Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Three months after

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  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    You seem good Lilith. Keep on trukin'. You would be a good influence for others. :)

    Islander ,I cant get the sky remote to work, I'm gonna have to call in the big guns. if I had my way it would be in pieces. Trouble is I don't know whether to vandalise it in hope I could get it going. I got screw drivers glue guns and sterilising machinery. thickener and cellotape. What's a girl to do? Best equipment I think I possess, is a hammer.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Dont agree at all with the post!
    You want me to run up the example of a niece (who is also visually disabled) who rock climbs, runs marathons, shoots with the best of us (actually, all of us shoot & fish very well), and will be a medical researcher?

    Annnd can handle most tools in her Dad's 'shed'?*


    Because we've never believed that middle class shit?
    We just - do, and get on with life?

    *I wish I could show you my brother's 'shed' - it has one of the world's best views, and everything - everything a truly great builder would want...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Typo, thicknesser not thickener. need glasses as well as the remote.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    “All I need is a strip of sellotape, a bit of green baize, an orange and two nails and I will get us out of here”
    MacGyver
    Hammer? pah. Armatures.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Check battery. Especially of the remote. Check links into Sky box. Go through the Sky 'error' part of their magazine (or original contract.) Dont kill box. It definitely wont give the same kind of satisfaction that my neighbour gained from jumping on her 'Freeview' box (which was never going to work here anyway...)
    And all best!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    I've eaten the orange. Think the hammer it is.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I guess I'll leave it to the experts.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Islander,

    Go through the Sky ‘error’ part of their magazine

    Is that the bit that says "Welcome to Sky TV"?
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    You my friend have plenty of other work to be getting on with.

    Wild Turkeys aside. :))

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Close!
    But actually they have a surprisingly good section/s on why things might not be working...

    which is a kind of worry in itself, of course....

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    WOW!! I fixed it.
    Here's what to do ,
    Put remote down walk away from the remote come back, talk about it on line and 20 minutes later. try again.
    Weird though, at the beginning of checking batteries, I noticed one was in the wrong way. I have been using it for weeks with no problems. Maybe it had rain fade all by itself
    Men eh, Who needs them? Ok, I do :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Steve, I'm not looking for advice, I'm saying these are my feelings and choices. And I'm also not saying they're better than anyone else's. Everyone's circumstances and reactions are different, and I don't think there's a "right" or "wrong" response. And our reactions are also different at different times. I've had quite a few gloomy pessimistic days since the earthquake, but right now things don't seem so bad.

    ETA: and thanks, all you lovely PAS folk, for being there and being supportive and smart and funny. It all helps.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    at the beginning of checking batteries, I noticed one was in the wrong way. I have been using it for weeks with no problems

    Wow, so it doesn't run on electricity, then! Clearly an alien Device. ;-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Lilith __,

    Steve, I’m not looking for advice, I’m saying these are my feelings and choices.

    I was being a bit general in my comment, sorry if I came across as pushy. I do though feel that if we listen to the things that nudge us in odd directions adventure is there for the taking.
    I have seen enough suffering in my life that people could have avoided if only they had stopped clinging to things.
    <Image of sinking man with brick of gold.>

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Lilith __,

    Sorry Lilith, I am busy watching telly and cruising back over here in ads but not too many on sky, and if it be Aliens it's because they are my friends :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Ok well just be aware that if you're using alien technology, John Barrowman may burst in at any time to confiscate it. ;-)

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    It's invisable, I've decided

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    It’s invisable, I’ve decided

    Is that why I can never find the remote?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Pah!

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    Clarke said: I had this vision in my head that the earthquake would result in this huge outpouring of construction effort and energy to rebuild the city and people’s lives, like some Bob The Builder episode turned up to 11.

    But Clarke, it's not a TV show here. It's not a movie. It's real, everyday details like does the water come out of the tap when I turn it on? And when the water comes, what colour is it? Is it ok to wash with? Drinkable? And even then can you stand the smell and taste of heavy chlorination? And do you itch all over after a quick shower because of the chemicals? My first post and I already want to swear about the impatience of the Play Station generation. Christchurch. Is. Fucked. Except the parts that aren't; they are over-full of people and traffic, and in many cases full of ghosts.

    We're looking at a new city, rebuilt in ways we cannot even comprehend, and hopefully in 20 years some of the scars will have faded enough for us to be comfortable and secure just being on our land again. But building new buildings and tidying up the rough edges is only part of task. We who regard this place as our turangawaewae, with its web of forebears, shared histories, special places and everyday familiarities are in a collective grief for what we have lost in our daily lives, the sense of safety and familiar routines. No-one can force that healing; it will happen eventually but it will not be able to be faked by a quick spit and polish for the Central City businesses' benefit.

    Russell Brown's anonymous friend's thoughts are just like anyone in Christchurch's medium to bad day. A good day in the head is exciting; the possibilities of rebuild are endless and wondrous. A bad day can leave me almost frozen, subconsciously waiting for the next shudder of the Bad Neighbour - we live 2.5km from the Feb 22 epicentre.

    When our heavy 8-seater table leapt from waist height to shoulder height with no warning rumble or shake on Feb 22, I entered a place in my being I never wished to visit or even knew was there. But I've rebuilt my adult life a couple of times now, so maybe the process of coming to terms with it all is easier for me. I see my comfortably-off, usually in-control-of-their-lives friends very much affected mentally. maybe mass therapy is a good idea.

    I don't support the idea that Cera and, the govt is doing nothing here; look to the insurance companies (EQC has nothing to do with most of the central city as it is commercial premises) and the under-insured (if at all) property owners for the log jam in the CBD.

