark isn't even used for cars now.

Christchurch is unfathomable at the moment. All roads lead to Cathedral Square, but you don’t know which one to take to get away from there.

But we did go there first.

Oh, the poor cathedral. I wish someone would give the Anglican Church a swift clip around the lug’ole, tell them it means more than just a house of worship, and make them start restoring it. It’s the reason why Christchurch is called Christchurch! It’s the reason why Christchurch was the first city in the country!

But what is good is that, despite all the ugliness and the way that things of beauty and charm and character are being ripped down and the way that lives were lost, people are trying to beautify or add humour to the city.

The trams!

We were glad that the Chalice was still standing

Even by using odd things like shipping containers.

Most of you will have heard of the Re-Start Mall – a shopping centre designed out of shipping containers.

This one's for T

Shipping containers

All shipping containers

They are trying to bring life back to the CBD

D.C. found a new friend

As a supporting wall for the facade. So not all of Christchurch's history will be lost

Mind you shipping containers are almost as ubiquitous as portaloos out in the Eastern Suburbs. They are used as shops, portacoms, barriers, protective supports…

Just as interesting was the use of pallets to make the Pallet Pavilion. We didn’t go in, but it’s a social space for bands etc and they’ve made things like a mini-golf hole, and tables, and seats.

Some people have a wonderful imagination.

While we were at the Re-Start Mall, we paid our $10 (D.C. $8) and had a look around the Quake City exhibition. This was extremely interesting and I think we were there at the same time as Roger Sutton – the boss of CERA – the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority.

We spent quite some time just watching security camera footage of the February 22 2011 earthquake. Everyone’s going about their daily business. Trucks are making their deliveries. Cars are going from A-B. There are two guys walking along, (one trying to commit suicide by crossing the road in front of traffic and smoking) when the earthquake hit. Then they could barely stand, let alone walk.

Another guy ducked into an alcove that was part of the structure of a building just as the entire end of that building collapsed. He stayed there as the top of the building above him also collapsed sending dust and rubble down onto where he’d been standing. When it all still he stepped out, gave a wave to show that he was okay, and continued smartly walking the way he’d been going – probably home to change his pants.

Then we saw video interviews of various people. One was of the lady who was trapped in her room in the tower of the Christchurch Cathedral. When the quake hit it was so strong that she couldn’t climb under one of the desks and had to ride it out clinging to the window. She saw a lump of masonry squash both desks. If she’d been under them she would have been flattened.

There were other tales of people trying to reach their loved ones. The mother who was so proud of her 14-year-old son for not going in search of his parents and instead helping their neighbours clean away the liquefaction. The mother who desperately tried to get to her daughter who was at school in the city, only to find her playing organised games in Latimer Square. The daughter, who was “twelve-going-on-twenty one”, greeted her mother with a raised eyebrow and a nod of recognition. The wife who was so desperate to find her husband a the Pyne Gould Guinness building nearly flattened all six foot plus of him when she grabbed him in relief. The man who was in a plane about to land in Christchurch and had his flight diverted back to Auckland and then attempted to hire a plane to get him home. He ended up flying in the air ambulance. He found his sons, but it was three weeks before his wife’s remains were identified from the CTV building.

Then there were other stories. The man at the QEII pool who was frantically trying to pool kids out of the pool. He said one tsunami rushed at him at neck height, and he was just on six-foot tall, and a kid was practically surfing on it. He reached out for her, but she was sucked back. He managed to drag her to safety on the next surge. He was really looking for his own daughter and when things calmed down he felt something touch his hand. He looked down and there was his daughter. “Hello, Daddy.”

There was the man who cycled home after the quake to check that all was well and then cycled on to find his wife. Next thing he knew he woke up in the spinal unit at hospital. Another quake had hit and his bike had gone into a hole. He fractured his spine and was turning blue. Fortunately a lady in a car following started to give him CPR, while another went to a nearby rest home and got an oxygen supply.

Then there was the woman who was trapped in the PGG building. Her left hand was trapped under the rubble and she couldn’t move because of it. Eventually, hours later, someone found her and she was so relieved that she had to touch him to reassure herself that he was real. They removed the rubble off her arm and she saw her fingers fall off. It was “like a nightmare.”

There was the man who, with others, was trapped on the 17^th floor of the Forsythe Barr building. They were lucky that one of the other offices had a civil defence kit, which included rope, and that one of the men working there had abseiling experience. Most of the people got to safety that way, but he could tell that the men supporting those escaping were growing tired. Fortunately a crane arrived at that point and got the last three free.

There was the construction worker who went into the PGG building to help. The first three people they found were dead. He watched the first one die. Then they found a woman alive. The only way she could get out was by clambering over the dead man. He says he changed that day.

I’d say they all did.

There were plenty of artefacts on display. Parts of various buildings and demonstrations of what actually happened. No simulations thought. It’s still too raw for those who experienced it.

Must add this into my latest Thunderbirds story

That blip was my jump!

Remember the demolition machine that used its pincers to remove the chandelier from inside the shop. Imagine the skill of the operator!

Inside the toilet door - the real toilet

This was what was used to film inside the Catholic Cathedral

Off the Catholic Cathedral

The top of the spire of the Anglican Cathedral

I liked the Student Volunteer Army display.

He used to stand...

...here.

After we’d finished there we went searching for breakfast and a cord so D.C. could charge her camera. We managed to find both at a New World and a Smith’s City. (You can guess what we got from where.)

Then we went hunting for the way home and some dinner. And I’ll have to say that the One Square Meal held us over nicely until lunchtime (we ate in a shipping container at the Re-start Mall.)

We got lost.

Not lost exactly, because we kept on finding Cathedral Square no problem, but we couldn’t work out which direction we should be working to A) find a place that served food at that time of the day and B) our motel. We couldn’t even ask a policeman, because the station in the Square’s non-operational. Eventually after an “I think we should be going this way”, “I think we should be going this way!” discussion, we retraced out steps out of the Square until we found a Les Mills gym. Having told the lady at the counter that we didn’t need a gym because we were walking everywhere, she directed us to a pizzeria – even though she and everyone else wasn’t sure if it opened on Mondays.

It did.

So we had a pizza between us and then, after a long wait after giving our order, I had a chocolate cheesecake and D.C. had a sticky plum pud. By this point the place was very busy and we had to try to pay our bill. We probably could have walked out and they wouldn’t have noticed. But I did finally manage to pay.

Christchurch is full of surprises. Some you don’t expect – like the figure sitting on a roof reading a book, or the Mini driving down the side of the building.

Some you do, but you don’t expect to find them when you’re looking for something else – like the cardboard cathedral (made as an interim solution until the cathedral’s sorted out in the square). Or the 185 white chairs that sit in a section representing the 185 people who died on the 22^nd February 2011. And some )(*&#$#$)& person had stolen some of them.

We did eventually make it home – having passed what I’m sure were a couple of prostitutes – no comments thanks, Ken!

I think it’s going to be a noisy night, judging by the sounds of traffic, but at least we should have a good night’s sleep and won’t have to worry about waking each other up just by turning over.

The Copthorne