Up Front: One, Redux
106 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 Newer→ Last
-
Emma Hart, in reply to
The flowery road cones are awesome
The flowery road cones are amazing, and... is it just me, or is that the kind of response that was never going to come top-down? I can't imagine council coming up with that.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Russell, you dear man. Now I am crying.
Oops -- sorry ;-)
But it's true: you and Hebe and everyone else have truly enriched the community here.
And in the occasional what's-the-point moment I can remember that we gave you a place to talk, and that makes it all worthwhile.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Emma's put it more eloquently than I ever could, buit nobody grieves in exactly the same way and that kind of nonsense is pretty abusive..
Hey, grieving comes in many forms ,true, but people who cannot discuss it anymore can actually be grieving themselves. as you say ,all different. I know people who get angry when something hurts alot. Doesn't mean they don't care.
Anyway. Because Emma, you like gardening , here is a flowers for you and I may do this all day for people here down Christchurch way. My way of saying I care quietly.:) -
Russell Brown, in reply to
The flowery road cones are amazing, and… is it just me, or is that the kind of response that was never going to come top-down? I can’t imagine council coming up with that.
I found the bottom-up responses inspiring the last time I was in Christchurch. The response to institutional failure could simply have been despair, but people did something better.
-
Deborah, in reply to
… but all you folk in other parts of the country have made such an effort to understand and care for us.
Yes, because there’s not a lot we can do, except listen, and listen, and listen, for as long as people in Christchurch want to talk. Or not, just as suits each person living in Christhchurch.
-
Emma Hart, in reply to
Because Emma, you like gardening , here is a flowers for you and I may do this all day for people here down Christchurch way. My way of saying I care quietly.:)
Aw, thank you Sofie. Now I'm crying.
-
JacksonP, in reply to
And yet this ordeal brought you to us, and that's been such a good thing Lilith.
+1
I was okay today until I visited Philip Matthews' blog and saw the picture of Peter Majendie's memorial work '185 Empty Chairs'.
This also. Gudrun Gisela posted a similar photo on the Christchurch Photo thread (after accidentally putting it on another last night). Stops you in your tracks.
All the best Emma and everyone in Christchurch.
-
Joe Wylie, in reply to
The response to institutional failure could simply have been despair, but people did something better.
Or event management, which comes across as a kind of corporatised smiley-faced despair ('Ellerslie' Flower Show, ffs. When the Garden City has to buy one off the peg . . )
The traffic cones appears to be an initiative of Henry Sunderland, who as far as I know teaches at CPIT when he's not dreaming up great ideas from the good of his heart.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Can we get a photo? Jus' sayin ;)
Meanwhile, a moment for your reflections.... (given from my back garden) -
I find it hard to put into words how I feel about today, because, I guess, it's not my pain. It's not my experience. And, as you have said, Emma, it's not like that moment when your world stops spinning, but everyone's going on about their business, because those moments keep happening. Every day, in different ways, for the people who call Christchurch home, in whatever way that may be. All I can do, all of of us can do, is make sure that you know our love is with you. Our best wishes. That we are all, at base, part of a community that will look after each other when needed. I'm not big on gravestones, or days of commemoration, or any of that. What I'm big on is hugs. So take it as read, that I'm sending some super duper ones.
-
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Yes, because there’s not a lot we can do, except listen, and listen, and listen, for as long as people in Christchurch want to talk. Or not, just as suits each person living in Christhchurch.
Keeping the biscuit barrel full and the good tea pot on perpetual standby is never the wrong response. Whether your guest then wants to chew your ear or feel the serenity is up to them. Sorry for sounding like a fucking hippy, but being genuinely present and attentive to someone in pain, however they express it, is a real blessing. For all the shit over the last year, I’ve been humbled by the constant reminders that small acts of simple human decency are heroic.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
small acts of simple human decency are heroic.
And boy do they stand out.
Here is a bunch flowers for a bunch of flowers. -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
Can we get a photo? Jus' sayin ;)
Church Corner, Upper Riccarton.
Best I can manage until proper photographers kick in. -
There are not enough cups of tea in the world today. I wish I could make one for you in person, Emma. Milk, sugar, dash of brandy?
-
Emma Hart, in reply to
There are not enough cups of tea in the world today. I wish I could make one for you in person, Emma. Milk, sugar, dash of brandy?
I'm really not a big fan of tea. Brandy, on the other hand...
I did not expect today to be so difficult, personally. I went and sat in the doorway right where I sat last year and looked at all the gouges in the lino where things fell. I'd thought two minutes' silence would be too long. I didn't move for five. And I really felt how lucky I was that my family made it back to me that day. That I still have my families, of blood and of heart. And the people I love showed me how much they loved me. I'm going to go for a walk. Then later I'm going to make the smoked chicken and rosemary pie my partner loves so much, in my fully functional oven, because frankly commemoration does not extend to cooking frittata on the barbeque.
-
Here's something written after the 1931 Napier quake. http://laytonduncan.com/post/3506659242/i-never-understood-how-a-man-could-dare-to-watch
I never understood how a man could dare
To watch a city shaken to the ground
To feel the tremors, hear the tragic sound,
Of houses twisting, crashing everywhere,
And not be conquered by despair.
Although his buildings crumble to a mound
Of worthless ruins, man has always found
The urge to build a stronger city there.Within my soul I made my towers high.