    As to the suburbs, our area has had major works by the Heathcote River already, along with untold other infrastructure patch-ups in the few blocks either side of our house. The bridges have been mostly repaired. The roads are rough but mostly driveable. We have water. We have electricity. Fletchers took down our increasingly dangerous and difficult to deal with chimney this week. We get a woodburner soon. The library is open. All progress so much beyond where we were on Feb 23, and all hard-won.

    We are so grateful for all of that. And for the Iroquois thudding overhead within a couple of hours of the big shake (the heavy military and police presence was hugely reassuring -- we knew we were not alone).

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Lilith __,

    So by all means send more counsellors, I'm sure they'll be needed. But also entertain and distract us! That's also a public service.

    Drop CERA a line about that too. I understand the high-culture establishment are already manoevring to score much of the funding (associated with a proposed arts precinct). However what's most useful right now is probably a wide range of free performers and street art all over the city so everyone has a chance at distraction and food for the soul.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Shulgin,

    Thanks for the article Russell. Indeed, riding a bike around Ch-ch is the best way to see everything bent-out-of-shape. But I think, you should have worn a hard hat, rather than a black beanie, you may have looked like a looter, in black.

    I have just arrived back after three months to my rented house on the east side, getting it ready for winter, taking some things I need, like some warm clothes. Actually I’d much prefer to be loading the whole lot in a shipping container, but unfortunately don’t have a destination yet, perhaps that is a good thing.

    Some observations, while contemplating my house-lot of goods and starring into a coffee cup. The place is indeed very quiet, no boy racers, not much traffic. At home no bumbling spoodle or family chat, at least they are safe up north. The aftershocks continue, they seem different now, they feel like jelly wobble, I think we are sitting on some water-logged substrates and now it’s winter….not good….

    In the past, my experience of earthquakes, would be perhaps feeling the event. The second part, was the social part, in the smoko room, conversations invariably went “…did ya feel that quake last night?”. So I had formed a view that earthquakes would be an “event”. However, after months and thousands of shakes the whole matter has expanded my breadth and depth of earthquake experience. It’s emotional, fearful,dreadful, it’s all the time deciding fight or flight, organic chemical driven state of mind for nine months. I am now a full time Geonet junkey, I can locate the street of the epicentre on Google earth, make a mental picture of those dots, and then I’m like Ken Ring, just wait till the Greendale fault attains it’s goal and meets up with Banks Peninsula…spectacular!

    part two shortly

    NZ • Since May 2011 • 125 posts Report Reply

  • Shulgin,

    In regard to the Red Zone. Actually it’s a metaphor for what was there previously, because it certainly doesn’t exist anymore. The inner city had been in decline for quite sometime. The pressure from Uber mall developments around Chch had sucked the CBD dry. Small population with too much shopping area per head of population. The malls offer the globalised smoke and mirrors of brand/label goods, together with cheap Japanese cars, and all you can eat, it’s deadly. All that was left was to put a bigger louder exhaust on, in the hope you’d be noticed…. by someone. (well Judith did) We are what we consume, generic shops full of goods largely made elsewhere.

    We had some quaint ideas for central city redevelopment. Mr Henderson’s SOL Square and his vision of the Sydenham Village, two tilt slab walls and a large hole, thank goodness the Council stepped-in and banked the Dave Henderson sites/land, I’m sure they will now be useful. Perhaps Bob Parker should dust off the Dave Henderson “Design Briefs”, might save CERA much work and Dave won’t want them back now. I don’t think Dave Henderson skimped on the Architectural Vision. Anyway it “all” got mired down in red ink, a vision but no tax.

    We use to make stuff like shoes and clothes. Even Lane Walker Rudkin stitched it last stitch last year, savage competition from the Orient. What about all that LWR factory land? How will the Receivers market that? It might have a fancy phrase, something like “excellent opportunity for redevelopment”. Actually, it might just be as big as Rolleston, get creative.

    What to do…what to do with acres of wobbly jelly land, how do you make the space productive? As we have cows half way up the Southern Alps, there’s an idea, I’m sure a few more near the coast will not be noticed. Less distance to the milk powder factory, that makes good carbon sense.

    I saw John Key talking on BBC Hardtalk…the quake was mentioned. Actually just the other day Key jokingly said that both EQC and Fletchers were examples of businesses that had grown as a result of the earthquake.

    I called round to a friends house, we swapped quake stories, she showed me the plumbing account…. $900….for “repairs”. Would you look at that, $150 for parts….whoa nice hourly rate for two hours work…..don’t worry I said…it’s just market forces.

    Funny story to end, I was walking home from town one night down Cashel Street. We came upon a man who had driven his car through the front door of the new IRD building. He was sitting in his car inside IRD at 5 in the morning. Glass everywhere, but the driver didn’t have a scratch. Apparently he was an IRD employee proving that the new IRD building was vulnerable to a terrorist act. I think he was probably right…

    I love the irony of how Dave Henderson purchased the one time IRD building, he threw them out, turned it into a hotel…and now he owes IRD tax…. Phew…only in Christchurch---- aye…..

    NZ • Since May 2011 • 125 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Sacha,

    so everyone has a chance at distraction and food for the soul

    A lot of people are missing the public libraries really badly. Central, Linwood and Sumner branches are red-stickered, in all cases I think because of nearby unstable buildings. All their stock is lying where it fell on Feb 22nd. Several other branches are closed (and their stock inaccesible) because their buildings are being used by civil defence and the council. My local library (Linwood) has set up a temporary branch at the local council service centre, with a tiny, miscellaneous stock sourced from other branches. And the mobile library bus is attempting to service other suburbs. It's way better than nothing, but it's quite a comedown from the cornucopia of material we're used to.

    Performances and events are great, but humbler things like books and CDs and DVDs are to my mind even more important.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Lilith __,

    Tautoko Lilith-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

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