They lie in ruins, yet I have begun
To build again, now planning to restore
What life has shaken to the earth; And I in faith
Shall build my towers towards the sun
A stronger city than was there before.After being down for a few blazing hot bluebird days for a couple of friends' February wedding, then followed a while later by a lovely brisk Winter visit to see The Girl's family, I'd only just discovered and fallen in love with Christchurch's inner city. And then about a month later the September quake hit. Terribly frightening, we brought The Girl's family up to stay with us, it broke my heart talking her nieces. 6 & 8 year olds shouldn't know how to talk about how "serious it is down there, with all the death". But there it was.
A friends terrifying experience with parts of his old brick office coming off, located in the beautiful lanes in the city, soon seemed to be nothing but a fading memory. Regular tweets about aftershocks notwithstanding, the worst seemed to be over. The damaged walls pinned back into place. Everyone went back to work.
But now his office is gone. So is everything nearby.
Losing the people is a tragedy, losing the city is also a tragedy, but it might be a tragedy that can be somewhat ameliorated by taking the opportunity of reconstruction and make something glorious.
It's clear from virtually everything he's said publicly that it's an opportunity that Jerry Brownless & his ilk will see squandered; that bottom-feeding property developers will fritter away with ugly (and seismically inappropriate) tilt-slab construction. Quick to build, ugly as sin, and incidentally constructed in such a way that they need to be demolished and rebuilt pretty much every time there's a serious quake.
But the engineering problem of building earthquake tolerant buildings is solved. The city can be rebuilt safely. Just look at what Tokyo stood up to. The buildings rocked, and sometimes cracked, but they certainly didn't ever risk falling.
If the rebuild is DESIGNED, and I don't mean individual buildings, but the whole reconstruction of the inner city - designed by designers, by real urban planning experts (the best in the world of whom must be lined up to help Christchurch), and definitely not by politicians.
Designed to be lived in. Not driven through. With space to be a human. And built beautifully.
Well it could become the only other place in the country where I could imagine moving to. (Such is my love for the scattered villages of Auckland it would take a lot to get me out of here.)
But of course it's not really any of my business, I'm not from there. I recognise this.
So I look it to people like Layton Duncan, not a property developer, just a man who loves his city, and wants to see the best possible city built to replace what was lost. http://polarbearfarm.com/
The site doesn't have much in the way of detail yet, hopefully he'll go more public about the whole project soon, but I've spoken to Layton about his plans, and it's at least a glimmer in the dark.
A glimmer that will be snuffed out if the people of Christchurch leave it to "other people" to grow their beautiful new city. But we're here to help if you need it.
Build your towers towards the sun.
-
Can I also say, Emma, your post was really beautifully written. Despite talking to friends and family living in Christchurch, I really have no understanding of what life is like there now.
-
It's raining in Wellington today. My son (who does not really do reflection) commented, 'That's good, it's raining for Christchurch.'
-
Jolisa, in reply to
I’m really not a big fan of tea. Brandy, on the other hand…
Brandy in a teacup it is, then. Actually, in a damn teapot. Let no one say we've lost the genteel way of doing things.
A walk and a nourishing bake sounds just the thing for the soul. And cherishing the luck and the love -- every day, today even more so.
-
Thank you, Morgan.
If the rebuild is DESIGNED, and I don't mean individual buildings, but the whole reconstruction of the inner city - designed by designers, by real urban planning experts (the best in the world of whom must be lined up to help Christchurch), and definitely not by politicians.
I have spoken to a couple of people lately who are perfectly happy with the idea of Chch turning into a doughnut city. Me, I want a place where I can go "dinner theatre bar bar taxi home".
But as things stand, design is not the issue. Insurance is. It would be a massive help to the rebuild if the government offered central city businesses temporary bridging insurance so they could secure loans to rebuild. If regulation had been put in place to stop commercial landlords rorting businesses on rents and long-term leases. And if government departments aren't prepared to commit to the central city, why should private businesses be?
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
I did not expect today to be so difficult, personally.
Me neither. I've been a mess since I saw the 185 Chairs picture this morning.
I've realised how connected I've felt to what's happened without actually experiencing it: growing up in Christchurch and knowing that so many of the places I used to play are gone, visiting, writing about it, what's been shared over time here, wanting to be there to give you and (heh) David hugs ...
And then when I thought I was okay again and resumed work on the TV show I still have to make tonight, I got a text from Blair that just knocked me over. Christ.
-
Jolisa, in reply to
There's a sympathetic nor'wester blowing away the cobwebs in Auckland, too.
For some reason, I keep thinking of a story of my Nana's, about the day the nor'wester whisked her knitting patterns out of her bag and scattered them down Riccarton Rd. She chased them, futilely, furiously, weeping with frustration. "Oh, I said a lot of words to that wind. Some of them very naughty."
-
Jolisa, in reply to
It was Hewitt Humphrey reading the names of the dead that did me in. But that's only one facet of it. Emma, Blair, David, everyone's stories ... each one a prism of something too immense to make sense of in one go... magnitude is maybe the word I'm groping for.
-
Matthew Reid, in reply to
it seems odd to be commemorating the anniversary of something that's still happening
I'd agree with that - how can we honour the memory of something that is still disrupting our lives and giving us grief?
But then I think of those that died or were injured, and perhaps a year is the time to mark some kind of moving on or bringing to remembrance.
I know there has been planning to deal with a greater level of psychological aftermath following the anniversary. I live in hope that that might mean people are continuing on a recovery process, not one that is finishing, but at least one that is moving along rather than being supressed.
-
3410,
Best thoughts to all Chch. peeps.
In Akl. we're still thinking of you just about every day.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.